AlexC Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I am six weeks into this hobby and will openly admit that I have barely scratched the surface of what is known about saltwater aquariums and how to keep a successful reef. After reading through the forum, I have decided the best way to figure out what to do is to find out where others messed up when they were where I am now. Please share any of your mistakes and how you fixed them. Thanks Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I lost my tank when I went to graduate school. Solution? Don't go to graduate school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 My biggest mistakes were using a hydrometer for salinity and listening to people for advice without checking what their tanks looked like first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 The numbers don't lie. If the parameters aren't right, things won't go well. Everything good in this hobby takes a lot of time. Only bad things happen fast. Quarantine your fish. Dip your corals. Buy high quality hardware. Especially the tank itself. Almost everything can be replaced but if the tank fails it's a major problem. Install a dedicated circuit with GFCI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Thinking that I could get away with testing alkalinity once a week in my little 32 gallon aquarium was a huge mistake. Small aquariums are very difficult to maintain balance in and i need to react almost daily. Other parameters I can get by with checking once a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Don't trust hydrometers. I actually had 2 faulty ones at the same time. Good luck making any sense of that mess. In addition to the actual aquarium, don't buy cheap stands. Poor finishing and MDF is not a good combination. Had a stand that almost exploded from the inside out due to absorbing moisture from sump evaporation and a little skimmer spray. Stock lighter than you think you should. Most of our maintenance and even a lot of our equipment is for dealing with trying to export excess nutrients that a closed system cannot process on its own. You're one step ahead of the game by not allowing those nutrients in the tank to begin with. Plan everything slowly and deliberately, and then actually do those things even slower. Cheaper to buy what you are actually going to want long term than buying something and changing your mind on it later. Also, changing things quickly and buying things impulsively just leads to endless problems in my experience. Get a cheap multimeter and test your tank for shorted equipment every month or two. SInce there shouldn't be anything grounded inside a tank, you can fully short equipment into the water and everything still operates like normal. When the tank is finally grounded, usually by someone sticking their hand in it, bad things can happen even with GFI outlets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I started with a 29g biocube and what I didn't realize was that even though water in the display area was staying level the water in the filter area was actually dropping due to evaporation and my salinity spiked and I lost a bunch of corals. Daily top offs are a must in smaller tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 If you are doing hand top offs make a mark on an unobtrusive part of the tank and fill up to the mark, if you try to just eye ball it you can end up slowly moving the level one way or the other which can lead to salinity problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Skipping the resources and not reading and researching about the hobby. Depending too much on what others think and not taking into consideration that much of what we hear are no more than opinions based on too small of an experience level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jop Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 I'm doing a "tank restart" I've lost all past fish to disease/parasites and now I only have 1 left. That fish will be housed somewhere else and the tank will be starved for 9 weeks. Next tank in going to start with dry rock and start with RO/DI and only going to put quarantined fish in my tank Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted October 30, 2015 Share Posted October 30, 2015 Research everything. Then research it again. All my original troubles were due to lack of research. The answers are out there. For me I've learned: RO/DI is an absolute must don't dose anything unless you have a way to measure it's initial level and subsequent effect There are a ton of beautiful fish, so buy ones that are useful not just pretty. I have a 72g bow front mixed reef so I realistically can't stock more than about small fish and that's pushing it. Therefore I tried to make some of the fish I bought useful like a six-line wrasse for eating pests, a bristle-tooth tang (rated for my tank size) to graze on algae, convict blenny for turning the substrate over under the rock, starry blenny to graze. Then i bought a pair of clowns and a mandarin for eye-candy. That's just me though. Fish choice is definitely a personal decision. regular water changes. If you let it go too long between changes you're going to get in the habit of doing that and then the troubles will start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuber54 Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 I agree with everyone on here- I will also second their suggestions- hydrometer is key- get a good one- a cheap one will not work- they are worth the investment - I found this out by testing both cheap and one that was higher end. Also research- research- keep an eye on ur coral- most of the time they will tell u something is wrong. Some things aren't worth skimping out on. And lastly be patient- patient is key in this hobby which is hard to do Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 I would suggest that instead of a hydrometer, get a refractometer and be done. They aren't that expensive: http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B003H7ILCW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuber54 Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 I need to retract my dumb post - thanks Dan- I meant to say refractometer is key! Versus hydrometer Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Greef Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I would suggest that instead of a hydrometer, get a refractometer and be done. They aren't that expensive: http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B003H7ILCW Dan, I'm in the market for a refractometer and there are so many options out there to compare (and God knows every product has good and horrible reviews). Do you just calibrate this specific one before you first used it, or do you have to do it every time with a solution? All the Amazon reviews talk about using this to test levels of sugar in beer, fruit, etc lol, I just want a simple, easy, and consistent method of testing salinity. Right now I still use my hydrometer and check the levels with my LFS monthly to ensure accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 In my opinion you just need to calibrate it once at first then perhaps just check once in a while. I bought a little bottle of calibration fluid so I could calibrate mine when I want. (http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0057IN2SW) Supposedly they can become uncalibrated after a while, but I had a refractometer that sat in it's box from 2004 until 2015 without being used, and when I tested it, it was dead on. That being said, I still check the calibration on mine occasionally just to be safe, plus I have 2 refractometers so I check them against each other occasionally. Just treat it nicely, keep it in a box, don't drop it, clean before and after each use, and I would suspect it will hold it's calibration for quite a while. Just get the cheapest one that comes with a box, and has auto-temp compensation. This the exact model I have: http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00EUWJCZI Cheap and works just fine. The only thing I've found that really doesn't keep it's calibration for crap is the conductivity probe on my Apex. It's hyper sensitive and the tiniest of air bubbles throws it off entirely. I stopped worrying about calibrating it and just use it to see if the tank is consistent or not which would suggest if the ATO died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I like things with digital readouts because I'm slow and can't see well anymore. [emoji3] http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/milwaukee-digital-seawater-refractometer.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emu1sive Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I probably have a bajillion things I could list here but currently my largest frustration is not flying my live rock together when I started then being indecisive and not gluing down corals. UGH. Ps: any favorite glue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I probably have a bajillion things I could list here but currently my largest frustration is not flying my live rock together when I started then being indecisive and not gluing down corals. UGH. Ps: any favorite glue? My favorite glue is the BSI IC-Gel: http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Smith-Insta-Cure-Ic-Gel-7oz/dp/B0024LL7MI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Any superglue gel works - especially if you can mount the frag out of water. BRS has some nice stuff for cheap. I've learned that buying the really big bottles is bad because the nozzle will clog before you can use the entire thing. Eoxy is better when mounting under water, and you can do an epoxy/superglue gel sandwich if you have to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emu1sive Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Epoxy suggestions? This may be silly and there's hundreds of reviews out there but I want the Dan/ARC suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I just use these: http://amzn.com/B001JSXBY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 Second Jolt on the IC gel. It's the only thing I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I use the BRS super glue, cheap and I can usually get through the whole bottle before it starts clogging too much. I use the superglue/2-part epoxy sandwich as well... superglue... epoxy... then superglue and then smash it to the rock and hold for 10-15 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 Learn from others experience, but not everything can be taken at face value because there are a lot of other factors that lead up to what happens. Everyone thinks they're an expert, but learn from someone whose tank you enjoy. I've been led astray many times by people who talk a big talk and have little success in the hobby. It's easier and cheaper to buy equipment that you can grow with instead of upgrading it later. Crabs are expensive, have little to no benefit, and will destroy something sooner or later. Fish stores want the business more than your friendship. It hurts more when you think of them as friends. Don't run CO2 without a controller. It's a bad idea! Many people get burned out of the hobby while fighting green hair algae, dinos and cyanobacteria. If you have cyanobacteria, then you have a nutrient problem. If you didn't have a nutrient problem, then what is the cyano eating? I've made the mistake of treating the cyano and not the problem. No matter how you slice it, it leads back to husbandry practices. Don't buy anything that you haven't researched. Impulse buys rarely end well in this hobby. Don't be that guy that kills Mandarin after Mandarin. The LFS doesn't care, but other people notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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