d2mini
5000 Club Member
What a crazy hobby! 
It seems like there is never a single answer to anything.
It's expensive.
A single, simple mistake can cost us hundreds if not thousands of dollars, not to mention the loss of life forms.
It can be frustrating and down right disheartening.
It can cause jealousy amongst spouses.
It's a lot of hard work and time consuming.
But we keep coming back!
That takes passion.
What is it about the hobby that manages to keep YOU sucked in through all the ups and downs?
For me, there's a couple things.
First, it's the creative aspect (right brain). I've always been a creative, artistic person. My job depends on it. My life pretty much revolves around creativity. Creating a living reef in box is not far from creating a painting on a canvas, designing a new look for a line of beverage packaging, landscaping your home, building a bicycle from the frame up, restoring an old car... Instead of brushes and paints, your medium and tools are rock, substrate, coral, and fish. No two aquariums are alike and no matter how much you plan, the end result can be drastically different from where you started out. That's always amazing.
I also like to create/build things/problem solve (left brain) ... getting my hands dirty. In this case, I love starting with an empty space, finding the perfect spot, figuring out the best size and shape, deciding on materials, picking out the equipment, designing the plumbing, organizing the stand or fish room, etc. I would never just go to the store, find a tank/stand, and then bring it home and figure out where to put it. That just seems backwards to me! Nor would I wand to hire a maintenance company/lfs to put it all together for me. This is half the fun!
I also get to combine my love for photography with this hobby, which many of us do. The colors, shapes, details, etc lend itself so well. You are taking something amazing that you created and creating something else out of it. Bonus!
Second, it's the challenge aspect that I like, and the great sense of accomplishment when I succeed.
I started off this thread with what probably comes across as a bit of negativity, but in reality I like to think of it more as a very "challenging" hobby. Learning from my mistakes, learning from all of you, giving back some of that knowledge gained over the years, watching things thrive because of all the hard work and effort I've put in or watching a situation go from bad to good. Starting with a bare tank and then seeing a thriving reef full of colorful coral a couple years later is just insane. The rewards for all your hard work can be astounding.
So what keeps the passion alive for you?!
It seems like there is never a single answer to anything.
It's expensive.
A single, simple mistake can cost us hundreds if not thousands of dollars, not to mention the loss of life forms.
It can be frustrating and down right disheartening.
It can cause jealousy amongst spouses.
It's a lot of hard work and time consuming.
But we keep coming back!
That takes passion.
What is it about the hobby that manages to keep YOU sucked in through all the ups and downs?
For me, there's a couple things.
First, it's the creative aspect (right brain). I've always been a creative, artistic person. My job depends on it. My life pretty much revolves around creativity. Creating a living reef in box is not far from creating a painting on a canvas, designing a new look for a line of beverage packaging, landscaping your home, building a bicycle from the frame up, restoring an old car... Instead of brushes and paints, your medium and tools are rock, substrate, coral, and fish. No two aquariums are alike and no matter how much you plan, the end result can be drastically different from where you started out. That's always amazing.
I also like to create/build things/problem solve (left brain) ... getting my hands dirty. In this case, I love starting with an empty space, finding the perfect spot, figuring out the best size and shape, deciding on materials, picking out the equipment, designing the plumbing, organizing the stand or fish room, etc. I would never just go to the store, find a tank/stand, and then bring it home and figure out where to put it. That just seems backwards to me! Nor would I wand to hire a maintenance company/lfs to put it all together for me. This is half the fun!
I also get to combine my love for photography with this hobby, which many of us do. The colors, shapes, details, etc lend itself so well. You are taking something amazing that you created and creating something else out of it. Bonus!
Second, it's the challenge aspect that I like, and the great sense of accomplishment when I succeed.
I started off this thread with what probably comes across as a bit of negativity, but in reality I like to think of it more as a very "challenging" hobby. Learning from my mistakes, learning from all of you, giving back some of that knowledge gained over the years, watching things thrive because of all the hard work and effort I've put in or watching a situation go from bad to good. Starting with a bare tank and then seeing a thriving reef full of colorful coral a couple years later is just insane. The rewards for all your hard work can be astounding.
So what keeps the passion alive for you?!
no kidding here, more or less.
