Let's give some noob advice!

[florida reef]

Don't think that general good practices don't apply to you, or somehow things will work out if you cut corners. haha

 

[Rockadile]

best advice i can give is to find a local reef club. you will get good advice and local folk to help you when you run into trouble.

 

[Hyprviperx]

if you have/want large slow growing corals id suggest frag banking (giving a few frags to a few reefers locally), that way if your tank crashes for some god forsaken reason you can get the strains back that you lost. sometimes they can be hard to come by especially when its a rare coral to begin with.

 

[firefightered]

I'm kinda new myself but here is what I have run into... Everything that was previously posted is true!!!!! One thing that was not mentioned is.... DO NOT let anyone near your tank with pestdicides, or even air fresheners!!!! It WILL destroy your tank for a long time if the stuff gets in your live rock!!!!

 

[RadReef]

+1. I wipe my glass ALL the time with windex. No problems ever.

I also spray a paper towel with it in a different room first, and not directly onto the glass.

I have read that you should use an ammonia free cleaner, windex makes one, to clean the outside of your class because of overspray landing in your water and raises your ammonia level. But, I think the few times that you do clean your glass this is not really a problem plus if you have a hood, not a rimless, this is probably not an issue at all.

 

[RadReef]

Temperature and water acclimate everything new, corals, fish, intervertebrates (you can use a drip method for water). It's also better to add new stuff with the lights off, this can be especially important with fish as it makes the transition better. For fish you can even introduce the fish in a hang-in plastic container before moving them into the full tank.

 

[jabberkaycee]

A lot has already been offered up but I suggest keeping a backup heater and pump. If they fail, it will be late on a Sunday afternoon when the LFS is closed. Also, find some locals in the hobby. Nothing beats having someone local that you can swap frags with and can help you out in a pinch.

 

[btkrausen]

I have read that you should use an ammonia free cleaner, windex makes one, to clean the outside of your class because of overspray landing in your water and raises your ammonia level. But, I think the few times that you do clean your glass this is not really a problem plus if you have a hood, not a rimless, this is probably not an issue at all.

Somebody on RC posted one time that you shouldn't use ammonia Windex because the Windex would soak through the glass and get into the tank. The response was epic, something to the effect that if the Windex can soak in, then the water would leak out the same way.

 

[tangboy]

Always, always, always, always ignore the wife when buying fish, coral, supplies, giant tanks, or using power tools inside

 

[Hyprviperx]

if you are lucky enough to have an electrician as a friend have them swap out your regular sockets with GFCI sockets. that way if there is a problem then it wont effect the rest of the houses circuitry.

Another tip is to put drip loops in all your cords coming off the tank, that way the water running down the cord will stop there and not travel to the plug.

 

[skinz78]

Always, always, always, always ignore the wife when buying fish, coral, supplies, giant tanks, or using power tools inside

ROTFLMAO!!! I love this advice!

if you are lucky enough to have an electrician as a friend have them swap out your regular sockets with GFCI sockets. that way if there is a problem then it wont effect the rest of the houses circuitry.

Another tip is to put drip loops in all your cords coming off the tank, that way the water running down the cord will stop there and not travel to the plug.

I agree with this one 100 percent! I take it you learned this one the hard way?

 

[Hyprviperx]

luckily i did not have to, my buddy (the electrician) suggested that when i told him i was getting a tank (always looking out for me) and i caught a drip off my tank but luckily the cord was long enough to where it made a drip loop its self. since then i make it a point/habit to keep it up (drip loops) cause it most definitely would have been catastrophic.

 

[dougers31]

Get a quality heater but don't trust it unless you have a controller, they just make your life easier.

 

[wheels 45]

Every tank is different! What may be working for you, may not work for someone else.
Research! Research! And more research!