How do you decide to shut down or keep the tank going?

[lolgranny]

EVERYTHING I did took longer. Feeding fish, cleaning the glass, equipment maintenance, etc. Sure, I have to do all the same things now, but on a MUCH smaller scale. What used to take most of my free time now takes just a few minutes a week.

I found my smaller tanks were so much more of a pain because of the water volume / small area to work with. People always want to tinker with things and chase numbers rather then enjoy their tanks a lot of the time.


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[Jeff000]

hahaga... no. Been doing freshwater for 20 years.. been in salt for 4 months... reefing is 10x more work... not to mention the whole ich and velvet and brook diseases are a game killer for salt water.... Fresh water has no real diseases that can wipe out an entire tank like these on salt water.. and you can dose an entire display tank with meds and be rid of most diseases quite easily... Where in salt. you need qurantine tanks.. have to med for 30 days.. leave your tank fishless for 72 days.. and if you get coral itll screw it all up unless you have a tank for that to qunrintine it in for 72 days.

Trust me marine stuff is annoying as hell...
Fresh water you just dump your fish in.. put in a bunch of plants... drain 80% of the water every 2 weeks or so refill from the sink with conditioner and thays it.... You dont gravel vacuum a planted tank.. ever..

So yea wayyyyyy easier

I haven't been doing anything at all with my tank though. Water change every 6-8 weeks. Top up my auto feeder every week. And clean glass every water change.

Fresh water seems like just algea all the time everywhere, and nothing to deal with it even.

 

[Jeff000]

When I was a kid I had model trains. The fun was building. Watching the trains go round and round...Not my thing.

My tanks have been the same thing. I keep building custom parts for this and that. My goal has always been to have a beautiful tank that I don't have to worry about.

I'm an addict (for fish/corals). Years ago I came home from a total wipe out (400g display) and didn't have the heart to get back in. I turned off the lights and everything else - Just let the return pump run and some heaters for almost 18 months. Then found out I had cancer, and decided I wanted a tank so I had something I enjoyed while I was miserable.

There are lots of things in our life that give us joy, as we get older the number of things that do seems to get smaller.

My current system is 1100g, and it's kickin butt. In Nov my Dad got sick and I had to go take care of my parents for 3.5 weeks. When I got back home -- Didn't lose a fish or a coral. It was so rewarding to know that I had built enough little gadgets to keep everything safe while I do other things beside worry about the tank.

If it's not your thing right now - Simplify it. Throw on an autofeeder, keep easier livestock and let the tank just be a tank in your home for awhile - rather than be the tank you always have to make time for.

Dave B

PS -- Here's the webcam of my tank so you know what I walked away from last month -
www.o2manyfish.com/webcam

That's beautiful.

My tank has been on autopilot for a long time.

Couple videos of what I have.
https://youtu.be/HKZe2LRnRrs

https://youtu.be/IJNUvWiBqU0

https://youtu.be/usQpukCPWXc

 

[mickey204]

This isn't directed completely at the OP as he may already have it exactly where he always wanted it....

I think a main issue we have as saltwater hobbyists is the fact we generally put our tanks in locations where its not a functional part of our lives every day. Meaning, either due to the home we acquired, living arrangements or the sheer size of the tank we get, we end up keeping them in basements, bedrooms or areas of the house where we don't live around it all day. Almost forgot the main factor some guys have to deal with - wive's not wanting it in their "feng shui" so it's automatically put downstairs....

Any younger enthusiasts living at home with parents (when I started) there was NO way it would be upstairs, it can only go downstairs.

When I got married, and got my own older home, I built a gorgeous 220G acrylic Drop off reef tank myself, did it all fancy in my basement but then after a year I was like "well....I go to work and the lights are off, I come home late and the lights are off, the only time I enjoy it is on weekends or when we have company over to show it off.

I pretty much had this beautiful custom tank just living a separate life from me.

So I said "frick it" and moved everything to my shop. I now spend my whole day looking at the tank as it's in my office, and I'm currently building (slowest build in the world) a new 400Gal starfire display setup as a wall between the waiting room and my office as part of the wall.

I know I'm blessed with opportunity to have it here in my office, and many don't have that choice, but I think if many fish hobbyists either dialed back how many tanks they have and focused on only one tank, in a prime location of their house, that they can see and enjoy all the time you would see far less burnt out fish keeping hobbyists, or people who lack interest over time.

We just want that tank so bad or the opportunity to have one, we accept any option to get it, and many people have to barter with their significant other to get it, and that usually means its not in the functional living space you spend most of your time in at home.

Hope that makes sense. haha

So my advice, would be to decide if the location of the tank is really the best place, and consider other options of where it could go, so it becomes a functional piece of your life again like a flat screen TV.

If you decide to move it, a few things will happen, you'll spark the creativity and ingenuity we all love with new builds, and it may not only rekindle your passion for the hobby but make it a source of enjoyment for everyone as it's in a better location.

When your tank is front and center for everyone all the time, it tends to force you to always be involved in it as you always want it looking tip-top for the family and company.

However, if you have a kick *** display tank (I recall it being a 330gal starfire tank) in the living room and it's already everything you could hope for in location and size then hit the local fish store and see if you can reignite the interest. If not, it may be time to consider moving on to another hobby or shutting it down and see if you miss it at all in a year. If you don't miss it, sell the equipment and focus your interests on something else.

There is nothing wrong with moving on. You're already in a special league when you have a well running 330Gal tank for 6 years. It may be an issue where you came, saw, conquered and it's time for something else.

If you do shut it down, I would suggest having a photographer come by for professional shots of the tank, maybe get a good underwater macro lense/case for your phone and get some great shots of the inside of the tank and corals/fish. Then you can make a beautiful print you can frame and put up on the wall. Then you'll always be able to see what you accomplished and have something to remember it.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

It's hard to say. each tank and person is different. I've had FW and SW tanks throughout my life. Got my first tank when I was probably around 10 years old. Now at 57, I'm tankless.

My last tank, 400G, I had for about 10 years. Like others, I had some pitfalls. Waking up in the middle of the night to dead silence and finding my fish gasping for air. Fix the problem only to wake the next morning and find most of the fish didn't make it. Tank kind of went on auto pilot for about a year before I tried again.

Other/old interest/hobbies came back that took up a lot more time and resources and had me traveling away from home on the weekends. ( sand dune toys, off road toys, building custom bikes and cars)

So I finally decided one day to tear it al down. It was hard to do and a big decision between my wife and myself, but we did it.

Do I miss my tank? Yes and no. I miss the beauty of it. I miss the design and building of it. I miss the learning as new things happen in the tank. I don't miss the spending aspect of it.

Will I ever have another one? Probably. I still come here and look around from time to time. I still look thru the for sale ads at times. But right now, my other hobbies are taking up my time and money.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

At least I still have pics to look at.

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[Jeff000]

This isn't directed completely at the OP as he may already have it exactly where he always wanted it....

I think a main issue we have as saltwater hobbyists is the fact we generally put our tanks in locations where its not a functional part of our lives every day. Meaning, either due to the home we acquired, living arrangements or the sheer size of the tank we get, we end up keeping them in basements, bedrooms or areas of the house where we don't live around it all day. Almost forgot the main factor some guys have to deal with - wive's not wanting it in their "feng shui" so it's automatically put downstairs....

This plays a big part in it. I had grand plans to finish the basement around the tank. But it never happened.
Had I put it in my office where I spend most our time it would have only been good for a couple years because we moved rooms where the office is for the kids.
Should have maybe put it in the living room, went 10' by 3' tall and 2' deep.

Sold all my angels today. So it's happening. I'm sad, anxious, excited, and happy all at the same time.

I'm going to clean everything up really nice and let it sit I think. In a couple years either sell it or go for broke and make it the mixed reef I started out wanting.

 

[mickey204]

This plays a big part in it. I had grand plans to finish the basement around the tank. But it never happened.
Had I put it in my office where I spend most our time it would have only been good for a couple years because we moved rooms where the office is for the kids.
Should have maybe put it in the living room, went 10' by 3' tall and 2' deep.

Sold all my angels today. So it's happening. I'm sad, anxious, excited, and happy all at the same time.

I'm going to clean everything up really nice and let it sit I think. In a couple years either sell it or go for broke and make it the mixed reef I started out wanting.

Best of luck on your journey!

 

[Kevin Guthrie]

2 cents from someone who has had salt tanks for 35 years and a reefs for 30.

I too have considered shutting it all down, not just to save money but to inflict a little less global warming on real reefs with my electric bill. If everything somehow crashed I would not rebuild.

The reef is in our basement family room where we spend a few hours every day but I don't really spend much time looking at in any more, and I miss things as a consequence. One thing I did to remove a lot of hassle was get the sump out from cramped quarters under the tank into another room - stock tanks make life so much easier!

There have been a few times when I was very glad I didn't chuck it all. Several times while we've had guests over, I've found people sitting quietly in front of the tank staring at it and taking it all in, sometimes for a half hour or more. And I've watched my 8 year old granddaughter name all the critters and corals and explain symbiotic relationships to visitors. Things like that make it worthwhile.

 

[Heuristic]

I found myself spending all my fun money on the tank and not my first hobby(cars), so I decided to break down the tank and sell it. I also had some bad incidents when we went on vacations that discouraged me further. Now that I'm back messing with cars again, I want to start back up a smaller tank to mess with and do it smarter the first time around.