I've been debating this for awhile now. I think it started when I was considering upgrading my tank and at some point I really started thinking about how much I sunk into my current setup. After that, I would find myself staring into my tank and truly wondering why I was pouring so much money into this hobby. Do I enjoy watching my tank? Yes. Do I enjoy watching things grow? Yes. Am I comfortable with the amount of money it takes to replace coral, lights and fish that mysteriously die? No. I started thinking of all the other things I could do with the thousands of dollars I've poured into this hobby in just three short years. I thought I would just stop buying new stuff and see if that helped. Figured I'd give it a few months of only having to buy salt and reagents for test kits. Thought about downsizing. Ultimately I think I'm just ready to not be tied to having to care for a tank. Thought about going back to my R/C hobby, something I could just put in a closet when I needed a break, verses HAVING to continue maintaining it because it was alive. Anyway, those are my thoughts. Anybody that's left the hobby but still on the club with a similar experience?
Should I leave the hobby?
- Thread starter Dmac
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Should you? That's a personal decision that only you can answer. Every hobby cost a lot of money, there is no profit in it, just a loss.
As for my own personal experience, I suffered a massive blow and lost giant colonies right before my upgrade and if I didn't just sink a ton of money on a custom set up, I would have got out. Then after the upgrade, I trusted someone's QT and introduced the fish into my tank without doing QT myself and wiped out all my fish that I had for years. A few months later, I got busy with work and wasn't able to maintain my tank and again, lost thousands in torches. In a 1.5 year time span, I easily lost around $4K+ in livestock. So, yeah, this hobby is very painful financially and thought about getting out, but knowing myself, I wouldn't be able to stay out long without getting the itch again. So, instead, I focused on getting the tank back into shape. These past few months, I just been taking it slow and getting things cleaned up, getting the fish I wanted. I don't really have any corals but a few frags at the moment, but I do have all my fish that brings me enough joy when viewing the tank.
So, for me, yeah, that money loss could have went into something else, but at the same time, when I am home from the craziness of work or want to wind down from taking care of my 3 kids, I think the tank is worth having that I can sit there and enjoy a drink and just watch my fish. It's great for my mental health.
As for my own personal experience, I suffered a massive blow and lost giant colonies right before my upgrade and if I didn't just sink a ton of money on a custom set up, I would have got out. Then after the upgrade, I trusted someone's QT and introduced the fish into my tank without doing QT myself and wiped out all my fish that I had for years. A few months later, I got busy with work and wasn't able to maintain my tank and again, lost thousands in torches. In a 1.5 year time span, I easily lost around $4K+ in livestock. So, yeah, this hobby is very painful financially and thought about getting out, but knowing myself, I wouldn't be able to stay out long without getting the itch again. So, instead, I focused on getting the tank back into shape. These past few months, I just been taking it slow and getting things cleaned up, getting the fish I wanted. I don't really have any corals but a few frags at the moment, but I do have all my fish that brings me enough joy when viewing the tank.
So, for me, yeah, that money loss could have went into something else, but at the same time, when I am home from the craziness of work or want to wind down from taking care of my 3 kids, I think the tank is worth having that I can sit there and enjoy a drink and just watch my fish. It's great for my mental health.
If you’ve put that much though into it - it probably means you’re ready to take a break.
It seems most reefers take a hiatus for whatever reason and end up coming back months/years/decades later.
I recently f’d up the hardwoods in my office bc I left the RODI on. I’ve killed a lot of gonis, clams, torches, etc. I’m scared to go on vacations….the list is endless. The core concept of trying to keep a piece of the ocean in a glass box in your house just sounds expensive.
But it keeps my brain working. I’ve done freshwater and koi and once you figure that out it’s basically on cruise control until there is a mechanical failure. Reefing is different…Everything in the tanks constantly wants to kill each other. It keeps the old noggin churning…
It seems most reefers take a hiatus for whatever reason and end up coming back months/years/decades later.
I recently f’d up the hardwoods in my office bc I left the RODI on. I’ve killed a lot of gonis, clams, torches, etc. I’m scared to go on vacations….the list is endless. The core concept of trying to keep a piece of the ocean in a glass box in your house just sounds expensive.
But it keeps my brain working. I’ve done freshwater and koi and once you figure that out it’s basically on cruise control until there is a mechanical failure. Reefing is different…Everything in the tanks constantly wants to kill each other. It keeps the old noggin churning…
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Maybe simplify your set up? So it's more on cruise control no. So many people have this mindset that to have a reef tank means to have it packed full of different kind of coral. In reality that's not how things are in the wild. You ever go diving in Cozumel? it's not a lush Reef like you see on movies like Finding Nemo. My dad used to have a reef tank, he had some frogspawn and mushrooms and a few other kind of coral in it, but he did a monthly water change and fed them. And that's it. And to be honest with you it was a nice tank to look at. No it didn't have New York torches , and other high-dollar stuff, but he had a frog spawn Colony the size of a watermelon, and mushrooms that were so bright purple and a few of turquoise. And the fish in his tank had been in there for years and years.
If you do decide to get rid of your stuff let me know I have a bunch of RC car stuff that I would be willing to trade or get rid of, HPI, traxxes, Nitro powered stuff, Etc
Sent from my LM-K500 using Tapatalk
If you do decide to get rid of your stuff let me know I have a bunch of RC car stuff that I would be willing to trade or get rid of, HPI, traxxes, Nitro powered stuff, Etc
Sent from my LM-K500 using Tapatalk
I’ve been on a break from the hobby since 2019. I went through some personal stuff and ended up moving. I’ll say that it’s been nice to not have any responsibility of maintaining the tank and putting money into it.. but now I want back in lol
I think if I would have spent the time and actually made adjustments to make my system more automated, then I would have held onto it.
E.g. installed my auto top and dosers (trident), just sitting in the closet, automated mixing station, etc
I ended up partaking in other hobbies that cost just as much. Any hobby is going to have sunk cost. However.. there are some hobbies that keep a there intrinsic value better, but they typically don’t provide 24/7 entertainment accessibility like a reef tank, or FOWLR, does.
For example, the gun hobby.. most guns keep their value pretty well today, but you’ve got ammo to buy, range membership, all the other toys, scopes, armor, etc. But.. you can likely only go shoot so often, depending on where/how you live. So maybe what.. once a week?
Take the car hobby.. maybe today you’ll get the invested value back, after you add all the bells and whistles, just cause the market is crazy. But, in a balanced market, you probably wont see the majority of those additions/upgrades cost back in your pocket - unless you’re doing classic muscle cars. You can also total the car, just like a tank could crash, so you could lose at lot more in a vehicle.
Even gaming can be expensive.. like oh let me get this upgraded computer, keyboard, mouse, desk, chair, skins in the game, etc.
Cost all depends on how hardcore you want to be in the hobby.
I would recommend taking a step back and thinking what you expect from the hobby. Financially - could you frag and sell coral to counter your maintenance costs or to fund your upgrades?
Maintenance - could you set up your system to be as turn-key/set it and forget it as possible? (Auto top off, dosers, mixing station, cleaning crew, etc.)
Enjoyment level - how much time out of the day do you spend enjoying the tank, what is that level of enjoyment, how would you feel to look over and not see the tank?
I think you’ll find immediate relief financially stopping, but only if you don’t end up filling that relief with a replacement for the new void/free time. I liked not having water splash everywhere, watching corals die and struggling to maintain the tank, but that’s because I can be a special breed of lazy.
Now.. I want back in.. I miss having my own corals, watching them grow. Wining online auctions for corals. Keeping my mind off of life by watching youtube videos or forums on new discoveries and cool DIY stuff. Standing/sitting by the tank, just watching a little glimpse of nature.
Whatever you decide, you should be involved with things that improve your quality of life and keep your mental health positive. If this hobby is causing you mental anguish and turmoil, maybe you take a break and see what it does for you. But, if it brings you joy and improves your quality of life to see, maybe adjust your goals in the hobby (not buying a bunch of expensive corals or livestock that are difficult to maintain and die easily, or equipment that is just overkill, downsizing) and make it less maintenance to see if that helps.
I think if I would have spent the time and actually made adjustments to make my system more automated, then I would have held onto it.
E.g. installed my auto top and dosers (trident), just sitting in the closet, automated mixing station, etc
I ended up partaking in other hobbies that cost just as much. Any hobby is going to have sunk cost. However.. there are some hobbies that keep a there intrinsic value better, but they typically don’t provide 24/7 entertainment accessibility like a reef tank, or FOWLR, does.
For example, the gun hobby.. most guns keep their value pretty well today, but you’ve got ammo to buy, range membership, all the other toys, scopes, armor, etc. But.. you can likely only go shoot so often, depending on where/how you live. So maybe what.. once a week?
Take the car hobby.. maybe today you’ll get the invested value back, after you add all the bells and whistles, just cause the market is crazy. But, in a balanced market, you probably wont see the majority of those additions/upgrades cost back in your pocket - unless you’re doing classic muscle cars. You can also total the car, just like a tank could crash, so you could lose at lot more in a vehicle.
Even gaming can be expensive.. like oh let me get this upgraded computer, keyboard, mouse, desk, chair, skins in the game, etc.
Cost all depends on how hardcore you want to be in the hobby.
I would recommend taking a step back and thinking what you expect from the hobby. Financially - could you frag and sell coral to counter your maintenance costs or to fund your upgrades?
Maintenance - could you set up your system to be as turn-key/set it and forget it as possible? (Auto top off, dosers, mixing station, cleaning crew, etc.)
Enjoyment level - how much time out of the day do you spend enjoying the tank, what is that level of enjoyment, how would you feel to look over and not see the tank?
I think you’ll find immediate relief financially stopping, but only if you don’t end up filling that relief with a replacement for the new void/free time. I liked not having water splash everywhere, watching corals die and struggling to maintain the tank, but that’s because I can be a special breed of lazy.
Now.. I want back in.. I miss having my own corals, watching them grow. Wining online auctions for corals. Keeping my mind off of life by watching youtube videos or forums on new discoveries and cool DIY stuff. Standing/sitting by the tank, just watching a little glimpse of nature.
Whatever you decide, you should be involved with things that improve your quality of life and keep your mental health positive. If this hobby is causing you mental anguish and turmoil, maybe you take a break and see what it does for you. But, if it brings you joy and improves your quality of life to see, maybe adjust your goals in the hobby (not buying a bunch of expensive corals or livestock that are difficult to maintain and die easily, or equipment that is just overkill, downsizing) and make it less maintenance to see if that helps.
The interesting thing is I have a fairly easy setup. I have a controller that made things easier and I probably spend less than an hour and a half don't maintenance each week. Feed, scrape glass, water changes are easy with tubing from the garage. I've had no equipment failures. It kinda feels like going to the zoo sometimes. You enjoy seeing the animals but it doesn't mean you wanna take care of them everyday.
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It's pretty normal for people to have their interest wax and wane in this hobby. Very few people keep reefs more than a couple of years, even if they are wildly successful. It happens to me too, lucky for me though my tanks are so low maintenance that it takes me maybe 15 minutes a week for everything I do, including feeding. If my setup was not compatible with that sort of lull in my routine then I might find myself in a different boat long term.
I sold my complete setup in January and it’s been nice to have a break for a few months. I don’t necessarily miss it but have close friends who have kept me interested. Today I came upon a tank for sale that I owned 7 years ago. So I picked it up and will be taking it slow to have a simple biocube tank with a few fish. And if it becomes a hassle I’ll know that I need to take a much longer break.
I've been there D. A few years ago, I took a "break" but still kept one tank that I let, well slide a bit. I did the bare minimum maintenance and really let things go. Thankfully there were a few things that did really well but a lot of things faded and died. This happened after my losing battle with monti nudis. Ever few months I would consider breaking the system down and selling everything off but when I thought about how much work it would take I let it go for a few more months. An then a few more months. When I look back on it, it was a nice break. I didn't spend much money or time on the system and what was left looked really good in spite of only doing monthly water changes and next to no testing.
Throughout all of this, I started my own company and work really started picking up. When I started working for myself, money was pretty light and that helped contribute to stepping away from the hobby. Once things started looking up, I decided to try something I had always wanted - LED lights. When I took a step back there were a few companies making LED lighting but it was very expensive and upgrading from T5s was just a dream. During my hiatus, the technology took off and the prices dropped. I decided to invest in my dream light fixtures, Radions, and get back into it. The rest is history. I supposed what I'm really trying to say is that a break or "fallow" period can do you some good. It did for me and the past few years I've really been enjoying the hobby again.
Throughout all of this, I started my own company and work really started picking up. When I started working for myself, money was pretty light and that helped contribute to stepping away from the hobby. Once things started looking up, I decided to try something I had always wanted - LED lights. When I took a step back there were a few companies making LED lighting but it was very expensive and upgrading from T5s was just a dream. During my hiatus, the technology took off and the prices dropped. I decided to invest in my dream light fixtures, Radions, and get back into it. The rest is history. I supposed what I'm really trying to say is that a break or "fallow" period can do you some good. It did for me and the past few years I've really been enjoying the hobby again.
Has anyone who had thoughts of getting out tried hiring a service company to do the maintenance? Did it help?
