who has success?

[Joe Reefer]

This hobby has very high highs and low lows. To have a sucessful reef, you need a level of commitment that requires an enormous amount of time and love for the animals you are keeping. It takes more than just seeing a tank and saying "I want one cause it looks cool". You have to think of your tank as a life support system, however complex or simple your system may be it will require routine maintenance and checks that need to be done, I feel that most people get lazier as time goes by, skipping a water change, dosing, not QTing etc....eventually the tanks health declines so far that corals and fish start to die.

The first tank you ever setup will never look they way you want, it takes time IMO to have a tank worth showing anyone. When I say time it can take years before you will be happy with your tank. I am on my third tank in 4 yrs and I am finely getting to the point where upgrading does not interest me anymore.