Rest or Reef: Do you prioritize your reef after a long day?

[AlyciaMarie]

Our Hobby has a variety of reefers in different phases of their lives and on different journeys. But in general, I think most of us have responsibilities that can take up a lot of our day and energy.

Some of you may have an office job or maybe working from home. Some of you may be stay-at-home parents wrangling kids all day, or some of you are still teens and young adults focusing on your future with schooling. Whatever your path, after a long day, you may want to throw in the tank towel and forget your reef until tomorrow. But do you?

Do you prioritize your tank after a long day of "adulting"? Why or why not?

(P.S. For this discussion, let's not count feeding our fish as "tank work" )

 

[exnisstech]

My tank is priority, even over mowing the grass.

And I'm retired

EDIT : Kidding aside I've only been retired 2 years. When I was working I went strait to the tanks as soon as I walked in the door. Head count then on to any maintenance needed. Maintenance was actually on a better schedule than now because I knew time was limited.
Why? It's therapeutic for me.

 

[exnisstech]

Deleted double post

 

[Flame2hawk]

Feeding my fish is allot of work…..I have 3 large tanks (800,700 and 140) with lots of big healthy fish. Every day i mix their food which includes a medley of high protein frozen food (PE Mysis, carnivore recipe, angel sponge, etc) followed by allowing it to melt naturally 1-2 hours, then flush with RO water, squeeze excess water, then thoroughly mix in beta glucan, selcon, angelixir and focus followed by at least 30m in refrigerator, then feed. This is usually in th mid-afternoon after already feeding Nori and pellets for breakfast and lunch. All of that takes about 3 hours of waiting time/feeding time…..If I am going to be out for the day, I will premix all of this to feed when I get home. Other than this I tinker with my tanks every day doing something…..Life of a Hobbyist!

 

[exnisstech]

Every day i mix their food which includes a medley of high protein frozen food (PE Mysis, carnivore recipe, angel sponge, etc) followed by allowing it to melt naturally 1-2 hours, then flush with RO water

Only asking to learn. Why do you rinse the frozen food? I feed similar and add selcon and vitachem along with reef roids once or twice a week but I don't rinse the food.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I do two things. Go to the day job, and reefing (dream job). When I’m not doing one, I’m doing the other. And I have a family too! They (Four girls, including wife) all do their own thing. Lol!

 

[LaloJ]

I took a new job when my daughter was born at the beginning of this year, the hours are different from my previous job so it takes a lot of hours away from being able to enjoy the hobby, as it's also exhausting, in a way I feel like I'm getting away from it a little, but I schedule days (rather, nights) to do water changes and review the water parameters to check that everything is in order.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

If I have an issue with my tank, or something must be done? I will do it even though I might not want to.

 

[rhitee93]

I've learned a bit about myself over the last 50 years so I put my tank in my office at work. Here is why:

• It is the room where I spend most of my awake time each week so I get more chance to enjoy the tank.
• I like getting into work about an hour before everyone else to get some quiet time, but struggle with motivation to do so at times. Building 15 minutes into the day for tank time motivates me to get there early.
• My job has evolved (devloved?) to where I need to spend some time in the office on the weekends. Mixing that work in with the heavier weekly maintenance makes both more palatable.

So, I cheated, and built the tank maintenance into my work-week

 

[Timfish]

If I have a long day, it's because of my tanks.

 

[Paul B]

I do not pyritize my tank. Many times they don't get fed for a day or 2. I rarely go 3 days without feeding but it can happen if I am away. If I don't clean the glass that algae will be there the next day, only worse.

I don't really dose or test so I don't have to worry about that and I never medicate or quarantine so I don't have quarantine or hospital tanks set up to care for.

I grow live worms but they can get along fine for a couple of weeks without me, they probably prefer that I'm not there because when I am,,,They are fish food.

 

[MnFish1]

Our Hobby has a variety of reefers in different phases of their lives and on different journeys. But in general, I think most of us have responsibilities that can take up a lot of our day and energy.

Some of you may have an office job or maybe working from home. Some of you may be stay-at-home parents wrangling kids all day, or some of you are still teens and young adults focusing on your future with schooling. Whatever your path, after a long day, you may want to throw in the tank towel and forget your reef until tomorrow. But do you?

Do you prioritize your tank after a long day of "adulting"? Why or why not?

(P.S. For this discussion, let's not count feeding our fish as "tank work" )

I do not (unless there is some urgent issue) - when I do maintenance, I want to concentrate solely on that - if I'm harried or stressed, I tend to skip steps/not pay as much attention.

 

[mattdg]

I have a career where I am away for extended periods of time or working in a space at home. The reef tank serves as a stress relief in both scenarios. I have it dialed in enough to now worry when I am away, so coming home to a colorful reef tank is always a nice feeling. I generally clean the glass within the first 10 minutes. When I am working at a desk, at home, it is nice to get up periodically throughout the day, to feed or perform some basic maintenance on the reef. Studies have shown, we are most productive when we take small breaks from work to get up and perform other enjoyable tasks, throughout the day. Nothing better than a reef tank, if those studies are actually true.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Feeding my fish is allot of work…..I have 3 large tanks (800,700 and 140) with lots of big healthy fish. Every day i mix their food which includes a medley of high protein frozen food (PE Mysis, carnivore recipe, angel sponge, etc) followed by allowing it to melt naturally 1-2 hours, then flush with RO water, squeeze excess water, then thoroughly mix in beta glucan, selcon, angelixir and focus followed by at least 30m in refrigerator, then feed. This is usually in th mid-afternoon after already feeding Nori and pellets for breakfast and lunch. All of that takes about 3 hours of waiting time/feeding time…..If I am going to be out for the day, I will premix all of this to feed when I get home. Other than this I tinker with my tanks every day doing something…..Life of a Hobbyist!

800? 700? Gallons? Water changes must SUCK. Can I ask you what the monthly maintenance costs are for you? Are these all reefs?

 

[bjmartie]

I have a 90 gallon reed and 55 FOWLR (wife thinks the 55 is for her...pshh).
I've learned that when i first get home, i need to at least acknowledge my wife first.... then i can get to my tanks.

I learned that if i take care of my tanks first thing when i get home, then i am more likely to do what i got to do. Checking my socks, skimmer, cleaning glass, dosing, or testing something out, or even "brewing" some new salt water. If i dont do it first thing, it will likely get pushed to the next day.

Yesterday i got home (kissed the wife) then got to my tanks. 55 gallon was recently upgraded from a 35 and the nitrates been running high. So doi do my 25% water change today (yesterday) or would i of pushed it till tomorrow (today)? I went ahead and just did it. Water changes for my 55 is a pain in the ..... currently. I never had the need to buy a water changing pump, until now (not in yet!).

The 55 gallon tank and stand I recently picked up from a local goodwill. I work there so got 50% off and only paid $270 total, it was a steal! But its in a hugeeee stand with a canopy. So when i do my water changes, i have to lift my 5 gallon bucket full of water onto the top of the stand/canopy to be able to siphon the water down into the tank.... All while my wife works from home and all of her computer stuff is located right where i would spill the water if that was to happen......

attached is my new 55 setup.

 

[radiata]

Yes, my tank helps me with day-to-day stress relief ~ especially when I have a glass of a nice red Super Tuscan in my hand...​

 

[ToxicMel]

Been helping out a local LFS most days. And honestly when I get home MY tank gets neglected. And then when I do have time and energy, I'm making stupid mistakes... (eg. Did water change this morning before work. Had phone call during, tried to juggle both and then overflowed my full skimmer cup back into system at end of water change! What a waste of time )