When do you just say I quit?

[robyn]

I've had my aquarium for a little under a year. I am so tired of all the problems and issues every time I turn around, it doesn't seem like there's been a break to ever just enjoy it. When is it time to say enough is enough and just sell the damn thing? I'm sure I wouldn't be the first person to throw in the towel

 

[mrdc]

I'm sure there are and I am one of them that almost did. My tank was setup for several years before it crashed and I was so upset that I didn't really fool with it much for about a year. I finally decided to give it one more go and so far I am very happy that I did. If it crashed again, I will probably throw in the towel.
So now, what sort of problems are you having? What size tank do you have? Is it a reef or fish only tank? Give me as many details as you can.

 

[meowzer]

WOW...Sorry you have had so many problems. I have had a few of those frustrating times also, but I think it is all part of the hobby.
As an answer to your question.....only you can answer that..LOL....Seriously In my opinion.....when you no longer enjoy the tank, and find yourself dreading what is next....that may be the time
BUT try to tell us what the issues are...maybe we can help

 

[saltn00b]

hi robyn ,
i can tell you that the first 1-2 years were very frustrating for me. But remember that in this hobby there is a learning curve with pretty much all aspects of it. The quality of your LFS, and where you get your guidance can be a large contributor. I have a bigger size tank, and i can tell you that one of the best things you can do to make the hobby more enjoyable is as much automation as possible.
ex:
make your own water, fresh and salt. - saves the trips , sometimes emergency trips to LFS or supermarket for water.
auto top off - especially on bigger tanks, saves the daily top off pouring...
drainage / refill systems - make water changes a breeze . no nasty saltwater in your mouth trying to syphon, etc...
lights on a timer - speaks for itself.
etc...
i barely do anything for my 6' SPS tank nowadays, but i used to struggle to keep a 75 FOWLR when i was starting.

 

[florida joe]

It seems you have a 145 g tank. with a tank that size you should not IMO be running into problems that are to hard to overcome with some help form the boards. please as stated above give us the particulars
I have had a few of those frustrating times
Yes Lois but you have my phone number and we, well you know

 

[robyn]

I hired a guy who sets up and maintains tanks, always wanted a swt, but was clueless to the hobby and really didn't have the time to invest, just some $$, so it seemed like a win-win....that was last May, he installed a 145 gallon tank, but I'm told the the specs aren't exactly suitable as it's 4' wide, by 24" depth and 30" in height, I now know having more horizontal vs. vertical is better, but that's not what he told me, but it's doable and I'm stuck with it, and it's the least of my problems I suppose, except that I can't quite reach all the way to the bottom or the back when I need to, and the my live rock all 190lbs of it are mostly glued together... Long story not so short, he put in a lot of fish, mostly not the ones I wanted, I put in a few as well that I bought from SWF, to get some that I did want, all happened too quickly and my tank was way overcrowed @ 30 fish, which were probably overfed, he never once told me how many fish, at what rate or anything. He came every 2 weeks, but never really checked water quality etc., seemed to forget his test kit, just did water and filter changes, and I didn't know any better, (fist to head) all creating the perfect storm and low and behold, my fish started dying off rapidly (from what we think was Marine velvet), and b/c I have inverts, we werent' able to treat the whole tank and couldn't catch the fish behind the rock to treat them (refer to above tank size issue/rocks glued), so then I fired him and got someone else who administered Rally which saved my remaining 7 fish, (1 bad ass Sailfin Tang who was so sick he actually had a notch in his head and no tail fin left, he looks great today. My valentini puffer was so covered in white spots, and he survived as well the remaining fish never seemed affected, 4 dart fish, 1 longnose hawkfish) but I lost so many, 2 yellow tangs, 1 naso, 1 blue hippo, 2 clowns, 4 pj cardinals, 4 blue chromis, 1 mandarin dragonet, 2 lawnmower blennies, 1 heniochus butterfly, 1 pink square anthias, 1 sixline wrasse, & 1 black cap baslett. He's now trying to get me back on track and seems pretty knowledgeable, problem is he's really far and can't get here but once a month or two months even. He's slowly showing me how to do water changes etc., He wanted to install a larger UV of 50w, ( I had an 18w ), which he did 3 weeks ago, which then sprung a leak as it was defective, got replacement, but it's missing a part. At that time, he thought I could slowly start adding fish and brought me a Mata tang, which he personally qt for a month, he goes from having white to black spots then they clear up again, so don't know if there is still something lingering in my tank and I'm going to have a repeat disaster? Then my heater just decided to not work and my tank rose to 88 degrees overnite just this week finally got it back down to 78. My anemones have floated away, due to all the issues, can't say I blame them! but,I don't know if they are dead or not and if so, how that will effect the tank ? SO, uncle already I'm so damn frustrated. whew, thanks for listening, it was cathardic : /

 

[florida joe]

I hired a guy who sets up and maintains tanks, always wanted a swt, but was clueless to the hobby and really didn't have the time to invest, just some $$
This is the first time i have ever said this and it is definitely my own opinion, farming out the welfare of your tank just so you have something pretty is not a good idea. when you can devote the time needed to understand what is involved and are willing to devote that time get back into it but for now cut your losses no matter how much money you have to spend and move on to something else. You will be doing yourself as well as your live stock a big favor

 

[meowzer]

LOL...I can't say I agree with JOE, cause that is almost like saying if you want a pretty house and hire a housekeeper you ought to just toss the house

BUT.....I can sort of agree with him in another sense.....SO FAR one major thing I have learned with keeping SWF tanks, is it is a daily operation.....fish need to eat daily, protein skiller cups need to be checked, top-offs need to be done, It seems I am ALWAYS having to do something for one of my tanks
MAYBE you should consider getting something YOU can manage yourself. I also know having a tank where you can not reach stuff in is very difficult....My 225G is 30" deep and if not for my husband I would have gotten rid of it..cause I would not be able to reach anything....
SW tanks ARE beautiful, but as we all know....they require maintenance.....

 

[florida joe]

LOL...I can't say I agree with JOE, cause that is almost like saying if you want a pretty house and hire a housekeeper you ought to just toss the house
Unless you consider your house a living entity this is absolutely not the same thing

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3253423
Unless you consider your house a living entity this is absolutely not the same thing
HEY I agreed on most of it

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3253367
WOW...Sorry you have had so many problems. I have had a few of those frustrating times also, but I think it is all part of the hobby.
As an answer to your question.....only you can answer that..LOL....Seriously In my opinion.....when you no longer enjoy the tank, and find yourself dreading what is next....that may be the time
BUT try to tell us what the issues are...maybe we can help

I so much agree here….Only you know the time.
For me it is a labor of love, I don’t know what I would do with myself and no fish tank to mess with. However even during troubled times I am still enjoying myself and learning. When I had my horse..I enjoyed cleaning out his hooves or fixing up an cleaning his stall as much as riding him.
I enjoy everything about the hobby but if you start seeing it as work and trouble with no joy….well.
If you are just frustrated, tell us what is going on, we are here and glad to try and help.

 

[ibanez]

I think if your asking the question, you care and would like to be in this hobby. You probably wouldn't be on here if you didn't feel bad. When I get to feeling like it is work instead of fun, I just take a step back and re-adjust my attitude about it. Be determined to master the hobby, and do things right and have a beautiful tank. Enjoy the journey there, it brings more satisfaction when you get it right. If this was easy, everyone would do it and it wouldn't be special. I would suggest maybe starting over on square one, if you have money, buy another smaller tank to set up as a temp, qt tank, throw a few peices of live rock in there empty most of the water out of your big tank so it is easier to catch the fish, or use a fish trap, and get your fish out of the big tank, get rid of the ones you don't want. Fix all your problems in your large tank, or buy a tank with better dimensions that you find easier to maintain, and start from the bottom. You will already have a head start because your have good liverock and equipment. That is how I would treat this.

 

[mrdc]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3253408
This is the first time i have ever said this and it is definitely my own opinion, farming out the welfare of your tank just so you have something pretty is not a good idea. when you can devote the time needed to understand what is involved and are willing to devote that time get back into it but for now cut your losses no matter how much money you have to spend and move on to something else. You will be doing yourself as well as your live stock a big favor
I couldn't agree with this more. I have known several people that have farmed out their tanks to local stores and they always seemed to pay more money and have more problems than I thought they should be having. I think one of the problems was the sort of maintenance schedule they had. I think the workers would come by twice a month to test and do things with their tanks. I don't think this is enough maintenance. If you learn the hobby, it would allow you to address any issues right when they occur. Just my 2 cents.
I hope you stick with it because it's a wonderful hobby to be in. I know that I am glad to be back and I hope that I have learned enough from my mistakes.

 

[erifish3]

I wanted to quit at 3:00 this morning when my 1" return line came loose and started spraying water all over my living room......again. I won't quit though, I've come to realize that 99% of the problems with our tanks is human error or neglect and the payoff is just too great in my opinion.

 

[florida joe]

always wanted a swt, but was clueless to the hobby and really didn't have the time to invest, just some $$, so it seemed like a win-win....that was last May
this begs the question is this still the case if so i stand by my previous post

 

[speg]

I left the hobby and thought I'd never come back. I got to the point that it wasn't enjoyable for me anymore.
Honestly, the big tanks are too much work for me. I don't have the money to put into a big reef tank and the water changes got to be annoying with so much water.
If you have a 125 you may want to consider going smaller unless the hobby is just no longer interesting to you. It's true that a bigger tank usually has less problems (more room for error), but that depends on how you define 'problems'. I find my nano much more enjoyable than I did my bigger tanks. The hobby is no longer a chore.

 

[beaslbob]

IMHO 90% or more of your problems would have been avoided by first balancing out the tank with macro algaes in a refugium then doing the rest. For instance, If you put in a few too many fish, the macros would consume the ammonia spike directly preventing the dangerous spikes.
Of course that would not help a pipe bursting loose and flooding the living room or the like. But the overall health of the tank would be much better.
But that might not be a good idea. If the tank took care of itself you would get bored.
my .02

 

[ibanez]

I am beginning to think your a macro algae salesman. As far as the pipe bursting, you could always jam the pipe up with macro algae. Just kidding, I agree, macro algae is a great addition to a beginning reefer, however, if added too soon, they just create their own food by decaying. Once they start that, IME it can be hard to stop them in time to save the plant. But I think there are many more problems at hand here than a little imbalance. IMO, if you want to look at pretty ocean fish, buy a dvd about them and big screen tv and play it continuously. As has been said before, the tank requires constant maintenance( even with macro algae) and a strong passion for success in the hobby. Whether you have that passion is what should be evaluated.

 

[aquaknight]

In defense of aquarium maintenance contractors, my Dad briefly joined his buddy's company. There are bad ones, maybe the majority, and there are some good ones. They make sense in some circumstances, doctor offices, restaurants, bars/clubs, where there really isn't an 'owner' of the tank if you will. In a residential application, they also make sense if the owner travels a lot. Nothing makes their lives easier then a tank owner who is knowledgeable on the hobby. They can address the issues at hand, and if somethings critical arises, they can be right out.
They are also limited in what they can do. Really, if they were out there 3 times a week, the costs would be astronomical. There are also problems with markets. The company my Dad worked for was in Ft. Lauderdale. There are many, many companies, in what's probably the second largest market (to So. Cal). Some places there are one or two, if that. If that's the case up there in NJ, the only real way to have a tank that's not going to crash, is by running it yourself. There are right ways to setup tanks, and wrong. Adding 30+ fish to a new tank, is obvious. The new guy sounds like he's got his head on right, but like you mention, once visit every 2 months isn't going to cut it. Like someone else said above, the fact you posted this, still shows you are interested in the hobby, but if time is really a factor, you might consider looking at something else less demanding.

 

[robyn]

thanks everyone, and ouch, I feel even more unworthy of my little piece of ocean in my family room than ever before

however, I agree taking care of my tank myself, is the only real solution, and I'm willing, but am soo clueless. I've read books and none lay them out in terms I can truly understand, so it's all so intimidating. I now know how to do water changes ( I am using purchased purified water and adding my own salt) and test the water, but not what to do when there are problems or how to spot them, or how many fish I can safely have, or how much or what exactly they should be fed or When to add water, when to test, and really what are all the components under the tank, what's the purpose how do I maintain, etc.?.....I entered into this admittedly blindly and trusted my fish service to teach me and see me through and that didn't happen. I spent well over $6 k and have nothing but guilt for the lost lives and those left for me to see them through. So that's where the frustration comes through....where to go now. I am stuck with the tank I have, it's not an option for me to downsize at this point, I spent the wad/ budget on this one, I've got 2 kids in college, need I say more. thanks again for trying to help.