You ever feel like saying i quit?

[bignick]

I like having the tank just because i love showing it off to the family and i find relaxing at times.

I hate havign the tank because of the electric bills, My corals won't color up (and i am running 3x400w 20k), I have STN on two colonies that are almost all gone. My 42 has Nudis that i can't get rid of.

My bad out weigh my good

[ekrunch]

Originally posted by bignick
I can honestly say that i have lived through some of the worsts things a reef keeper can go through and i still kept going so i am a dedicated reef keeper. i just get so agitated when i look at my credit card bill and i see all this expensive equipment i bought that was suppose to make my tank do this and that and i only come to realize that it isn't guaranteed to do anything.

This is exactly what I was feeling last night. When we did the 46 bow (our first tank), we cut corners and ended up with mediocre results. It was easy to deal with some of the disappointments because I knew we had cut corners.

When we did the 90, we didn't cut nearly as many corners, and got better results, but still not great results. We still have that tank up and running and it's a good tank, but there are a lot of things that still aren't quite right. It's much more difficult to accept considering the time and money spent on it.

When we did the 125, I tried as hard as I could not to cut any corners. I really did try to go all out as much as I could afford. So, to have everything fall apart on me after spending all of that hard earned cash is a really hard thing to deal with. It's really disheartening some times when you see all of that hard work and effort come apart in about 30 seconds!

Hang in there man. Sounds like you've had it rough.

[ShannHell]

Originally posted by RobTop
And Shannhell, as for bryposis raise the mag up to 1500+ for a week or two and say bie bie bryposis

That's what I am in the process of doing....I just hope it works

[sugartooth]

Yep, for the last 3 months I thought about.

[canar]

Disasters? Dont even get me started.....................

After everything I went through I kept at it!

[gotfish8]

I think about quitting all the time even more lately. I thought a big tank would be cool (500g+-) Tank is beautiful in all, but I am just getting tired of the continuous expenses and the time it takes to keep it looking good. It is a car payment to keep it running every month and not a cheap car either. I have seriously been contemplating of turning it into a fish tank.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Sara B]

Originally posted by svb57
Sara...what problems you facing?

svb57 & PK1 - I had an issue with my replacement 225 gallon tank. It has been up since May and it cracked it's euro-brace two weeks before Christmas. BenjieC and Nancy spent over 12 hours on that Sunday helping me set up three 40 gallon breeders to hold my rock, sps and some of the fish and all flow from the main tank was diverted over to those 3 tanks. Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, so that's why it was over a 12 hour process! I have lost a few fish and sps, but the majority of the livestock is faring ok.

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to upgrade the tank to a custom sized 300 gallon tank. Yes, I'm brave and doing acrylic again and the tank is being built by James of Envision. He has a great warranty, the first thing I checked, so I'm completely comfortable with the tank and he has a great reputation too. BenjieC is also assisting me with the new tank design and the overhaul of my fishroom!

Here's a photo of the cracked euro-brace on the top. The crack is 7" long and is all the way through the 1/2" acrylic top. The sides of the tank were built with 3/4" acrylic.





[IMG][/IMG]

[pk1]

Holy !$$! that sucks. Your a brave lady going with acrylic again. Not that you should worry, I'm sure that envision does great work. But I'd be paranoid!

gotfish8-you will regret breaking that beauty down if you go that way.

Patrick

[raker]

I had an ICH outbreak around new years eve, qt'd all livestock, started doing the hyposalinity treatment.
Unfortunately have died over the course of a week.
I was definately thinking of tearing the tank down but i changed my mind.

[444reefkeeper]

What brand bulb/ballasts are you running Nick? Unless you got Radiums on an HQI, you need to bump up the power if you want anything to happen.

I've thought about giving up many times. Flooded basements(ATO failed and self-induced), electricutions, broken tanks, broken live rock that you just "cherry-picked", red bugs, flatworms, hydroids, bryopsis, gorilla crabs, pistol shrimp, roaming anemones killing a few hundred $ in sps in a few hours,
dealing with crappy elec., dealing with crappy electric bill, jumping fish, fighting fish, crabs/snails/fish knocking coral on top of others while you're away, surge exposed plenum-released toxins-killed my carpet in 1-2 days(as well as some coral), fish disappearing, for that matter- euchnid worms, rouge crabs killing fish and/or inverts, back pain after 22 hours of rinsing sand, not to mention back pain from carrying 1500#s of sand downstairs-by yourself, cuts all over your ankles from walking around in your tank while aqua-scaping(not so bad considering I get to "walk" in my "fish tank" , getting 2-4 hours of sleep a night to finish projects as well as busted knuckles and cut up hands while working on said projects.

I could keep going, but I have to get to Menards before they close. Gotta feed the need.

Things were too difficult, so I made them easier. Time(tank maturity) helped too.

Testing, water changes, dosing and too much equipment made it work instead of fun. So I changed what I was doing to have a more self-sufficient, stable tank. Once I took the "natural" approach, things have not been easier. All I do is top-off, magnet clean the glass and feed the fish every couple days.

Just remember:
This hobby is supposed to be relaxing.

[Pufferpunk]

For anyone disappointed in the growth of their corals, melting/receding zoas, not as bright colors. Try dosing with Vitamin C!

http://www.livingreefs.com/forums/sa...vitamin-c.html

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=1

[TropTrea]

Some times I think it is an unending circle. Especialy when we talk about the financial end of this hobby.

When you get into it you might budget $2,000 for your set up and you might get someting fairly nice working for you at that price.

Then you see John's tank and say gee his corals look much better and I need to get the better pumps to increase my flow. Sow now you spend an extra $400.00. Then you Mikes tank and like his lighting so you spend another $500.00.

Siox months later you see Jimmies tank and decide your going top go with a tank 50% larger. Guess what you later realize that everything else needs to be upgrades.

Now you see Charlies tank and find out that your $300 skimmer is not doing what his is doing so you drop[ an added $600 on a bigger better skimmer. Oh and don't forget that new pump for the skimmer at $250.00.

You try keeping some corals you got from Herman and find out instead of 300 watts of lighting you now need 600 watts of lighting. you invest in the higher wattage but don't like the color of your tank now so you add another $300 to change bulbs and add more atinics.

Then your new electric bill comes in and you realize it is $100 more than it was last year at this time. You also see some corals dieng with some black growth on them.

What started out as a $2,000 investment last year is now over $10,000 and you have an extra $1,000 a year to the electric company to remind your spouse every month why your not going to Hawaii this year on vacation.

But if you made it through this first 18 months the bug has bitten you. You find yourslf at the fish store buying that $300 coral and trying to figuer out how you can sneek that new 310 gallon tank into the house without your spouse noticing the dent in the savings account.

But when you get home from the fish store you find a note from your spouse. "I'm at my mothers they turned off the electricity for missing the last two electric bills"

[hebygb]

BigNick... gosh I remember the thread describing your weekend rebuild and all the help you got from fellow reefers. Very impressive. I guess that leads me to this point...

We are all trying to capture a sliver of one of the most complex natural environments in our livingroom... whether it is a nano or a 1,000 gallon tank it is a drop in the ocean. The friendships, the help and the learning journey is what this hobby has meant to me... I love coming home and seeing my tanks... fixing a fallen coral... checking the skimmer... feeding a critter... looking for an emerald crab... Sometimes just staring... whatever... How can you put a price on that.

As for the ease of SW vs FW... I am small potatoes to all of you big rig reefers. I have a 65gal SW that I goof with every day... I have 90, 58, and 36 gal Cichlid tanks that combined take 15 minutes of effort a week at most. I enjoy them but they are nowhere nearly as much fun and rewarding as my SW tank. Someday I may be grown up enough to have a big tank and my outlook may change... I think with bigger tanks, our expectations grow with the investment.