Ever just want to give it all up?

ehh but then add the 7-8g that are in my 10g fuge tank, so it's probably closer to 30g after displacement but even still thats about a 15% WC. You're most likely right, I just need to figure out a happy medium and time frame to deal with WC's. I love how some people have never done a WC and yet I'm always doing them each week.

I still think that 10g (two buckets) WC's are going to be beneficial for me but I need to extend the timeframe - my last WC was on 2/22/2012 so if I wait until NEXT Friday that will be around 16days which for me is starting to get to the paranoid threshold.

I'll just keep an eye on my corals, usually my Blue Sympodium (Sympodium sp.) and my Echinopora sp. usually tell me when they are happy or upset with their polyp extension. The alien eye echinopora puts out 2" sweeper tenticles when it's in a happy flow and light position. The Sympodium sp. kind of deflates and looks like someone stuck their ABC bubble gum inside my tank when it's not happy.

 

You're just in the "seven year itch".

With any new endeavor, when you start out, emotions are high because everything is new and exciting and fun to do, then emotions start to drop and you reach a bottom where you ask yourself "What the h^%$ am I doing this for?" (with marriages, this is about 7 years (your mileage may vary ;D)). As time passes and you stick with it, your emotions rise and you reach a level of acceptance that's somewhere between your emotional high and low. Sometimes, you'll go through the cycle a number of times.

Stick with it for a while longer and see where you end up before throwing in the towel...

 

..lot of good advice and concerned comments..(great folks here) ..I agree with the point that you are over complicating WC..do as suggested...cut back a bit..I think you will be pleasantly surprised, as well as less stress and less $$. jmo : )

 

Thanks you guys for the concern and for all the great words of advice. Really glad I started this thread: Your concerns and suggestions have really made a big difference in organizing my thoughts and my tank.

 

All very good advice. I like to stay low maint. on my tank and I find that daily dosing is only really needed if the tank is absolutly STUFFED or really low volume or both. For me it seems if I keep my alk about right and make sure I do medium sized water changes, and dont let nitrates build anywhere between changes, everything lives pretty well... and so long as your equipment can keep up with some varied feedings its not as difficult as it seems. Its like driving manual transmission, you see it before you know how to drive and think it looks complex but once you do it for a while its .... "automatic"... heh.

 

When I had my 75 running a few years ago I went trhough what youre going through now. I spent a TON of $$$$$ on sps, nice quipment etc. I posted sps colonies with little to no interest. Then I had a caulpera outbreak in my display. I lost at leasr 1k worth of sps I had bought. Then I moved and my tank cracked during the move so I had to get a new 75 tank. By the time I had the new tank ready for coral I founnd bags that had holes poked in tjem and quite a few melted. Aggravated I gave up I sold it all off. Now 2-3 yrs later Im setting up my 40 breeder and wishing I hadnt quit in the first place.

One note about water chem. Fromwhat I noticed in my tank levels stayed way more stable when I stopped feeding all kinds of foods and stopped water changes. I fed small amounts of food a few times a week with my pumps off. This helped keep xtra crap out of my tank. That combined with a good skimmer seemed to keep everything happy even sps.

I guess the point Im trying to make is dont let all of this get you down because in the end, if you really enjoy this hobby you will kick urself for getting out then will spend even MORE money getting back in, I know I am lol.

 

Great support

Hello A,

It's nice to see a heart felt thread with great support from 3reef members.
We all go through this and the longer you are in this hobby chances are more than once. This is called a hobby/ and i believe we feel more passion with what we do because we deal with beautiful life forms. They depend
on us so we worry 24/7 as with any pet this one just gets more attention
You have all you need already just let your system work with minimal care. Live rock, good flow, lights and skimmer. I used carbon and do a small water change early Saturday morning's and clean front of tank. This is enough to have a nice healthy system if you want to do more do it want to do other things do them. But you know your tank is good.

Best Wishes,

 

i got this exactly a while back when my old 75 gallon tank overflowed and destroyed all the outlets nearby, no idea how it happened but hundreds of dollars in damage, and i lost hundreds of dollars in valuable equipment and livestock.

got out for a couple years and now im back in.

 

Like many, I do my sw tank for my enjoyment only. Sometimes I slack on it and I am pleased when there is no price to be paid for the slack. I know I can slack a bit when all is cleaned and right in there. Sad, but what I understood going into it and when a new fish only lasts a day with no guarantees on sw fish, I am very choosy who I put in there. I am fortunate to have friends who think it awesome. I also invite in the neighbor kids to see it, and they appreciate it more than anyone! They are totally in to seeing, listening and learning all about it and I love telling them. This might be a suggestion for all of us. In doing this I also tell them how important keeping our oceans clean is. Involve the children in the hood!

 

I know exactly what you mean, but in the end it's all for yourself. I don't really know anyone(personally) on the forum but I do appreciate all the help and effort that everyone has put into their tank. Whenever I come across pictures or something I do admire and envy them. =] lol. But at this point in my life I'm still a full time student, part time employee, maintain a social life, family life and spend time with my gf so sometimes I find maintaining my sw tank and my cichlid tank as a chore. Basically with everything going on, I seldom have time to admire my own tank, I just change the water and keep on schedule basically. But when I do take a second out of the day to look at my fish, I remember why I have put so much money into this hobby...because its awesome! =].

In addition to that, I will be moving to Northern California soon to finish school. I'm still debating whether I should carefully pack all my rocks, sand, water, equipment and livestock and move everything up north or sell everything except for equipment and wait to restart. I will not be moving my cichlid tank due to its size(sw is only a 20gal nano) so I may have to give them away on the cichlid forum =[.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same as I do, but to me about 75% of the fun in this hobby is setting up your system. So I've been wanting to save up and start a 3rd system, possibly a small rimless nano. But like I said, besides maintenance I rarely have time to enjoy and admire my fish.

So stick in there buddy, I think we've all been there and I'm sure you'll surely miss it if you do get out.