Have you ever considered quitting the hobby? Why?

[-XENOMORPH-]

4 years ago?? I had a cube tank blow out at 2am... yeah... I was crushed and was going to quit. I cleaned it up, took surviving livestock to LFS. And took 2 weeks off. Hahahhahahha. Started back up with an Evo 13.5 and then moved up to a WB x90. You can't stop me!!!!!

 

[Bozburn]

Hate to bring up an old thread but I am currently considering quitting.

Got my tank installed last year, 260 gallon and went all out on the tank and equipment, and its just been problem after problem.

The guy who built my tank and system was helping me out early on but now it seems like I cant get any assistance from him. First thing, put a bunch of fish in and an ich and aggression outbreak wiped out my entire tank. Left it fallow for 90 days, started over and then boom cant keep any sps coral alive. Okay, I used dry rock so I started dosing bacteria and now I have 3 sps that ive had for almost a month and they are doing great!

Lost my blonde naso last week (my wifes favorite fish) due to I think black ich or aggression. Now my sailfin and white tail started showing signs of it yesterday/day before but woke up today and boom they are looking very rough. Just treated the entire system with prazipro and realized my clown is showing signs as well. Did a freshwater dip on the clown since I could actually catch him.

I have a trap for fish but the guy who installed my tank borrowed it and I guess never gave me back the piece you use to close the trap from far away. Zero percent chance of me doing it while im standing there since my two tangs are super shy.

So im currently deciding on what to do. I still have a handful of fish in my tank, including a fat copperband that is the star of the tank, but it seems like I have spent wayy more time dealing with issues than actually enjoying the tank. There has been a time or two when things are going well that I get lost in the tank but its getting ridiculous. I was planning on getting rid of my two tangs due to aggression and starting my tangs over but now it doesnt look like they are going to make it and I hate losing fish.


We will see what happens. I am sure my wife is going to tell me to shut it and deal with it and next year will be enjoying a beautiful tank, but right now its more trouble than it is pleasure.

 

[Sump Crab]

Hate to bring up an old thread but I am currently considering quitting.

Got my tank installed last year, 260 gallon and went all out on the tank and equipment, and its just been problem after problem.

The guy who built my tank and system was helping me out early on but now it seems like I cant get any assistance from him. First thing, put a bunch of fish in and an ich and aggression outbreak wiped out my entire tank. Left it fallow for 90 days, started over and then boom cant keep any sps coral alive. Okay, I used dry rock so I started dosing bacteria and now I have 3 sps that ive had for almost a month and they are doing great!

Lost my blonde naso last week (my wifes favorite fish) due to I think black ich or aggression. Now my sailfin and white tail started showing signs of it yesterday/day before but woke up today and boom they are looking very rough. Just treated the entire system with prazipro and realized my clown is showing signs as well. Did a freshwater dip on the clown since I could actually catch him.

I have a trap for fish but the guy who installed my tank borrowed it and I guess never gave me back the piece you use to close the trap from far away. Zero percent chance of me doing it while im standing there since my two tangs are super shy.

So im currently deciding on what to do. I still have a handful of fish in my tank, including a fat copperband that is the star of the tank, but it seems like I have spent wayy more time dealing with issues than actually enjoying the tank. There has been a time or two when things are going well that I get lost in the tank but its getting ridiculous. I was planning on getting rid of my two tangs due to aggression and starting my tangs over but now it doesnt look like they are going to make it and I hate losing fish.


We will see what happens. I am sure my wife is going to tell me to shut it and deal with it and next year will be enjoying a beautiful tank, but right now its more trouble than it is pleasure.

Why not run an easier LPS/Softy tank and fill it with cool, disease resistant fish? Run it that way for a few years while gaining valuable experience and then try an sps/tang system later. Sometimes I think new reefers just bite off more than they can chew.

If it were me I would also throw in a ton of real ocean liverock, but considering you used dry rock/quarantine/sps type tank I doubt you are into that.

 

[Spare time]

Yes because I'm away for months at a time doing research, and it can be stressful to have someone else care for the tank.

 

[Gtinnel]

Yes because I'm away for months at a time doing research, and it can be stressful to have someone else care for the tank.

I don’t even like having to worry about my tanks on our yearly week long vacation. I couldn’t imagine being gone months at a time.

 

[Spare time]

I don’t even like having to worry about my tanks on our yearly week long vacation. I couldn’t imagine being gone months at a time.

The real test is when I'll be gone for a year without internet (only email) soon lol. My 75g is back at my family home and I have a small office softie tank. I'm not too worried about the 75g as my family has done a good job since I moved to a different state. The office tank will be interesting lol

 

[Reab]

Had to get out multiple times due to deployments but i always come crawling back. As much as some of the tanks that i have had make me want to pull my hair out, I just cant live without it. The worst time for me was three years ago when the power company ended service early causing a complete crash. Talking about multiple thousands in corals and fish gone overnight. To this day it makes me want to quit. Bit if i do that ill never know how this 150 will turn out. Keep looking forward in the hobby as in life.

 

[Haggisman14]

I wouldn’t quite say “quit”, but I have taken a few breaks over the years when I couldn’t dedicate the time needed to the tanks, and the tanks in turn suffered. I don’t think I’ll ever quit as it truly brings me joy and relaxation, but an occasional pause may happen from time to time.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

I'm starting to think about going down to just my fowlr tank. I have way too much for just myself. Reefing has really slowed down in my area.

 

[CBonito]

I'm just coming back now after 6 years. I didn't even think about it.
Then one day I was on the internet looking at stuff and I saw a pic of someone's tank...and then I started looking at stuff.
Next thing you know there's a huge pile of boxes...and a build thread. Here we go again.

 

[CBonito]

I'm starting to think about going down to just my fowlr tank. I have way too much for just myself. Reefing has really slowed down in my area.

Yeah, it's like you go on a lot of these sites anymore and it's all "for sale" ads and tumbleweeds.

 

[Wrassenaround]

One word......BRYOPSIS
I had this outbreak in my 20 gallon long and it overtook everything. I was in the middle of wanting to upgrade or get out of the hobby. Needless to say I upgraded to a Reefer 350. This time when Bryopsis came around I fought back aggressively with Floconozale. I'm currently on my second treatment and it works like a charm.

 

[DIYreefer]

I set up my first sw aquarium in '97. It was just damsels and an under gravel filter, lol. I kept that running for about a year but decided to get rid of it because I was young, generally irresponsible, and moved a lot. It just wasn't worth the hassle at the time.

I set up my first reef tank in '06 and have had one (or more) ever since. I love this hobby, and will never quit unless I absolutely have to. While it certainly can be stressful at times, for me, it's quite the opposite. Reefing is my stress relief. It's one of few things that has kept my attention long-term and yeah, I'm definitely a lifer.

 

[Bpb]

I am presently in the process of mentally accepting I’m done. It’s been such a huge part of my life. It has impacted family decisions, travel, vacations, the home, ect.

I hate to be that guy, but the economy is a big part. Weird poor-flex here, but I fall in the tax bracket of people who are really hurting by what is happening financially in the country right now. Some people are stressing about their grandkids trust fund, while I’m having to pull money from savings occasionally to cover regular family expenses. Which is absurd to me. Does the electricity, water, salt, and fish food break me? No that’s all fine. But I’m at the point I can no longer justify the expense of replacing broken worn out gear.

Recently experienced the skimmer dying. My lights aren’t going to last forever. My powerheads are 5 years old and I’m down to my last set of gyre bushings. I just don’t have it in me to drop a couple grand replacing pumps and lighting.

It kind of stinks. I’ve been such an active member of the local and online reefing community for over 10 years. Met some great people. Had aspirations of running commercial aquaculture. But I’ve just lost it. It’s not in my heart. It’s not exciting.

I’m not tearing the tank down tomorrow or anything. But I’m no longer replacing worn out equipment which will inevitably lead to mass coral death in the tank, and at that point it’ll be time to drain it and be done for good.

Not quitting immediately, but definitely in the final chapter. I still do like to talk shop in the lighting forum on occasion. It’s good discussion.

 

[DIYreefer]

I hate to be that guy, but the economy is a big part. Weird poor-flex here, but I fall in the tax bracket of people who are really hurting by what is happening financially in the country right now.

To an extent, I can very much relate to this. Im not a wealthy man and realized a while back that if I was going to be able (financially) to continue in this hobby that it was going to have to be self sustaining, at least.

I sell corals here in the classifieds regularly and all of the money that I generate selling frags is what I use to fund the hobby. I was just looking in my frag tank today and was amazed at how far it has come in the past year or so. I don't spend a dime of my actual income on the hobby anymore.

Just something to consider. Idk man, something about your post just really hit home and it definitely seems like you wouldn't quit if you didn't feel you had to. If it's something you would consider, shoot me a pm and I can give you some ideas and let you know what has worked for me.

 

[Bpb]

To an extent, I can very much relate to this. Im not a wealthy man and realized a while back that if I was going to be able (financially) to continue in this hobby that it was going to have to be self sustaining, at least.

I sell corals here in the classifieds regularly and all of the money that I generate selling frags is what I use to fund the hobby. I was just looking in my frag tank today and was amazed at how far it has come in the past year or so. I don't spend a dime of my actual income on the hobby anymore.

Just something to consider. Idk man, something about your post just really hit home and it definitely seems like you wouldn't quit if you didn't feel you had to. If it's something you would consider, shoot me a pm and I can give you some ideas and let you know what has worked for me.

That was actually a really significant part of the hobby for me for a few years. You can search some of my older posts and see I was once very active on the classifieds. I shipped out I would estimate between 300-400 boxes of acropora over a few year time span. It got to the point that on a daily basis I spent the first 2 hours home from work boxing up orders and dropping them at FedEx before getting family dinner and stuff going. Wife and kids just kinda got used to it and every day knew it was coming. You’re right. It works really well when you can put corals in the hands of capable reefers and make the hobby a perpetual motion machine. I was selling coral out of a 10 year old system that grew acropora faster than I could cut them.

Unfortunately when we moved from that house and built a new one in 2021 I was forced to shut down entirely and was without a tank for about 2 months during the move. I upsized and had big plans to pick up right where I left off. Didn’t quite work out that way. Equipment problems galore, one issue after another in the tank biologically as well. Now that it’s finally humming, equipment is breaking down but I don’t really have the livestock to move to find replacements. It needs to also be said I am WAY out of the loop. The popular pieces are all Greek to me now (despite that most of them are all largely identical to what was popular 10 years ago, but have different names and cost 20x as much). Maybe I’ll get lucky and the tank will adapt to being skimmerless and thrive nonetheless. I don’t have high hopes.

 

[DIYreefer]

Maybe I’ll get lucky and the tank will adapt to being skimmerless and thrive nonetheless.

Mushrooms. I'm a "stick head" myself, but similarly to you, after moving to our new house I knew that it would be a while before I could start loading up on acros. So instead, I bought a cluster of jawbreakers from another member here and let them grow out for about a year before I started selling them. I tend to keep my systems clean enough for sps, but for some reason I have always been able to grow jawbreakers like weeds. Knowing this, and that there is always a decent demand for them, they were the obvious choice for me. 12 polyps turned into over 100 and I was off and running. I've got at least 100 different varieties of corals now and a large dedicated frag system that all derived from those 12 initial jawbreakers (probably have nearly 200 jawbreakers currently as well). My point being that if you feel your tank isn't going to be suitable for acros soon maybe you can shift gears toward softies that you can cultivate for the time being, and then use them to fund a new skimmer or whatever else you may need.

 

[R-balljunkie]

1992 to now. you can leave but you cannot get out. only break was when i lived in Doha, Qatar for 3 years, no good LFS (I looked). Once you're in, you cant get out...tank life.