# Ever feel like you are burning out in this hobby?



## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

Lately I have been feeling like I am burning out in my planted tank hobby.

The plants seem to grow too quickly, green dust algae seems unstoppable- it always returns after three or four days, and I cannot seem to get my L. Pantanal to grow like I had it before I rescaped my tank. I am also getting sick of my limewood airstones which seem to need sanding every couple of weeks and as a result co2 isn't injected as efficiently over time.

I am not giving up but right now I find it hard to muster the will to go and do the trimming I know I need to do. Maybe someone else can relate.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

I totally get that way!!! Generally I am itching to scape something but don't have the time, tank or good quality material.

I personally find focusing on a different aspect for a little while helps. Like check into the chemistry more, or focus on scaping, or just research something obscure or different than you usually focus on.


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

Yes but what is the worst is waiting for things to fall into place so plants grow the way you want.. these Pantanals look pathetic. I mean they're growing but they are probabaly 2" diameter.. before my rescape they were easily 4 to 5" across and just beautiful.. I don't know what the hell I did but they aren't happy like before. I have to fight the desire to give up because I know if I just wait and be patient they will return to their former glory and I will learn in the process.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Yeah man, it happens to all of us from time to time. I usually just let the tanks go, but not to the point of losing the plants and then revive them when I have the time/will. Focusing on different aspects helps to as Dennis suggested.


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

Consider it growing pains. I dealt with green dust algae for a whole year until I learned more about it and how to properly deal with it. It takes a long time before you learn how to trim the plants so that your tank doesn't get out of wack. I've wanted to quite a bunch of times, but when you love something you keep coming back for more.


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## AndyT. (Jun 28, 2006)

When it becomes more of a chore and less of a reward I try to dial it back some. In the past that has meant getting rid of aquariums, simplifying their care, etc. On plant tanks I have gone from hi-tech to au natural (though not in an organized systematic D. Walstad way). 

Always, the aquatic itch returns over time and I ramp back up. Hope you get over the hump soon.


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## Moo (Apr 27, 2006)

I think alot of us have felt that way. You don't really wanna tear it down..or just quit, but it does get kinda repetative. But then I think wow..I did all that? most people would have murderd these plant and fish by now.
usually i just take a day away every so often. Besides half the fun for me is trying to figure all of this stuff out. I love challenges..and refuse to give up until i win or get humiliated.. lol.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Never!! Effort MAX!!! XD jk

Edit--> Ah, maybe you just need some motivational inspiration! I brought back a bunch of aquajournals/ADA mags from the time I was in Japan, and the photos just keep me excited about my tank's development. ADA stuff sure is great


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Barry, I think most of us have been there, and will probably return in the future sometime. All the suggestions are good, imo. I know exactly what you mean about your growing good but not so good pantanal. I am currently having the same issues with L. aromatica in one tank. Suddenly, it's puny looking, for no apparent reason. 

Change your focus to something else. Put a couple of tabs under the pantanal and concentrate on the rest of the tank. You can also choose to let it go wild for a while. It will mean you have more to trim later, but it might give you the breather you need. Hang in there! :thumbsup:


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## Ibn (Oct 20, 2004)

Totally agree with Steven. Haven't really touched the tank other than feeding the fish for awhile now, but saw a scape that's gotten me motivated once again.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

Burnout happens, 8 years ago I tore down my last tank and sold almost everything, the rest went in the attic. What got me started again was my daughter got one of those little acrlyic tubs that you grow crystals in, She was so disappointed when it started to turn into mushy goo and I dumped it that I got her a 10 Gal wally world special. now she has her 12 Gal Eclipse and I'm up to 3 going on 4 tanks. It does come back even if it's been awhile.


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## GraFFix (Feb 24, 2005)

Im going through the burnout faze at the moment...Ive let the tank go wild and im actually liking the outcome. Although it is starting to get a little out of hand its still givin me that little break everyone here is talking about. But honestly I dont know if I will go back to the neatly planted/trimmed scaped tanks again..I kind of like the random look of it now. it looks more natural and is less maintenance. Also from letting the tank go it looks like some of my HC has actually attached to the top of my driftwood...unless its entangled with the other masses of plants but last time i tried to move it, it seems pretty well rooted...lol never know sometimes you let things go and take a little break something good can come from it...

Luckily I have a few hobbies so when i get burnt out on one i can focus on something else, like working on my car, messing with computers, spending more time with the GF or other things.

Moderation is the key


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## rbittman (Apr 27, 2006)

Persistent algae can certainly lead to burnout. I know that feeling well.
I must have spent three years fighting hair algae in a former tank before I finally learned about Excel. Once I got the hair algae under control I realized that that type of tank: very high light with 99% stem plants, was just too much maintenance for me at this time.

So, switching to an ADA style tank with Aquasoil and ADA ferts (which result in minimal fertilization in the water column) plus rescaping with mostly lower maintenance plants (ferns mosses, Blyxa, Eleocharis, a few Rotalas) solved my problem. I still have to trim the Rotalas about once/month, but the tank gets slightly less light than before and the lights are only on 10hrs/day. There is virtually no algae, which makes me happy. I still change water once/week, but bought a Python, which made things easier still.

Thus, my recommendation is to consider simplifying, choosing lower maintenance plants (especially lower than Pantanal, Eusteralis, and the like) and going ADA. I have no stock in their company by the way! I just realized that I had gotten tired of measuring all the chemicals individually and wanted to simply squirt something in the water and be done. 

Just a thought!


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

I have found a new love for medium/low light tanks. My 40g (journal'd in the aquascaping forum) is super low mainenance. I run it with 2 bulbs (2wpg T5HO) almost all the time with lights about 12" off the water lvl. I get great growth(healthy, but slower..I do use CO2 and ferts) but very little algae issues. Sure, Id on't get the vibrant reds, but that is a small price to pay for being able to enjoy my tanks rather then thetanks ruling over me.

May want to give it a shot!


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

Like it was stated before, it's almost like a cycle in the shape of a bell curve.

I took a roommates ailing tank under my wing and then stumbled across the AquaBotanic website and the beautiful pictures on there of live plants. I knew that's what I wanted to do and it was all downhill from there. I accumulated 2 other tanks in the span of a few short months (beginners excitement, who cares about that tank already set up, let's do another!). I think this is often the case for beginners or people getting into the hobby again after a break. Since the move to the new place, other issues have been more important and the tanks have taken more of a back seat. I've even considered consolidating my 3 tanks into one fantastically expensive fully ADA set up. We'll see about that...

As always, battles with algae take a lot out of you, and my fight with Green Water as of late is doing just that. It just will not go away. The only thing keeping me going is ventures into other areas, like breeding my Blue Rams, or thinking about a new tank.

I definitely agree with the other advice people have offered. And sometimes you just have to relax and let it go for a few weeks. Of course if you can churn out beauties like some people *cough* Steven Chong *cough* I'm sure the enthusiasm for the hobby never wanes. [smilie=h:


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I have observed many people come and go in the hobby. Frode Roe, the first grand AGA aquascaping winner, pretty much got out of it after he got married, got back into it a little later, then disappeared. James Hoftiezer, another AGA winner, gave it up after his second AGA entry, came back a year later, then gave it up again. Birgit and Wolfgang Amir, another AGA winner, got completely out of the hobby for three years after being a winner in the contest. I think it is normal for peoples interest to change. People with full active lives I think have short attention spans! [smilie=l:


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

With only about a year under my belt, I haven't experienced burnout just yet. But I've definitely had weeks when I didn't feel like touching my tanks! 

That said, I've found the hobby to be fairly restrictive in terms of what is considered beautiful or successful, and what isn't. I've tried to ignore that feeling (since I'm not good enough yet to get there anyway!) and go with what I personally enjoy. My tropical tank is a work in progress and my plans for it have changed a million times. I also set up a planted goldfish tank that isn't really scaped at all. It's not a thing of beauty by most hobbyists' standards, but I enjoy it and my fish do too, so it doesn't really matter 

I guess when I'm feeling down about the success of my tanks, I try to remember that they're a heck of a lot better than they were a year ago, and that I'm learning new things all the time.


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## Dewmazz (Sep 6, 2005)

I have felt occasional "burnouts" but I'd rather refer to them as "phases." I'd actually gone through about 5 tanks (re-using the same supplies of course) before breaking and purchasing a $#!*load of top-quality products. I was able to create an aquarium that really brings my whole room together, and the pearling of the plants has me mesmerized again. I can feel the "bell-curve" creeping up on me though, I'm beyond the setup and at the stage where maintenance is becomming monotonous again, but the success of the aquarium is worth it.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

It might because of my very competitive nature, but I can never get tired of doing something about it. I think about half a year ago, I decided that I wanted to be serious-- get to the top of the aquascaping world, score huge in the contests, become an artist that everyone knows. So about half a year ago, it was no longer my hobby. It's been a long tough road getting everything I've needed, and even now that it's all together and I'm "just doing maintenance" on my first serious project, as I wait for plants to really start taking off, I still am planning in advance for everything I can--

-- Fish, what really would be best? (I'm taking this debate very seriously in my head)
-- Photography skills, are mine up to par? (I'm playing with my SLR practically everyday, studying photos from CAU, and recently realizing my equipment can get the same settings-- therefore, it's a matter of me gaining experience before December)
-- Obsessively observing plant progress

Also, where do I want to be next semester? In a year? In two? What scapes will I be working on? As time progresses I can't stay still-- I've got to expand my memory pool, improve my techniques, and put out aquasketches that will give me plans for future aquascapes in the next semster and the next and the next. Also, what am I doing to make aquascaping better known? I'm working at the same time/thinking about how I can get more people around me, and on Deviantart to know more about it so that it won't be obscure forever.

Burn out? I don't think I have time for that . . . I always feel like there's something else I should be doing, so I better damn do it.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

One thing that can help is a little up-front planning. I've tried to set up my tanks so that I can modify/change them to something completely different if the "bug" strikes me. Take a setup and change it over for african chiclids with no plants and tons of hardscape. Once that looks good, try adding a few plants. Try a 50g aquarium with only 3 plant species. Sometimes they look incredible. Try a low-light, low-maintainence tank. Try a 240g with 5 wpg and tons of stemmies. Hahahah. Try a reef tank. Or, just take them all down and put them away for a few months.

I've got a 180g tank. If it becomes too much for me I can always just throw in a few rocks, some anubias, and a single large fish, etc, etc.


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## Jdinh04 (Oct 7, 2004)

Over the past few months I have totally switched gears towards the low maitenance type setup. No more stem plants period, mainly anubias, moss, ferns and such for my type of setup. I have a feeling that I spend too much time with my tanks, so having a nice looking low maitenance setup will limit my time with my tank and make me feel better and patient about the growth of the tank.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

guaiac_boy said:


> One thing that can help is a little up-front planning. I've tried to set up my tanks so that I can modify/change them to something completely different if the "bug" strikes me. Take a setup and change it over for african chiclids with no plants and tons of hardscape. Once that looks good, try adding a few plants. Try a 50g aquarium with only 3 plant species. Sometimes they look incredible. Try a low-light, low-maintainence tank. Try a 240g with 5 wpg and tons of stemmies. Hahahah. Try a reef tank. Or, just take them all down and put them away for a few months.
> ...


I work in this way too. If I start to feel that a tank is becoming more of a chore than a pleasure, I'll change it to something else, usually an African tank (havn't tried a reef yet).

The difference between the two types is usually enough of a "break" to bring back the pleasure; rather than a plant tank with some fish, you get a fish tank and concentrate on the fish. And African Rift cichlids have got a ton of personality too!

But I usually have at least one plant tank running, sometimes high light high maintenance and other times lower light less maintenance (and less scaping; though I was never very good at that aspect).


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

A high school friend of mine introduced me to the hobby, and every now and then when I feel a slight burnout due to maintenance, just talking to him about tanks is a booster shot to my enthusiasm. Anyone here have a friend they regularly talk to that is in the hobby? Aquaintances that you don't often speak with don't really count/help. 

I talk with the guy every day now, we've been talking about the 5.5 gallon he's setting up at Emory. Fun!


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## imatrout (May 12, 2005)

Yep, we all get the blues sometimes. I have come to accept that aquatic plants adapt to environments on their OWN schedule. We can do things to facilitate an equilibrium environment, but it's the plants that need to adjust on their time table. It takes time and patience. I have a particular tank that is humbly awsome. It has lush green growth without a hint of algae. When people see the tank they are amazed and think it just happened that way. They don't know the months and months of algae fighting, dosage changing, equipment setting torture I went through waiting for that tank to balance out. Just be happy tanks don't work on a geologic timetable. My advice is, "patience cures all"


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## SkinniMini (Mar 26, 2006)

I can't say I'm getting burnout yet, there is always something I would like to do, but I do get lazy & fed up with certain things, like dealing with these yeast formulas & co2 dispersal-I'm getting tired of that hassle. I'm tired of my 15g always looking like crap, tired of the black substrate & am ready to blow some money & time this weekend on a big substrate change & maybe a new stand.
I've accepted the fact that I'll never be an aquascaper like alot of members here, but have grown to like the random chaos of my 20g... What the heck, the fish are all happy & healthy.


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## 247Plants (Mar 23, 2006)

I have not grown enough species in as many different conditions as I can to satisfy my thirst for knowledge in this passion yet....


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## Beasts (Apr 14, 2006)

I try to veer off in another direction entirely. This past weekend I harvested honey from my 3 hives, extracted it from the frames, filtered it and bottled 200 pounds of "liquid gold". It helped me with a little of the frustration I have been feeling while trying to improve my success rate in a new planted aquarium. I have had green water, brown water, deteriorating plants... The brown water has been my worst problem and caused the others. It occured as a result of two pieces of driftwood, which are mounted on slate, floating up and bringing with them clay substrate from our pond. One piece of driftwood stayed down just fine in 18 inches of water but the slate piece just wasn't large enough to keep it down in 30 inches. I replaced the slate with a foot square granite tile. And one of the pieces had a loose piece of wood so I had to remove it, replace the screws and replace it - each time stirring up more clay. The clay settled on the leaves of the plants which I had already planted causing the death of many leaves on my Echinodorus and Cryptocoryne. (The driftwood which floated did not do so until overnight after the first day when I did all of this planting and I noticed the loose piece as I was finishing the planting.) Foolishly I decided to leave the plants in place hoping the cloudiness would clear quickly. And removing clay sediment from leaves is a hopeless task - it is very sticky. The pond sediment works very well for the plants, in my limited experience, but it really needs to be kept under the gravel. All of the fish are doing quite well!
All this in a 400 gallon aquarium (think of a 30" x 120" substrate with a plant every 6 to 10 anches at a depth of 30 inches)! I have done a lot of diatoming, which helped, but only after 2 months am I beginning to see improvement in the plants. Turning to other interests and hobbies has really helped me keep this series of failures in perspective.
I intend to succeed at this hobby but there are days when I have to take a deep breath and just go outside, play with the dogs and mow the lawn.
Bill


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

Let me update a bit here.. I swapped out my limewood stone for a JBJ glass diffuser and now I'm getting way better circulation of CO2 mist.

I did a partial re-scape, and planted *short*.. Like everything at just over an inch tall.. so I have some time to watch it develop, trim things back, etc., and I am taking some advice from an article Amano wrote for some magazine a while back describing his pruning techniques on stem plants.. 

And the Pantanal is already looking better.. I have to say it, Tom Barr was right again. He said it's the CO2, and it appears to be the CO2. No more limewood stones for me. They gum up too quickly and lose their efficacy in making CO2 mist.

Anyway, nothing like a clean tank and a new scape- not to mention happy plants, to remind me why I love this hobby.


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## Avalon (Mar 7, 2005)

Roger that, banderbe. I've suffered tank burnout a couple of times. Came really close again just recently. I learned long ago that a well-manicured aquascape is not for me. I love those tanks, but I'm very satisfied with photos of other people's tanks! Currently, I just grow massive bunches of my favorite plants. A huge group of pearling P. stellata is a pleasing to me. There's nothing special about my scapes, just some basic arrangements with massive groupings. I try to keep a pleasing color scheme, staying away from too many radical colors in one tank. Currently, it's light greens, yellows, pinks, and purples.

I hate the fact I have to trim so often, but since each plant is so big, there's really not too much involved--a 6" diamter stellata takes up a lot of space! I too struggled with green dust, but since letting things go to grow and grow, GDA is a thing of the past, but if I prune the entire tank at once, it tries to make a comeback. So I just prune a couple groups one day, a couple groups a few days later, and so forth. I find this really helps the tank, and keeps you involved with the tank, but not owned by the tank.

But yeah, I think tank burnout hits us all every so often. I've really had to scale down my desires to what works for my lifestyle. Compromise can be tough at times, but there's certainly a deal to be had.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

My wife saw the title to this thread and wanted to comment that she is burned out. She doesn't even touch the aquariums, but she's burned out nonetheless.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> My wife saw the title to this thread and wanted to comment that she is burned out. She doesn't even touch the aquariums, but she's burned out nonetheless.


Has she been talking with mine?


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

My wife used to give me crap about my hobby, but she's pretty much accepted that I'm going to do it no matter what.. and besides once she saw how cool a planted tank can look she liked it a lot more.. Mainly it was just the money because I spent around $500 after all was said and done getting everything I needed just for the planted tank part.. but now that it's just upkeep and maintenance I spend nearly nothing..


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

Until you take a second look at that empty space and wonder if you could fit another tank there, or you see an ad for a deal on a tank you just can't pass up. :decision:

I think in this hobby, few things are as exciting as setting up a new tank (or rescaping an old one). I used to think people who rescaped every few months were crazy, but now I find myself wondering if I should do it!


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

I am planning on a 300 gallon african cichlid tank after we move, but no plants in that tank!

I can't imagine keeping more than a couple small planted tanks.. I used to think I would do a 75 gallon planted tank.. but a high light 29 gallon tank is so much work.. I couldn't imagine a 75 gallon unless it was a low light low maint. tank.. then the algae issues are a bigger problem in that scenario..


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## joephys (May 9, 2006)

guaiac_boy said:


> My wife saw the title to this thread and wanted to comment that she is burned out. She doesn't even touch the aquariums, but she's burned out nonetheless.


LOL, the easiest way to irritate my wife is to say that I want another tank.

I tend to get burnt out on things so quickly, so I knew from the get go the high light fast growth route was not for me. I only spend about 1-2 hours a week working on my tank. I was getting burnt out this summer, but now that its getting cloudy and wet out side, I am feeling almost like I did when I first got started about a year ago.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Take a break from plants - go reef!


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