If you could only give 3 tips to someone wanting to get into the hobby, what would they be?

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

If someone you knew was wanting to get into the hobby, but you could only give them 3 tips, what would they be?

Mine would be:
- Have patience and take things very slowly
- You have to form habits and become dedicated (feeding fish, doing water changes, ETC)
- Work hard in the beginning to do things correctly, so you don't have problems down the road.

I am interested to hear what your tips would be.

 

[liddojunior]

Algae is good, you just need to manage it. There will always be algae.

ATO is essential.

Get the BRD 5 stage RODI system. It’s just painful to have to go to lfs every weekend for RO water. It’s worth the cost.

 

[Dbichler]

Buy quality live rock
Don’t buy any gimmicks in a bottle
Don’t overstock

 

[Reefer Matt]

Make some reefing friends, slow and steady wins the race, keep it simple.

 

[MattPLaw]

1) be patient and only change one thing at a time until things stabilize

2) do your research before you buy livestock especially fish, as they can have strict care needs.

3) what ever you think the cost will be, triple it.

Bonus, have fun!

 

[Rewd]

Buy quality live rock
Don’t buy any gimmicks in a bottle
Don’t overstock

Boom. Long term reefer here and couldn't agree with this more. In fact I'll steal this and use it for myself next time I run in to a new hobbyist.

I might replace "don't overstock" with "avoid dopey youtube influencers who shill expensive plastic" lol

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

1) be patient and only change one thing at a time until things stabilize

2) do your research before you buy livestock especially fish, as they can have strict care needs.

3) what ever you think the cost will be, triple it.

Bonus, have fun!

I like that point about doing your research before buying livestock. Whenever I am at my LFS there is always that person saying, "Oooh, I want that! And ooh, this is really pretty. I want that too!"

 

[crazyfishmom]

1. Don’t panic. When you panic you make changes that might make things worse.

2. The uglies are temporary.

3. Water changes don’t solve everything but they take care of a lot of issues.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Start out with a medium sized, simple low tech system and master the fundamentals of reef keeping. You do not need expensive equipment to do this.

Keep the easy corals commonly derided as weeds by the more experienced. You’ll learn a lot about aquascaping, placement and the aesthetics of a reef tank.

Take the time to understand and appreciate systems that don’t fit into the current meta of reefkeeping. The macro algae forum has some excellent contributors who reef outside of the herd.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Go slow
Don't overcomplicate things
have fun

 

[Charles Zinn]

Slow and steady wins the race. Don't add fish or corals to fast. The diversification of your clean up crew(star fish, snails, copepods ampypods balances your tank. level water quality( ICP, trace elements)

 

[braaap]

Don’t buy the name. Buy what your eye likes.

API test kits are fine for a hobbyist for the basics.

Nothing good happens fast.

 

[Sdbuehler1]

1) research, research, research before buying any equipment or livestock
2) quarantine all fish in a separate tank before adding to your main tank
3) plan for failures with redundancy and spare equipment as failures will definitely happen.

 

[Formulator]

1) Do thorough research before buying anything.

2) Don’t start with a nano. If at all possible start with 80g minimum tank size. Hopefully you have done advice #1 and understand that bigger is easier than smaller since that concept is not intuitive to a newbie.

3) Don’t be afraid to think for yourself and DIY. No need to spend $1000’s on an all-in-one aquarium if you can glue PVC together and use a drill.

 

[-XENOMORPH-]

1. Please read. And then read some more. Do some research.
2. K.i.s.s.
3. Make your own saltwater. Please!
And never give up.

 

[DropBear Actual]

1. Take it slow. Starting the tank before you're ready to ‘reef’ is fine as it’ll let you slowly cycle, let it get through the uglies, and stabilize. Things get so much smoother on the other side.

2. Plan, plan, plan your tank. Know what equipment you’ll be using, know what livestock you’ll be adding (I’m a fan of ‘every fish needs a job’).

3. Reefing can be as expensive or cheap as you like. I have run a successful reef on nothing but a canister filter, and a tank on a full sump setup. You don’t have to spend a fortune, but the more equipment you have (skimmers, ATO, multiple wave makers, filter roller mats, refugiums) the easier and/or fewer man hours are required to maintain equilibrium.

4. Don’t chase numbers. Some tanks settle on and like high phosphates (my current one sits at 0.9) without any algae issues. Some like high nitrates and low alkalinity (mine has settled on 6.7 dKH from using natural seawater). Just find what works and keep it stable!

 

[Nick Steele]

I have 3 tips!!!


1) Go big or stay out! I started with a 20G and quickly wished I would have went 100G for maybe double to cost.

2) Everything isn’t set in stone! I had corals in my tank within 2 weeks any many lived and thrived for years. There’s 1000 ways to skin a cat so what’s online isn’t always the only way to do it!

3) Have a plan! Try to figure out if you want corals (what and where is also important for aquascape planning). Plan fish too. Everything needs to be thought out! Read everything you can find and put it all together for your own success!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

1. Be skeptical of manufacturer claims.

2. Be skeptical of random online videos that do not allow dissenting discussion.

3. What works in one scenario does not mean it will work in different scenarios.

 

[Rappa]

1) Make sure you have your own RODI system.

2) Quarantine your fish no matter what! I learned this lesson the hard way. After breaking down all my rockwork to catch all my fish, and a 90 day fallow (fishless) tank to kill all the Ich, I would never put a fish into my tank without QT'ing in Coppersafe.

3) Whatever you decide for your budget, it will most likely be triple what you are expecting.

 

[Naso110]

1.Enjoy the journey.
2.Read , read , read. (From reputable sources not opinions)
3. Ask people about mistakes not just success. You can learn more from mistakes.