I want to see the ugly.

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

I feel like all I see is pristine setups. I want to see the ugly areas, you know, where you put your old tanks/equipment, chemical storage, buckets and that sort of stuff. I have a an area of my garage that sometimes gets cluttered with fish supplies and I want to see if anyone else has a little place of aquarium shame.

glb · Jul 19, 2017

This made me laugh. I wish I could help you but I'm OCD!

DeniseAndy · Jul 19, 2017

Oh so many. I will try to get a pic if I can.

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

glb said:
This made me laugh. I wish I could help you but I'm OCD!

Right now my fish place would make you faint. It looked great two months ago but lately it's been getting messy and it's the the first time I've had to rearrange it.

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

DeniseAndy said:
Oh so many. I will try to get a pic if I can.

I'll share mine too, it's only fair.

Husker · Jul 19, 2017

"The ugly" was my entire 40 breeder right before transferring to my new tank. Switched lights, alk spiked, pretty much all my Acros died and a nutrient spike led to a bunch of cyano. I hate to be guilty of only showing the best on the internet, but some things I'd rather forget than document..ha.

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

Husker said:
"The ugly" was my entire 40 breeder right before transferring to my new tank. Switched lights, alk spiked, pretty much all my Acros died and a nutrient spike led to a bunch of cyano. I hate to be guilty of only showing the best on the internet, but some things I'd rather forget than document..ha.

I hear you. I went a month with nothing in my coral qt and I didn't do any maintenance and left the light o. Their cycle so the cuc would have food... I don't have a picture but it was pretty much a green/brown box when I did finally clean it.

glb · Jul 19, 2017

My nano crashed but I don't have any pics. Maybe that counts for ugly.

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

glb said:
My nano crashed but I don't have any pics. Maybe that counts for ugly.

How did it crash?

glb · Jul 19, 2017

greenhorn reefer said:
How did it crash?

A combination of neglect, chloramines, and some mystery.

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

this is my ugly.

Tsev03 · Jul 19, 2017

Mine is so bad I don't want to show anyone

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

Tsev03 said:
Mine is so bad I don't want to show anyone

I always knew I wasn't alone but seeing some peoples amazing setups I began to doubt myself.

Tsev03 · Jul 19, 2017

I do the same thing. If only I was OCD I'll try to get it all organized then I can't find something and make a mess trying to find something. And maybe st of mine is in a bed room. Then I have a garage full of tanks. The picture is after I tried to organize it. Was so much worse before

greenhorn reefer · Jul 19, 2017

Tsev03 said:
I do the same thing. If only I was OCD I'll try to get it all organized then I can't find something and make a mess trying to find something. And maybe st of mine is in a bed room. Then I have a garage full of tanks. The picture is after I tried to organize it. Was so much worse before

I am planning on organizing it all again but figured I'd share my mess. It's so funny how much effort goes into keeping reef tanks and sw fish. People who aren't in the hobby always say "salt water, that's a lot of work, right?" I always say "depends on what you want out of it." If I didn't care half as much I would have half as much clutter and would have significantly less work on the tanks. In the end, when I'm watching my tank just before the light finish, I think it's all worth it.

Flippers4pups · Jul 19, 2017

greenhorn reefer said:
this is my ugly.

That's not bad!

Forsaken77 · Jul 19, 2017

greenhorn reefer said:
I always knew I wasn't alone but seeing some peoples amazing setups I began to doubt myself.

I'm right there with ya, lol. I have 3 different places I store fish stuff that's all a mess. I'm also in a transitioning phase so I have boxes of 240 pounds of live sand, boxes of 180 pounds of CaribSea Life Rock, boxes of equipment, ect....

I also tend to keep the boxes for things I buy so if I change or switch things around, I just put the old thing back in its box.

I have a small 2'x2'x6' tall skinny shed meant for shovels and rakes that has shelves full of pumps and anything not prone to hot or cold temps that's sitting on my back patio, lol. I have more crap that I'm not using than stuff I am.

Skebor · Jul 19, 2017

greenhorn reefer said:
this is my ugly.

The middle picture looks like something from fallout4 lol... even has some quantum nuka cola!

greenhorn reefer · Jul 20, 2017

I also tend to keep the boxes for things I buy so if I change or switch things around, I just put the old thing back in its box.

I do the same, too right in the cabinet.