what keeps you going?

[Dez]

My tank is built into the wall of our living room so I know that no matter what it's a part of my house so I have to keep up the maintenance on it. It's 3.5 years old and I don't do too much to it. For the past couple of years it's just water changes every couple of weeks. I make sure to magnet the glass every few days so that the glass algae never "builds" up. It's worth it and doesn't have to take a lot of time. I have 2 young kids and other hobbies too, so life is always busy and the tank doesn't impede.

Downsizing to only one tank and making maintenance a breeze. Also taking a vacation away from Canreef helps.

[Leah]

Stupidity!

[kien]

Money.

[riceboy]

Originally Posted by kien

Money.

very good reason to. to much invested in all the equipment and fish to let it go to a waste lol, and people on this forum are great to talk to and give you guidance so hopefully you don't experience another crash again.

[kien]

Originally Posted by riceboy

very good reason to. to much invested in all the equipment and fish to let it go to a waste lol, and people on this forum are great to talk to and give you guidance so hopefully you don't experience another crash again.

that's one way of looking at it.. i was reading the question a little differently, like, how are you able to keep going in this hobby??? Well, without money you're hooped.. LOL.

[riceboy]

Originally Posted by kien

that's one way of looking at it.. i was reading the question a little differently, like, how are you able to keep going in this hobby??? Well, without money you're hooped.. LOL.

very true

[Reef Pilot]

I think what has kept me going is one step at a time. I have made some mistakes in the past, and needed to understand and fix those. But so far, have not had any major disasters or crashes. I am trying to prepare for that possibility, but of course hope it never happens.

I feel that I am progressing now, and just recently started adding SPS to my main DT. Still looks pretty bare, but am resisting the temptation to load up.

My biggest fear is going away on trips for any length of time. I have automated quite a bit, which is good and bad. Good that it takes cares of a lot of things, but bad in that not sure if anyone else could figure it out in my absence.

But I still love the challenge, and am happy with the wins so far, and will keep pushing forward slowly. My thanks to the many beautiful FTS pics I've seen here. They are my inspiration to where I want to go with my tanks.

[kien]

Ultimately I think what has helped me is/was simplifying and automating my setup. Granted, everyone has their own interpretation of what's "simple" but for me simple is not having to do anything on a daily basis. When I first started this tank I was all gung-ho and dumping in all sorts of ZeoVit stuff and manually adding additives (alk/calc). This wore me down because there are a crap load of other things that need my attention. Eventually I got a doser for my additives and I stopped using those zeovit bottles. Keep in mind that I am in no way saying that ZeoVit doesn't work! It does, I'm just too lazy for it. Got an autofeeder for my fish. For nutrient control I use bioPellets because to me they are the easiest to use. Dump a bunch of pellets into a reactor and let it tumble for months. I don't touch that pellet reactor for probably 6-8 months.

Now a days I can easily go 3-4 days without even touching my tank for any reason whatsoever.

Mind you, all that automation costs money, so I'm back to my original answer I guess.

[riceboy]

trust me i have been there multiple times in the last 2 years, weither its the dreaded marine velvet ( happened twice) and a total tank crash from not maintaining it (busy with work and never home), constant bickering from my mom that the tank looks bad and i'm wasting my money.....etc. I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel and wait until i moved out of my parents place to restart.

Well once construction season came to a hault and I wasn't in the field or doing 12 hrs a day, I had realized how relaxing this hobby could be just by staring at my tank with the fish swimming around and the couple of mushrooms and toadstool swaying back and forth from the wave. My stress would just melt away. After this realization I was hooked again, and viewed this as a new build with upgrading my existing equipment, and finally getting rid of my aiptasia problem and recycling my tank again. (i should of taken all the sand out at that time as i suffered a little crash from syphoning the sand later and having my po4 spike thats another story ). Now I can change the rock scape to what i want it to look like from other inspiring tanks, and i'm working on getting my tank to be as little maintenance as possible and having things automated so i can enjoy the relaxing and soothing aspect of the hobby.