How much research did you ACTUALLY do before staring this hobby?

[timmyrules]

Alrighty guys! How much research did you ACTUALLY do before starting up a tank?!

BE HONEST!


I’ll start! I’m definitely a learn-as-I-go kinda person! So, um….i….well….things have only gone wrong a few times! :grinning-face-with-sweat:

 

[timmyrules]

I just realized I misspelled starting in the title. :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing: :face-with-hand-over-mouth: my bad.

 

[Tinnerito]

Alrighty guys! How much research did you ACTUALLY do before starting up a tank?!

BE HONEST!


I’ll start! I’m definitely a learn-as-I-go kinda person! So, um….i….well….things have only gone wrong a few times! :grinning-face-with-sweat:

I'm also learning as I go, but I've been reading books and guides on saltwater aquariums since the 6th grade, and just last year I finally got the courage to get started!

 

[I never finish anythi]

Honestly, I done a few weeks reading up and then jumped straight in to it . I do read quite a lot tho . I've had my tank going on 3 years and I'd say I read daily and watch videos.

 

[corosato]

When I started my first saltwater tank 20 years ago? none.. just bought a tank and some salt and some rock and went with it. when I jumped back in? A few weeks of watching a lot of "beginner" YouTube videos as last time I wasn't doing corals. plus SO much had changed.

 

[Nano_Man]

Reading gives you other peoples knowledge that would take you years to learn your self. But you can not beat hands on practical experience. What works for your tank every tank runs different.

 

[Poulpo]

I started dreaming of my first saltwater tank during the building of my house... witch took more than 18 month. Enough time to read multiple times Sprung/Delbeek bibliography. I was so obsessed with it I couldn't sleep when it was finally the time to start it. It helped me a lot down the road...

 

[Aaron Stone]

I started dreaming about a reef tank back in 2000 when I was a freshman in college. Par for course I didn't have two cents to rub together. So dreaming and reading about them and lurking on Reef Central was all I did until I finished up my second bachelors degree and got a big boy job about 9 years later.

I thought I knew EVERYTHING! I had bean learning for nearly 10 years! Pretty much botched everything for the first year. Like they say, theory is great, but until you put it to practice it doesn't mean much.

 

[landlubber]

35 years of freshwater tanks before getting my first saltwater system together. I can confidently report that the skills i learned in that time were essentially useless for SW lol

 

[Blue Collar Reefer]

I was given a 14g biocube and book, must’ve been close to 20yrs ago.
Moved out a couple years after that and didn’t have another tank for 10yrs or so and researched it to death. Too much research tbh after another break I’m back again researching to death

 

[FMF0331]

Good gosh, my first tank was 55 gallons, I purchased at Petland Discounts.
I also bought the Biolife filter and a puffer. I had absolutely no clue what I was doing.
Took the plunge and never looked back.
I would buy FAMA magazine whenever I could to get some read on saltwater.

Now I'm a full time reef addict.

 

[CHSUB]

Had a coupon for a free goldfish, grandmother ended up buying me a 10 gallon tank. 2 years later worked at the LFS…so zero research, but was 10…haha!

 

[KQuillan]

I was the same way, 'what could have changed in 20 years'. LOL.

 

[19Mateo83]

This isn’t my first rodeo. I had researched and had a good understanding about reef keeping back in 2009. When I got out the first time I always said I would be back. Fast forward to 2021 I started to get the itch again and did some research to refresh what I already knew and had learned before. I’m still amazed at how this hobby has evolved.

 

[stE26wy14]

a lot, but research doesnt really prepare you for the expeierances to come, I really researched on what you will need, how to do it, what to buy, that type of stuff
i learned about hitchhikers when i made an account here, the day i bought my tank. I learned about how to feed coral, dosing(for a nano) and how to deal with hitchhikers, mainstream research doesnt teach u that, which, is kinda annoying tbh
and i researched for a long time, since ive always wanted a reef tank

 

[reefer37160]

As with all my hobbies, I research the basics, equipment and husbandry of what I wanted. The hard part, the part you have to learn for yourself is how to implement what you learned in books or videos to your tank. As stated before no system is the same, so what works for joe down the street may not be what works for you. I have had aquariums my whole life, from basic community tanks with fake decor, to 120g high tech planted aquariums and 1500g goldfish/koi pond. Nothing prepared me for this, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

[vlangel]

I started back in the late 90s while working at a lfs. I kind of jumped in from converting my FW tank to salt and just asked my boss any questions that I had. He was very knowledgeable so it worked out. I also had access to the books we sold so that helped and in general working at the store for 12 years didn't hurt either so I guess I was better equipped than a lot of folks.

 

[davidm777]

I am still new. I researched for about 6 months. Salinity, flow, lighting, parameters, here cryptic zones, etc... yet, the day I got the first corals I felt so lost .

 

[timmyrules]

35 years of freshwater tanks before getting my first saltwater system together. I can confidently report that the skills i learned in that time were essentially useless for SW lol

Yeah, I also kept fw for years before getting sw…and it was a total reset back to square one!

 

[timmyrules]

I am still new. I researched for about 6 months. Salinity, flow, lighting, parameters, here cryptic zones, etc... yet, the day I got the first corals I felt so lost .

I get that! I remember a while back when I got my first nem…I “researched” everything…then I got it, and I didn’t know what to do. Lol