Morning Mike, I am still tagging along. What a great thread. So tell us, what has been your greatest challenge in this journey and what have you learned as a result of it?
Thanks man:thumbsup:.
Mooch
Challenges:
In the beginning having to figure out what I really wanted and more importantly figuring out how to do it. I spent a huge amount of time thinking things over. I could picture what I wanted, drew it out and even then things changed. I worked with the dimensions of the tank instead of figuring out how to make something fit. The build was a slow one but I enjoyed each step of the way and if I had an issue or felt like I should just do whatever I stopped and walked away. I would come back later and things would fall in place. I felt like I was working in reverse order or using a negative.
The next one was resisting the urge to change which zoa I used. At first I thought it was a brown out of purple hornets but as you can see it wasn't that morph. I had picked that one because I liked it. Other possibilities were tubs blues, eagle eyes, and zombie eyes. Why? Tubs are a standard and have withstood the test of time and I have failed at keeping them on more than one occasion. Eagle eyes because they have stood the test of time as well and are easily picked out from across the room. Zombies because who doesn't like zombies?
I still don't know the color morph, or where it originated from so if anyone knows I would like a heads up.
Finally I have been thinking about those adjectives that we reefers like to throw around when discussing a "œsuccessful" tank. I still have not figured that definition out but maybe I will one day. The two biggies are patience and stability no matter the size or type of system.
It is human nature not to have patience especially in this technological day and age. Have a question? Get your phone out and soon you will have 9 million answers to choose from. Some are correct and some not so much. I still find it interesting that someone 8000 miles away from me has the same interests as I do and is excited about this. Because these things are at our fingertips seems that we are having an uphill battle. Get a tank, fill it with everything you want, watch it grow, and now what? Upgrade. Too much work? Downgrade "¦"¦"¦
Also one of the traps we fall into seems to be he or she is successful so I want to know what is being done? Oh ok I will too. Then things don't work out as planned and then what?
This leads me into that third biggie at least for me: flexibility.
I have been thinking about that lately and started an oldest tank thread wanting to see what people who have had the same tank for 5, 10 or even 40 years had to say. It should come as no surprise that the system will improve over time: great color and growth, no problems and on cruise control and other times no matter what we do we cannot catch a break.
We get into the habitat of if everything is golden then we must be doing everything right. But that brings up the question: Do I continue doing what I am doing day in and day out hoping for the best or do I start looking ahead and trying to figure out what steps I can take to ensure my continued "œsuccess".
I have been looking at my tank with a critical eye for the last few months and something was not right so I took a chance last Friday and cut out one of my rocks and placed the top section on the floor. This really opened the tank up and now provides me the opportunity to see the details of the back wall instead of it being obscured by the one rock that was not really working out. This tied into the golden ratio and a few other areas that I have been interested in over the years but have failed to utilized. Am I following it perfectly? Probably not but I am glad I did what I did.
My tank is pretty stable or at least it is through my eyes. I get some algae, which is a normal part of a healthy system, I can keep it in check, and I get new growth each month so my corals are telling me that things are within a standard. So what do I do if my current husbandry practices begin to fail to maintain my simple system? Seems like I should be looking at new methods right?
The last thing (sorry this is winded) is I have learn to have a better understanding of my system and to let my eyes be the judge of what is going on today. To be honest I do so many things that would be considered going against the grain but for me they work. Each of us should ask what we want out of the hobby and how do we get there.
Now ask the question again in September and I will probably have a different answer.
