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

[Gumbies R Us]

I read a lot of articles and post on here before starting my tank, and I still feel like I didn't do enough when I started, haha

 

[ReefShaQ]

When I started in the hobby 21 years ago I knew absolutely NOTHING about the hobby...the only research I did was to find a good saltwater fish store...So I looked in the phone book and lucky enough I found an awesome shop, and learned hands on from the 2 owners of the store. Later I became their store manager...Also, I have read a ton of books along the way....A lot of learning came from trial and error and help from my LFS guys...

 

[Tangdora]

Jump into when I was like 15 with 0 experience. Gone are the days where you could afford to loose your 29.95 petco yellow tang and just go get another. Today probably requires a bit more learning but at least there much more video to watch these day.

 

[DIYreefer]

Very little/none. I went with what the people at my LFS told me. 20 years later and I still don't completely know what I'm doing, lol.

Fwiw, I stopped shopping at that LFS well over a decade ago. They know even less than I do!

 

[LongWayHome]

Kind of hyper fixated about a month researching how to set up and maintain a small tank. Getting the cycle to even start had been the biggest challenge so far.

 

[Jungle Blue]

Never enough. Spent hourrrsss every day at work and home on R2R, google, GPT, youtube before and while piecing together equipment.
Many ways to do things, just what fits for you and what would give you the most enjoyment at the end of the day. Can't ever 100% replicate your mentor's tank, every rock is already different.
Noticed that people also have tanks for different reasons too. Some just wanna showcase corals, some a complete reef, & some mad scientists trying out different things that comes intuitive to them.
Even when I thought I was getting a grasp on something, something shows up to show that there's way more learning to be done. I guess that's what makes it challenging and fun at the same time.

 

[Tamberav]

Tons..

But I also feverishly research a $5 purchase in Amazon…

I think it is a me problem.

 

[MaDa Aquariums]

I did a master in marine biology, but still i try to soak up everything. there is just to much to learn, if you understand reef ecology, nutrientcycles and so on still all the equipment and technical things are new, then you start having a clue and they launch new products haha
soooo still studying
so on the other hand once one has to start and just learn while and by doing