Why are reef tanks not more popular?

[AC1211]

Why are reef tanks and heck saltwater fish tanks in general more popular?
Plus here is a quick look at my reef...I think that in order to grow the aquarium hobby, our social media presence has to be more noticeable so check out my youtube channel.

Do you think the aquarium hobby will grow exponentially or decrease with time?

 

[rkpetersen]

The hobby has been increasing in sophistication and number of hobbyists for years.
It's not bigger still because it's difficult to be successful; huge numbers of people try it and then drop out.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

It's the stigma people all think they are impossible and way to hard to even consider. I was afraid of touching reefing but I'm happy I got into it, it's been life changing!

 

[Schreiber]

It's expensive & time consuming.... Most people just don't want to deal with it. I highly doubt you could find many people that would turn down a reef tank if you told them it was free & they'd have someone come by to take care of it. But the time & money sink for a non-necessity is a big turn off for most people I'd imagine.

 

[AC1211]

The hobby has been increasing in sophistication and number of hobbyists for years.
It's not bigger still because it's difficult to be successful; huge numbers of people try it and then drop out.

What is the failure due to? Info? Attempts at difficult species? Would having proven stocking list help out? For example if you are a beginner with a 55 gallon tank:
You can attempt stocking list A,B,C, etc.
With a list of easy fish, corals, and inverts. With an ideal clean up crew because the clean up crew is very important.

 

[AC1211]

It's the stigma people all think they are impossible and way to hard to even consider. I was afraid of touching reefing but I'm happy I got into it, it's been life changing!

Could it be due to lack of easy type tanks. If we could limit the work required would that help. On my saltwater tank, I feed, dose, scrape the glass, top off, and test weekly, that's it no water changes. If it were proven easier would that make it more reasonable to non fish keepers.

 

[AC1211]

It's expensive & time consuming.... Most people just don't want to deal with it. I highly doubt you could find many people that would turn down a reef tank if you told them it was free & they'd have someone come by to take care of it. But the time & money sink for a non-necessity is a big turn off for most people I'd imagine.

Why not stick to cheaper soft corals and basic hardy fish... we have seen cheap reefs done so why don't more people try them.

 

[WVNed]

It's hard, expensive and messy. It requires attention every day. You get really attached to cool stuff and something stupid happens and it dies. You have to put a bunch of electrical stuff in saltwater and put your hands in with it. It will mess up your floors, carpets and walls. It runs up your utility bills.

I don't know why it's not more popular.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

I'm actually surprised by how popular reef tanks have become. I mean these forums are mind blowing, so many hobbyist with so much knowledge. I think the hobby has really come a long way.

 

[JonoB]

It's not more popular because, as others have stated, it's expensive, time consuming, and can be difficult.

Everyone that says "it isn't that expensive", or "it isn't as hard as people make it out to be" love the hobby, so the work/money involved doesn't always seem difficult or like that much.

There are different personality types, and a lot of those types want to come home and relax. Only some of us like coming home from work and working more

 

[motortrendz]

I think theres more and more people getting into the hobby. The problem is keeping people in the hobby, between time, complications and the biggest reason is expense now. It's making it harder and harder

 

[SighKenny]

I definitely think its the expense that turns off a lot of people
My mom is currently looking into the hobby after seeing my tank but is intimidated my the price and the stigma that SW tanks are super hard to run

 

[BayouReefer]

It’s totally awesome to recreate Mother Nature in your house. It is rewarding to have these animals thrive and grow in a tank in your home. The failures come a lot of the time because something in your life changes and the tank doesn’t get the constant attention it needs parameters go off a little the tank becomes a chore instead of a passion one thing leads to another then the tank fails. People who remain passionate fix the issue and keep going.

 

[Ellery]

IMO, being in the hobby for over 30 years now, alot has improved quite a bit but the industry in general does not promote itself well enough. The tv shows attempted to but had put some misinformation out there. The hobby is not a "set it and forget it" hobby so the current generation of people who want instant gratification won't stick with it.

One way to promote the hobby more is education in schools and for hobbyists in general. The online videos have helped quite a bit but LFS and Local hobbyists need to form better support communities to mentor each other. There's alot of information online today but there maybe too much and needs to be filtered for Newbies.

I mentor local LFS and Local hobbyists and try to document much of what I've learned that worked for me through the years and share to those who would welcome it. I open my house up when I meet people who are interested to walk them through my system as an extreme example. It all comes down to expectations and setting the correct goals during the 6P process I took from business "Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance." it applies to every aspect of life in general so why not this hobby?

 

[KustomAquarium]

From when I got into the hobby (2000) to now there has been a significant increase of hobbyist, but I do feel the stigma that it's "so hard" is probably the main deterrent followed by the cost to get started, and time consuming.

 

[Jay Z]

You got time, money, and knowledge involved. Most of America is short on all 3. Fish tank is a pleasure item for most.

We fixed the money issue with credit cards a and financing.

Knowledge and time fixed with automation and easy access forums for any thought that runs through someone’s head.

Plus not everyone’s into them.

 

[MrPike]

Ich, video games, and other activities. Not necessarily in that order though.

 

[Saltyreef]

I started with an all in one biocube. It took most of the guesswork out of equipment selection and i focused on water parameters and stock list.
I also started out with all common cheap corals and easy fish.
I feel like i did it right for simplicity (always been a simplicity guy).
Only recently after joining the forums and restarting my display, i have developed a new passion for reefing and a love for higher end stuff.
Neither would have been possible without first learning fundimentals on a simplified system and common/cheap coral to keep my reef looking good.
To be honest, some of the cheapest corals are still my favorite!
MOWHAWKS and METEOR SHOWER CYPHESTREA!

 

[Reefermadness89]

I’ve had fishtanks for about 22 years now in some form or another, never was tankless but NEVER considered salt until a few weeks ago.
This is just my opinion from the other side of glass so to speak.
I was convinced from reading lightly and from word of mouth of others that it’s expensive, it’s super hard, and takes tons of time to maintain. I was under the belief that anything under 40 gallons wasn’t even worth trying.
Some of my planted tanks had systems way more confusing than my current setup I’ve started, and my last planted tank cost more than I’ve put in so far, not including corals ect.
Had I realized that doing that is similar
Pricewise and time wise, I would have done salt YEARS ago.
There is also a different attitude about reef keepers and salt water hobbies in general.
For planted tank community, everything is very “save at any cost”, diy co2 whenever possible and a decent but inexpensive system for the bigger tanks.
With reef keepers it’s a lot of “if it’s not the best it’s trash” mentality. (this is a generalized comment based not on here but my life’s personal interactions, I mean no offense here guys and gals, y’all are stupid chill and I love this place!) it can be offputting to someone that doesn’t want to sink 1k into a new hobby they they already think will fail.
That said you guys are also way more chill and there seems to be a general better knowledge pool for saltwater keepers.
People just gotta branch out, but they don’t know they can, or Atleast some of them don’t, because everyone says it’s harder and more expensive.

 

[Qasimja]

i think people think its harder then what it is and the cost in peoples minds is alot more then it can be sometimes you can get a small setup goin for very little