marcom12345
Member
Id love to hear people's opinion on the top reasons why people fail or quit the hobby..... Besides expense lol. 
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Top reasons for failure in saltwater.
- Thread starter marcom12345
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Bpb
New member
Id love to hear people's opinion on the top reasons why people fail or quit the hobby..... Besides expense lol.
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I think a more appropriate statement would be why people quit.
It's perceived as failure.
Every local I've known that has come and gone quickly in the hobby has done so by doing too much too fast. Lots of reasons this happens
They make decisions based on looks and don't want to take the time to learn more intermediate chemistry and biology.
They listen to the pet store and trust that advice, when they're just trying to make a sale
Too many fish, the wrong kinds of fish, too many corals too fast. Usually ends up with sickness, death, a feeling of wasted money and frustration, and ultimately a broken down tank that they attempt to sell at new cost.
I've seen it time and time again.
Second reason is algae. New hobbyists refuse to believe and accept that algae happens early on and it drives many to quit.
They like spending money on livestock and not on infrastructure. I've seen lots of folks drop a grand on fish and corals. But use our local tap which is awful, entry level lighting, zero powerheads to be found at all, ect.
Just some musings on the topic.
But the summary is it's not failure. It's impatience and quitting. If they invested smart and pushed past the ugly phase, and researched more/bought less, the tanks would almost always succeed
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For me, it was an ex wife :facepalm: I only had a 20 gallon tall softie tank but when we split, I had to move the whole tank 40 miles back home to my folks house. got everything moved and stabilized, found a new career, got my own place and had to move the tank again then found myself working 60-72 hour work weeks at that time. 4 years later, Im just now getting back into it.
my biggest piece of advice for staying in the hobby is patience, research and proper hardware and testing investment. Oh and no crazy significant others :lol:
my biggest piece of advice for staying in the hobby is patience, research and proper hardware and testing investment. Oh and no crazy significant others :lol:
tjm9331
New member
In my opinion it comes down to being uneducated and an unwillingness to put the time in to become at least slightly educated.
Some folks think (and this is partly the fault of some LFS) that you can just jump into this hobby by buying a tank, some rock a heater and filter. Throw in a clownfish and you're good to go.
People don't take the time to learn how to properly cycle a tank or even learn what beneficial bacteria is and where it lives. Case in point, I was at my LFS this past Friday and there was a customer insisting that the beneficial bacteria resides in the water column. The owner of the store was trying to explain to him that the bacteria is on the rock and sand bed but it just fell of deaf ears.
If people put more time in educating themselves on how to properly setup and care for a marine tank success rates would climb exponentially.
Some folks think (and this is partly the fault of some LFS) that you can just jump into this hobby by buying a tank, some rock a heater and filter. Throw in a clownfish and you're good to go.
People don't take the time to learn how to properly cycle a tank or even learn what beneficial bacteria is and where it lives. Case in point, I was at my LFS this past Friday and there was a customer insisting that the beneficial bacteria resides in the water column. The owner of the store was trying to explain to him that the bacteria is on the rock and sand bed but it just fell of deaf ears.
If people put more time in educating themselves on how to properly setup and care for a marine tank success rates would climb exponentially.
sde1500
Active member
Definitely underestimating the time, effort, and cost. And to go along with that wanting it all here and now resulting in a tank stocked poorly and ready to crash.
To go along with that, probably tank crashes results in the most quitting. Either from newer hobbyists who don't put the work in, or experienced ones who get complacent and let things get away from them without seeing it. IE "old tank syndrome" which is likely better termed "under cared for older tank syndrome"
To go along with that, probably tank crashes results in the most quitting. Either from newer hobbyists who don't put the work in, or experienced ones who get complacent and let things get away from them without seeing it. IE "old tank syndrome" which is likely better termed "under cared for older tank syndrome"
marcom12345
Member
lapin
New member
hkgar
Active member
Close to the 10%, I think
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DoETTohbsa26VyVu7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MJCe1cUp9EVFvpqd7
marcom12345
Member
lapin
New member
Y R in the 10% for sure
Im still with the 90%
I've seen many people quit when the first challenge pops up. Whether it may be disease, algae, equipment failure, livestock aggression...etc. I think some people want "living artwork" and don't realize that you have to actually work to keep a tank looking nice. Same goes for freshwater. I used to keep planted tanks and got a lot of compliments on how it looked. Few realized how much work went into keeping it looking like that (daily fertilizer dosing, trimming, algae scrubbing,...etc).
Scottedontknow
New member
I'm also with [MENTION=286110]Bpb[/MENTION] on this one. People want tanks to just magically turn into dream tanks over night. People also don't want to have to do any of the maintenance that goes along with owning a tank. I have a crazy crazy busy life but I absolutely love having reef tanks to come home to and decompress at the end of the day haha. So for me everything is automated (dosing , and water changes use to be but I no longer do water changes) my apex tells me when something is off, other than my hands don't go in the tank. This stuff all
Comes with a large price tag I.E quality products that won't let you down, not junk because it's cheap.
I think too many people also try and cut corners to make things cheaper huge mistake!!!
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Comes with a large price tag I.E quality products that won't let you down, not junk because it's cheap.
I think too many people also try and cut corners to make things cheaper huge mistake!!!
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