Life Cycle of the Average Reefer

akabryanhall · Oct 17, 2011

So I have been noticing that the life cycle for the average reefer is 2-3 years. It's around this time that my friends have gotten sick of keeping up with their tank. I totally empathise as I am around 3 years and I feel like the initial amazement of corals in general has waned significantly.
I have no plans to give up my reef or anything, I was just trying to put my finger on why I am developing apathy towards coral.
1. Maybe cause I haven't seen a new coral that blows my mind in over a year (When I first started, every coral blew my mind)
2. Haven't seen a coral that blew my mind that was as nice as the pictures in around 2 years (Utter chaos)
3. Every day seeing threads about Amazing, Ultra, Sexy, Sick, Now I've Really Done It, Hot, Insane, Crazy, Sweet, Uber, Fantastic etc. I know people need to generate buzz or make sales so I'm not hating, just over it. (Haven't clicked on one of those in an ultra minute)
4. Maybe I just initially fell in love with the newness of a world I had never known until 3 years ago, and each coral I saw I was amazed by.
5. I have had some of the best of the best come and go through my tank and what shocks me every time is how quickly it gets old to me. (This could be because I get so used to fragging and trading for more corals that nothing ever grows to colony size)

Don't know, just rambling I guess, what do you think the average reefer life cycle is/thoughts on the subject?

soccerbag · Oct 17, 2011

I'm guessing the average would be MUCH longer than that. It's going on 18 years for me and I'm still learning everyday : )

H2O · Oct 17, 2011

im going on 3 years and its just getting better and better

SoCaliReefin · Oct 17, 2011

Coming up on my 1yr mark, and hope to stay around as long as Craig has. 18yrs is very impressive man!

Aquaph8 · Oct 17, 2011

I've been at it 11 years and the excitement comes and goes depending on what's going on in my life. I have found the more you put into it the more you get out.

pumarjr · Oct 17, 2011

I've had tanks for at least 20+ years.

Madreef · Oct 17, 2011

Over 10 years here.

I enjoy reefkeeping, the corals I keep are just part of the tank.

SaltWaterDave · Oct 17, 2011

I'm coming up on 3yrs and still loving it. There has been some ups and downs with tank crashes and whatnot, but I still enjoy it every day. I've always loved fish and kept freshwater cichlids for years as a teenager and into my early 20's. I always thought SW was too hard, but its really not that different as long as you keep up on maintenance and get on a good schedule.

swissgaurd · Oct 17, 2011

going on 23 yrs here.love the challenge.

vic

Paul_N · Oct 17, 2011

I was at almost 7 for reef when I took my system down. I moved twice before and had two other tanks setup which were mostly FOWLR but tried a clam and one or two coral in the beginning, so from the beginning 17 years. I will set another system up when my life calms down in a year or so.

Honestly when I see getting out after 2-3 years the first thing that comes to mind is that they're not the "average" reefer but more like someone that tried the hobby out so it would be either a) someone that never got the hang of it and couldn't get their system stable and gave up, b) didn't realize how expensive this hobby is and just decided to get out or c) didn't realize it was this much work....lol

reef life · Oct 17, 2011

Going on over 3 years and still rather look at my 180 gal reef than watch my big flat screen. (lol)

my2girls · Oct 17, 2011

Been well over ten years for me. I consider myself a "lifer".

I think many reefers are only in it for the buzz. Their tanks are basically living stamp/coin collections. I hate that about this hobby. The reefers that actually enjoy corals as living animals are usually the ones who stay in it longer.

For the record, I've never clicked on those sexy, ultra, fake, hyped, photoshopped threads.

MattL22 · Oct 17, 2011

For me sps has kept me interested because u can buy super nice frags for around $75 some more but nothing like these crazy chalices and scolys etc...

droblack · Oct 17, 2011

I've been tanking for about 18 years, and reefing for 10. Always learning, and changing my focus. This keeps it interesting, and the idea now is to perfect my skills and simplify my setup.

Different things can burn people out or turn them away from the lifestyle, such as a tank crash or series of semi-serious reef related fender benders. Sometimes a tank becomes no longer aesthetically pleasing to the owner. Hard to stay motivated when the tank looks like BP and Exxon had a mishap nearby. Maintenance is another factor that turns many people away. It can get old doing water changes and doing regular maintenance, much less battling ich, algaes, aiptasia, aefw, monti nudis, redbugs, rogue crabs, and psycho fish that just can't get along. Many of us get in over our heads, and then head for the hills when the going gets tough. Others just want a new challenge, or to spend their money in another way. Some just want to be able to go on vacation without feeling irrational levels of anxiety. Funny thing is, everyone I know that has got out of reefing swears they will be back.

_sludgefactory · Oct 17, 2011

Going on 5 years here and I love getting new stuff and upgrading my system and watching my pieces grow into huge colonies. Most that happens with me is I get sick of a coral and trade it or sell it to get something new. Like just recent I cut all my big colonies way back. I only had like 7 sps colonies but they are all 5+ inches. So I cut em all down and bought 17 new pieces from mr. coral!
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AZDesertRat · Oct 17, 2011

I'm going on 25 years and still have some of my original corals from my very first system as wel las a Sebae anemone that is almost 22 years in my nano tanks. The secret is stability for me. I don't constantly mess with things, if it looks happy I leave it alone and never make big changes. Only bad things happen quickly in this hobby so do things slowly and monitor everything you do for signs of stress or problems. Its 30 years with saltwater community tanks as I had 5 years before venturing into reefkeeping.

stylaster · Oct 17, 2011

over 20 years here and there are times when i want to toss the whole mess because of a crash or so dumb mistake i made and ended up killing things. I think the longest i went was about a 1 year hiatus and then couldnt take it any longer and went back in. So there are really some ups and downs, but i think for the most part we never do really quit

Dowtish · Oct 17, 2011

great thread! just commenting that I needed to read this tonight, as I am battling little white spots.:neutral:

Troylee · Oct 17, 2011

I'm at the 4 year mark and don't want to give up but the flame has been exstingused.... Between the crappy economy, losing my job and now losing all my sps I really wanna hang the gloves up.... If I wasn't doing a grow out I prolly would have by now...

. For now these chalices have kept me going and hopefully a job pops up and I can grab a can of gas and a blow torch and light this baby back up haha!!!!! :tongue: