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.
This hobby can be super gatekeepy when it comes to new people or really anything in general, and a lot of it seems to focus on the livestock you keep (especially SPS for some reason). It really put me off when I first started and made it seem like the only way for me to be a real reefer was to keep high end, expensive corals and spend tons of money.
"Oh you can't afford x lighting? Why even bother starting, you'll have to upgrade eventually when you keep SPS"
"soft corals are for newbies, only REAL keepers keep sps"
"You don't want to spend 2k on a dang return pump? why bother keeping fish if you won't get them the best?"
"Oh you have X brand? Guess you don't care bout your pets!"
"This coral that looks exactly like yours (that you got for $10 for the frag) costs $200 more per polyp because it has a fancy name. You don't love corals until you buy the fanciest expensive ones"
etc etc etc.
A lot of people seem to act like their way is the only correct way to do something, or that you aren't a "real reefer" unless you have "X" or don't have "Y". I try to avoid a lot of things in this hobby because people can be so toxic about such menial crap. I really don't care whether you think GSP is for babies or that you can only be a true reefer if you spend thousands of dollars and hours of your time taking care of a tray of colorful sticks that you'll keep fragging so they never look anything more than that. I keep my corals because I like them. I want colorful, easy, low maintenance corals that I can show off to my friends and grow to a big colony. I have no desire to chase parameters and spend 10k on a dosing setup to keep colorful rocks that cost $200 for one the size of a fingertip. And god forbid if I don't spend at least $400 on a new piece of equipment.
My tank has Mars Aqua LEDs, and an Icecap 1K gyre. That's about it. No protein skimmer, some ceramic media in the back (it's an AIO), and I feed heavily to keep nutrients in the tank for the softies I keep. Maybe I'll figure some way to set up a refugium in the back, when I have more time and money. I don't have expensive top of the line stuff that is probably made in the same factory that my stuff is made in. I did it on a budget because I am a college student. I keep soft corals because I want a dynamic, moving, colorful, low maintenance tank. I think they're beautiful when the corals flow and wave and billow back and forth. I have no desire to keep stony corals and I cringe whenever I read people say "when you finally move on to SPS" or "just wait until you keep SPS, they're so much better" like it's some end goal everyone has, and you're only a real reefer when you keep them. It's just like when people say "You'll want kids eventually." Not really, I think they're messy, high maintenance, expensive, and way more trouble than they're worth.
If I wanted a colorful stick that stands there, I'd buy a few cans of spray paint and break off a branch from a tree. Stop acting like it's everyone's end goal to have them and a reef tank isn't a reef tank if it doesn't have X product or Y coral.
Just do what you enjoy and don't let other people make you feel bad for what you like. If you want a tank that is only SPS and you want to spend thousands of dollars to keep them, go right ahead! If you want to do everything on a budget and keep the cheapest, most common corals that exist then you can do that too! Keep only a display tank for macroalgae if you want! Just don't act like so many people on here do and pretend that because someone doesn't do it the way you do they aren't doing it right or they're dumb for liking what they do. It's gatekeeping at it's finest and creates a super toxic atmosphere that turns many, many people away. Get off your high horse and realize other people can enjoy different things than you.
The only "right way" to do this hobby is to have fun and do what you want. It's your dang reef tank and you can keep whatever makes you feel happy. There's no need to try and please anyone else but yourself.
Rant over lol.
Also, this hobby can be cheap if done on a budget, but not a lot of people realize that (for the aforementioned reasons above) and it can turn a lot away, especially with the atmosphere of "if it's not the most expensive it's trash" mentality.
