What keeps you in the hobby?

[ficklefins]

What exactly keeps you going in this hobby? As much time, money and energy that goes into this hobby it makes me wonder if it is worth it.
Also, will there ever be a time when you will call it quits?

So here are some of the reasons why I stay in it.

I have around 2 years of experience in this hobby and I feel like I learn something new everytime I read up on here. I get tired of a hobby when I stop learning about it, so this forum and new books have provided the interest to keep me going. I always see new corals, fish, and equipment that interest me so I am constantly researching.

I will call it quits when I can no longer pay for this hobby, or don't have the time for it. If it comes down to buying another IO bucket or dinner for me, then the tank will go.

[Biscutz]

Yea I ask myself the same thing too. Why are you spending all this time, effort, and money on this "thing". I guess the answer for me is that I enjoy the satisfaction of watching this incredible creature grow and mature. This last year has really struck me with the SPS bug, and man I tell you it is addictive. My biggest problem now is that I really can't add anything more to my tank. Half the excitement for me was getting up on a Saturday and driving down to my LFS to see what they got in, now I can look but I can't touch, lol. It's also rough watching your favorite coral, which has been with you for 2 years, slowly RTN for no apparent reason. But the more we go through, the more we learn, and the better we become at keeping our little slice of the ocean. Just my .02.

[kbmdale]

I saw a chance to get the myself, the wife, and the kids all into a common hobby. I do the maintinance (with help from my 4 year old son, not much help but alittle), Wife does the feeding and aquascaping, then we all sit back and admire our efforts. Its a great family hobby. We all enjoy it, thats what keeps me in the hobby. Even my 6 month old son will sit and stare at the tank for hours goo-gooing at it.

[WayneL333]

Because there is no drug to cure my addiction yet.

[Travis L. Stevens]

At first it was a "pretty" reminder that one day I will be able to afford to go to college to get that phd in icthyology since my wife was complaining about the "ugly" dead baby shark soaking in preservatives sitting in a jar in the living room. It then quickly turned into a family thing like stated above. Plus I get to teach my wife and son all sorts of stuff they never knew.

[BigDaddy]

I think it's amazing to have a small piece of the ocean in my living room.

But, the average $300 a month I spend just to maintain it does get old.

[tiger roach]

Because if I don't have a tank, I will miss it! I've been through that cycle already.

I admit to having thoughts of chucking it during the past couple years as I battled a horrible algae problem. Now that balance seems to have been restored and my tank looks good, I am enthusiastic about the hobby again.

[gruiz1122]

I had a 20 gal setup for about a year. Started getting too expensive with water changes and salt and that coral that I just "had to have!". Then I switched to a FW planted tank thinking " oh yeah this will be cheaper". Well it is cheaper, but no where near as much of a challenge, as pretty, or as interesting as keeping a captive reef was. Needless to say, I enjoyed this hobby immensely and am ITCHING! to get back into it. I do need to get myself a bigger tank though. I was too limited with the 20gal. I'm thinking a 55 or 75. I need to get my finances in order first and purchase that RO/DI system before anything else!

[CitCat21]

I didn't even want to get into the hobby but got thrown in head first. My boyfriend wanted one because it was cool to look at not haveing the slightest idea of what keeping it healthy involved then i come home one day to a tank full of salt water and poof i'm stuck. Well it's going on 4 months now and the tank is looking healthy and i honestly would rather play with the tank than my video games or computer. I love the challenge of keeping everything perfect and enjoy the knowledge i find here and everywhere else on the net. I also enjoy dreaming up different stock plans.

I don't know if i would ever quit without a court order and some rehab. I mean really everyone has to have an addiction. Well i don't Smoke, Drink, or do Drugs so here i am.

[froguy00]

The women. So, you want to go see my starfish.

[alten78]

The biggest downside of it all is the cost. But nothing I have ever done has been as rewarding as building and growing my reef tank. Sure its still in the process and im dead broke now, but the growth and life in it for mine and others viewing pleasure has been 100 fold...also helps when friends and family come over and oooohh & ahhhhh...helps that none of them ever see saltwater fish too

[rick051074]

The hope that someday my tank will look half as good as this.
http://www.oregonreef.com/images/photos/p_002_l.jpg

Rick

[Puffers]

I always wanted a Reef tank. To me it is the ultimate of aquariums you can achieve, dream and keep alive. The different types of life and colors that can be kept in a single tank is staggering. Where or what else in a square box, can you keep so much diversity so much color and yet keep it so interesting and entertaining? How else can you explain to your wife/husband that all this equipment, tank and electricity expense is worth it?

[Rueg]

I have been thinking about getting out of the hobby for some time now. Since taking down my 120 upstairs and setting up the 180 downstairs I hardly see the tank except to feed it. With the amount of time, money and stress it creates I really am wondering why I don't get out. I would have to say it is for the fish. The corals are pretty and all, but I love my sailfin tang and copperband butterfly - and of course the other fish I enjoy as well. But with all the pests in this hobby (aiptasia, flatworms, algae, etc) it really has become more work then fun. Thinking of going fish-only. But there always seems like something to try to resolve the problems, just gets so darn time consuming and expensive. I just don't have the motivation anymore. Too much work to do around the house. Upgrading to a bigger tank was a mistake. Much harder to resolve problems.

[jdav]

simply put:

aquariums are cool to look at.

[MacnReef]

Well, since I am getting out of the hobby, or should I say, I got out of the hobby. I can list reasons why one would leave the hobby.

First, aquariums are only fun to tinker with, not to watch. I bet that most you tinker, adjust, add chemicals, perform water changes, add corals...so on, more than you actually sit and enjoy your aquarium. I have had them all, from nano's up to my 180g sps starboard reef and I finally realized that I was putting a ton of time into messing with the aquarium and I never really sat back and enjoyed it.

Second, money! Almost everyone in this hobby increases their tank volume at some point...I know I did. But once I got my big tank hooked up and my electrical bill went through the roof, I realized it wasn't worth it. I was spending, on average, over $100+ per month, just for the electrical consumption.

Third, you'll find interest in something else. I did. If I would have just saved my money that I spent on aquariums, I could have three or four bikes instead of 1 and a half.

I mean think about this, the average reef aquarium will run you about $30-50 per gallon. So if you have a 90g aquarium (that seems to be a nice medium), then you have around $2700-4500 in a tank. That is just crazy. Hell, I am selling my 1999 Ford Ranger with only 36K miles on it for $4000.

Now, I was a reef-a-holic for about 5 yrs, but there were many reasons I got out. I still have a 54g corner tank set-up but to be honest, I don't touch the tank. Every week or so I will here the pump in my RODI top off running dry, so I will let my RODI unit run through the night then turn it off. The tank looks like crap but the wife won't let me sell it because she says I have too much time and money invested to sell it. I have seriously considered doing a water change, dosing my chemicals again and scraping the glass, but filters, RODI filters and additional powerheads the tank desperately needs, I just can't see spending that money right now.

Who knows maybe I will clean up the tank just for asthetic reasons in my house. But to have a full blown reef again...I doubt it.

Mike

[Frank_Rizzo]

Been in the hobby since 1994. Amazing how the technology and knowledge level has changed since then. But one thing that hasn't changed is the general pattern/cycle I have with keeping reef tanks: 1) Excitement/obsession over doing research about what kind of tank to set-up, what equipment to get, what critters to put into tank. I research for months before setting up a new tank. 2) Excitement over ordering equipment. 3) Dread of seeing credit card bill. 4) Thrill of setting up tank. 5) Agony of waiting for LR to cure. 6) More obsession about looking at LR while waiting for it to cure. Testing parameters every 20 minutes. Looking for every little new creature on LR. 7) Euphoria of finally addding livestock. 8) Worry over getting fish to eat. 9) Excitment of doing maintenance/water changes. 10) Dreaded diatom phase followed by: 11) Dreaded algae bloom. 11) Battleling algae bloom. 12) Thinking about quiting b/c of algae bloom. 13) Adding more snails/hermits, conchs, urchins, anything to beat algae bloom. 14) Adding corals which changes your mind from wanting to quit. 15) Buying more corals. Some you know you shouldn't buy, but they look so damn cool. 16) Fighting with spouse/significant other over cost of tank and corals. 17) Having to sneak out to the LFS to buy more corals and getting them acclimated to the tank while spouse/SO is out. 18) Explaining to spouse/SO that you have no idea how that new coral got into your tank. 19) Saturation of livestock. Algae battle won. 20) Complacency of clean tank, but no room for growth. 21) Frustration of continuing to have to do maintenance/water changes. 22) Saddness over losing a fish or coral. 23) At this point, usually around one/two years into tank, maintenance begins to lag. usually algae comes back as a result. Tank starts becoming ignored a bit. 24) Choice. Upgrade vs. quit. For me, I always seem to move to another city around this time anyway, so I either sell set up or tear down bring with and set up again. either way, the love of the hobby is renewed at this time. The cycle begins again.

So, is it worth it? Absolutely. When else can you create your own living world and play god for awhile?

[Joboo]

What keeps me in the hobby is the constant fear that my wife will unlease a wrath of gigantic proportions because of all the money I have spent on the hobby and then deciding to give it up

[tgunn]

Well, I haven't actually gotten my tank up and running yet, but here's why I got into the hobby.

One day while at work (yes I work hard) I found reefcentral. At the time Michael Moyes tank was TOTM. I was mesmerized and instantly thought it would be amazing to have a reef at home, but I discounted it because I thought I've never be able to set something like that up (cost, knowledge, time, etc)....

....then came my honeymoon in Barbados. Snorkelling in the reefs there cinched my craving to get into reefkeeping.

I work as a computer programmer by trade; before I graduated computers were my passion and outside work hobby. However, work served to crush that extracirricular interest, and reefkeeping seemed like a great hobby to take up.

I find the knowledge of the various lifeforms, techniques, equipment, etc, etc all so interesting, and all so different that the stuff I deal with at work all day...

I've been researching and slowly aquiring things for the past 2 years. I'll admit that things have cost way more than I thought, but I can't wait to see the end result once I get things up and running!

Tyler

[ficklefins]

Anyone stop reefing only to come back at a later time?

[JHReef]

The best part of the hobby for me is twofold.

First is stimulation, it helps keep the brain sharp and allows critical thinking. OK OK it satisfies the NERD deep within.

Second, it forces me to have downtime. I must take the time to keep my beloved creatures alive and thriving. That means I can't be working on the house, stressing over all the money I just spent on my tanks, or worrying about work.

Of course, I do miss RC and my local club site when I'm up to my armpits in fun!

[onefin]

For me, it's buying small fish ang watching them grow and also corals, and the live rock blows me away when i see life growing on it, and stuff in my tank that i didn't put in.

[tsquad]

I think the whole marine aquarium hobby is fascinating. Always been obsessed with the ocean and what not, and now to have a little slice of it in my house is one of my dreams.

[gillies]

I'll get out if my tank ever crashes. I won't sell my eqipment - just carefully clean, pack and put it away. Then, maybe in a year or two, I'll pull it back out and enjoy the process all over again. Just hope my tank never crashes!!!

[alphaferret]

this is only a short time hobby or fad for me next week i'll be off to minature golf or something else !