[reeferaddict]

My condolences for your loss, it would be discouraging to anyone.

It seems that all of us in this hobby must go through our individual growing pains to arrive at a comfort zone. My 90 had developed into a soup a couple of years back, and I too was at the point where I just wanted to get rid of it and get out of the hobby. It was taking too much time and money, and it just seemed that I was killing everything I bought...

To the rescue came my girlfriend... she asked some very good questions that I was forced to answer, and let me know that it was allright to really attempt this with the right approach, both timewise and financially. Though she has virtually nothing to do with the tank, her acceptance when I come home with thousands of dollars worth of gear DOES allow me to pursue this in a free manner, because no matter what you WILL pay... especially if keeping delicate species like SPS is in your sights. I thank her for her encouragement, and I take pride in my attempts to make all of this work.

With this hobby, failures create challenges, and sometimes the simplest successes give us the most incredible feeling of accomplishment. Don't give up, we have all been humbled. Those that say they haven't are liars. Our best hope is to learn as much as we can from the failures we encounter, our own or others - thank you for sharing with us and I wish you the best of luck down the road.