What have you done to keep things fun?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

What are some things you have done or do to keep things fun in the hobby?

 

[Reef Pets]

New coral as often as possible keeps things fun.

 

[Electrobes]

I find chores to do.. or projects to get involved in. As weird as it sounds, keeping busy with necessary things keeps me involved and having fun. I used to love doing major projects for other reefer friends.. then I moved out into the middle of nowhere! This month alone has been great for me as I've been catching up on much needed maintenance and projects.

 

[lps1212]

Rock scapeing every now and than always makes things intrestin buyin corals is a big plus and fish don't hurt aswell

 

[AlexStinson]

Little DIY projects. Like culturing phyto etc. Then forgetting about them a month later

 

[Dowtish]

Joined my local reef club. Actually putting faces to some of the avatars, and getting to know them, and see their setups has been great.

 

[Electrobes]

Little DIY projects. Like culturing phyto etc. Then forgetting about them a month later

lol so true!

 

[sexycorals]

its like a garden to me.. i picture it in my head and try to make it at pleasing to the eye as i can.. i stand back see what color needs to be added at a certain part of the tank and then the funnnnnnnn part is to go find that certain color and piece and place it there...

 

[Onedesign1]

hardest thing is to leave the darn tank alone I love DIY but there's nothing left to do so now I help others build LED fixtures....I just finished a fixture for a friends 180. I like to buy and trade corals locally, I like to take pictures. Couple times a month we take little road trips to reef shops within 2 hours of us just to see if we can find any little gems...and we usually do in the form of coral. This last one is probably the biggest thing. My wife is as into the hobby as I am so we take these little road trips, stop for lunch along the way, etc. if we find a gem all the better....although my 10yo doesn't care too much for them. The key though is to go with no expectations and then when you find a fish or coral you've been wanting at a great price it feels great! if not, you never expected to in the 1st place but had a nice day with the family looking around.

 

[sexycorals]

and try to get your other half and kids to get into it too.. even if it means you gotta get a couple pulsing xenias . do it cause it makes them happy.. =)

 

[Lateral72]

Propagating. And changing up the tank every now and then. I went from Soft dominated, to LPS, to Zoa and now I'm on a voyage to SPS dominated.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Cleaning and making everything look new, trying something new like low ph, higher ph, kalk in top off, different skimmers.

 

[xmetalfan99]

I thought something else as being discussed...

I stay interested with the hobby by travelling to swaps and buying gadgets and gizmos to play with.

 

[orlando809]

By keeping reef safe fish and trading corals and making sure they live happy thats fun for me lol

 

[Wesley42079]

I bring my 5 year old with me, every time I visit different reef shops (Neptune Aquatics). I have him look at all the different corals in the tanks and ask him which one he likes. From there, I tell him the name of the coral and certain needs it requires.

 

[steamer51]

Being involved in a club is the best. Road trips with new friends to frag swaps, LFS and aquaculture facilities not only let you see and buy new things to add to your tank but the trip provides companionship and an opportunity to teach and learn. Visiting other member's tanks give you great ideas for future set ups or changes to your current one. Some people come up with things that are absolutely brilliant that you would never see on the web since they developed the idea.

An example is one of our members created a automatic water change system that is unique. A pump in his sump on a timer pumps for two minutes every day into a quarantine tank and one minute later the pump in his holding tank replaces the volume with fresh saltwater for the water change. The extra old tank water that is added to the quarantine tank raises the level until it overflows down a drain in the floor. Since the quarantine tank is not connected to the main system it can be medicated if necessary and it receives a few gallons of cycled tank water (the same water the fish will be living in after quarantine) every day.

 

[re-fin-away]

I like to get my kids involved as well. My 4 year old knows more about the tank than my wife does. He has recently decided next year we are going to have sharks in our 27' pool in the backyard. To fund this we will have to sell our french bulldog because he says " the dog is too dumb and will walk too close to the water and the sharks will eat him anyway so we might as well get some money for him." For show n tell at 4K, against his mothers wishes, he brough an issue of Coral Mag with Bangaiis on the cover. "Thats my boy!" My oldest son of 16 worked all summer long and saved his money and just set up a 40b in his bedroom (with a little help from Dad of course). He still needs to get a skimmer but otherwise he pretty much set. He wants to breed something down the road. He even bought the book "Beginner to Breeder" earlier this summer. It is fun to see how excited your children get about this hobby. To me they are the next generation in this hobby and the more we teach them now, the more they will teach us later.

 

[kuyatwo]

I go to my local fish forums monthly meetings and events. Plus be active participant in the club by either hosting gb or helping newbies on the boards. I also try visit local fish stores regularly to find some rare gems. I picked an alpha cone 200 skimmer for dirt cheap


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[turfster26]

Funny as it sounds, I like to keep busy too cleaning up maintenance room, cleaning and caring for equipment and just general duties. I try to keep my hands out of the and leave the display alone with the exception of cleaning glass. I typically spend all my time in the basement/maintenance to keep things interesting.

HTH