Share your NOOB experience and WIN a TUNZE Reefpack 250!

coachblaschke · Feb 4, 2013

what's that?

... said my son after coming home with some "bargain" snails and corals. In the two days it took to research what it what... the aiptasia traveling on the back of a snail had become an infestation. We have not been back to that LFS since.

glddrgn06 · Feb 4, 2013

i got told a manderin goby would survive fine in a tank that had no more then an overflow filter.

Pennreels84 · Feb 4, 2013

With my old salt water tank I use to have a hang on back overflow and return, well I use to take the return overflow off put it to a bucket to drain sump, well one day I forgot to put the return back on the tank and had it laying on the floor, so when I filled the tank back up with water it just kept flowing onto the floor, it's always fun cleaning the tank and floors on the same day!!!!:bathbaby:

BBoley24 · Feb 4, 2013

Funny thing... still to this day, my friends still believe my first saltwater tank was the best ive ever built.

I had no idea what I was doing.

I just did what the LFS in Lubbock Texas told me to do...

Bought a premade sump tank.. .through in a CSS 220 skimmer and a pump and bam... 100g aquarium... I even hung christmas lights in the canopy for moonlights!~

I got really lucky I suppose... I didn't know what Ph was... I just squirted "purple up" into the tank to make it more purple! LoL... I knew the only thing I figured I had to know... that little swing arm had to stay at 1.023. I had the bug... here is the picture of my 100g...

MIND YOU.... I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING.... it stayed alive... somehow... and thrived till the day I broke it down a few years later.

TORMENTOR · Feb 4, 2013

When I was a kid I was fasinated by lion fish, I didnt know they were a marine fish. Long story short I bought one at my LFS and brought it home and put it in my 29 gallon tank with all my other tropical fish. Later in the evening I went to look at the tank and all the other fish were gone and the lion fish was belly up. Oops

kingfisherfleshy · Feb 4, 2013

Once I was filling two aquariums in different rooms.

I was wearing a cutoff tshirt - and the rooms are separated by a door that is always locked.

Realizing that the aquarium in the non locked room was about to overflow - I sprinted through the door, leaving my keys behind. As I did so, my cutoff caught on the inside door handle, and closed the door - and my shirt in the door.

I am now watching this aquariums water be held in by nothing more than surface tension - and I let out a hulk scream and tear out of my shirt. As I run to the tank I realize that I am not alone, and that my boss' cousin is also working in this room - embarrassing but at least one over flow had been stopped.

Now shirtless - I begin running around the building desperately trying to find someone on a weekend with keys to get back into the room.

No luck. So I run out of the building across the street to a book store where a co worker of mine is. I walk in shirtless, and acquire the necessary key.

Luckily there is a drain on the floor of the locked room - but it was still a pretty embarrassing story.

BCT182 · Feb 4, 2013

I made a huge mistake with kalk. I misread the kent marine instructions of 1 tablespoon for a gallon and added 50 tablespoons of kalk to a 1 gallon jug if top off water for my 50 gallon tank. I then dripped the solution of 1 gallon of water with 50 tablespoons of kalk into my 50 gallon overnight. It immediately clogged, so I added a large air stone to keep the kalk mixed. I ended up with 50 tablespoons of kalk added directly into the tank over the course of about 7 hours.

As I was counting out 50 tablespoons I thought "man this takes a lot. I can't believe I have to use an entire container every night!"

d'Espresso · Feb 4, 2013

My first saltwater tank was a joke, my friends and lfs owners laughed at Me for having Christmas blue lights that I bought from Walmart and somehow I've custom fitted under my PC hood for supplement as actinic lights. After some research and investment for months, I finally upgraded my Christmas actinic lights to some real T5 fixture with blue actinics.

Nwest · Feb 4, 2013

well i have done this many times. Lift up the return lock-line to break syphon and then forgot about doing that when I turn return back on and shot water across the room! Worst was on a friends tank that had a pinductor on it and the water shot across 20 ft and hit his cabinets!

jws0318 · Feb 4, 2013

i bought a small tank because the LFS said it was easier than a big tank and the best way to start out. That tank lasted less than 45 days before the upgrade!

zab34 · Feb 4, 2013

My return pipe was down near the bottom. Power went out. Anyone know what 75 gallons of water looks like on the floor? :cry:

Rikerbear · Feb 4, 2013

zab34 said:
My return pipe was down near the bottom. Power went out. Anyone know what 75 gallons of water looks like on the floor? :cry:

Sadly, yes :sad:
LOL

budsbunny · Feb 4, 2013

yep me too

i also know what the whole range in between looks like since i am a notorious flooder.......sadly
my most recent knocked my tank down to close to freshwater ...lol
so i just treated it like an extra large freshwater dip lol
cranked the salinity right back up and hoped for the best.....even my pods survived lol
zero casualties

ted · Feb 4, 2013

With my current tank, I got it all set up and running well. One day I went to a frag swap and bought several items. I put them all in the tank and decided it would be a good time to do a water change. So, I replaced one gallon of water (in a five gallon tank). I realized the next morning that I did the water change with fresh water instead of salt. I got the bottles of water mixed up. I didn't lose much, but it took a couple of months for everything to recover. Lesson learned... I got a sharpie and marked the water bottles!

rlar422 · Feb 4, 2013

not too bad

I would have to say my first noob experience would be putting crushed coral instead of sand....then Id say starting my tank with damsels and not clowns...can't get the buggers out now!!

skinz78 · Feb 4, 2013

ted said:
With my current tank, I got it all set up and running well. One day I went to a frag swap and bought several items. I put them all in the tank and decided it would be a good time to do a water change. So, I replaced one gallon of water (in a five gallon tank). I realized the next morning that I did the water change with fresh water instead of salt. I got the bottles of water mixed up. I didn't lose much, but it took a couple of months for everything to recover. Lesson learned... I got a sharpie and marked the water bottles!

rlar422 said:
I would have to say my first noob experience would be putting crushed coral instead of sand....then Id say starting my tank with damsels and not clowns...can't get the buggers out now!!

Hello and Welcome to Reef2Reef!

If you haven't already done so you should enter in this months Membership Drive contest sponsored by Alpha Aquaculture! There will be two winners this month and each will receive an awesome Chalice frag shipped for free to your door! Just follow the directions here: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/me...-february-2013-membership-drive-give-way.html

ohio reefer · Feb 4, 2013

I was just beginning and had my 29g running for a while and went out and bought a green moray:sad: Returned next day, wish I didn't paid 26$ 50% sale and now I have a 350 gallon perfect for him..

revhtree · Feb 5, 2013

We have a winner!!

Congrats to Chameleon!

You have 48hrs to contact me too claim or we redraw.

Thanks everyone for playing along and thanks to Tunze for the great prize! The next contest begins ASAP so be on the lookout!