Nothing good happens quickly in the saltwater aquarium hobby

Ironically, the topic of today’s blog post is patience–something I don’t have a lot of–and chances are, if you don’t have a lot of patience yourself, it may be too late for you.

For the last several weeks, I wrote Holiday Gift-Giving Guides to help along the sometimes awkward conversations we have with our loved ones about the gifts we want for our saltwater aquarium. As I wrote each of those posts, I found myself becoming more and more frenzied with anticipation of the gifts I was hoping for. Now that it is just after Christmas, I find myself sitting here wanting to get my hands wet and salty and connect my new gear–and that’s when it hit me that today’s blog post should be about patience.

I’m not really sure where this expression came from, but I’ve heard it over and over again:

Nothing good ever happens quickly in the saltwater aquarium hobby

The animals in our care are constantly adjusting to the conditions in the saltwater aquarium in our home. Big changes in the environment within our tanks is a major threat to their care and well being.

So having a big pile of new gear for your tank may seem like an amazingly awesome problem to have–but depending on the nature of your new stuff (what is it exactly?) you may have the power to dramatically change the environment within your saltwater aquarium in a relatively short period of time. And even though you may think of your new equipment as something that will objectively improve the water conditions in your aquarium, it’s the absolute difference from the original conditions that may prove to be a shock to the system.

That’s why I’m advocating patience as you sort through your supplements, additives, new foods, pumps, dosers, lights, etc. Remember that nothing good ever happens quickly in the saltwater aquarium hobby–and attempt to reign in your unbridled enthusiasm and add your new ‘stuff’ to your reef tank systematically (if possible), to allow your tank some time to adjust and to provide yourself with some time to evaluate the tank and ensure you haven’t introduced any stresses to your system, one variable at a time.