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So What is Your Motivation?

blange3

blange3

Although I had to miss the meeting this weekend, I was not deprived of deep, philosophical reef related conversation!

In between church obligations and honey-do stuff, I got to spend some time on the couch at Aquatic Obsessions where I have recently earned the label 'Old School.'

It is a label that I gratefully embrace and it lead to a discussion about what motivates people to start reefing and continue reefing.

Other than having some mental exercising fun, I think understanding where each of us is coming from will give some deeper insight to those who read our posts.

I see all kinds of reefers on the various boards:

Engineers - in search of the best labor saving / power saving devices

Ecologists - saving the worlds oceans one living room at a time

Chemists - out to establish, maintain and verify that the have achieved the ultimate chemical balance.

Technologists - questing for the ultimate skimmer, embracing the latest gadgets. They own PAR meters, air flow meters, a million different reactors

Artists - painting beautiful portraits with living colors on a canvas of live rock.

Farmers - grow it big, fast and harvest it!

Hobbyists - Just lookin' to pass the time

There are many others. Who are you?
 
arvin

arvin

NJRC Member
Well, I started as an hobbyist, aspire to be an artist, a budding engineer and pretend to be an ecologist. ;)
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

What about "gardeners"? Plant it, tend it, watch it grow just to watch it grow?

I couldn't place myself firmly in any of those categories. I enjoy the process of growing the things in my tank to something bigger and more beautiful.

Tending it sort of like an under water garden.

But, according to my wife, I'm just nuts and like to stare at a giant glass box of water. :)
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I'm a Builder, Remodeler. I Build my tanks and corals to perfection. I remodel them by removing corals to make room for new ones.
I'm Old School to Bill, but try to keep up on all the new gadgets so I can understand what people are talking about.
 
JohnS_323

JohnS_323

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Originally, I got into the hobby because I thought the tank would be a nice tranquil place to relax in front of. Now, it's become more of a Sisyphus thing. I think I actually enjoy trying to push this huge boulder up the hill! Maybe it's the challenge of trying to get a great looking tank . . . I'm not sure . . .

I will say the funny thing in retrospect is that we were originally going to start off as FOWLR and were afraid that we wouldn't be able to keep salt water fish alive. That's just a given now and all of the focus is on corals.
 
M

mladencovic

I am:

Biologist - Love the living things and how they interact.
Chemist - Only full knowledge of Chemistry will give you the answers to most intricate "why" and "how" questions in Biology.
Engineer - I have built the support system, and bunch of gadgets,components and software.
Artist - Composing the balancing living piece of Art in forms of colors, shapes and interactions.
And then taking the picture of it.
Gardener - Planting it and watching it grow for the sake of growth and development. And, yes, harvesting it as well, for the next generation, next system.
Self Therapist - Nothing more relaxing then watching the shimmering lights over colorful fish and corals gently swaying in the current.

::)
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
I'm a reefer, straight up. Multiple definitions. Loving the salwater.

My 1 inch clown attacked my hand yesterday when it got too close to his BTA. Makes me love the little guy even more. ;)
 
blange3

blange3

mfisher2112 said:
What about "gardeners"? Plant it, tend it, watch it grow just to watch it grow?

I couldn't place myself firmly in any of those categories. I enjoy the process of growing the things in my tank to something bigger and more beautiful.

Tending it sort of like an under water garden.

But, according to my wife, I'm just nuts and like to stare at a giant glass box of water. :)
Click to expand...

Gardener is a great one, and close to my own love! I add the spiritual dimension and call it a steward of creation. When I do get the time to stare at the tank, it's usually when I'm settling down for evening prayer.

Others that come to mind:

The Explorer - Keeping life forms that no one has kept before

The Collector - tanks full of 'ests' Biggest, meanest, rarest, hardest. And then there are the 'mosts' most expensive, most beautiful.
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

I started off as the "Gardener and the engineer (I prefer architect though. The challenge of designing & constructing a system to keep my living painting alive.
Unfortunately I have become all of those catagories in one way or another. I know far more chemistry than I would have liked. I read Randy Holmes Farley's forum on my lunch hour now.
I know how much my electric costs by the kilowatt hour and calcualte purchasing new equipment based on life cycle costs.
Ecologist out of necessity...frags are cheaper than wild cought colonies.
Farmer...because I like sharing my sucesses with my friends.

And I guess since I've been in the hobby before the internet, Reef Central,the birth of Anthony Calfo and I actually remember when the "Berlin System" was a new revoluntinary approach I'm old school as well.
 
M

momof6kids

NJRC Member
I too am a:

Gardener - Planting it and watching it grow for the sake of growth and development.
Self Therapist - Nothing more relaxing then watching the shimmering lights over colorful fish and corals gently swaying in the current.

And I like to think I am becoming an:

Artist - Composing the balancing living piece of Art in forms of colors, shapes and interactions. And then taking the picture of it.

I try at least. ::)

And like you Bill, I think that having a little piece of God's creation in my house is tremendously uplifting and refreshing.
 
S

sinkingbeach

I'm the patient on the psychiatrist's couch ;D The masochist on my knees begging for mercy :D

This hobby is so frustrating at times, just a piece of equipment I've been going back and fourth for 10 days now :mad: and then you look at that one coral or fish and your dragged right back into the insanity ;D
 
B

boozeman

my sons desire to have a fish tank is what got me looking into this 'hobby', but after seeing so many beautiful reef tanks out there I just had to have one !
The more I learned ...the deeper involved I got. The ultimate step for me was joining NJRC. After experiencing the genuine comraderie that can exist in this hobby I was totally hooked. I don't know into what category this puts me into, as many of you know, I don't even have a tank yet. At times I feel completely overwhelmed at the complexity and cost of it all. At other times I feel completely at ease with the task at hand. I guess only time will tell in which one of these categories I will fit into...probably all of them ;D
 
K

kathainbowen

I like to think of myself as an "artist," but I'm sad to admit that I'm more of a dabbler. Catch me from week to week, and it changes.

Right now, I'm in chemist mode, studying nutritional values of different foods. Alton Brown's got me on this kick about the additives in so-called "fresh" seafood products. It's been very fun. ;D
 
blange3

blange3

I think we all go through all the phases.

But the ones that keep bringing me back are the gardener and the artist.

It's also a tradition. My dad and I kept tanks from the tiem I was 7 until I got married and moved out at 24. Afterwards we still collaborated on projects. Dad's been gone since '95, but he still visits my tanks!
 
A

AnDom1

Hi.. Over 30+ yrs ago, my wife bought a goldfish bowl and an Oranda to keep our kids entertained and to bring a little nature into the house. Well, as is the case with newbies, she kept losing the fish via the typical mistakes of overfeeding, etc. That's when I first became involved in the hobby. This is my ECOLOGICAL side 8).

Of course a 1 gallon goldfish bowl didn't come close to my BIG BUSINESS side ;), so I bought a 10 gal.setup and stocked it with FW community fish and we all enjoyed it very much. However, I (and a little later my son) got hooked and like almost all newly-hooked fishkeepers, I bought a bigger (30Gal) tank and put it on an angle iron stand the bottom shelf of which, accommodated a 29gal tank.
Both of the tanks housed African Cichlids.I guess this was my HOBBYIST (breeding tanks ;)) and ARTISTIC ::)(colorful fish constantly changing the tanks' landscapes) sides.

About 15+ yrs ago, I saw my first reef and ,you guessed it, I got hooked (again) ::) Only this time, instead of breeding larger and larger tanks, I just bought a LFS with all kinds/sizes of FW and SW aquaria. This was the ENTREPREEUR side.

To keep the store going successfully, I had to develop other "sides" that are essential on some level to good reefkeeping. Sides such as...BIOCHEMIST (who knew from good/bad bacteria let alone about additives? ???)....TECHNOLOGIST (what the heck was a protein skimmer or a UV Sterilizer? :eek:) ....ENGINEER (you had better be efficient or you'll spend all of your time "maintaining" :( and none "enjoying" :).

Now, I am in SELF THERAPY as I just "chill out" in front of the tank :p.

Finally, having joined NJRC, I get to develop my SOCIAL side by interacting with y'all about a common interest 8)

Dom
 
C

Carlo

I'd have to say I'm a little bit of each but especially the first four. In order:
Chemists - out to establish, maintain and verify that the have achieved the ultimate chemical balance.
Technologists - questing for the ultimate skimmer, embracing the latest gadgets. They own PAR meters, air flow meters, a million different reactors
Ecologists - saving the worlds oceans one living room at a time
Engineers - in search of the best labor saving / power saving devices

A little bit of these thrown in for good measure. :)
Artists - painting beautiful portraits with living colors on a canvas of live rock.
Farmers - grow it big, fast and harvest it!
Hobbyists - Just lookin' to pass the time

I think most reefers are a combination of at least a couple of these traits.

Carlo
 
blange3

blange3

Gee Carlo,

I'm shocked that Chemist and Technologist are so high on your list! ;D

(Very, Very BIG and good natured grin implied!)
 
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