Hobby Depressed: What gets you FIRED back up?

revhtree · Feb 27, 2020

Hobby Depressed: What gets you FIRED back up?

As a new hobbyist I was excited all the time. It really didn't take much. But as time goes by the excitement can wain and the passion can run lukewarm. But what if you want to get motivated again? What if you want to be passionate again? What does it take and what do you do to get there? Start with a cup of coffee and then go from there.

For me lately it doesn't take a lot to get me down and out in the hobby. YES I struggle at times. When you battle a dinoflagellate outbreak for a year and then now a super hair algae villain it can really get you "hobby depressed" so to speak! But just as quick as I get down, something comes along to get me fired back up again and next thing you know I'll be performing water changes and pulling loads of hair algae and I'll be on top of the mountain again.

For me it's simple. Beautiful reef tanks. All I need to do is start looking at other people's success stories knowing that it's not an impossible task and anything worth having, at times, faces adversity. So yes a beautiful FTS normally gets my passion engine revving and rolling again!

So what about you? Let's talk about that today! Answer me this:

What does it take to get you from "hobby depressed" to excited, passionate and fired back up again about your reef tank?

Fishy212 · Feb 27, 2020

Finding things I had no idea existed in the tank always gives me the yips. I Love finding organisms that only come out during the blackness of night.... observing the controlled chaos so to speak.

Acroalan · Feb 27, 2020

Visiting with fellow reefers and talking to someone else with the same obsession for keeping acros and other corals always gives me a bump in enthusiasm. Forums like this help, and seeing pictures of other people's tanks are good. But nothing beats going to pick up a frag from a fellow reefer and chatting about their tanks and their struggles is gold.

rfgonzo · Feb 27, 2020

This happens to me every year when Summer comes, I lose interest in my tanks. Then a few month go by and Fall/Winter come back I get Fired back up. Then I spend the whole time getting everything back up and running perfectly. Only to neglect again in the Summer. HAHA

mitch91175 · Feb 27, 2020

With having a stable system and everything growing nicely, I'm not nearly as fired up as I was when getting everything going. Once a tank can maintain itself, you essentially are doing minimal work to the system so not enough there to be fired up about.

It is exciting seeing coral/fish do well and not need to spend money to keep replacing dead stuff though

Now once the Mastetronic is released I'll get fired up again.

WVNed · Feb 27, 2020

Little plastic bags with live things in them that come in the mail.
I need a fix man.

Reefer40b · Feb 27, 2020

New corals are always exciting!! Seeing daily growth always gets me happy!

Mattman1977 · Feb 27, 2020

Solving a issue with my tank get me fired up and always justifies a rewards trip to lfs.

Matt

Larry L · Feb 27, 2020

What always works for me to get my enthusiasm back up is to go to a local club meeting, or go to a conference!

bigdrew · Feb 27, 2020

It's the constant discovery that keeps me fired up. I planned to have a softy only tank...which I have done, if it weren't for the "freebie" SPS that showed up on a clove polyp frag. On top of that, with the recent addition of more hermits and emerald crabs, I discovered that my Alk has been dropping into the 6's. Calcium was really low too. I am now seriously exploring dosing Kalkwasser. I intended to never dose with a softy only tank. Well, with this info, I am actually excited at the prospect of now dipping my toe into that "dosing" world. Water changes are no longer solving the depletion of alk and calcium. What a fun "problem" to have. Ha!

stAlphonzo · Feb 27, 2020

I was hobby depressed for the better part of last year because of the confluence of several setbacks all at once. I got fired up again over the last few months and things are taking a turn for the better. I wish I knew exactly what caused the change but I think it came down to some raw innate determination coupled with actually have lives at stake. I just got tired of having an embarrassingly ugly box of water near my desk and realized that tearing it down wasn't really an option that would make me feel good. So, I'm back to being excited and ready to fix the problems I had. I guess since that flame was sparked again, it's the education process that's keeping my interested and motivated. There really is so much to learn and so many little things that combine to make things work. I like working through that kind of stuff.

danieyella · Feb 27, 2020

Rediscovering a frag I tossed in the back corner ("graveyard") and seeing that it came back to life always gets me excited again.

I started taking monthly photos the beginning of each month, sometimes just digging through the archive and seeing the progress is enough.

When I get into a slump lately I've been using the time to deep clean a device or part of my sump and seeing it all sparkly again is rejuvenating!

knowen87 · Feb 27, 2020

Nothing is more depressing than watching all your work deteriorate and even worse is when you don't know why. My interest definitely ebbs and flows. I think the easier to maintain the better. Auto water changes were definitely a major change for me. I have never had as good of a tank as I do right now.

l_jesse_l · Feb 27, 2020

I’ve had a reef tank sense 1980. What keeps me excited is the continuous self challenges. Like balancing lps and sps. Or like which fish provide best environments and co-exists together. Also the everyday water quality. All in all it’s a great hobby.

LA Reef Addict · Feb 27, 2020

Hobby Depressed: What gets you FIRED back up?

Me: Alcohol

scvc620 · Feb 27, 2020

Life got in the way and my tank suffered greatly. Walked by it about October last year and decided to get off my behind and get it back in gear. Going slow, but the rewards are there and I am so excited to see the progress I have made. Found a couple of frags I didn't know were even still in there, new lights, new torch coral, new fish. And my little bitty acan is now about the size of a nickel. To many that is not much, but I am thrilled!! Thanks to all of the help I have received from these forums. You gals and guys are the best!

dcraigj · Feb 27, 2020

I became Hobby Depressed when I had equipment failure. I lost some livestock that had just started to take off. I struggled getting everything back online only to unexpectedly have to move. Due to the move I basically had to start from scratch. That was a year ago. Since then I've been fighting everything that goes with setting up a new tank. I can't seem to get my tank healthy again. Last week one of my fish that I've had for several years decided to get himself stuck on and MP40 and died. The cost of building and maintaining a tank also seems to be increasing. The equipment that failed was only a little over a year old and wasn't cheap. It's so frustrating when you spend so much money on equipment thinking your getting good products only for it to fail. I want to enjoy the hobby again, hopefully I can regain control soon.

sarcophytonIndy · Feb 27, 2020

No nuisance algae. Corals growing like crazy. No fish losses

Popkorn0407 · Feb 27, 2020

Im fire up when i set up a tank find the perfect flow light, perfect gears, fight algea fight bacteria bloom read about everything but now 7 year reefing the tank is full everything is growing everything is healty everything is color full and the tank is full full full, cant put even a tiny frag in it. So im not fire up annymore but still exited about my reef, i will fire up again when i will start new reef.

James Emory · Feb 27, 2020

revhtree said:
Hobby Depressed: What gets you FIRED back up?

As a new hobbyist I was excited all the time. It really didn't take much. But as time goes by the excitement can wain and the passion can run lukewarm. But what if you want to get motivated again? What if you want to be passionate again? What does it take and what do you do to get there? Start with a cup of coffee and then go from there.

For me lately it doesn't take a lot to get me down and out in the hobby. YES I struggle at times. When you battle a dinoflagellate outbreak for a year and then now a super hair algae villain it can really get you "hobby depressed" so to speak! But just as quick as I get down, something comes along to get me fired back up again and next thing you know I'll be performing water changes and pulling loads of hair algae and I'll be on top of the mountain again.

For me it's simple. Beautiful reef tanks. All I need to do is start looking at other people's success stories knowing that it's not an impossible task and anything worth having, at times, faces adversity. So yes a beautiful FTS normally gets my passion engine revving and rolling again!

So what about you? Let's talk about that today! Answer me this:

What does it take to get you from "hobby depressed" to excited, passionate and fired back up again about your reef tank?

I'm not really fired up. It seems one problem after the next. First I fight off nuisance algae and then Cyano and back to algae and back to cyano. Its crazy for an understocked tank, great skimmer and use Chemi Pure. Pretty soon I'll throw in the towel.