Biggest Mistake/Regret In The Hobby

[jayala12]

Maybe ill think about upgrading once I get a lot of corals.

I just change settings on my phone anywhere I'm at ... it is awesome and worth it

 

[MrPorter80]

A mistake I've repeated often, settling.

I think in the initial phases of the begining we all made the bonehead mistakes of rushing, not quarantining enough. The setbacks deter and second guessing comes n goes.

But I think the biggest one has always been settling. Equipment wise or even livestock. You can only put so much in a tank and you end up adapting to your initial impulse buys. Sometimes with the urge to rush the build, I think I've always justified it by cost, but still in the long run I didn't get what I wanted and ended up spending the money on it later.

Equipment wise it becomes a pain for reconfiguring to adapt to the new equipment.

Livestock wise should of stacked for the fox flame instead of $10.00 frag at the lfs.

 

[savetheocean]

I just change settings on my phone anywhere I'm at ... it is awesome and worth it

If im going to get anything like that, I am getting it all at once. It will control the lights, the powerheads, and there will be an underwater camera in the tank. haha

 

[OREGONIC]

I just dont get the apex and controllers, I never saw the point to it. Why cant you just walk up to the tank and push the button or just un plug it? Whats different?

I dont have everything on my tank hooked up through the apex, mostly use it to monitor my tank when im not at home. I run my dosing pumps on it and it makes it so easy to make small changes as needed to stabilize. It sends me alerts if there is an issue. I was in the same boat as you not seeing the big hype of having one but found a good deal on one locally used so i picked it up and all i can say is wow. I will be upgrading to the new apex when the trident comes out and will add the Neptune dos at the same time. A controller truly makes things more reliable and helps keep tank stable. I do understand where you are coming from tho.

 

[savetheocean]

I dont have everything on my tank hooked up through the apex, mostly use it to monitor my tank when im not at home. I run my dosing pumps on it and it makes it so easy to make small changes as needed to stabilize. It sends me alerts if there is an issue. I was in the same boat as you not seeing the big hype of having one but found a good deal on one locally used so i picked it up and all i can say is wow. I will be upgrading to the new apex when the trident comes out and will add the Neptune dos at the same time. A controller truly makes things more reliable and helps keep tank stable. I do understand where you are coming from tho.

Thanks

 

[Grey Guy]

My biggest regret, is spending way too much money on stuff I quit using, or that broke by itself or I ruined with tank water.

 

[savetheocean]

My biggest regret, is spending way too much money on stuff I quit using, or that broke by itself or I ruined with tank water.

What was the most expensive thing that broke

 

[ThunderGoose]

+1 on not starting with live rock. My first tank I did dry because I was afraid of bad hitchhikers. My second tank I used live rock from TBS and it's been so much better! Even though I did get a mantis shrimp that I had to find a home for.

 

[savetheocean]

+1 on not starting with live rock. My first tank I did dry because I was afraid of bad hitchhikers. My second tank I used live rock from TBS and it's been so much better! Even though I did get a mantis shrimp that I had to find a home for.

Did you get any bad pests?

 

[Tennsquire]

It took me a while to learn the " buy good equipment the first time" lesson. I've bought a lot of crappy skimmers when I started out, as well as some other stuff.

 

[savetheocean]

It took me a while to learn the " buy good equipment the first time" lesson. I've bought a lot of crappy skimmers when I started out, as well as some other stuff.

A lot of people did that

 

[Sterlingg]

One of my greatest regrets was not dipping all of my corals prior to adding them to my tank... as a result I gained a bunch of unwanted noticeable parasites that latched onto other corals. lesson learned .. always dip all of your purchases... even from reputable places!!!

 

[Grey Guy]

What was the most expensive thing that broke

2 Ecotech Radion Xr30w G3 Pro light fixture broke loose from falling stand and dove into the tank, never to be seen working again.

 

[jd371]

My biggest regret is not drilling my tank. After spending some good $ on a tank and equipment I was reluctant to drill the tank in fear of breaking it so I opted for a HOB overflow. Although there is nothing wrong with the HOB and never had any issues in the 2 years it's been set up, aesthetically drilled tanks look better. Some mistakes I've made are impulse buys without research.

 

[ThunderGoose]

Did you get any bad pests?

Nothing I would consider bad. I got a few mitrax crabs and the mantis shrimp. Fortunately it's a nano tank so the mantis "removed" the mithrax crabs and it wasn't hard to remove the mantis. If I did it in a big tank I'd probably set up a quarantine tub or tubs and observe to make sure I could get problems out before setting up the tank.

I also got decorator crabs, a pistol shrimp, porcelain crabs, urchins, tunicates, sponges and lots and lots of pods. Lots of good hitchhikers.

 

[jayala12]

I love mini brittle stars that come in on live rock . Got some of those and they r pretty cool

 

[ramona]

Great thread for the complete novice; a lot to learn; open the eyes and listen carefully.

 

[rich nyc]

Mine was listening to everything my lfs would say. I would say get better advise on youtube or here. Now when I have a problem come here.

 

[Denisk]

I would say my biggest mistake in the hobby is when I initially started many years ago and didn't just take my time. I see so many fail nowadays because they wanted a full blown reef with new rock within 2 months.

Now I see all the ups and downs as just part of the hobby. I'd be bored if there was never any mistakes and that the tank would just blossom without me touching it. Hence why I'm addicted to sps, they don't grow without good planning and taking things slow.

Nothing happens over night!

 

[HB AL]

Buying this beautiful queen trigger for my tank around 25 years ago. All was good for a couple days then basically after a few days I go to work at 5 am come home around 5 and look in the tank and he killed everybody, 3 groupers, 1 lion fish and 5 other triggers! I wasn't told by the lfs about his aggression and it wasn't like there was internet back then to research fish or ask on forums for advice. At that point I guess I went postal, I grabbed a fish hook and tied it on some steel leader put a piece of shrimp on it, caught him instantly, took him in the backyard hit him in the head with a hammer and buried him in the back yard. I did call the lfs before I did this and they didn't want him back and was honest about him when I called a few other lfs's in the area and none of them wanted him, that's when I went "postal"