is this hobby difficult?

[ralph atl]

 

[gnashty]

Rskillz;644970 wrote: Money can't replace expertise, but it comes **** close...

Also, just taking the time to do water changes/eyeball check the tank/change filter socks/change carbon/etc makes it easy. The less time you spend doing maintenance the more it will bite you in the long run.

+1

I also agree with Ralph

 

[snowmansnow]

beccaf91;645003 wrote: My fiance and I have been in the hobby for about a year now. I think the hardest part is the difference in opinion about every aspect of a reef tank and of course not being able to afford the hobby in order to do it correctly. I have seen some really beautiful tanks rskillz, beccamc10, demefelix, and a few others. We have a passion for reef tanks but distance is difficult for us because we have never had an experienced person look at our tank and tell us what we could do better or what we needed to fix. You can look at a picture to try to find a fix, but if you don't see the whole picture can you really fix the problem?

I hadn't thought of the confusion issue. You're right.. everyone has their OWN way of doing things. Starting out I suppose it is confusing getting everyone's advice and trying to make sense of not only all the new terminology, but all the different methods of accomplishing a similar goal.

B

 

[markgsu]

I just started, but with a lot of research you can overcome a lot of problems. The more reading you do up front, can last a long time.

understand the relationship of mag, alk, calcium

+1

 

[crew]

I would say that 80% of hobbies are difficult if you just wing it...

You guys are forgetting that difficulty is usually associated with the learning curve.. Addition is easy, Calculus is difficult.. the only difference between the two is the amount of time it takes to understand it.

Aquarium's are the same with betafish being addition and an SPS tank being calculus. It's as easy as you want it to be. The more you put in, the more you get out.

as far as difficulty goes with hobbies, I would put aquariums in the top 5 list.. what is harder?

 

[sarahh]

i would have said relatively easy until the other day

now i am dealing with a week of slackness, followed by a well meaning housesitter and the result is cyano hell with ich on the side. boo

mind you, the kick in the butt was probably just what i needed, lets just hope my fish don't pay for it.

My biggest issue is finding time for it! 2 SW tanks and 12 fresh up and running ( cutting back on those) i reckon my RO unit is nonstop for the last 2 days trying to catch up on water changes. Plus a ratbag dog and 2 year old.... yikes...

 

[cr500_af]

There are some pretty siginificant differences as opposed to other hobbies... for one, this is a hobby that 9 things perfect and one thing wrong can bring the whole thing crashing down, as opposed to just making you go back and fix item number 10.

Also, it is constantly evolving (along with what we learn and what new developments there are). Years ago, the Berlin method was big news. Now we find ourselves (some of us, anyway) going away from what was once considered "the amount of live rock you need", and using minimal aquascapes (giving up much of the biofilter in the process). Requiring, of course, new learning, new ideas and new products. Without the biopellets, media and such that are now on the market it wouldn't be as easy, and might border on impossible.

 

[fish scales2]

Agree 100% except for temp. I will add "it is only as difficult as you make it"
Stable temp can lead to issues quickly if something goes wrong such as a heater sticking on or shutting off. Corals can handle reasonable swings of 5-7 degrees with no issues.

bkv1997;645941 wrote: I don't consider it difficult if done correctly and patiently.

Take your time, research equipment thouroughly prior to purchasing and spend the extra money to get it right the first time.

I always recommend people to keep things stable. Salinity, Temp, Alk, PH, Calcium other more advanced topics will come later, but those are the keys for starting a reef.

 

[cr500_af]

Fish Scales2;646027 wrote: Agree 100% except for temp. I will add "it is only as difficult as you make it"
Stable temp can lead to issues quickly if something goes wrong such as a heater sticking on or shutting off. Corals can handle reasonable swings of 5-7 degrees with no issues.

Not sure I'm reading this correctly... are you saying that having our corals acclimated to stable temps means they can't handle an otherwise tolerable swing? And that a less stable temp means they are acclimated to deal with temp fluctuations better? That's what I'm getting from it but want to make sure I'm getting your point.

 

[acroholic]

cr500_af;645540 wrote: Now we find ourselves (some of us, anyway) going away from what was once considered "the amount of live rock you need", and using minimal aquascapes (giving up much of the biofilter in the process). Requiring, of course, new learning, new ideas and new products. Without the biopellets, media and such that are now on the market it wouldn't be as easy, and might border on impossible.

I'm not sure if it is actually us giving up most of the biofilter, rather than using more of the available biofilter in the smaller quantity of LR we do use. I came back into the hobby when the 1-3 pounds of LR per gallon was the recommended amount. After a couple tank changes and now having open aquascapes with a ratio of about 3/4# LR per gallon, what I think we were doing was clinging to an old anecdotal idea that evolved many years prior and just didn't go away and hasn't been challenged until now by people going to open aquascapes with much less LR than before. In addition, folks still load up their sumps with LR in addition to whatever they use in their tanks.

I believe it is like this, and the numbers I use are just examples: let's say I have 400# LR in a 400 gallon volume system. I am probably using 10% of the total biofilter capacity with the bioload of the fish/corals. I redo the tank, and now use 200# LR in an open style aquascape. The bioload is the same. The current LR doubles the percentage of its biofilter capacity used to 20% from 10% since there is no longer twice as much rock to spread it around in.

Porosity in the LR would make a difference as well, but assuming we use porous LR, whoever started the 1-3#/gallon rule really underestimated the capacity of LR to filter our water. We are just underutilizing the capacity in the amount we have.

One thing I think I remember correctly from the early 1990s was that most of the LR used in the hobby was Caribbean type, dense, and not porous at all, so the 1-3#/gallon rule may have started because through experience, Reefers then found they needed that much because of the lower biofiltration capacity of that type LR.

Again, the above JMO. Feel free to disagree, etc.

Fish Scales2 wrote: Agree 100% except for temp. I will add "it is only as difficult as you make it"
Stable temp can lead to issues quickly if something goes wrong such as a heater sticking on or shutting off. Corals can handle reasonable swings of 5-7 degrees with no issues.

Not sure about this one Chris....corals can handle some temperature swings yes, but do stable temps in a reef tank make corals unable or less able to handle temp swings when they do occur? That concept is a new one on me.

Edit:

Assault;646049 wrote: The hardest thing about this hobby is, the things you do right will eventually pay off in the long run, but as soon you do something stupid, disaster shows up instantly:doh:
That, and the fact that every thing's so ****ed expensive.

Hi Howard, great to see you!!!!!!:thumbs: