The worst thing about reef keeping

abezr · 02/10/2011, 10:22 AM

Hey, Im just wondering what you think is the worst, most annoying part of reef keeping... Id love to hear your thoughts,

For me it was just the set up.. at the begining.. you think you have it right but then you realize you dont, so you research and research and research (thank god for rc) and research then go to pet shop to buy more stuff, go home just to realize you forgot or better yet, its so specific that you need to special order it and wait foorrrr eveerrr...

Im new to this hobby, and i know it will be a love-hate relationship so lets see how it goes!(lol what did i get myself into... starting with a 180 gallon setup loool)

stevie-o · 02/10/2011, 10:37 AM

your lucky starting with a 180g that must be a sick tank. reef keeping is easy it just cost a lot of money, and you have to do a lot of research unless your lfs is really good.

jeff@zina.com · 02/10/2011, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abezr

Im just wondering what you think is the worst, most annoying part of reef keeping...

Begging my wife to let me buy "Just one more coral/fish/invert/component/tank/etc...." She sees through me all the time.

Jeff

gldnegle76 · 02/10/2011, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeff@zina.com

Begging my wife to let me buy "Just one more coral/fish/invert/component/tank/etc...." She sees through me all the time.

Jeff

As they say Jeff, "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission".

IMM3DOORSDOWN · 02/10/2011, 11:35 AM

For me it was just getting myself in the routine of testing the water and examining the tank everyday making sure corals were happy.and what my dam blenny tipped over.Lol in the beginning spending alot of
Money on tank lights skimmer rock and corals to get the full reef look. But once your done it sit back and relax.well somewhat.at first it's a full time job but then it's a part time gig.

greech · 02/10/2011, 12:26 PM

Changing and washing filter socks. For some reason, this just annoys me to no end

hpi_jeep · 02/10/2011, 01:14 PM

no matter how much time i spend on my tank i have to look at other's tanks who always have better looking tanks than me

chimmike · 02/10/2011, 01:49 PM

worst? Everything I want is so durn expensive.

This hobby is for people who are independently wealthy, seriously. I'm not one of 'em. Just a hard workin' white collar joe (well, the collar is more blue, I'm just a peon)

ATinPGH · 02/10/2011, 01:52 PM

Searching the old posts of RC only to find compelling arguments for and against whatever question I may have.

mudskipper1 · 02/10/2011, 02:52 PM

Motivating myself to do Water changes, especially since I have to carry the water 1/2 mile up a hill from the Chemistry building to my Dorm.

cr reef · 02/10/2011, 02:56 PM

In the beggining it was listening to my LFS, really messed things up

Now; no room for new corals and the year wait for the larger tank

DustinB · 02/10/2011, 03:55 PM

The worst part is that there is always something new causing harm to my tank.

In 10 months I've had the following pop up: zoa eating asterinas, flatworms, red bugs, cyano, weird turf algae that won't disappear, aiptasia.......

If I had to start over I would start with all dry base rock as most of this came in on the rock I picked up. Once the first reef tank is going you gain patience anyway. I would also quarantine/dip everything that went into the tank, no exceptions.

mallorieGgator · 02/10/2011, 06:06 PM

Being poor...

jbax · 02/10/2011, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greech

Changing and washing filter socks. For some reason, this just annoys me to no end

+1

and it used to be water changes. thank god for some automation and esv salt.

badazztealcobra · 02/10/2011, 06:44 PM

The absolute worst thing is losing a fish that was just there and eating like a pig the day before. DRIVES ME NUTS. I QT everything after losing my entire BC29 to crypt, and everything is healthy and eating. Then one day out of the blue a fish will show up missing.

No sign of a body anywhere, nothing on the ground or in an overflow, etc....

jmchzn123 · 02/10/2011, 06:50 PM

Well I'm OCD / ADHD/ LMNOP so reef keeping is perfect for me. The messed up thing is there are so many damn opinions and in the beginning I was so anxious I listened to everyone except those telling me things like get a bigger tank, don't get that fish, test the water every freaking day until you have it right, don't fix water parameters with chemicals fix it by using RO/DI water and change it out and don't buy so many fish, dont feed them so much but feed them often and let the tank cycle properly and LED technology wont grow SPS (Solaris 2003...debacle) and blah blah blah.....it was crazy. Every thread sent me off in a new direction. Thank god my 39 gallon literally leaked out all over my floor after the first 6 months and forced me to take a deep breath.
Then I bought books and read and learned some biology and husbandry. For the next 8 years my lil reef was amazing. Feeling confident I got this under control and things are looking good and fish are living 6-10 years ( survivors from the tank leak) something else happens. I have to travel for like 2 yrs for work only home a few times a month. Leaving my wonderful patient GF and the LFS tech in charge. Well they killed everything but a few corals and some fish. Even the DSB is dead! So I start massive effort to correct parameters and do 5%water changes daily. then I start testing with all my high tech PINPOINT monitors. Between those units completely sucking and not accurate even after calibration and then using old test kits I messed things up even more. I bought all new tests then did more water changes! Then threw all the monitors in the garbage. Still tank getting worse. Did I mention I kept the salinity monitor? I mean it was new and calibrated ........right? It's simple technology and frankly one monitor I figured would work! After losing more fish more coral I did something I haven't done since 2003! I went to a different LFS and had my water tested by some pasty faced kid! My LR looked older. Anyway this kid says and I Quote " dude ur water is ****ed up I had to make it weak by adding water just to test gravity concentration w my fractometer " fractometer........? hummmmm I'm in trouble I think. Now I haven't used a refractometer in many years because I have high tech PINPOINT monitors! I ask Jr if i could test my original sample. Over 1.035. The damn monitor just doesn't work! Now I'm on the road to recovery . Moral of the story is ..... Stick with the basics, test test test, pay attention, you never stop learning, you never know it all, this freaking thing we do never has a dull moment. Oh when things go wrong it's usually the water parameters so you don't necessarily have to buy more new stuff..... That said my AI Sol Blues are on the way!!!!I'm just saying!

Reverend Reefer · 02/10/2011, 07:03 PM

advice. i feel like advice is the number one most annoying thing in reefkeeping. its hard to find good advice, and when you ask, you get a million diametrically opposed opinions.

when i first started, i took LFS advice, then went to RC, went with some of the first posts, then checked back 1 week later to find an argument in my thread!

now that i'm slightly older and slightly wiser, i now realize that reef keeping is an art and a science. you really have to think for yourself and come to your own conclusions on what works for your system and your inhabitants (and cash flow!!). its good to get opinions and hopefully the opinions come with some background or reasoning that you can evaluate but in the end, i would say advice is definitely the most annoying thing.

one week the trend is GFO so i start researching GFO reactors, and then the trend is on the outs and suddenly biobeads are the new thing, so then i start saving up for np biopellets and then people start reporting negative opinions about them. and the cycle goes on and on....

greech · 02/10/2011, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reverend Reefer

advice. i feel like advice is the number one most annoying thing in reefkeeping. its hard to find good advice, and when you ask, you get a million diametrically opposed opinions.

when i first started, i took LFS advice, then went to RC, went with some of the first posts, then checked back 1 week later to find an argument in my thread!

now that i'm slightly older and slightly wiser, i now realize that reef keeping is an art and a science. you really have to think for yourself and come to your own conclusions on what works for your system and your inhabitants (and cash flow!!). its good to get opinions and hopefully the opinions come with some background or reasoning that you can evaluate but in the end, i would say advice is definitely the most annoying thing.

one week the trend is GFO so i start researching GFO reactors, and then the trend is on the outs and suddenly biobeads are the new thing, so then i start saving up for np biopellets and then people start reporting negative opinions about them. and the cycle goes on and on....

We have a winner!

Wolverine · 02/10/2011, 08:24 PM

I love setting up new tanks.
At this point, vacations are the worst for me. It's easy to find people who know how to deal with the house, dogs, etc. But I always assume that if anything truly goes wrong in the tank, nothing will survive, no matter how good my directions are (I know multiple people who have had this happen).

GT3 · 02/10/2011, 09:58 PM

Cleaning the front and side glass every morning when i wake up....

duncantse · 02/10/2011, 11:19 PM

1. Begging parents to let me buy the equipment

vamaro · 02/10/2011, 11:55 PM

The worst part about the tanks for me now is not knowing what is going to happen when I add a new fish. Fighting, not eating, stress, etc. I do not mind the water changes.

abezr · 02/11/2011, 01:24 AM

Oh man some of the posts are so funny hahaha and all the posts are soo true... i spent two weeks building my sump lol just got my skimmer in today AND IT DOESNT FIIITTTTTTTT AHHHHHH k well getting a bigger sump... well it fits but not with a return pump... i took the right measurements and forgot about the damn pump grrr

great posts guys keep them coming very interesting for everyone!

samdaman · 02/11/2011, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmchzn123

Well I'm OCD / ADHD/ LMNOP so reef keeping is perfect for me. The messed up thing is there are so many damn opinions and in the beginning I was so anxious I listened to everyone except those telling me things like get a bigger tank, don't get that fish, test the water every freaking day until you have it right, don't fix water parameters with chemicals fix it by using RO/DI water and change it out and don't buy so many fish, dont feed them so much but feed them often and let the tank cycle properly and LED technology wont grow SPS (Solaris 2003...debacle) and blah blah blah.....it was crazy. Every thread sent me off in a new direction. Thank god my 39 gallon literally leaked out all over my floor after the first 6 months and forced me to take a deep breath.
Then I bought books and read and learned some biology and husbandry. For the next 8 years my lil reef was amazing. Feeling confident I got this under control and things are looking good and fish are living 6-10 years ( survivors from the tank leak) something else happens. I have to travel for like 2 yrs for work only home a few times a month. Leaving my wonderful patient GF and the LFS tech in charge. Well they killed everything but a few corals and some fish. Even the DSB is dead! So I start massive effort to correct parameters and do 5%water changes daily. then I start testing with all my high tech PINPOINT monitors. Between those units completely sucking and not accurate even after calibration and then using old test kits I messed things up even more. I bought all new tests then did more water changes! Then threw all the monitors in the garbage. Still tank getting worse. Did I mention I kept the salinity monitor? I mean it was new and calibrated ........right? It's simple technology and frankly one monitor I figured would work! After losing more fish more coral I did something I haven't done since 2003! I went to a different LFS and had my water tested by some pasty faced kid! My LR looked older. Anyway this kid says and I Quote " dude ur water is ****ed up I had to make it weak by adding water just to test gravity concentration w my fractometer " fractometer........? hummmmm I'm in trouble I think. Now I haven't used a refractometer in many years because I have high tech PINPOINT monitors! I ask Jr if i could test my original sample. Over 1.035. The damn monitor just doesn't work! Now I'm on the road to recovery . Moral of the story is ..... Stick with the basics, test test test, pay attention, you never stop learning, you never know it all, this freaking thing we do never has a dull moment. Oh when things go wrong it's usually the water parameters so you don't necessarily have to buy more new stuff..... That said my AI Sol Blues are on the way!!!!I'm just saying!

All i got to say is Damn! 1.035!

Mike1918 · 02/11/2011, 01:47 AM

For me its been spendng money. In the short 16 months I've had a reef tanks I've gone 20g, 58g, 75g and now just picked up a 125 last weekend!

02/10/2011, 10:22 AM	#1
abezr Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: montreal qc Posts: 137	The worst thing about reef keeping Hey, Im just wondering what you think is the worst, most annoying part of reef keeping... Id love to hear your thoughts, For me it was just the set up.. at the begining.. you think you have it right but then you realize you dont, so you research and research and research (thank god for rc) and research then go to pet shop to buy more stuff, go home just to realize you forgot or better yet, its so specific that you need to special order it and wait foorrrr eveerrr... Im new to this hobby, and i know it will be a love-hate relationship so lets see how it goes!(lol what did i get myself into... starting with a 180 gallon setup loool)

02/10/2011, 11:35 AM	#5
IMM3DOORSDOWN Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: ct Posts: 1,092	For me it was just getting myself in the routine of testing the water and examining the tank everyday making sure corals were happy.and what my dam blenny tipped over.Lol in the beginning spending alot of Money on tank lights skimmer rock and corals to get the full reef look. But once your done it sit back and relax.well somewhat.at first it's a full time job but then it's a part time gig. __________________ rules? rules were ment to be broken Current Tank Info: PAST EXPERIANCE::180 gal fish only,120 gal reef,65 gal MAN TANK lionfish and eel,54 gal corner dwarf angel tank. CURRENT. WORKING ON 90 gal MIXED REEF, 29 gal sump & refuge.20 gal long qt tank.120 gal uv steralizer.29 gal fowlr and annemonies

02/10/2011, 12:26 PM	#6
greech Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 3,133	Changing and washing filter socks. For some reason, this just annoys me to no end __________________ ~Graham Current Tank Info: Tank: 40 breeder; 20H sump w/SWC 120; Sicce 3.0 return; Vortech MP-10; Sundial T5, DIY Actinic LED (3W Cree). Livestock: Pair of Black & Whites; Midas Blenny; Firefish; Yasha/pistol; Black Leopard Wrasse; LPS and SPS

02/10/2011, 01:49 PM	#8
chimmike oxygen abuser Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Parrish, FL Posts: 5,089 Blog Entries: 2	worst? Everything I want is so durn expensive. This hobby is for people who are independently wealthy, seriously. I'm not one of 'em. Just a hard workin' white collar joe (well, the collar is more blue, I'm just a peon) __________________ -Mike Tankless wonder Geaux Noles!

02/10/2011, 02:52 PM	#10
mudskipper1 Trust Me I'm an Engineer Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan Posts: 1,085	Motivating myself to do Water changes, especially since I have to carry the water 1/2 mile up a hill from the Chemistry building to my Dorm. __________________ -Eric kazyakphoto.zenfolio.com Current Tank Info: 11 gallon DIY acrylic cube and 20L displays plumbed to a single sump, Kessil, Onyx, MP10, RKL

02/10/2011, 10:37 AM	#2
stevie-o Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 338	your lucky starting with a 180g that must be a sick tank. reef keeping is easy it just cost a lot of money, and you have to do a lot of research unless your lfs is really good.

02/10/2011, 01:14 PM	#7
hpi_jeep Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: lake ozark mo Posts: 78	no matter how much time i spend on my tank i have to look at other's tanks who always have better looking tanks than me

02/10/2011, 01:52 PM	#9
ATinPGH Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 149	Searching the old posts of RC only to find compelling arguments for and against whatever question I may have.

02/10/2011, 02:56 PM	#11
cr reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 122	In the beggining it was listening to my LFS, really messed things up Now; no room for new corals and the year wait for the larger tank

02/10/2011, 03:55 PM	#12
DustinB Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Texas Posts: 1,532	The worst part is that there is always something new causing harm to my tank. In 10 months I've had the following pop up: zoa eating asterinas, flatworms, red bugs, cyano, weird turf algae that won't disappear, aiptasia....... If I had to start over I would start with all dry base rock as most of this came in on the rock I picked up. Once the first reef tank is going you gain patience anyway. I would also quarantine/dip everything that went into the tank, no exceptions.

02/10/2011, 06:06 PM	#13
mallorieGgator Registered Member. Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Gainesville, Fl Posts: 1,134	Being poor...

02/10/2011, 06:44 PM	#15
badazztealcobra Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Streamwood, IL Posts: 7,394	The absolute worst thing is losing a fish that was just there and eating like a pig the day before. DRIVES ME NUTS. I QT everything after losing my entire BC29 to crypt, and everything is healthy and eating. Then one day out of the blue a fish will show up missing. No sign of a body anywhere, nothing on the ground or in an overflow, etc.... __________________ Currently in between tanks at the moment... Planning my next project... "Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer th

02/10/2011, 06:50 PM	#16
jmchzn123 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 240	Well I'm OCD / ADHD/ LMNOP so reef keeping is perfect for me. The messed up thing is there are so many damn opinions and in the beginning I was so anxious I listened to everyone except those telling me things like get a bigger tank, don't get that fish, test the water every freaking day until you have it right, don't fix water parameters with chemicals fix it by using RO/DI water and change it out and don't buy so many fish, dont feed them so much but feed them often and let the tank cycle properly and LED technology wont grow SPS (Solaris 2003...debacle) and blah blah blah.....it was crazy. Every thread sent me off in a new direction. Thank god my 39 gallon literally leaked out all over my floor after the first 6 months and forced me to take a deep breath. Then I bought books and read and learned some biology and husbandry. For the next 8 years my lil reef was amazing. Feeling confident I got this under control and things are looking good and fish are living 6-10 years ( survivors from the tank leak) something else happens. I have to travel for like 2 yrs for work only home a few times a month. Leaving my wonderful patient GF and the LFS tech in charge. Well they killed everything but a few corals and some fish. Even the DSB is dead! So I start massive effort to correct parameters and do 5%water changes daily. then I start testing with all my high tech PINPOINT monitors. Between those units completely sucking and not accurate even after calibration and then using old test kits I messed things up even more. I bought all new tests then did more water changes! Then threw all the monitors in the garbage. Still tank getting worse. Did I mention I kept the salinity monitor? I mean it was new and calibrated ........right? It's simple technology and frankly one monitor I figured would work! After losing more fish more coral I did something I haven't done since 2003! I went to a different LFS and had my water tested by some pasty faced kid! My LR looked older. Anyway this kid says and I Quote " dude ur water is ***ed up I had to make it weak by adding water just to test gravity concentration w my fractometer " fractometer........? hummmmm I'm in trouble I think. Now I haven't used a refractometer in many years because I have high tech PINPOINT monitors! I ask Jr if i could test my original sample. Over 1.035. The damn monitor just doesn't work! Now I'm on the road to recovery . Moral of the story is ..... Stick with the basics, test test test, pay attention, you never stop learning, you never know it all, this freaking thing we do never has a dull moment. Oh when things go wrong it's usually the water parameters so you don't necessarily have to buy more new stuff..... That said my AI Sol Blues are on the way!!!!I'm just saying! __________________ 10 years running - 90 gal Tech Tank, 48x18x24/ 30 gal sump/ BK 180 mini/ 3 AI Sol Blues/ DSB / UV / Tunze Wave Box/ APEX-Lite controller/ dosing pumps on the way/ Goldfish Last edited by jmchzn123; 02/10/2011 at 07:09 PM.*

02/10/2011, 07:03 PM	#17
Reverend Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Posts: 883	advice. i feel like advice is the number one most annoying thing in reefkeeping. its hard to find good advice, and when you ask, you get a million diametrically opposed opinions. when i first started, i took LFS advice, then went to RC, went with some of the first posts, then checked back 1 week later to find an argument in my thread! now that i'm slightly older and slightly wiser, i now realize that reef keeping is an art and a science. you really have to think for yourself and come to your own conclusions on what works for your system and your inhabitants (and cash flow!!). its good to get opinions and hopefully the opinions come with some background or reasoning that you can evaluate but in the end, i would say advice is definitely the most annoying thing. one week the trend is GFO so i start researching GFO reactors, and then the trend is on the outs and suddenly biobeads are the new thing, so then i start saving up for np biopellets and then people start reporting negative opinions about them. and the cycle goes on and on.... __________________ - Rev. Tank: 65G glass 48" long tank; Sump/Fuge: 30G. Lighting: LEDs+single T5 strip. Maintenance: ATO Kalkwasser + 10% weekly WC, daily feedings LPS+Softies dominated.

02/10/2011, 08:24 PM	#19
Wolverine RC Mod Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: West Bloomfield, MI Posts: 17,732	I love setting up new tanks. At this point, vacations are the worst for me. It's easy to find people who know how to deal with the house, dogs, etc. But I always assume that if anything truly goes wrong in the tank, nothing will survive, no matter how good my directions are (I know multiple people who have had this happen). __________________ Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. -Douglas Adams Current Tank Info: 14g, 29g nano reefs

02/10/2011, 09:58 PM	#20
GT3 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 294	Cleaning the front and side glass every morning when i wake up.... __________________ 20G Reef Tank, DSB, 25lbs of live rocks. Spec: Ph 8.2, >520 cal and 8 kh, Temp 77F, SG 1.026 Equip: Coralife 24x2 T5HO, 2x Koralia 425 powerheads, no skimmer. 2L HOB Sump: Cheato, feather dusters, copepods, bristleworms Livestock: 4 blue-legged hermits, 2 nassarius snails, 1 astra snail, 1 Argent Mono, 1 FireGoby Corals: Mushrooms, yellow polyps, zoanthids

02/10/2011, 11:19 PM	#21
duncantse Fish Advisor Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,604	1. Begging parents to let me buy the equipment

02/10/2011, 11:55 PM	#22
vamaro Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: San Juan Capistrano Posts: 1,334	The worst part about the tanks for me now is not knowing what is going to happen when I add a new fish. Fighting, not eating, stress, etc. I do not mind the water changes. __________________ Vince Current Tank Info: 220 Gallon Tank 72L x 30W x 24H, FOWLR, APEX Controller, ATB 1260 (Large) with Airstar 2000, Ozotech Ozone with Avast Reactor, Tripplite 750 Inverter with Optima Batteries, 72' Current USA Extreme Pro T5 light

02/11/2011, 01:24 AM	#23
abezr Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: montreal qc Posts: 137	Oh man some of the posts are so funny hahaha and all the posts are soo true... i spent two weeks building my sump lol just got my skimmer in today AND IT DOESNT FIIITTTTTTTT AHHHHHH k well getting a bigger sump... well it fits but not with a return pump... i took the right measurements and forgot about the damn pump grrr great posts guys keep them coming very interesting for everyone!

02/11/2011, 01:47 AM	#25
Mike1918 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 12	For me its been spendng money. In the short 16 months I've had a reef tanks I've gone 20g, 58g, 75g and now just picked up a 125 last weekend!

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