Reefing Fears: What are you afraid of most when it comes to reefing?

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Like several others here, power outage is probably my biggest fear, but in particular, it's false GFCI trips that worry me. I've had several over the years, usually following a small power bump. I'm lucky that I've been home each time and was able to hit the reset, but there would be nothing to be done to fix it if I was away. It's like, do I want to risk electrocution, or total tank loss due to lack of power? I just replaced the GFCI this past week in hopes that this one might be more stable. Only time will tell!

Second biggest fear is causing a tank crash. Contaminating the tank (I have a particular fear of doing a water change and the new water being bad somehow), using an additive that has a bad reaction with the tank, stirring up something bad in the sand bed, dosing error...you name it. I'd feel terrible forever.

 

[brandon429]

the thing I fear most is what if your ammonia kit says there is some, what do we do/ it's scary.

 

[Fishy888]

I am a lot less fearful now than I used to be. The more experience I get the less scared I am. Then again I only have xenia and a possible pipe organ coral. I am likely adding some zoas and a candy cane coral this weekend but these too are easy and relatively inexpensive corals. If I had 10k worth of corals and fish I likely would be biting my fingernails until I was much more experienced with SPS; and certain there was big time stability in the system.

 

[fishmonkey]

It's not as fun to talk about or to consider bad things that can happen to our tanks or because of our tanks. But still if we can talk about them, maybe we can learn to be less afraid of them. Most fears or worse case scenarios will never come true. Maybe it will help to hear from others who have been in the hobby longer that your worst nightmare isn't probably going to happen. Let's talk about it!

What are some of your biggest concerns or fears when it comes to owning a saltwater reef aquarium?

What about you old salts, what have you been afraid of that has never happened?

Is there I way I can stop getting these questions of the day?

 

[Big Smelly fish]

Power outages living here in south Louisiana has always been a big concern. If I was home I would be able to start portable generator. Niw I have a whole house generator,

 

[kandymann]

For me it has been a fire while I sleep.

That's why I have two fire alarms in same room for redundancy.

 

[Reefngeek]

I am always worried about a tank leak or burst. I don't know if I'm looking at Reddit too much but based on the posts there, it seems to happen a lot and it's giving me anxiety. This is one of the top 2 reasons why I can't/won't go with a large tank. The thought of the water damage is too much for me to handle. LOL

 

[gunga6410]

Had one of my fears happen yesterday. Home AC died. I live in Florida so that can kill a tank. What's worse I'm out of the country this week. I talked my kids through setting up fans. Fortunately the AC was fixed this morning and the hottest the tank got was 81.1. Right now it is at 80.9.

I do have a question though.

How much RODI water can I expect to go though when using evaporation to cool the tank?

It's a 75 gal tank.

 

[GrapevineReefs]

I run a large fish room with 7 full reef tanks and 45 freshwater tanks. I live in Northern California where PG&E has TORTURED US over the past years. I went 5 straight da/s with no power during the Public Saftey Shutdown a year or two ago it was insanity. I had multiple generators that kept the room alive and well but it was a STRESSFUL event and I have extreme PTSD from things like that. I really have a hatred of PG&E it’s hard to describe how often we have power outages for some reason or another.

 

[Bob Lauson]

Prolonged power outage while I’m away bothers me.
I have a generator (everyone should) but I have to be there to set it up.

Totally agree.

 

[Eli57]

Considering my tank just boiled because of a heater malfunction 6 days ago, I will probably always be paranoid. I had the tank for about 3 months (bought a 2 y/o setup) (first tank) and sunk 800 dollars into it for it to burn up literally overnight. Lost all fish and all but 2 zoas who are looking pretty rough still. Got to 96 degrees.

 

[frogfishbrain]

100% this.

6-7 years ago I had a 125 gallon petsmart FW tank. Woke up in the middle of the night to what I thought was my roommate taking a really long pee, too long.... and then it hit me, the tank had leaked and the return from the canister was waterfalling into the lowered water level. I sprung up... tank had cracked and ~60 gallons had made it to the floor.

I have nightmares of this happening to my current display.

I got anxiety just reading this. Also my biggest fear.

 

[adelvalle]

It's not as fun to talk about or to consider bad things that can happen to our tanks or because of our tanks. But still if we can talk about them, maybe we can learn to be less afraid of them. Most fears or worse case scenarios will never come true. Maybe it will help to hear from others who have been in the hobby longer that your worst nightmare isn't probably going to happen. Let's talk about it!

What are some of your biggest concerns or fears when it comes to owning a saltwater reef aquarium?

What about you old salts, what have you been afraid of that has never happened?

Hurricanes! Last one, hurricane Maria in 2017, left the entire island (Puerto Rico) without electricity for over a month.

 

[adelvalle]

Hurricanes! Last one, hurricane Maria in 2017, left the entire island (Puerto Rico) without electricity for over a month.

Took one year to restored power to all the island.

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Reading this thread was a terrible idea. I want to go back to ignorance.

 

[Kevin_Mac]

I have a rider on my house insurance that covers some extreme weather issues like power outages but it would still cost me just not as much. My biggest concern is power because I could lose everything in tank, can be replaced but some stuff( fish ) have tripled in price.
bought my yellow tang for $30 dollar ( Canadian)to replace is now $399 at most stores

 

[Julbra]

I have this recurring nightmare that my floor gives in and the whole thing smashes down, starts a fire and burns the house.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Tank failure, earthquakes, power outages…

I try to keep my water level on the low side so mild earthquakes don’t cause much of a splash. But if we have a big one, I don’t know what will happen and it’s so scary!

 

[christwendt]

I use a battery pack with power inverter. 1000 watt should power my return and one powerhead for 20 hours if power goes out. Kicks on automatically if I'm not home.

Can you share the set up ? How much ?

 

[Aspect]

Can you share the set up ? How much ?

I got it on amazon. $1000 USD