3 biggest mistakes you've made in this hobby

[eggplantparrot]

mounting my dosing bottles too high trusting the peristaltic pump to not leak. leaked an entire bottle of Calcium

mounting an in-stand LED light trusting sticky back Velcro to hold it. Velcro sticky back gave way, LED sitting in sump with half dissolved AAA batteries.

^^^ happened on the same day :mad:;Vomit

 

[FishDoc]

Easy.

1) Starting to keep reef tanks.
2) Returning to keeping reef tanks
3) Letting my SO in on the cost of keeping reef tanks...

Maybe it’s just the last one....

 

[TVV]

mounting my dosing bottles too high trusting the peristaltic pump to not leak. leaked an entire bottle of Calcium

mounting an in-stand LED light trusting sticky back Velcro to hold it. Velcro sticky back gave way, LED sitting in sump with half dissolved AAA batteries.

^^^ happened on the same day :mad:;Vomit

Why doesnt velcro work on tank led lighting? I had the same issue. I stuck my kessil to the back glass of my refugium chamber. Got tired of picking it up off floor. Guessing heat melted glue on velcro tabs. Live and learn.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

1. starting with the wrong tank (too small)
2. letting my wife overstock the tank (fish only tank)
3. letting my wife talk me into buying bigger tanks (started with 55, moved to 75 and now have a 150 i am moving into)

 

[Hitman]

You didn’t want one super-long custom tank?!?!

Of course I did but I had no way to get it in the house. Lol

 

[eggplantparrot]

Why doesnt velcro work on tank led lighting? I had the same issue. I stuck my kessil to the back glass of my refugium chamber. Got tired of picking it up off floor. Guessing heat melted glue on velcro tabs. Live and learn.

mine was a small battery powered LED that I stuck to the inside of my stand. I guess the surface of the stand doesn't lend well to tape sticking to it.

 

[brandon429]

I bought a no name brand heater online for my pico years ago and it stopped working in January but I didn’t know. Come feb and my system is bleaching/ 68 degrees for six weeks continual but I didn’t test temps to know during the time, thought the lfs of selling me crappy water but it was my fault


Bought a tetra preset, feed and water changes brought it back. I’m also possibly guilty of hating on kessil during the event 1. Used no name heater 2 not testing temp regularly 3 assumed bad water was causing it wo testing

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1) Not waiting and getting the exact tank I wanted the first time

2) Buying cheaper gear/powerheads etc the first time

3) Putting water in my tank

I'm also guilty on buying the cheaper gear haha

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1: buying things with the thought oh I’ll just upgrade later not realizing that I’ve just spent twice the money needed vs just waiting a week or so to get what I needed.
2: It took me 10 of my 25 years in this hobby to slow down. Nothing good in this hobby happens fast. Hence the above picture is my 240 and 600 build that has been in the works for 7 months.
3: listen and hear what people are telling you, but still research on your own. There’s thousands of ways to cook the perfect steak but no one does it the same, so why not with your tank.

Thank you for sharing! I love the steak quote in #3! Lovely tank btw!

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1. Not calibrating my refractometer
2. Failling to properly treat disease
3. Spending money too quickly

I've learned in this hobby you burn 20 dollar bills really fast

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1. Not quarantining
2. Not independently researching information I was given
3. Not stocking up on meds BEFORE an issue struck

Not gonna lie I've probably had 4 tank crashes due to not stocking on meds

 

[AZMSGT]

1. Buying stupid expensive live stock just to have them get ick and other stuff because I didn’t QT.
2. Convincing myself I can do this right and only buy once.. $$$
3. Running a marine system while I was on active duty in the military. Nothing like getting deployed short notice and having to abandon your entire tank full of livestock. Oh and I would have had a friend watch it, but they all were deploying too. YIKES.. took all my live stock to the fishstore and donated them.

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1. moving faster than I should. (still have this problem)
2. not dipping my corals
3. not buying from reputable sources because they were cheap.(cheap is relative of course when you lose unhealthy animals)

I've started becoming really picky on the fish I buy, I've noticed cheap ones tend to come from countries where cyanide fishing is still a source for catching aquarium fish

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1 not quarantining
2 Buying new equipment before there is a lot of info out
3 DAMSELS
Love my tank and setup all basically running where I want.

Lovely tank!

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1) asking a LFS person about SW Reefing....$20,000 later, taaahdaaah.

2) telling my spouse I started reefing and quit freshwater

3) telling my spouse I spent $100 on my first single piece of LR




.

That's a rough one.. Yikes!

 

[Fin-up reefing]

Not enough water changes
Not dipping corals like I should
Not doing water tests or rarely

BUT. . . . . . . . . Not bad for 5 weeks:

LOVE the tank man!

 

[Fin-up reefing]

* FOMO (fear of missing out) - buying something that was on sale or at the time perceived as a once in a life time opportunity - coral/frag/fish. Then the same or better appears next week.

* Same as above - bought a large Acrylic Tank (rare in Aus) shipped from other side of the country at $500+ only to find it was 'stained' yellow and couldn't be buffed out.

* Letting GHA grab hold and grow which required a complete tank rebuild to solve after months of fighting

Did the same thing with a Xlarge powder blue tang... Got it for $50, he was in QT when I bought him and next thing you know my tank crashed

 

[Fin-up reefing]

lack of patience
lack of independent research
not quarantining

That's an amazing tank

 

[Fin-up reefing]

Easy.

1) Starting to keep reef tanks.
2) Returning to keeping reef tanks
3) Letting my SO in on the cost of keeping reef tanks...

Maybe it’s just the last one....

Best comment I've seen yet haha

 

[Fin-up reefing]

1. Buying stupid expensive live stock just to have them get ick and other stuff because I didn’t QT.
2. Convincing myself I can do this right and only buy once.. $$$
3. Running a marine system while I was on active duty in the military. Nothing like getting deployed short notice and having to abandon your entire tank full of livestock. Oh and I would have had a friend watch it, but they all were deploying too. YIKES.. took all my live stock to the fishstore and donated them.

That's rough.. Well first, thank you for your service, and second.. I am so guilty of buying stupidly expensive stuff and having it die too.. One time I bought 3 blue hippo tangs as a trio and didn't QT them... Biggest mistake ever