What is the most stressful part of keeping a reef that's supposed to reduce stress?!?

[Idoc]

Dinos... the source of all my tank stress!!!

 

[rmurken]

You can get a tax credit for having a tank in the waiting room of your business (e.g., doctor/dentist office)... apparently its been proven to reduces stress.

I think it’s technically a tax deduction. “Above the line,” deducted from your gross revenue. Lol. It’s been a few years since I took taxation, so my tax knowledge is probably even less reliable than my reef knowledge (if that were possible). Now, if Congress (or whatever your taxing authority may be) has decided to provide a tax credit to promote reefing...well! That opens up the door to a number of things. Perhaps a tax credit for attending yoga classes would be in order. Or in my case, a tax credit for “debating whether ‘Die Hard’ is an action movie or a Christmas movie and also for watching “The Big Lebowski” repeatedly” would be perfect.

 

[rmurken]

The aquarium hobby is almost entirely relaxing to me. Even the problems become new and interesting challenges to resolve. Whenever I think I’ve mastered an issue like alkalinity or cyano or whatever, there are more layers for me to unravel. Water chemistry by itself is gratifying to learn about, and gratifying to manage. At another level, I love watching the flora and fauna do their thing. I am always deeply concerned when an animal is having trouble, but I try to keep it in perspective by practicing diligent, responsible, and humane husbandry. I learn from that too.

Occasionally you see the maxim “nothing good happens quickly in an aquarium.” I keep that in mind. It invites patience and appreciation for subtlety.

 

[lapin]

For me it reduces stress. In the beginning we all go thru the self induced stress that comes with trying anything that requires half a brain. Once over this part the tank becomes a thing of beauty and wonder. Sure stuff happens but It should not be stressful, just a learning experience, If it is still stressful after, lets say a year, you should prob find another hobby or find a good heart specialist .

 

[thermoJoe]

I like problem solving. If the tank was easy to make beautiful, I would probably get bored and stop reefing. While I don't like getting acropora eating flatworms, montipora eating nudibranchs, mites, swings in nutrients and alkalinity, acropora rapid tissue necrosis, equipment failure, power failures, water leaks, fish deaths and disease, there is the challenge of fixing or preventing these. Good stress results from solving these problems. BTW, my tanks are in the basement, so almost no one sees them.

 

[Johnnynle]

I love just looking at my tank, taking care of it, all the little things that come with maintaining it. Doing that is very relaxing and stress relieving for me.
I’m terrified of coming home one day and all my terribly expensive livestock are dead or dying.

 

[Emerson]

I had a 10 year established softie/LPS tank with a few SPS I kept for 10 years, then had to shut it down for a cross country move; it was almost all less stress, but it was on autopilot. With my new tank (2 1/2 years old), when I'm "in" to it lately, it adds stress. Why? I used to have a golden thumb when I had my simple 30 and 50 gallon reef tanks 10-15 years ago (VHOs, air pump skimmer, basic sump, mechanical timers, RO only water, and virtually no testing or dosing ). Everything thrived; I had to sell off huge chunks of frog spawn, cool mushrooms, and zoas to keep my 50 gal looking good.

Since I upgraded to a 90 gal after my move (all geared out by the way; Apex, DOS, Kessil LEDs w/ VHOs, Vertex skimmer, carbon reactor, Tunze powerheads, testing multiple times a week and month... probably more), I've been unable to keep SPS or a "clean" tank. It started with cyano after about a year. Fighting that led to too low nutrients that turned to dynos that wiped out all my SPS that had been thriving and eventually took my LPS. I blame myself for feeling cocky and having the Karma Bus come pick me up. Since then, I've tried to be patient. The latest issue is red turf algae. Don't know if having that released some toxin that took out my LPS.

Now I only had a couple nice leathers and zoa colonies, and I've been living with that for the last five months. I have just started putting some "test" SPS corals in to see if I've turned a corner... very frustrating. And then I lost my discipline at the WWC Live Sale and ordered some more.

The good news: I have the exact fish population, and they are all doing great. Now, if I can just get some SPS corals to grow... Looking forward to when my tank reduces stress more than adding it soon.

 

[Anchor]

Considering I am having some coral death problems, watching the slow death of my LPS with each water change over the last 4 to 5 months. I tend to stresss over it.. But love watching the fish and the coral. Sitting back and watching is very relaxing.

 

[JumboShrimp]

It’s simple math: Power + Outage = Stress

 

[KCSUMPS]

Once you learn patience, it's much less stressful.

Best comment ever on Reefing....

 

[Ricky_Reef]

I've found that since I've taken the advice of many great reefers and stopped chasing numbers, Stopped tinkering with settings, etc. and stay diligent with my regular maintenance things have showed better success and my stress has went way down. Grabbing a Trident has been a big plus in me keeping things way more stable also!

 

[Scorpius]

I'm rebuilding my system this week. I lost wayyyyyyyy too much money in my last build. It stressed me out immensely to see so much money disappear, but once I came to terms with myself over having lost so much I'm a happier individual now. lol.

tl/dr: It's just stuff at the end of the day folks. Don't let a fish tank take away your happiness and contentment in life.

 

[aarbutina]

I’d say one of the most stressful things about reef keeping, is leaving your tank alone of longer periods of time when you are on vacation. Especially when you start getting alarms and there isn’t anything you can do about it.

 

[damselindistress]

Right now my reef is a source of worry and frustration for me. Tank is right at two years old and had a period where it was beautiful and, I thought, finally stable. But for the last couple months I’ve been battling nutrient issues I can’t seem to get under control and just this week one of my two year old clown pair has up and stopped eating altogether. Tonight for the first time ever I actually uttered the words to my husband that I was considering just getting out altogether. I pace every night in front of the tank trying to assess what’s wrong, why corals seem happy, then unhappy, then back again. I think there’s a magic formula and while I’ve always considered myself a fairly tenacious person I just can’t seem to get the formula down.

Sorry for taking the bus down into Negative Town

 

[rmurken]

I've found that since I've taken the advice of many great reefers and stopped chasing numbers, lus in me keeping things way more stable also!

Preach.

 

[Bastray]

Less stress for me. I like to zone out and take care of the tank and forget about the stress from the day. I look forward to maintenance days so I can tinker with the tank. Solving problems in the tank puts my mind to good use and work towards a goal. My 20 minutes with three tank every day for feeding, checking things out, changing filter floss, etc is a part of my day I enjoy, look forward to, and value as important time to myself during my very busy days.

 

[mattzang]

it's definitely a stress reliever overall, but there are things that are stressing.

like adding fish, watching fish aggression is hard for me lol. everyday waking up hoping the fish have all figured it out.

adding stuff knowing it could be the source of some disease freaks me out. i've taken to qting fish, but knowing any tiny snail or frag could be the ender of all my fish makes me want to not add anything, when adding stuff should be fun

 

[TetoCCB]

They say that viewing an aquarium reduces stress but I'm not so sure about that when it comes to us reefers!

Would you say that keeping a saltwater reef aquarium actually induces more stress?

What is THE MOST stressful part of maintaining a reef aquarium?

I think there are three components... Relaxation from viewing and performing routine maintenance to our systems... Eustress when we decide to reconfigure our systems or when a reasonably manageable problem arises... And stress when our systems take a turn for the worst and, even with reefing community support, we can’t resolve the issue and we are forced to watch our systems suffer...

 

[Natty]

Being away from home... I hate it. Someone is always looking into it but they never notice small changes or dead snail
So every time I am leaving I am so nervous. While I am away too, and when I get back too until I get everything in order. I would be stressless if I could be at home 24/7

 

[melanotaenia]

Leaving the tank for my research trips has been the hardest. I hate to have to rely on electronics to keep the tank in check while I am gone, and I always stress that something is going to break/stop working while I am away. This is by far the most stressful for me, especially knowing how fragile many Acro species are.