Is lossing your tank Coral or fish an inevitability

[Jason McK]

Do you feel you will suffer major to total loss at some point?

[Matt]

Well, I already have... twice. Not total losses, but nasty losses. Once from my stupidity and impatience, and once from a cracked bottom pane. I think most people's systems are quite a lot closer to the "edge" than they'd like to believe. Inevitible? Probably, given a long enough period of time to flush out variance and luck.

[bv_reefer]

honestly, no not really my whole tank. but as for fish & corals, nothing surprises me anymore!

[untamed]

I'm losing track of how many years I've run SW tanks...but it is like 15 years and I have not had what I would describe as a tank crash/disaster. Most all that time was with a small tank...one that I would expect to be a lot more susceptible to sudden problems.

I don't do glass tanks. I live with the trade offs of acrylic, but silicone and glass scare me.

I think that the real danger with this hobby is that it is a hobby. By my definition, a hobby is something that one tinkers with. It is very difficult to just do the same thing all the time, even if it is working. Eventually, you want to tinker with it, even though things are working fine.

Why did I add a Kalk reactor? Because I wanted to see if I could smooth out my pH cycles...Did I need a Kalk reactor...no.

Things going too well?...let's try Zeovit to see if we can get better coral colour...

It's tough to weigh my urge to tinker against sticking to a routine.

[justinl]

Originally Posted by untamed

I'm losing track of how many years I've run SW tanks...but it is like 15 years and I have not had what I would describe as a tank crash/disaster. Most all that time was with a small tank...one that I would expect to be a lot more susceptible to sudden problems.

I don't do glass tanks. I live with the trade offs of acrylic, but silicone and glass scare me.

I think that the real danger with this hobby is that it is a hobby. By my definition, a hobby is something that one tinkers with. It is very difficult to just do the same thing all the time, even if it is working. Eventually, you want to tinker with it, even though things are working fine.

Why did I add a Kalk reactor? Because I wanted to see if I could smooth out my pH cycles...Did I need a Kalk reactor...no.

Things going too well?...let's try Zeovit to see if we can get better coral colour...

It's tough to weigh my urge to tinker against sticking to a routine.

i agree completely. there's also the fact that our hobby deals directly with a "system" (that word used very loosely indeed) filled with living creatures, micro and macroscopic. And life is, by nature, unpredictable.

[Mik_101]

Originally Posted by bv_reefer

honestly, no not really my whole tank. but as for fish & corals, nothing surprises me anymore!

Totally agree with you there.

[bv_reefer]

after my anemone made dinner of a perfectly good tang i kinda don't let livestock surprise me anymore

[Sebae again]

I hope not. We are walking a thin line. We are all short several billion gallons of sea water in our biotopes. Disasters happen in nature never mind our tanks.IMO through my own observations ,I believe that propagated acros become more hardy through the generations of ''fraging'' and being introduced into other peoples tanks eg. different water parameters. At times I feel guilty for being in this hobby but I believe with the changes in the enviroment that one day it may be through us ,in an ironic twist of fate ,that we may be called upon to repropagate the oceans.

[justinl]

i think the whole fantasy that some hold about us hobbyists repopulating the oceans with coral is just short of ridiculous... no offence to you guys. I just think that there are limitations to our hobby and repropagation of the ocean is something that is just wayyyyy too far beyond us. plus theres a very good chance that any attempt to that may end up in a catastrophe anyways. it's not a bad goal/ideal, just not a realistic one imo. We're still trying to get this hobby reliant on local propagation, let alone the ocean. and speaking of local propagation, i think that's what we should be focusing on right now (thankfully i know some of us are)... we are too reliant on wild stock which is dwindling at an alarming rate and will eventually and inevitably be shut off from us by authorities or simply by extinction... hopefully not the latter. when the fecal matter hits the fan, i hope groups of trading aquarists like canreef and reefcentral will be in a state well stocked enough with healthy coral to carry the hobby on. it's scary to think that far ahead... at that point even a simple propagation of red bugs might not just mean a single tank crash (which is bad enough); it could mean wiping out the hobby in an entire region. ugh... but i rant, so to keep it simple, propagate, propagate, propagate. it'll save you money and could save our hobby one day.

[marie]

Originally Posted by Jason McK

Do you feel you will suffer major to total loss at some point?

If I felt that way I wouldn't be in this hobby .
We are dealing with animals that have very particular needs though and I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a few losses