List the top 5 most worthless things you've bought in your reefing career.

[Muttley000]

Jebao powerheads x5 (but I'll list a couple more lol)
ATI test kits
A biopellet reactor (I've yet to measure nitrates in my system)
The ice cap controller for a gyre (bought it to control reversing gyre with my apex, it robbed half the power)

 

[roberthu526]

Glass canopy and suction cups are really helpful in my experience.

 

[Deaf clown]

1. Vertex Cerebra
2. Zeovit set up-it worked and I got results but expensive.
3. Cheap heaters
4. API test kit
5. Red Sea ABC+ powder
6. Kessil 360w-I should’ve done T5s for my first light set up.
7. Tunze ato
8. Banghai nudibranchs
9. Buying almost everything new/full price
10. Peppermint shrimp

 

[Stanzo13]

Order not specific
Pump W/ suction cups... Now has zip ties and a hook holding it

Purple up.... Don't say it.

Tiny clip on led's....

Angelfish without a qt and super stable tank.... Resulted in one death and one return. But my hawiian duster and pulsing Xenia got killed by them

Algeabarn pods... I'm 100% certain I got maybe 10-20 when they claim over 5,000.... WHAT

 

[Smarkow]

1) vertex cerebra - shocked me...
2) AI prime - bought 5, 3x had fans die, they never sync together...
3) skimz algae reactor - never grew macro...
4) everything ever purchased from aquarium depot - half the sps arrive dead, nothing ever looks as depicted
5) my first tank - an acrylic 100 gal behemoth with a top brace that only had 2 small access holes

 

[wesman42]

1. Certain varieties of f/2 fertilizer (marked up to around 3000% of cost).
2. Salifert Phosphate. This test is the most absurd thing I have seen on the market for coloring. Before the shade of blue becomes something measurable, you've got too high of a level of phosphate.
3. Aquarium Depot corals. I agree with the above, if it's not a softie don't even think about wasting the money (as little as it may actually be).
4. Green Star Polyps. Don't even get me started.
5. IO hydrometer. Ended up returning and buying a Red Sea refractometer from LFS the same day.
6. Mag Float. This thing doesn't remove much unless you swipe it like 50+ times over the same area. I can understand a few times back and forth but this thing has been horrible.
7. Instant Ocean rock putty. Probably the worst adhesive I've seen period. It doesn't adhere, thus you need to use it like cement and encase the joint. By the time this is done, you'd have spent $100-200 just to mount your rocks.

 

[jordan9095]

rio pumps
maroon clownfish
peppermint shrimp
hermit crabs
apex lsm module

 

[wesman42]

rio pumps
maroon clownfish
peppermint shrimp
hermit crabs
apex lsm module

Maroon clownfish?!? Why??? They're so cute!!

 

[2Wheelsonly]

GSP, Xenia
Purple up
Oyster feast
Flimsy metal frame aquarium stand kits; how dangerous...seeing them gives me anxiety.

Battery operated sandbed vacs

 

[Stanzo13]

GSP, Xenia
Purple up
Oyster feast

Battery operated sandbed vacs

I read the battery operated vacs and laughed my bass off

 

[biecacka]

1)I’ve the back siphon drains (U drains I think they are called)
2)Xenia/GSP I bought this over and over for years and it died every time. Lucky I guess!
3) Home Depot bulbs to grow Cheato
4) peppermint shrimp for aptasia
5) engineer goby....

Corey

 

[roberthu526]

rio pumps
maroon clownfish
peppermint shrimp
hermit crabs
apex lsm module

+1 on peppermint shrimp

 

[Rcpilot]

I see three posts naming 6 line wrasse as bad - evil. I was thinking about buying one. What is the problem with them?

My experience with the 6-line is... they're evil little buggers. They kill inverts (shrimp, snails, stars, worms, etc..) and other fish.

 

[Reefapprentice]

-ATO reservoir if your not a DIY
-Peppermint shrimp love fleshy lps
-Suction cup frag rack- worked well for the first hour
-Xenia as a first coral addition (still love it but next time on the sand in a corner of the tank, away from rocks)
-Purple Up

 

[revhtree]

Wow I have a garage full of stuff! LOL!

 

[pirate2876]

1- skimz calcium reactor - sooo many problems I was never able to use it

What problems did you have? I have had no issues with mine.

 

[chefjpaul]

1) Vertex Cerebra
2-5) See #1

This

 

[powers2001]

What problems did you have? I have had no issues with mine.

I would like to know this too.

 

[Reefcowboy]

Brightwell’s NO3 Export Brick
Watched $45 become a pile of sand in a few short months
Red Sea Coral Pro salt
ESV Salt

 

[Colin Fowler]

I'll start:

1. Reef Bugs
2. incandescent light
3. glass canopy
4. suction cups
5. those little white vacation feeder pyramids that look like they're made of chalk.

1. Bristleworm trap
2. Fish vitamins
3. Kick-Ick
4. Garlic to cure Ich
5. Other “magic” Ich cures