Throwing In The Towel...

[Megaloptera]

Good Morning Reef2Reefers,

I've got a project that I'm working on for a class and would love R2R's input. QUESTION: What HOBBY RELATED factor has made you (or someone you know) want to quit, take a break, or quit reefing altogether? I would like to stress the "hobby relatedness" of this poll. I am wishing to leave out factors such as: job change, health issues, family care, or loss of income. I did leave a option for "other" responses, if you do choose "other" feel free to elaborate

After my assignment is complete I'll be sure to post the outcome of my project here for some "peer review."

Thanks.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Part of research is asking the right questions. You have asked some great ones! It might be interesting to know how many just buy as a fad and get bored and drop out. I see lots of aquariums at yard sales or just sitting outside the house. Hope your research shows enough sample to get a good result.

 

[Megaloptera]

Part of research is asking the right questions. You have asked some great ones! It might be interesting to know how many just buy as a fad and get bored and drop out. I see lots of aquariums at yard sales or just sitting outside the house. Hope your research shows enough sample to get a good result.

Thanks, I've added boredom/lost interest as an option. Great idea.

 

[bnord]

Algae for me, but not throwing in the towel for the hobby, but "that tank". have torn one down, and reassembled (with good success) a 15 g

good luck with yours and PRESERVER!

 

[kados]

I chose "Other". Reefing restricted my fish selection. 15 years on the saltwater side now and have found way more satisfaction on bigger non-reef safe fish than corals. I admire the beauty of reefs through others tanks. My multiple tanks each ended up as fowlr tanks now.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Good Morning Reef2Reefers,

I've got a project that I'm working on for a class and would love R2R's input. QUESTION: What HOBBY RELATED factor has made you (or someone you know) want to quit, take a break, or quit reefing altogether? I would like to stress the "hobby relatedness" of this poll. I am wishing to leave out factors such as: job change, health issues, family care, or loss of income. I did leave a option for "other" responses, if you do choose "other" feel free to elaborate

After my assignment is complete I'll be sure to post the outcome of my project here for some "peer review."

Thanks.

How about adding to the pole? Just not good at it, as that will probably be the case foremost who quit

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

This hobby constantly teeters on Go Full Throttle or quit. Going full throttle and meeting unforseen circumstances will end the hobby pretty quickly. There isn't much of a middle ground in my opinion. Either are you full in or you're out.

 

[docforestal]

After 12 years in the hobby I finally splurged and got a 200 gallon, super careful and patient in the setup (other than fish quarantine) good for 6 months and ich wiped them out, just getting back 10 years later, but will try to be more resilient with any setbacks

 

[Erasmus Crowley]

It seems like this question suffers from survivorship bias. It reminds me a lot of this story.

The responses you get on this poll are not going to be from people who quit. If someone really fully quits the hobby, they'll almost certainly stop reading these forums.

So the people that are responding are either people who took a break and came back, or people who ran into issues that made them think about quitting, but then they ultimately decided to keep going.

If a catastrophic event exists that has a 100% chance to drive a person out of the hobby, no one would report it on the poll because they would already be gone.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For me, after 40 years. . . . Its a hobby you dont leave because:

 

[FishyDP]

How about adding to the pole? Just not good at it, as that will probably be the case foremost who quit

+1 on "not good at it" or difficulty level as being a likely reason many people quit. Speaking to fellow reefers at lfs' over the last few years and having a friend or 2 who started reef tanks after being in fw for years, this seems to be a common reason people get out of the reef/sw hobby, or switch to fowlr. I have heard many new sw hobbyist say "I just can't keep coral alive" or .. "fw is so much easier, all I have to do are regular water changes and feed my fish". I selected algae, as this was a huge problem for me in the beginning and very frustrating. It was a close tie with pests as my only tank crash, so far, was due to red planaria flatworms and treating it too fast killing off half my livestock. The algae was an ongoing issue and the flatworms were a one time event. I did not throw in the towel, but it crossed my mind.

I have been out of the hobby for almost a year and a half now due to moving. I did just drill a 125g and broke out the endless boxes of equipment I had in storage, so will see what challenges I run into starting from scratch.

 

[o2manyfish]

I was literrally born with a fish tank in my nursery. I've had a salt water tank in my life since the 2nd grade. I've had my own salt water tank since starting college in 86.

After a tank disaster 15 years ago, I turned off the lights and most of the equipment and just ignored the tank for almost 9 months. I didn't contemplate quitting and getting rid of the tank as much as just didn't have the heart to get back into it. But then a Cancer Diagnosis convinced me I needed my tank to keep me calm as I dealt with life.

I had a 400g tank for almost 20 years (which had had the disaster 15 years ago). Last March, almost a year ago, on St Pattys day, we treated for Planaria using Salifert Flatworm Exit, at a 75% dosage. And in 45 minutes over 120 fish fell out of the water column dead on the bottom of the tank.

As if this wasn't heart breaking enough, 30 hours later the seam on a 18 month old 340g glass sump blew a corner seam. The topoff came on to fill the sump, continuned trying to fill the sump while the water was pouring out the corner and eventually turn the system from salt water to kinda bracking and wiped out the corals. Our system was 1350g at the time with not only a packed 560g display tank with SPS, but (2) 180g frag tanks packed with SPS.

The loss of corals was 99.5%. It was another devestating blow.

It was about 2-3 weeks before I could grasp the devestation that occurred. The Loss of life, the loss of time, the loss of energy was just unimaginable. We had one Milka Stylophora colony that we had grown from a frag to a 35lb colony. The financial loss was astronomical, but irrelevant.

I said to my wife, I think this is a sign that it might be time to take a break from the hobby. My wife immediately said "No". She said you go get the new tank you've been talking about, and you build the tank you want.

So 4 months later a new 750g tank got craned over the house. The wife was somewhat shocked, she thought we were going to be getting a new 500-600g tank. She had not idea that we would need a crane for the new tank.

So to answer your simple poll question - Yes due to a Pest and Equipment Failure within 30hrs of each other made me contemplate quitting the hobby.

Dave B

 

[exnisstech]

Maybe allow more than one vote? I have a considered stepping aside because a tank was over run with algae. Another time was when I had velvet wipe out most of my fish. My family always manages to talk me out of quiting.

 

[Reeflix]

i dont think i will ever not have a tank within 100 feet of myself! i love this hobby soo much, but i had my fish all get killed with velvet, that was the time that my family was like, ok if you want to quit, this is the time to do it! (i thought about that for 2 seconds) i am terrified of pest algae, or vermitids and stuff like that. but i dont think i will want to leave

 

[vabben]

The cost is a big one. But algae, pests, and the additional maintenance to deal with them are tough too.

My tank has gone from beautiful to cyano, to an ich outbreak and all fish dying, to GHA, to a clean beautiful stocked tank, BAM Dinos, all SPS dead and covered by dinos.

 

[Megaloptera]

I chose "Other". Reefing restricted my fish selection. 15 years on the saltwater side now and have found way more satisfaction on bigger non-reef safe fish than corals. I admire the beauty of reefs through others tanks. My multiple tanks each ended up as fowlr tanks now.

Great option. I think this is when people start buying multiple tanks.

 

[Megaloptera]

How about adding to the pole? Just not good at it, as that will probably be the case foremost who quit

Thanks, I'm going to refrain from adding that option since I feel that is related more on the challenged person rather than a challenge from the hobby. So, I guess the current poll should be the answer to why the person wasn't good at it. Example: too cheep to spend on necessary items like test kits or "pests" because they wouldn't set up a quarantine tank.

 

[Dburr1014]

When my divorce was imminent, sold everything off and bought a road bicycle.
Got me in shape, cleared my head, and got my mind off other stuff.
So for me it was the maintenance of it all.

 

[Megaloptera]

This hobby constantly teeters on Go Full Throttle or quit. Going full throttle and meeting unforseen circumstances will end the hobby pretty quickly. There isn't much of a middle ground in my opinion. Either are you full in or you're out.

I think when people are "Full Throttle" to failure they probably are also equating full throttle meaning fast as well. Lots of extra challenges happen then, which add to the complexity of the level of commitment.

 

[Megaloptera]

After 12 years in the hobby I finally splurged and got a 200 gallon, super careful and patient in the setup (other than fish quarantine) good for 6 months and ich wiped them out, just getting back 10 years later, but will try to be more resilient with any setbacks

Bummer about the ich. I hate that for you. Glad you are back at it though.