Whats your toughest challenge so far

[Reeffanman]

What has been your toughest challenge so far reef keeping? Would love to hear what others have overcome,
Right now I'm in the midst of treating 12 fish in a 20 gal. I know I know should never have had to happen, but it's been a tough go the worst part is almost over. I started with a sponge filter out of my sump, and half a bottle of ati denitrifying bacteria and 25 or 50 % pwc daily.

 

[Rnl]

Well am new to reef keeping and the list of mistakes are epic. First off i bought very bad live rock jammed packed with majano animone and apstasia. Then i bought fish that were infected with marine velvet witch am treating with copper at the moment. And now in my display tank with a frogspawn,1 acan, and 1 20 head button polyp all frags am fight very bad slim algea. But i have to say am still learning and very new to the hobby and am not going to let any of that detour me from meeping a reef tank. Oh am sorry i have a 55 gal bowfront with 15 pounds live rock and 50 pounds of dry rock. All the params are at 0 except nitrates 10 ppm. Am about to order calcium and phosphate test kits

 

[Psychocircus91]

Didn't tighten my plumbing enough and had leaks with 75 gallons of water already in. First mistake. Happened today. Managed to slide the tank get under the stand and fix it

 

[Schism]

By far mine was a 5 day power outage.

Was a long and rough experience. Even with the generator that i got after the first day. Required constant refueling and periodic breaks to take it easy on the engine. Never got more than 2 hours sleep before having to wake up and refuel or check things. This was also in the dead of summer 100 degree heat. Completely miserable with no AC and nothing to do. My wife and kid spent the week at the in laws living easy. I had to camp out in 3rd world ohio and baby my fish tank lol.

Ive never been more tired, hot, and bored in my entire life. Also the generator consumed over $150 in gas in those 5 days. The lines at the gas stretched for blocks. Only time ive ever waited 2 hours in line for gas. My fish are **** lucky i have patience.

 

[Gboy66]

Prob the worst was a dino infestation. It attatched to everything...corals, fish, you name it. And, Atthe time the temp over here in CA was crazy and idisnt have a chiller. Tank got to 87 once. That was the worst. Lost a couple corals but in reality it wasnt too bad

 

[h8z2luze]

Fighting algae! I hate it!

 

[Mr. Crabs]

Keeping Goniopora. I failed miserably for over a year with a few different specimens. It wasn't until I packed my fuge with miracle mud did I have success. They don't do well in a nutrient free tank. I was putting them in a sterile environment, and that was the problem. Goni thrives in my tank now. Had one go from a golf ball sized piece, to as big as a cantaloupe in 6 months.

The other was ich. I know it's common, but it hit my Majesctic Angel (New addition) and I was committed to saving the fish. I read everything I could for 48 hours. I scoured the internet and I became obsessed with the parasite....to give you an idea, I even researched the effect of photoperiod sensitivity on the life stages of it. I put together a plan and I brought the Majestic back from certain death. It was the first time in 20 years I had defeated ich, and it wasn't by accident. It was a huge victory for me. And yes, UV sterilizers do work, but there is a trick that people miss when they use them that is needed to help with ich.

 

[pairenoid]

adding gobys! my first one died in 2 days, 2nd one died in 2 days

i dont know wtf it is, i test my water before AND at the shop, i acclimate for 1+ hour

as soon as they go under that rock, they dont come back out, my only guess is my pistol shrimp is trigger happy

also, i HATE these god forsaken test kits, everything is so hard to read except nitrite and ph

 

[obscurereef]

Everything before I put water in. One example is I got a custom glass sump. My design wasn't the best according to an LFS employee, b/c I would have too much flow in my refugium so I had to send it to another LFS to redo the baffles. Then I found out it was 1/2" too wide! I had to get a carpenter to take one of the beams of the stand and put a smaller piece of wood so that the skimmer could get under there and fit.

 

[Sniperhank]

Not throwing every penny I have into a bigger tank, cool coral,...whatever. I've battled algae, lighting, power outages...nothing is as rough as always wanting to go bigger and better.

 

[MDChurch]

The fight with hair algae!!!! I have never come across anything more stubborn and persistant as green hair algae. Took almost a year to get a handle on it and now I try to keep some going on purpose for my lawnmower blenny. He does a great job of keeping everything cleaned up. Sometimes a little too good and he runs out of algae to eat , so out comes the seaweed strips at that point.

 

[Schism]

The fight with hair algae!!!! I have never come across anything more stubborn and persistant as green hair algae. Took almost a year to get a handle on it and now I try to keep some going on purpose for my lawnmower blenny. He does a great job of keeping everything cleaned up. Sometimes a little too good and he runs out of algae to eat , so out comes the seaweed strips at that point.

My 2 year old lawnmower blenny will not even look at hair algae or algae sheets, your lucky in that regard. He eats more meaty foods than algae i would wager.

 

[h8z2luze]

adding gobys! my first one died in 2 days, 2nd one died in 2 days

i dont know wtf it is, i test my water before AND at the shop, i acclimate for 1+ hour

as soon as they go under that rock, they dont come back out, my only guess is my pistol shrimp is trigger happy

also, i HATE these god forsaken test kits, everything is so hard to read except nitrite and ph

I have had 2 gobys die too. No idea why. One jumped out and one ended up in my sump somehow...

 

[Gregcoyote]

My biggest challenge to overcome was me. I use to buy reef inhabinates based on my desires, rather than what would work in my existing system, with the amount of time I have to give it. Now that many sponges, gorgonians and other extremely difficult species have long been flushed, I have myself under control. I know what to buy and what not to buy.