Is reefer a hobby?
 

Sometimes, i just wonder why ppl call this hobby because according to wikipedia
"A hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation, often in one's spare time."

I know for sure to be success at reefer, you can't just take care of your tank in spare time. Sometimes, I feel like a job though i enjoy doing it.

Relaxation? Are you kidding me? I have more stress than if I don't have a tank..... Coral dying, fish got sick, leaking water, nitrate is high....

Your thoughts? I really don't think this is a hobby. What is it exactly?

Any hobby can be stressful, but those times I come home from work and the moonlights are on and I just sit there watch the tank, makes it all worth it. So yaI think its a hobby.

Reefing is definitely not a hobby. I compare reefing to keeping pets (cat, dog, etc.). Basically you are taking care of some live animals, doesn't matter it's a fish, a coral or a cat. You try to provide the best environment you can, do the best you can to take care of them and see they grow. It's more involving than a hobby, IMO.

Try this one:

Obsession - the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

I think that sums it up.

You just need to adjust your perspective a little.

As a reefer, to be 'at one with the tank', you just need to smoke a little reefer and all will be well. Try it, you'll see.

I mean, your fish may all die, but you won't notice :lol:

meh, ive lost colonies of corals, ive lost fish, ive had tank burst at the seams at four in the morning and flood my bedroom, ive blown heater in tanks, lost more tanks, had insane algea blooms....its all part of the hobby and I love it! It gives me something to do! If it wasnt tough, then it wouldnt be interesting and the rewards in the end wouldnt be that great.

you nailed it!

Agreed.

May just be me but the larger the effort hte larger the reward.

I have a lot of hobbies and they are all equally rewarding and annoying (at times). Mountain bike breaks down, Cameras memory card dies; bye bye vacation photos! :sad:. Cat scratches up nice new carpet. Kids taking a permanent marker to the wall. We all have the ability to make choices for ourselves right? If it was that bad I wouldn't keep fish, I wouldn't have a cat, I wouldn't take pictures, I wouldn't have kids, simple as that. Through the good times and the bad, you must find some enjoyment out of it ? If not, then simply choose to do something else, like knitting :biggrin: Although, yarn tends to tangle so that could be annoying too..

I find it to be a keeping of an obsessive hobby. ;)

+1 !!!! Agreed 100% only modification whould be:

Obsession - the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, size, fish, corals, LPS, softies, SPS, inverts, salt, skimmer, flow...


Funny thing is - if it mainly you who is in this hobby then your partner will definitely call you obsessed!!!!

kien - one little problem with your statement: "I wouldn't keep fish, I wouldn't have a cat, I wouldn't take pictures, I wouldn't have kids, simple as that". You can try fish, cats and taking pictures and get rid of this hobby if you don't like it.... I am not sure you can get rid of kids thou :) J/K

This is much more than a dog or cat. Yes, fish are underappreciated, but it is more than that. I don’t think that I have ever heard of the SPCA charging somebody with causing a SPS colony to suffer and die because they kept it under a single T-5 in a tank that was still cycling.

This is the perfect hobby for the budding megalomaniac- you have complete control over the environment of everything in your tank from light to temperature, salinity, nutrients, feed, water flow and what everything will have to live with as a neighbour. You become the vet and you need to do your research to be successful. Perhaps that is the relaxing part of this “hobby”- research and the feeling of keeping a diverse complete ecosystem where it would be considered impossible if not for your efforts (ever dropped a tang into Slave lake?) It is much more involved that keeping any large animal where the parameters are not only known- but it becomes immediately apparent if you have breeched those parameters.

This appeals to the researcher, the scientist, the artist and, again, the megalomaniac as a hobby. The frustrations are the price that you pay to have a very unique experience. One of the things that I most love is that there are thousands of ways to keep a tank that work and billions that don’t. This means that there are hard and fast rules but many rules can be bent and changed by “tweaking” a seemingly unrelated process.

Bauder hit it on the head when he said that if it were not challenging the rewards would not be worth it. If any idiot could run out and set up a tank it would loose it’s appeal to many of us. (O.K, any idiot can set it up- just not keep a challenging species successfully.) I suspect that most of us on this board enjoy a challenge and being able to see the results of our work and that it is that feeling of accomplishment that allows it to be classified as a hobby.

One final thought- even if you are staying home from work cleaning up water from the floor it was still “spare time” as you had nothing better to do than clean it up. If work were more important you would be there- you are filling your spare time with tank maintenance instead of work. So I argue that everything that we do on our tanks (even if it breaks “date night”, causes job loss, financial insecurity, ends in divorce, garners eye rolling, tears, blood or death) is done in our spare time.

This is not a hobby. It's an addiction, like crack. Must have. Need it. Want it.

Damn well put Dolf!

Hehehe yep 'bout sums it up when im on days off with a pocket full of cash haha

From the business point of view, I can honestly say I feel like a DEALER sometimes when customers come in for a "QUICK FIX" :mrgreen:

My personal tanks make it seem like another "DEPANDANT"

But honestly.... where else can someone actually "OWN" part of our oceans? and play "GOD"?

Ken - BWA

hmm a lot of people are saying it is more than having a dog, I can tell you a dog takes up more of my time than my tank ever did. I don't see how cleaning glass for a couple min aday and dropping some food in so maybe 10 min a day, plus a hour or two on the weekend for cleaning pumps/skimmer, ect so we'll say 3 hours a week of work, and the rest is just enjoyment. ya I would say hobby and for some obsession, but you are obsessed with a hobby.

Steve

Well, I am trying to convince my life partner this is a hobby and not addiction :-)

well that is the problems with most hobbies. They become addictions. RC cars/planes, model building, gardening, painting, working on cars, lawn ornament stealing, crossdressing hahaha they all become addictions to the person that they apply to. If it interests you enough to call it a 'hobby' then it will interest you enough to become an addiction, a way of life and a way of thinking.

Just think of how much more active your brain is now compared to before....at least you have something healthy to think about all the time to keep the ol' neurons sparking....good way to keep the amnesia and dimensia away haha but meanwhile you suffer a bad case of insomnia.

You don't have enough in your tank then, ha ha! I have three dogs by the way.

I tell newbies or non-reefers that "Crack is a cheaper addiction."

I've been diagnosed as Obsessive-Compulsive by a doctor friend so pretty much any "hobby" I get into will turn into an "obsession" or addiction anyways.

That's probably why I'm up to over 650g and over a dozen aquariums full of water (mostly sw). Fill one up, start up a new one. Fill up the house, start up one in the backyard & tell the wife its for irrigating her plants or Felicia's blueberry "farm". :wink:

I work at home so it doesn't seem like a huge time investment to me most days, since I like to take a quick break to feed the fish (5 or 8 times a day) or clean the glass or after work, at 3 in the morning, clean the skimmer collection cup or top off or add additives or feed phyto to the bbs culture or......

Hmmmm, maybe it is a lot of work & time consuming after all.

Bottom line is that it keeps me out of trouble since I don't have any other time or money to spend on getting in trouble.

Don't drink alcohol much, don't gamble, don't have any other expensive vices so this is where I choose to spend my time & resources.

Evolution of reefing:

Watch "Finding Nemo"
-> start small sw "Nemo" tank for wife
-> add another tank
-> upgrade lighting
-> add a bigger tank
-> run out of room for corals & fish
-> add another bigger tank
-> REPEAT as needed or until wife kicks you out of the house or drowns you in your sleep:redface:

(most expensive step was buying this place in order to house all the tanks & not have to move any time soon)

hmm 150 gal total water btween two display tanks and a sump, packed full of SPS and a few fish.. what more did I need? I think a lot of it was because of lots of flow, over sized skimmer, Ca reactor, Kalk reactor, UV, chiller, ect... that I didn't have to worry about doseing which to me is a huge PITA. my theory has always been to use lots and big equipment to make my job less. and once the tank was set up and established it was something to look at, not something to work on.

Steve

i find this is more of an obsession than a hobby, but when people come over and look at my tank with aw it makes it all worth it

100% agreed

Yep!

Hey, I always knew I was smrt, this proves it :lol: I do agree with the sleepless nights, I've had many of those.

Waaaayyyyyy cheaper :mrgreen:

I share this exact philosophy :-D

I will admit that I am a little obessed with the philosophy :-)

+1, this is more like a combination of gardening and animal husbandry. Actually, that's exactly what this is. Animal garden husbandry... I can't have been the first person to think of that :lol:

I think all people are susceptible to obsessions and maybe men even more so. Is it a hobby? Right up to the moment before it becomes an obsession. If you can walk that razors edge then you can call it a hobby but once you lean back in that chair paste the point that you can no longer catch yourself you have slipped into obsession.

I think that we should ban together and look for support (financial), possibly government subsidized to get some help.


The truth is we find things to occupy our time. I don't watch sports and could not imagine devoting 3hrs on a Sunday to watch football. Is an hour of tank maintenance really that unrealistic for all the joy and serenity an aquarium brings us.

Anyway my two thoughts.

Does it really matter? It's an activity you do.

I agree, and I have a similar setup with a 180 and a 90 and lots of gear (Only I dose two part instead of reactors). My problem is I can't just look at it! I have to be tweaking and changing, I always see an idea for improvement or a way of making it better, and I just can't rest until I try it out. My dogs are my pets, they're like a part of the family, I just don't see my tanks the same way. I see reefing as a challenge, one which you never master but you always have another idea that will get you as close to perfection as the wallet (and the Wife) will allow.

I don't even see the tank as a pet, I see it more as art. for me the obsessive part is building the equipment for the tank.. once that is done and it is up and running it is a work of art to look at, but requires a bit of maintance.

Steve

hobby
 

I agree, for some reason all the hardships you go thru with a tank, Is nothing in comparison to the reward you get for how beautiful it is. To be able to look at the tank, and be happy for what you have accomplished