The next BIG thing...? Think before you leap!

[Nano sapiens]

Great responses by all! Loving your wisdom and insight!

Thanks for your participation!

Scott

P.S.- Just had to put up this pick of a coral that always catches my attention...A Blastomussa morph we call the "Wicked" Blasto...I just love how it looks...We put one up tonight, and the pic is as exceptional as the coral, I think!

Eye candy for the evening...

Wow, that is a nice Blasto!

 

[uniquecorals]

I wish I'd read this a week ago... :angel:

Yeah, Marc, I think you just started the hobby with a 4 gallon nano last week. I can't believe how impatient you are...setting up that monster so fast..LOL

Great pic of one of my favorite and IMO one of the most well-thought-out tanks around!

-Scott

 

[FL_Reefer]

Great write up, again. For some reason or another I went big with my first tank. Only knowing what the research I read for months told me about keeping a successful reef tank, no one had told me what it actually took to keep it going, ie, for one thing, how much 220 gallons of water actually is. Lol, how much water it will evaporate a day, cleaning the bottom of the glass of a 30'' deep tank, and so on and so on. Trust me I not complaining at all because it is something I love and really do enjoy the hours I spend with my tank and all of the animals inside it. All I'm saying is that it is a lot of work to keep everything happy and in check. Luckily for me I had the expertise of a good friend that has been in the hobby and the saltwater business for quite some time now. The only advice that I can give is some that was already said, know the reality of what you are getting into and if your not up for the challenge then don't do it and start off smaller, but if you are then go for it!

 

[melev]

Yeah, Marc, I think you just started the hobby with a 4 gallon nano last week. I can't believe how impatient you are...setting up that monster so fast..LOL

Great pic of one of my favorite and IMO one of the most well-thought-out tanks around!

-Scott

Thanks Scott. I'll be getting some Unique frags soon I'm sure.

 

[nayrgaijin]

I very much so enjoy your columns, Scott.
Thank you for the insight

 

[chrisryherd]

great write up. I have a 29 nano cube, up and running for 2 years now. I am currently building a 220 system. Lots to think about.

 

[Squishie89]

It is kind of funny. With just the title in mind, it reminded me of me the past ~6 months. I started dreaming of tanks to have when I moved out. I will be getting a house because I want to settle down quickly and my choices of animals are not good for moving around. My imagination went wild and I came up with a 600g FOWLR, a 300g predator and a 300g reef, a long with a fish room with another few species tanks and QTs. As I started looking at the logistics like, it would be A WHOLE BOX of salt to do just a water change on the FOWLR. It takes me almost 2 months right now to get through a box of salt, so a box a week-2 weeks really made it click for me that I may need to scale back my dreams.

 

[VicD81]

Reminds me when I worked at a Petshop in Central Fl. Some dude came talking about how they just saw Finding Nemo and his son want "Nemo" now. He then asked whats a good size bowl to put him in. Thats right a BOWL! After we told him its a SW fish and you cant keep it in a bowl he replied "Its ok I just want him to have it and if anything ill get another"! So after we refused to sell I to him he got angry yelled a bit and stormed out! Heartless Dirtbags!!!

 

[bettababy]

VicD81 Your post reminds me of the Nemo craze and I still cringe when I think about it. The store where I used to work went through that exact same scenario repeatedly for almost a full year after that movie came out. I couldn't even count the number of people who came in wanting to put "Nemo" in a bowl and then got angry and threw a fit in the store when we refused such a sale. One woman in particular still stands out for me... she came in with her 3 kids, all under the age of 10, and kept insisting that it was HER money to spend however she saw fit, thus we HAD to sell her whatever she wanted. All I could do was laugh at her as I told her they were MY fish and I could refuse any sale I saw fit. What a nightmare that movie caused for the fish hobby/industry. I hope everyone is prepared for what the new Dori movie will bring when it is released this winter. :-( I am picturing something similar with the hepatus tangs and whatever other fish are featured in the new movie. The Nemo movie brought many requests for us to order moorish idols, starfish, and puffer fish so people could attempt to replicate the tank in the movie. Trying to explain to someone who is totally clueless that a porcupine puffer is not compatible with nemo in real life was a nightmare, but most especially not in a bowl or a 10 gallon tank. Ugh! It was that sort of stuff that finally contributed to me quitting my job and swearing to never work retail in the pet industry again... after 20+ yrs in it, I'd finally had enough.

 

[Velodog2]

Love your insightful articles! After going the other direction from big to small I contend that the perceived "advantage" of bigger tanks can also be a problem, especially for inexperienced reefers. Their large volume and resilience is great for hiding ongoing mistakes for a long time. Thinking all is well, there is no correction of course. Then, when the problems do appear, the same large volume makes fixing the problem much harder and more uncertain. I can easily fix almost any problem in my nano with a couple of 50% water changes.

 

[VicD81]

VicD81 Your post reminds me of the Nemo craze and I still cringe when I think about it. The store where I used to work went through that exact same scenario repeatedly for almost a full year after that movie came out. I couldn't even count the number of people who came in wanting to put "Nemo" in a bowl and then got angry and threw a fit in the store when we refused such a sale. One woman in particular still stands out for me... she came in with her 3 kids, all under the age of 10, and kept insisting that it was HER money to spend however she saw fit, thus we HAD to sell her whatever she wanted. All I could do was laugh at her as I told her they were MY fish and I could refuse any sale I saw fit. What a nightmare that movie caused for the fish hobby/industry. I hope everyone is prepared for what the new Dori movie will bring when it is released this winter. :-( I am picturing something similar with the hepatus tangs and whatever other fish are featured in the new movie. The Nemo movie brought many requests for us to order moorish idols, starfish, and puffer fish so people could attempt to replicate the tank in the movie. Trying to explain to someone who is totally clueless that a porcupine puffer is not compatible with nemo in real life was a nightmare, but most especially not in a bowl or a 10 gallon tank. Ugh! It was that sort of stuff that finally contributed to me quitting my job and swearing to never work retail in the pet industry again... after 20+ yrs in it, I'd finally had enough.

Im not going to lie ive wanted a reef tank forever but that movie made me want one even more. I cant imagine how many people out there who never even kept simple FW fish wanted to go SW!

PS. I didnt even know there was a Dori movie coming out!

 

[indyjaco]

I went from a BC29 to 75 to 125 all in a year. It was fun to do and with tons of research it has gone fine for me. I still can't keep Acans and SPS alive, but I am trying.

I have been on quite the self imposed budget. I want to go 300+ someday, but would like to learn SPS first.

 

[CastAway]

Cynical; pretentious even, but that’s just me, mid leap. :neutral:

 

[bettababy]

Im not going to lie ive wanted a reef tank forever but that movie made me want one even more. I cant imagine how many people out there who never even kept simple FW fish wanted to go SW!

PS. I didnt even know there was a Dori movie coming out!

It looks like they've pushed back the release date on it and I'm not complaining one bit, lol. Here's a link to the trailer for it...
Finding Dory (2016) Official Trailer - Disney | Pixar on Vimeo

As much as my family and I want to see the movie, I am truly dreading what further damage it poses to the industry and hobby. I shudder to think about how many more fish will die because of another movie such as this. I've written to Disney productions a few times asking them to please include something at the beginning of the movie to help protect the live animals from spontaneous purchases as a result of their movies but I never get any response from them. I used to have a lot of respect for Disney productions, until they ignored my pleas to help us save all of these animals that were being sold and dying because people were streaming into pet stores trying to put Nemo into a bowl... and a lot of stores were allowing it to happen because all they saw was the $$ pouring in. Aside from the many customers I personally turned away, I also helped many who came in complaining about their dead Nemo and how the whole family was freaking out about it. They wanted to buy replacements until they found out why their Nemo died. Upon hearing what it would cost to set up a proper habitat for Nemo and what maintenance it would require, most of them get quite upset. Some of them had the nerve to blame the pet stores for not warning people that it wasn't as "simple" as it appeared to be in the movie. <sigh> Our store even tried to help in that regard, assembling a "Nemo set up" and offering it at a slightly discounted price along with FREE classes on how to set things up and what it would take to maintain... but we had very few people even interested in either the set up or the classes, they continued to want the fishbowl set ups for Nemo instead. All I could do was shake my head. It's sad, the influence tv can have on it's viewers, and even sadder how few of them are willing to do what's right for the animals or learn what they need to learn before jumping in with both feet and pocketbook. I got so sick of having to tell people, "I'm sorry, but you can NOT set up a proper habitat for Nemo for $20 or less."

 

[Jenna X]

You always have a way with words and interesting topics to boot. :smile:

I haven't made the big leap yet but I'm being mindful of how I spend my time in this hobby. To me research is everything, I refuse to put anything on my tank without spending time learning about it whether it is a coral or new fish. Started from 8g and moved up to 29g, so far no complaints. Once my career is in motion and have more time to spare, I'll make a jump to 125g until then I'm enjoying my lil piece of the ocean.