Need motivation and advice....

Some may know me, some not. I have been in this for a couple years and have had my share of problems with a couple tanks. I just took down my 65 gallon due to a crash and I'm having trouble getting motivated to rebuild it. I have learned alot in my time with the hobby, and I have enough invested in it. But this current tank has me burned out. I'm debating on a small cube rimless and a fresh build so I can improve where I made mistakes with my old build. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Maybe letting it sit while you recharge and think of things you would like to do with it. I think I would wait to do anything until the itch is strong.

 

This probably isnt a bad idea. The more and more i think about it, I dont want to put the current tank back up. Not anytime soon. I made so many mistakes with the design of the stand and sump it would require a rebuild that I am not interested in.

 

well, taking some time to think through another build may be a good idea. One way to think about it is, you've learned so much from mistakes it would be a shame not to give something a go with that knowledge. Perhaps starting small if you have existing equipment that will work may be a perfect idea. Rather than spending any more money, I'd try and use what you have.......

This is such a fantastic hobby, I wouldn't give up completely

 

I agree with John about just laying low for a bit until you get the passion for the hobby back.

I was/am in a similar boat. My tank was going great, but then I just stopped having enough time for all of the extra things required to keep a mixed reef. I haven't even been on 3reef since last summer. Slowly, my SPS started to die off one by one. My frequent water changes became infrequent and algae began to slowly take over. The rogue caluerpa(sp?) in my refugium made it's way into the DT and I didn't have time to control it.

The last straw was just recently when the last of my corals died. My mushrooms, ricordias, LPS, and birds nest all died. I was so bummed because they all started as small frags and just exploded. The LPS started with one to two heads and grew to 8-14 heads and my birds nest was larger than a softball.

I'm moving tomorrow and really debated about just giving up and selling my fish. But I decided to just start fresh and with a FOWLR at first while I'm short on time for the next year and a half or so. After I dropped my fish off at a LFS for holding while I move, I went to Petsmart on a whim to check out tanks and ended up buying a 55gal. So now I went from completely quitting to upgrading.

Sorry for the essay, but I just wanted to show that things can get really bad, but don't throw in the towel. Things happen and thats that. Take a break and just wait until one day, you wake up and decide if it is time to start again or time to sell. I wouldn't recommend going smaller. As I'm sure you know, nano's may have quicker maintenance due to their smaller water volume, but things fluctuate much quicker. I'm glad to be going from my nano to a somewhat larger tank.

 

Haha this is funny, because I just ordered a new tank last night. I'm pretty pumped to be able to start fresh and build a new stand and sump system.

 

Ha!!

 

Glad to see your feeling better a new tank helps Now stick one of these on it and enjoy a whole new hobby!....lol
Derkroon Flowwolf v2.0 initial review - YouTube
Best of luck with the new tank

 

I sold my old system complete and started over fresh.
We tiled the house and did some remodeling in the meantime and it gave me 5 months of working a second job to plan, build and equip a new reef system from the ground up. I had the tank and much of the equipment in my garage for months before adding a drop of water or even ordering the live rock from a wholesaler and picking it up at the air freight terminal. Being able to research and have the time to do it right from the beginning made all the difference in the world.

 

If there wer zero regrets with a build then you have to research more lol. Glad you are back in the game pain.