What do you hate about reefkeeping?

[jimfish98]

I am still less than a year In with my first tank, and I already hate how “copy-and-paste” rules the reefing hobby. I have a few years of freshwater experience, and there is a million completely different types of freshwater tanks, and different ways to do each one. I think the freshwater culture is less concerned with what everyone else is doing. You can be the aquascaper, or the apistogramma nerd, or the domestic betta parent: reefs though, are too similar for me.

And then the weird mix of elitism and equipment prices. Everything has to be ecotech, or it’s not really reefing

This statement hits. When I started my first reef I was told everything I "needed" in the tank and "needed" to be successful. Failed hard despite putting in a lot of work and listening to folks, closed it down. When I started my small tank, I treated it like how I run my FW set ups....I kept it simple and with a bare bottom. Tank has been great and now the large tank is converted back to a reef tank an again bare bottom and another application of K.I.S.S......So far so good and far easier than the last go around. FW however pulls the same stuff, just not as much as there are folks always proving people wrong.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Gatekeeping and toxicity in the community. It's getting a little ridiculous at this point, IMO.

 

[jft]

The Bs, The Misinformation and the hype That there is ONLY one way, The crap about Canister filters when I have run eheims 30 plus years on multiple reefs with SUCCESS! The skimmers THAT you have to again buy their pumps made to last a few short years. The Myriad of supplements YOU DO Not NEED!!! I could go on but I will save you all !

 

[Rubymoon286]

I've become disabled in the last few years, and sometimes have to use a wheel chair on my bad leg days. Most LFS/fish shows aren't set up in a way that I'm able to see everything, and frankly even when I do bring crutches to stand and look into tanks, the employees and other customers are often impatient with me, or worse, treat me like I'm an idiot because I can't always walk.

I've had kids who haven't been in the hobby explain basic principles to me in a slow and loud voice and even been told that corals I've kept for years are "too advanced for someone like you"

The idea that you have to be able bodied to keep a reef feeds into a lot of the gate keeping in the hobby.

 

[Hhaynie]

This statement hits. When I started my first reef I was told everything I "needed" in the tank and "needed" to be successful. Failed hard despite putting in a lot of work and listening to folks, closed it down. When I started my small tank, I treated it like how I run my FW set ups....I kept it simple and with a bare bottom. Tank has been great and now the large tank is converted back to a reef tank an again bare bottom and another application of K.I.S.S......So far so good and far easier than the last go around. FW however pulls the same stuff, just not as much as there are folks always proving people wrong.

YES! It makes no sense to me that reefs have to be so precise and convoluted for beginners. my 20g has an HOB filter running filter sponges and polyfilter, depends on live rock and sand for biomedia, and is home to one orchid dottyback named Bill. why does every article say I need a 300 dollar light to think about growing coral? And for what? A mixed reef that looks just like any other? The “fruit stand” look is overdone. A waving field of gsp is way more appealing to me than a bramble of acroporas.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I've become disabled in the last few years, and sometimes have to use a wheel chair on my bad leg days. Most LFS/fish shows aren't set up in a way that I'm able to see everything, and frankly even when I do bring crutches to stand and look into tanks, the employees and other customers are often impatient with me, or worse, treat me like I'm an idiot because I can't always walk.

I've had kids who haven't been in the hobby explain basic principles to me in a slow and loud voice and even been told that corals I've kept for years are "too advanced for someone like you"

The idea that you have to be able bodied to keep a reef feeds into a lot of the gate keeping in the hobby.

I'm so sorry that people treat you that way. That sounds horrible and frustrating. Hope things get better. Best of luck to you and your reef tank.

 

[Rubymoon286]

I'm so sorry that people treat you that way. That sounds horrible and frustrating. Hope things get better. Best of luck to you and your reef tank.

Thank you - there are a lot of wonderful people in the hobby, but there certainly are people who want to gate keep the hobby. I'm very lucky that the guys at my LFS are great and our little reef club is full of great people too who don't let that type of thing happen

 

[formallydehyde]

How many people don't care about the welfare of invertebrates and how hard it can be to source proper care information as a consequence.

 

[pal98111]

If you've had the opportunity to keep a marine aquarium you know that it can bring some of the greatest joy and happiness of your life, but it has its moments when it's frustrating, devastating, or just is alot more challenging than what you signed up for. Whether it be a tank crash, a loss of your favorite fish, or just something that's downright annoying and frustirating like an aptasia or a hair algae and cyanno outbreak. That being said, what is something that you absolutely despise about reefkeeping, I'll go first.

1: vermited worms or burrowing clams, the wild favia I just picked up is infested with them and they're very hard to kill

2: tank crashes. Self explanatory

3: cyanno. also Self explanatory

4: GFO. Great at removing phosphates but covers anything in a 3 foot radius with GFO powder, a pain to clean up

5: water changes with a smaller RODI filter, it takes 8 hours


What's your list?

Fish that hide all the time.

Corals that look great in the store but not so much at home

 

[pal98111]

I've become disabled in the last few years, and sometimes have to use a wheel chair on my bad leg days. Most LFS/fish shows aren't set up in a way that I'm able to see everything, and frankly even when I do bring crutches to stand and look into tanks, the employees and other customers are often impatient with me, or worse, treat me like I'm an idiot because I can't always walk.

I've had kids who haven't been in the hobby explain basic principles to me in a slow and loud voice and even been told that corals I've kept for years are "too advanced for someone like you"

The idea that you have to be able bodied to keep a reef feeds into a lot of the gate keeping in the hobby.

If you are ever in the Atlanta area, check out LFS Pure Reef. Many of their fish and all of their corals are about 5 feet high. I th ink you would find it perfect if you are using a wheelchair. I find it frustrating since I’m 6’2” and have to bend over to see things.

 

[shakacuz]

salt creep

 

[Rmckoy]

The price of livestock now

Red flatworms
And damsels

 

[jimfish98]

The price of livestock now

Red flatworms
And damsels

I have a big tank to stock but will not buy anything unless there is a sale. Waited weeks for a sale this last weekend to get a couple fish at 20% off. Will add more on Labor Day if the shops have a sale, otherwise I will wait for 20-40% off sales on Black Friday/Small Business Saturday.

 

[7of9]

I've become disabled in the last few years, and sometimes have to use a wheel chair on my bad leg days. Most LFS/fish shows aren't set up in a way that I'm able to see everything, and frankly even when I do bring crutches to stand and look into tanks, the employees and other customers are often impatient with me, or worse, treat me like I'm an idiot because I can't always walk.

I've had kids who haven't been in the hobby explain basic principles to me in a slow and loud voice and even been told that corals I've kept for years are "too advanced for someone like you"

The idea that you have to be able bodied to keep a reef feeds into a lot of the gate keeping in the hobby.

I just got back into it this year after an incomplete spinal cord injury and learning to walk again last year. It was a huge wake-up call regarding how differently people treat you when you’re disabled.

I’m sorry you’re being treated this way and I can totally see this being a very ableist hobby. Right now I have teenagers to help me with the lifting, but I’m hoping to learn some tricks to make water changes easier for sure!

I hope you keep on reefing despite this.

 

[emoore]

Aiptasia.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Bubble algae...

 

[Roatan Reef]

Would love one, but I don't think it would survive tank mates.

Especially not in a 40B Reef Tank!

I use F-Aiptasia and coral Putty and have killed them all. Only have peppermint shrimp now, and they kill them when they start.

And yes...Snails are sooooo Dumb! Gosh! Every other day one is upside down!

 

[AlexR9364]

The cost of equipment and livestock, particularly to get it here in the UK. If you can pick up second hand stuff, brilliant, but otherwise yuo have to go online or to an LFS and there is normally a significant mark up as they know we don't really have much of a choice over this side of the pond. This gatekeeps the hobby meaning that the pressure to force retailers to drop their prices doesn't ever build.


Also vertimid snails!

 

[doubleshot00]

Vermited snails. Ive done my best ti keep all pests out of my tank. But these things are like a plague.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Vermited snails. Ive done my best ti keep all pests out of my tank. But these things are like a plague.

Yikes, I've been lucky enough to not have to deal with them, Reef Builders had an article on all the ways to get rid of them, but you have probably already tried most of them...