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Reefing is a joyful obsession; no two true reefers can argue about that. However, it’s important to keep a lid on the time commitment we allow for reefing, so that it doesn’t affect our quality of life. Below are five ideas that will help you keep your balance and remain in control.

1) Don’t choose reefing over work. Your work is one of the most important determinants of your quality of life and is what allows you the freedom to pursue all your other interests, including reefing. It’s true that work can be painful and soul-sucking at times, but this no excuse to not do your very best.

Plan how much time you are going to allocate to your reefing hobby on a daily basis and stick to it. This way, reefing will help you take your mind off work and you can become completely engrossed in reefing during the time you allocate for it, without feeling any guilt.

2) Get your family into reefing. This one should be obvious. Getting your partner, kids, or even parents interested in reefing is a sure way to make the hobby way more rewarding for you on a personal level. This way, time you spend reefing will also often be time you spend with your family, turning your hobby into a family bonding exercise and making the best use of that all-too-scarce resource: time!

3) Pursue other hobbies. Do you like “Hot Fudge Brownie Sunday”? Yeah well, who doesn’t! But what would happen if you ate one after every meal? Besides putting on weight and being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, it’s very likely you will also become repulsed by this dessert after a while. The same thing can happen with reefing, which is why it’s always a good idea to have a healthy portfolio of other hobbies to pursue. Intense obsession can lead to sudden loss of interest, which is a process most of us have experienced in different domains in the past. By some what diversifying your interests, you will be able to prevent that from happening to your reefing hobby.

4) Get tickets for at least one industry event every year. Meeting fellow hobbyists can also make reefing more rewarding by adding a social element to it, similar to the way getting your family involved enhances the hobby. Reserving a day or two in your yearly calendar for industry events such as @ReefAPalooza or @MACNA is totally feasible as long as you plan it well in advance and ensure it’s not being done at the expense of anything else. Plus, it’s a great way to get a crash course on recent industry trends, meet like-minded reefers, and just go into total indulgence mode for a brief period.

5) Automate your water-testing. Manually testing your tank’s water can be time-consuming, especially if you want to be thorough about it. You can probably get away with just testing alkalinity, nitrates, and phosphates initially, but be prepared for trouble down the road if you don’t keep the other parameters within range as well. Automatic water-testing will save you lots of time and even tons of money in the long-term by ensuring your Home-wrecker signature Tenuis Acropora survives and thrive in your tank!

Reefbot, our award-winning automatic water-testing device, can test up to seven parameters (more than any other testing device), and send you all the results remotely via our mobile app. Just make sure you only look at it in your work break .