How many hours a week do you spend "Reefing"

[Tuna Melt]

Just curious, I've been in the hobby almost three months and I am shocked how willing I am to dump hours of time into this fish tank. Despite all the hiccups, (Ba da ba ba ba!) I'm lovin it! What's surprising to me is not the amount of time I spend doing water changes and scraping glass, but the time spent researching topics, watching YouTube videos, diagnosing problems, shopping for livestock, etc. Its just always on my mind. Maybe its just a bit of a honeymoon phase, so I'd love to hear from you all, how much time do you spend doing actual work on the tank, and how much do you spending thinking about it, researching things, online reading about reefing, etc...

 

[revhtree]

This should be good! I think it will be an indicator on how good your tank is doing it not! Ha!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I feel like a spend a lot of hours each week, whether it’s looking around on reef2reef, researching various stuff for my tank, or doing maintenance on my tank. I can’t put a exact amount of time for hours each week but I feel like it’s a lot.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

1. One hour a week working!
2. Two hours a week researching and R2R.
3. Ten hours a week admiring.

 

[chipchipmofo]

i mean.. its... ALOT!
my wife often tells me: you dont know how much time you are spending on this tank!

But yeah she's right.. i often come home and insta check the tank.. scary!

 

[Rob1208]

Just curious, I've been in the hobby almost three months and I am shocked how willing I am to dump hours of time into this fish tank. Despite all the hiccups, (Ba da ba ba ba!) I'm lovin it! What's surprising to me is not the amount of time I spend doing water changes and scraping glass, but the time spent researching topics, watching YouTube videos, diagnosing problems, shopping for livestock, etc. Its just always on my mind. Maybe its just a bit of a honeymoon phase, so I'd love to hear from you all, how much time do you spend doing actual work on the tank, and how much do you spending thinking about it, researching things, online reading about reefing, etc...

I'm about to hit the 6 month mark, and I'm in the same boat as you. Just about any free moment is used up researching one thing or another. I feel like I've developed a routine for water changes and standard maintenance, but it's hard to put a number on it. Easily 5-6 hours... probably a lot more than I care to admit, even to myself.

 

[Troylee]

I’d say 4-5 hours a week on my tank… 40 hours on here helping out and admiring others tanks.

 

[iamacat]

It’s been difficult to convince my therapist that I’m not manic, I just have a reef tank.

maybe 1hr total interacting with the tank. Feeding, dosing AB+, testing, scrapping glass.

I read or watch probably 2-3hrs a day about the biological processes pertaining to my system and inhabitants. I’m always interested in learning more

 

[Tuna Melt]

I’d say 4-5 hours a week on my tank… 40 hours on here helping out and admiring others tanks.

Doing gods work out here!

 

[Tuna Melt]

It’s been difficult to convince my therapist that I’m not manic, I just have a reef tank.

maybe 1hr total interacting with the tank. Feeding, dosing AB+, testing, scrapping glass.

I read or watch probably 2-3hrs a day about the biological processes pertaining to my system and inhabitants. I’m always interested in learning more

Well, to be frank there are much worse things to be addicted to!

 

[exnisstech]

How many hours a week? My Gal would say too many since she says my hobby has become an obsession I say I really have no idea but I have the time so it can't be too many right?

I'm retired so I no longer keep close track of time. Sleep when tired, get up when I can't sleep any longer. I spend more time on reef related stuff than I could even keep track of or want to.
Tank in the bedroom so it's the first thing I see when I wake up. Lights start ramping at 9am so its kind of a morning clock, if the light are bright I know it's no longer morning.
Tank in the dining room so I can watch it while eating.
Tank in the living room so I can watch it while my Gal thinks I'm watching something stupid on TV with her.
Sump in the basement for my larger system so I can hang out down there when I need a little quite time.
I spend way too much time on here reading and trying to gather tidbits of valuable info to file away and try to offer what little assistance can.

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

After many years...countless hours a week. Working on projects, maintenance, shopping, researching, tinkering, etc. Im constantly thinking about it ( helps ger me through the day ar work lol). Fortunately my wife got the bug too so shes all in. We frequently take mini road trips to check put lfs in other cities, etc. We just bought another tank because she got tired of hearing "we cant have that in our tank" at the LFS. This weekend we took off work to attend myrtle beach frag fest. My love of reefing led me to sell my house and move to hawaii for 8 years to study marine biology and aquaculture (where i met my wife). Reefing isnt a hobby for me. Its a way of life. I live and breathe this stuff.

 

[Nman]

When I had reef tanks in the 90s . I could not keep my hand out of the tank making things perfect in my eyes trying to get the best of looking reefs . Now theses days I have more success hardly touching it apart from regular water changes and maintenance testing when needed . So my opinion is less is more

 

[rhitee93]

Probably 10-12 hours a week. The problem is - My tank hasn't even been delivered yet

Definitely a honeymoon period, but I am spending a lot of time on here, youtube, and general planning and acquisition of materials.

 

[Stephen Glover]

2 hours a week doing actual work (testing, cleaning, fragging). Thinking and/or watching the tank is a full time job.

 

[Coral Kai]

25 hours a day, 8 days a week

 

[jmichaelh7]

30 minutes - 1 hours maintenance in morning that’s including cleaning acrylic and testing dkh , skimmer cup, feeding

Weekends water change 1 hour

average 8 hours a week but my wife will say multiply that by 3

 

[kevgib67]

Not as much as I would like. My annoying wife and kids expect a roof over their heads, food on the table, electricity, WiFi bla, bla bla!

 

[MoshJosh]

I would guess about 7-10 hours a week, but could be more (especially if you ask my wife)

but that doesn't count trips to the fish store, or hours spent on reef2reef. . . so. . .

 

[abc123]

3 hours working on it