What's The Hardest Part For You In Reef keeping? How will you fix it.

[reefsaver]

I would love to hear about other people and their perspective or subjective opinion on what they think has been the hardest part of Reef keeping for them.
Maybe it's the money, maybe it's the endless learning curve as we aren't all professional chemists or marine biologists.
Maybe it's the casualties you've taken throughout your experience or a combination, or the monotany of maintenance.
Some of these things can be hard and maybe at times you can struggle to deal with them.
It would be nice to know how you plan on moving forward to make this part of the Hobby easier for yourself.

For me personally, losing livestock of any kind really burns and hurts. It hurts so much that I want to create the most ideal possible conditions, and test my water twice a day if I can, chase the rainbow reef and expand my system with a new tank, that I will drill myself and add a Bean Animal Overflow to. It's really my dream.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

at the beginning; patience. now; concern about my midas blenny jumping out onto my chest during feeding time again. smh.

edit: patience is still a big one when it comes to nuisance algae and sick fish, I just want it to get better NOW!!!

 

[ryanjohn1]

Must add more sps. They are like Pokémon. Gotta have them all.

 

[GARRIGA]

Affording it. Took a bath in the market this week because I traded based on fundamentals vs going with the flow. Perhaps my dream tank not in my plans this year but I'll just have to settle for two small nanos instead. Have just about everything but stands. Life happens

 

[crazyfishmom]

Besides the expense of it all it’s the seemingly random way a coral will just waste away to nothing when the rest of the tank is doing great. I don’t believe in making adjustments to parameters or routine unless I see several corals starting to decline and that has served me well but it does hurt whenever I see polyp bailout on a hammer or when an acro frag that was encrusting and coloring up just bleached overnight.

 

[Paul B]

I like to use natural seawater and now where I live I am surrounded by farms and golf courses somost of the land is doused with week killer, fertilizer and insect killer. They also spray for ticks in the woods so we and our water is saturated in poisons.

When I change water from here I get a produce stand of algae that takes a long time to eliminate. Now I use half NSW and half ASW but I don't really like ASW.

I have to drive 30 or so miles to get cleaner salt water.

This is not really a problem but after 60+ years of fish keeping I got nothing else for this thread.

 

[GARRIGA]

I like to use natural seawater and now where I live I am surrounded by farms and golf courses somost of the land is doused with week killer, fertilizer and insect killer. They also spray for ticks in the woods so we and our water is saturated in poisons.

When I change water from here I get a produce stand of algae that takes a long time to eliminate. Now I use half NSW and half ASW but I don't really like ASW.

I have to drive 30 or so miles to get cleaner salt water.

This is not really a problem but after 60+ years of fish keeping I got nothing else for this thread.

AOP supposedly eliminates pesticides along with 0.025 micron filtration. Food for thought.

I'd go NSW were it pragmatic and by me that means running 15-25 miles offshore seeking the gulf stream. Although TLF grabs water from inshore then passes it through UV and I recall 5 micron filters. Don't think they are removing pesticides and just fixated on bugs.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Not jumping the gun to fix a problem so quickly. I knew "have patience in the hobby" the whole time, but when an issue finally arose, I threw that suggestion out the window. I know now, after first-hand experience, do not rush to fix any problem in your tank.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

Not jumping the gun to fix a problem so quickly. I knew "have patience in the hobby" the whole time, but when an issue finally arose, I threw that suggestion out the window. I know now, after first-hand experience, do not rush to fix any problem in your tank.

this^ I especially I think about this when I see most pH posts on here, it’s usually not worth losing your mind trying to go from 7.8 to 8. I haven’t checked my pH in maybe too long but hey, no issues whatsoever

 

[Gumbies R Us]

this^ I especially I think about this when I see most pH posts on here, it’s usually not worth losing your mind trying to go from 7.8 to 8. I haven’t checked my pH in maybe too long but hey, no issues whatsoever

I also rarely check mine. I don't want to rush to fix it because it will cause more issues.

 

[exnisstech]

Patience has always been the hardest for me. Getting that handled takes care of many problems that were self created because of the lack of patience. Choose a path and stay the course and resist the urge to keep changing things.

this^ I especially I think about this when I see most pH posts on here, it’s usually not worth losing your mind trying to go from 7.8 to 8. I haven’t checked my pH in maybe too long but hey, no issues whatsoever

I wonder how many succesful reefers do not test / monitor pH? I don't test or monitor. Its almost like chasing pH has become the thing to do in the last year or two, at least from reading posts here. I would think it has to cause problems for folks entering the hobby thinking it's something that should be done.

 

[PNWoffroader]

For me it was my endless search for a clean tank, I wanted a "clean tank" so bad that for years I kept my flow soo strong that I was killing corals but I didn't realize this thinking that the reason my coral was dieing was because of poor water movement and a dirty tank, so I would up my flow adding more powerheads. It was a perpetual cycle for many years until I decided to just focus on the fish and be happy with a fish only tank. After a while I noticed my fish were always hiding so I removed power heads lowered my return pump speed and now everyone swims around happily. My tank is cleaner and the 1 coral I have left is super happy.

I really wish I would have realized too much flow is a thing many years ago as it would have saved me tons of money.

 

[danimal1211]

Patience.

 

[darrick001]

Early years not quarantining everything.
Middle years chasing parameters
Now finding a way to automate phytoplankton and Keeping my hands out of the tank.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Patience. As soon as I read about some new product or action meant to correct something like nuisance algae or Dino’s, I find myself wanting to do all of it at the same time.

Best to make small adjustments and observe the outcome before changing things up.

-Matt

 

[Paul B]

I wonder how many succesful reefers do not test / monitor pH?

I don't. The last time I tested pH was probably in the 80s.

AOP supposedly eliminates pesticides along with 0.025 micron filtration. Food for thought.

I think the bigger concern is the fertilizer which grows algae like crazy.

 

[that_boy_fini]

Nitrates have always been my issue order some real reef rock hoping to curb this finally

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Nitrates have always been my issue order some real reef rock hoping to curb this finally

Feed your fish more and it’ll rise.

 

[KTTX]

Not being able to trust coral vendors whether hobbyist or retailer. Corals are shown in pics cleaned up but they came out of a tank with plenty of issues that we are not aware of. Potentially with bad algae that can be transferred to your tank even after dipping...

Corals are not cheap but if you cant see where it came from you don't really know what you are getting.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Water Changes, lifting the heavy buckets to dump into the Laundry Sink, at 70, is not fun. Also both my Shoulders are sore from Trimming Trees, and then handling luggage. If it rains hard enough this weekend, I can dump it in the Sump Pit. Talked to my Wife about an auto system, but it’s always wait.