How old can a reef really be...

[Scrappy RN]

And you weren't a failure! I'm sure that in the wild that is a decent life span for most!

 

[Paul B]

I may have it backwards that the clown is 30 and the hippo is 20. I'll check next time I talk with him!

That makes more sense but that is still impressive for the hippo. Hippo's are the only tang I like and this is the only time since my tank was set up that I don't have one. They get a little large and my copperband is larger than I would like. My tank is only 100 gallons (although I think it is really a 90) It is a 6' long tank and very little room to swim as the corals and rock extend above the water and almost hit the front glass so there is very little swimming room. I can't use another large fish but If I could, a hippo would be it.
In my tank which as I said is too small, hippo's always get HLLE after a number of years.
HLLE is not a disease but a condition and I have my own theory of what causes it as it is only on captive fish and not in the wild.
In the sea hippo tangs could grow to almost 10" which is way to large for me although they are a type of fish that stay stunted in a smaller tank. After 10 years mine stay about 5". Of course stunting a fish probably is also not a good health factor for a fish and means something is wrong. In my case, I believe it is tank size.
But If one Hippo lived for 20 or 30 years and I can only keep them for 10 or 12 years, that is a complete failure. I know in the sea they probably never reach that age due to the presence of predators on a reef, but in a tank a fish should only die of old age. That is my goal for every fish.

 

[64Ivy]

Tough question for me. Tank first went 'live' in 1998 and hasn't been empty since BUT I have had two crashes, the first of which (2010) pretty much wiped out everything except the fish. I then chose this opportunity to start from scratch; new live rock, new aquascape, new corals (of course), and a new lighting scheme and more powerheads. So my reef is either 19 or 7. Got a couple of tangs that are definately 19 though.

 

[Hilltop Aquariums]

I have some corals that I've had for over 10 years.... and are on their 3rd tank.

 

[maroun.c]

my tank has been running since close to 20 years. it had 3 upgrades/moves and recently a seam failure. over the last 11 years I have been flying for 2-3 weeks (come back in the weekend usually) per month and I reloacated 2005-2008 and tank was left running in the care of my sister and father then and since sep I have relocated again where I fly back every couple weeks for 3-4 days on average.
I have luckily never had a crash and I attribute that to redundancy, good planning, being on top of things and maybe a little luck and most important a supportive family and second half to tolerate our addiction

 

[burden2626]

i have a ??? as the tanks get older easyer to take care of or do we just gain more knowlage and better techknolagy