New Aquarium Hobbyist, The ups and downs

[Waters]

Welcome !!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Pvtgloss]

 

[SPR1968]

Hi and welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[jsker]

 

[riteblazed420]

Thanks everyone!!!

 

[riteblazed420]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to talk about the ups and downs of being a beginner in the hobby. Let’s start with the downs I’ve experienced:

1.)Learned the hard way about tank cycling by losing 3 corals, 2 of which were really expensive. (Also being the animal lover I am, I felt guilty for accidentally killing corals and I feel horrible). I wish I was told about tank cycling before I even purchased my corals, but they never asked me if I did.

2.)High Nitrates out of control, and having a hard time figuring out what the problem is (I’m still struggling with this, but the levels are slowly getting a little better after a water and filter changes). If anyone out there had any suggestions as to what I can do to lower levels PLEASE HELP!!!!

3.)It is NOT EASY!!!! This hobby requires a lot of time money, and effort into making sure water parameters are correct a few examples include; Nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, calcium, pH, salinity, temperature. Holy crap this is literally a chemistry, so be prepared to be testing and adjusting all the time for your sea creatures!

4.)Don’t get too many things all at once; you’ll be overwhelmed with the amount of elements you’re trying to keep stable in the aquarium, and I lost 3 corals because of this!

Onto the ups:

1.) Sea creatures are actually some of the coolest things I’ve ever owned!!! There are so many different varieties of fish, invertebrates, crustaceans, and so on that you can add to your tank. One of my favourite so far is the Sea Urchin - It’s the only living being on the planet that can see with no eyes, I’m mind blown by that!

2.) The aquarium looks absolutely stunning once you have it set up and everything settled. I love watching my sea creatures go about doing what they do, it’s mesmerizing.

3.)The animals in my tank are so curious about me!! I love that I can pick up my starfish and sea urchin, and they check me out. My cleaner shrimp also loves when I put my hand in the tank for him to clean, and it tickles

4.)The hard work and effort put into the hobby does pay off, you just need to be patient and learn from mistakes.

5.)Once you start to get the hang of the hobby, it starts to feel less overwhelming and you really start to understand what can be throwing certain levels off (you learn your own process of elimination).

6.)SEA LIFE IS AWESOME!!! It’s actually quite amazing to witness how much personality fish can have considering they’re so different from us. My clown fish literally attacks my hand and has attitude, it’s hilarious. I have a little bite mark from her.

UPDATE: nitrates are now down to 40ppm, progress!!!!!!! As a few of you suggested, I was still in the cycling stage and that’s why my nitrates were spiking out of control. I did a small water change last night and already have improvement!

Nitrites: I’m seeing some people say these don’t matter/you can’t accurately measure them. Why is this?

 

[Buckster]

Hello and Welcome to R2R! I lost some corals in the beginning because I was impatient and introduced them to the tank too early.