Well, that´s it. I´m outta the hobby.

[Leopardshark]

Well, as the title says: I´m outta the hobby. I sold my tank about 3 months ago and here´s the story.
In august I accepted a new job in another city, Mexico City which is about 1.5 hours from where I was currently living and actually where I lived all my life.
At first I thought taking care of the tank was going to be piece of cake, it would practically take care by itself since I had the aquacontroller II (which took care of lights, ORP, temp, CO2, etc), auto topoff connected to the RO/DI, 2 6200 turbelles streams (with magnets, so falling down and creating a mess while I wasn´t home wasn´t an issue), and in general my only task when visiting the tank every 2 weeks would be cleaning the skimmer and some minor work (brother fed the fishes). Well, I was wrong.
The first times I visited it I had to spend lots of hours to do all the maintenance I didn´t do in those 2 weeks. Cleaning the skimmer is just a little piece of it, I didn´t realized at that moment I had to clean the bulbs, clean the pumps, clean the glass from coralline, clean everything, epoxy again the fallen corals, feed the corals, test parameters, etc. There´s a lot of daily maintenance that can take you 15-30 mins per day, but if you do it all at once on one day, it´s going to take all day long.
After I had finished doing everything I previously said and everything else I missed to say, I was tired and I didn´t have time to rest and watch the tank, since I had to drive back to my new house.
Aside to what I have said, somehow some corals started to fade down and decline in health, I guess it is more important to perform 20-30 mins of daily maintenance than 8 hours in one day every 2 weeks.
So basically I didn´t enjoy the tank anymore, and the only day every 2 weeks I had to enjoy the tank, I didn´t because I was performing maintenance, not watching it.
One sunday, I received a phone call… my room was flooded and water was falling thru the floor to the ceiling of my living room. I wasn´t there to solve the problem. The waste water from the RO/Di unit disconnected from the unit, you can take it from there.
So I decided to sell the tank. That was it.
I post the tank in a Mexican forum and sold the entire tank in 1 day, everything including corals and fish but not the tank itself. Not to one person but to many, but everything was sold in 1 day.
So the next Saturday the guy who bought me all the corals and fishes went home, we packed them in about 8 hours, took about 8-10 boxes and about 60 plastic bags, it was a nightmare. In 8 hours the reef that I constructed for over 5 years was gone. I cried ( I really did). That was it.
The next day I dismantled all the equipment (took me about 13 hours) and took it with me to Mexico City, most of the buyers live in here so they went to my home to pick it up.
The only thing left was the tank itself, with base, hood, etc. which I gave away for free, the only problem was to take it out from my bedroom and moving it down from a second floor thru the stairs (tank alone weight about 600 lbs). One person took the task about 1 month ago and there it went the last piece of my biggest passion of my whole life.
Many people suggested me to relocate the tank in my new home. Not a possibility, relocating a 300gal tank would be too troublefull and a big expense and I didn´t wanted/couldn´t do it (time, $, effort).
You know, after 10 years of reefkeeping you get tired of things going bad, when it is not a piece of equipment, it is a new pest (red bugs, AEFW, etc.) or something like that. I got tired of the hobby, got tired of being worried, you know the phrase “The question is not if something bad is going to happen or not, but when”. I got tired. Actually one of my friends told me: “I don´t know whether to feel sorry or envy for you” he has the most spectacular tank I´ve ever seen.
Well, It´s been a few months since I left the hobby and even do I miss it, miss watching the tank in my bedroom, watching the corals grow and flourish… I don´t regret it. But a big part of my heart and soul is missing, it really does..
People ask me if I´m going to set up a new tank, and I say no, not even a 10 gal tank. Because it only takes that to start it over again. Later that 10 gal tank will be a 100 and then a 300 just like it happened to me before, I started with a 30, then a 100 and then a 300.

Just before I took it apart, the tank was amazing, I had about 60 different acroporas (including tortuosas, original purple monster, efflorescence, echinatas, gomezi, blue mille, etc.) , and tons of other corals. Fishes, emperor, majestic, asfur angels, powder blue, yellow, regal tangs, 2 pairs of clowns (ocellaris and pink skunk). The angels and tangs were with me for more than 5 years. The day I dismantled it, the tank looked like it never did before.

So that´s it. That was all for me in this amazing hobby. I want to thank all of you guys who gave me their support in all these years. Thanks for sharing all your wisdom. Thanks for taking the time to answer to my questions and for taking my advice. This is by far the best forum in earth. You are the best guys in earth. I´m not saying good bye to the forum but I may not be coming in as often as before.

I haven´t been here very often, it´s hard to come here and read about things and a world I´m no longer included. I had to wait 3 months to say goodbye, I couldn´t do it before. It was too hard.

Thank you very much and God bless you all.

Regards

Marco

[Serioussnaps]

You dont want to quit----otherwise you would have posted that long essay!!!!!! Fugghheetttaboudittttt

[NewSchool04]

with all you went through selling, and the back and forth maintenance, you should have just packed it up and brought the tank to your new place.

I think Serioussnaps has it right, you're not out, you're just on a sabatical.

[blufyre3]

Maybe a nano would give you some small (no pun intended) amount of enjoyment. You can't just quit cold turkey. The withdrawals are horrible. Night shakes, day dreams.....

[SDguy]

FWIW, I think you did the right thing. There are times in your life that having a reef just isn't practical. I sold my tanks when I went to college. I came back into it eventually. Best of luck to you.

[snslarison]

You'll be back. They always come back.

Good luck.

[tacocat]

I agree with SDGuy and I did the same thing. After a few years, it's nice to take a break. Many of my reefing buddies are the original pioneers and sometimes, you just need a change.

I am currently setting up my last tank. After this one, there will be no more. Hopefully, it will be with me for a few years.

[the_anti_honda]

Originally posted by snslarison
You'll be back. They always come back.

Good luck.

Said like a champ!

[REEF-DADDY]

Sounds like a chance to recharge. You'll be back and think of all the things you can do differently the next time!

[ricks]

Dude... sad story, I've been through it all. You will come back at some point in your life. Once a reefer, always a reefer... In 20 years I've been in and out of (6) large tanks.. Somehow I always return. I'm addicted like all of us.. Maybe we need some kind of support group? For the amount of money we spend. I feel like this is one of the most expensive hobbies...

Good Luck.....

[fishdoc11]

Sorry to hear and good luck Marco....hope to see you around again after a while


Chris

[gasman059]

u will b back !
good lucj and god bless

[sidog1]

Sorry to hear this Marco. Take this time to recharge your batteries for the next tank. I agree with sdguy and tacocat cause i did the same thing. once addicted always addicted? hehe Take Care

[tanya72806]

Marco I remember seeing pics of your tank it was beautiful so sorry to hear about it. I been in and out and everytime i come back its bigger and more expensive lol .GL with everything

[DMK]

way too much to read, sorry. good luck...

[evilsike]

Good luck as well. We all needed a break sometime. Maybe in the near feature, you'll see an Aquacontroller 5 with all the bells and whistles and even more bells. Maybe it will remind you of back in the day... then the cycle begins (pun intended)
for the time being, take time to setup the new house with the spare room in mind (ahem ahem )

[Leopardshark]

Thanks for all of you guys for your support.
Indeed once you become a reefer, you will be a reefer for all your life.
This reefer thing is in my blood, but sometimes this hobby can become too stressfull so you need to take a brake.
I really don´t know if I´m on a brake or I quit but I´ll be around here reading and congratulating all of you guys for your great tanks.
I´m gonna post some pics of the tank before I tore it down, if I can find them
Again, thanks for your support.
Marco

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

Marco, sorry to hear, i thought i was out and quitting too a couple of months ago and sold my reef, then i moved into a house that me and my wife purchased and now i have another reef starting all over again, im in for life! ojala, que estes bien y regreses pronto mi bien amigo. asta luego, tu amigo en california.

[xtm]

Originally posted by tacocat
I am currently setting up my last tank. After this one, there will be no more. Hopefully, it will be with me for a few years.

riiight....It's either you will upgrade to a bigger tank in a couple of years or you will add another tank.. sorry I've heard this statement soo many times.. I've even said it myself LOL

Anyways Marco, sorry to hear that you're "leaving" the hobby. If you're really THAT serious about quitting, I suggest you stay away from public aquariums... because that's all it will take to hook you up again

[reefsahoy]

you'll be back! your feeling like a champion boxer that's had his last fight, but then you'll come out of retirement like all other boxers. I've tried to quit once when i moved to a new house but realized something was missing in my life. i then started with a nano and now up to a 85 gallon sps tank and seriously thinking of now knocking down a wall and installing a large tank.

[Gary Majchrzak]

Good luck and hurry back, Marco!

[littleguy]

Best of luck. Catch you on the flip side.

[trueblackpercula]

good luck.........................but once a reefer always a reefer you will be back some day.
Michael

[cediss]

FWIW, I think you did the right thing. There are times in your life that having a reef just isn't practical. I sold my tanks when I went to college. I came back into it eventually. Best of luck to you.

Marco, we have all been there to one degree or another. In fact it was your love of the hobby and corals that made you part before you let them die from neglect. If you had let them die you would have never come back out of disgust. But because you parted like you did, you can come back some day clean and ready for the passion to ignite again.Just as the others have said. I too left the hobby during college. But the fever never leaves you. One day the urge will be too strong, you'll see more advances in the hobby and then.........your next tank will be purchased.
I even ended up getting back some of my original peices of LR. That shows how much passion you have when you recognize peices of LR that you haven't seen in over 6 years. Take as much time as you need, then we'll see you back someday!

[Dansin]

Take a break. I came back after losing everything too. Good luck.