Stupidest things you’ve done Reefing!!!!

[Adamantium]

Burning ONE scented yankee candle 5-10 feet from tank and another two rooms away and spraying febreze same distance away is apparently deadly as I found this out yesterday (when I got home from work and 5 of my 8 fish and sexy shrimp were dead out of absolutely nowhere). OR it was the new bag of purigen I put into in tank media basket evening before but highly doubt it I've been running purigen for a year (one brand new bag ordered from Saltwater aquarium.com and yes rinsed well under tap water). Out of all the research, reading, video watching etc. I've done on this hobby over the past 14 months not once did I see anything about burning scented candles or using febreze several feet or rooms away from tank (open top with net cover). My tank is 14-15 months old (RSM 130D with every upgrade possible done to tank) I did my 10% water change as I do religiously this past Sat. with no issues, the fish and shrimp totally were fine day/night before eating, looked healthy no signs of stress, ich notta. Corals and nems looked fine as well. Tested water nothing crazy showed. Temp fine, salinity fine.

Sorry to hear that. Interestingly, I’ve actually seen candles before that specifically had a warning labeling stating not to burn them around aquariums.

Then you have Inappropriate Reefer on YouTube who had a small crash due to the vapors from canned air hitting his tank.

 

[Attreui]

Burning ONE scented yankee candle 5-10 feet from tank and another two rooms away and spraying febreze same distance away is apparently deadly as I found this out yesterday (when I got home from work and 5 of my 8 fish and sexy shrimp were dead out of absolutely nowhere). OR it was the new bag of purigen I put into in tank media basket evening before but highly doubt it I've been running purigen for a year (one brand new bag ordered from Saltwater aquarium.com and yes rinsed well under tap water). Out of all the research, reading, video watching etc. I've done on this hobby over the past 14 months not once did I see anything about burning scented candles or using febreze several feet or rooms away from tank (open top with net cover). My tank is 14-15 months old (RSM 130D with every upgrade possible done to tank) I did my 10% water change as I do religiously this past Sat. with no issues, the fish and shrimp totally were fine day/night before eating, looked healthy no signs of stress, ich notta. Corals and nems looked fine as well. Tested water nothing crazy showed. Temp fine, salinity fine.

The candle didn't hurt it. My GF burns so many candles in the room with the tank I can't even decipher the smell anymore. But Febreze is very small droplets, it could be a problem if there were enough of it and you have a little tank. If you have a big tank, I don't think that did it either.

 

[Nhjmc]

The candle didn't hurt it. My GF burns so many candles in the room with the tank I can't even decipher the smell anymore. But Febreze is very small droplets, it could be a problem if there were enough of it and you have a little tank. If you have a big tank, I don't think that did it either.

I’ve been spraying febreze and occasionally burning one or two yankee candles but I’ve always “occasionally” done so since I set tank up Oct. 2019. Idk maybe was the new scent of febreze I sprayed (pumpkin scent). Idk. Also coulda been the bta that wasn’t looking so good I removed it to be safe. Btw. my tank is 34 gal.

 

[Reefahholic]

I don't know about the stupidest...but one thing I do know is NEVER walk away from running water w/o a float valve. The reverse osmosis float valve has saved me more times than I can count. Before I bought one I used to tell myself I would only walk away for 1 minute. Yeah right...somebody will text you...you will start posting on the forum, or your wife will call you. Next thing you know... there's water on the floor!

 

[jjencek]

I use little RedSea mesh bags to keep my charcoal in place. It has a string to close it. I left the string hanging over the edge. It worked like a candle wig and slowly over hours dripped water out into my electrical outlets. You can guess the rest of the story.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Woot! Let's reopen this one!! What's the dinner mistakes we've made with our tanks?

 

[Arego]

Forgetting to push the return loc-line back down in the water before turning the return pump back on. 1100gph looks impressive coming out of a vivid random flow generator going across the room.

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

I only dosed Sodium Bicarbonate during nights only....for weeks, because i thought it would be good for the pH (it was). Some corals died.

I started to use RedSea Coral Pro salt but only had one War Coral frag (in 150 gallon), then on top of that i dosed coralline additive. Ended up with 15dkH. But o boy did i get Coralline!

Poured saturated salt mix into the sump because i needed to raise the salinity. Next morning i wondered why my rocks had "snow" on them.

Used Aquaforest Probiotic reef salt for months even if i was suffering from 0 Phosphates. I had no idea.

Got myself a new light that produced to little PAR in the beginning so i starved an Acro to death, i then raised the PAR and fried a Duncan.

I purchased a lot of things that i can not use because it's the wrong measurement or product.

 

[Mfischer]

Okay guys I wanted to start this up. I buy Ocean Water just cuz the Nanos are easy and cheap. Sometimes I’ll mix salt with the 5 gallon purified since that’s where I work I get it for free and that’s what i top off with. Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium are the trace amounts.

So me being totally stupid not thinking. Leaves the water in the trunk yesterday. I put in the heater and I start siphoning. It was 30-50 degrees out today. My dumb butt isn’t going to heat that water up in less than 5 hours. Lol. But I got a 200watt heater in the tank. So I might get in done in 2. Or close enough.

That takes the cake for me. Dumbest thing I’ve done.

By far the stupidest thing I ever did. Luckily I didn’t take much out and I can speed up the process with the other heater.

Started to make my own water. Didn't even consider that there are a few copper pipes in my house. Turned 8 nems into goo and nuked everything in the tank except a devil damsel and lightening maroon clown. Took me 4 months to recover. I buy my water locally now. At a buck a gallon, it's cheaper than mixing it myself.

 

[kiran]

Biggest lesson learned so far is QT everything that goes into your tank.

Lost all my fish not taking that seriously and now I'm doing a 90 day fallow as a consequence D:

 

[CMMorgan]

Getting started?

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

Started to make my own water. Didn't even consider that there are a few copper pipes in my house. Turned 8 nems into goo and nuked everything in the tank except a devil damsel and lightening maroon clown. Took me 4 months to recover. I buy my water locally now. At a buck a gallon, it's cheaper than mixing it myself.

I'm sorry to hear this but, wouldn't a RODI system remove the Copper? I guess it depends on what cartridges you connect to it?

I had a rusty Tunze Algae scraper that leaked maybe a week or two in my DT (may be the cause of my corals bleaching)

Then i was told that activated carbon does not remove metals from the water, i thought it did. I don't know if it removes some of them but i don't know the details. Previously i read somewhere that Activated Carbon removes Copper - and it was recommended to use it for example after medicating fish.

Anyway I was given a recommendation by @HB AL (Thanks AL!) on this forum to get a Poly Filter that will removed metals like this https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/poly-filter-aquarium-filter-poly-bio-marine-inc.html

Tomorrow i'll buy an ICP test and see what that tells me.....

 

[rusty hannon]

My broken down, broken 1000.$ a month butt took out my first loan at 55 this year( for a couple more weeks anyway) for 2500.$ and bought my first commercial tank. Its the Cade 600 PR, I bought it from Algae Barn ( hey guys) and to this day I Love IT!! Heck, I'll b making payments till my 101 birthday. Lol. Happy Holidays every one and Happy Reefing... L M D B O.

 

[flyingscampi]

Using an active RCD that has to be reset after a power interruption.

 

[Radman73]

I don't know about the stupidest...but one thing I do know is NEVER walk away from running water w/o a float valve. The reverse osmosis float valve has saved me more times than I can count. Before I bought one I used to tell myself I would only walk away for 1 minute. Yeah right...somebody will text you...you will start posting on the forum, or your wife will call you. Next thing you know... there's water on the floor!

I moved my RODI to the garage for that very reason lol! Been in this for over ten years now, you'd think I'd get a float valve in place by now. I've learned to set timers.

As for the stupidest thing I've done? I didn't put drip loops in for wires running to a 3 outlet extension cord. I walked into the house once to see black smoke billowing up between the tank and the wall. Surprisingly little damage was done and I got an MP40 out of it because I needed flow as the power supplies for some cheaper pumps were fried.

So, GFCI and drip loops from here on out. Made sure to have a dedicated GFCI ran in the new house just for the tank.

 

[Reefahholic]

I moved my RODI to the garage for that very reason lol! Been in this for over ten years now, you'd think I'd get a float valve in place by now. I've learned to set timers.

As for the stupidest thing I've done? I didn't put drip loops in for wires running to a 3 outlet extension cord. I walked into the house once to see black smoke billowing up between the tank and the wall. Surprisingly little damage was done and I got an MP40 out of it because I needed flow as the power supplies for some cheaper pumps were fried.

So, GFCI and drip loops from here on out. Made sure to have a dedicated GFCI ran in the new house just for the tank.

Worth its weight in gold!

Reverse Osmosis Float Valve

Why does BRS recommend this? Float valves are simple to install and can save a lot of water from ending up on the floor. They can be installed in containers as small 1 gallon pails, sumps, and 200 plus gallon commercial storage containers to shut off the flow of water. Even if you do not have a...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Radman73]

Worth its weight in gold!

Reverse Osmosis Float Valve

Why does BRS recommend this? Float valves are simple to install and can save a lot of water from ending up on the floor. They can be installed in containers as small 1 gallon pails, sumps, and 200 plus gallon commercial storage containers to shut off the flow of water. Even if you do not have a...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Here's the really bad part. I've had one for years, probably 5 or 6. I don't even know where it is now lol! Need to dig through my assorted buckets and bins.

 

[Saltysav96]

ive had several stupid moments throughout my reefing years..

im forever forgetting to turn off my RODI unit and it will be 3-4 days later before i realize it.

one time i started a wc and forgot to test the salinity, starting adding water to the tank before i realized it. test the water and it was too low.

the other time i started a wc, drained the water out the tank and then realized i broke my wc pump so then we had to take bowls and cups full of water to add it all back into the tank.

im sure ive got more, i will add them if i remember anymore.

 

[davidcalgary29]

I got lazy with water changes and watched my stylocoeniella turn gray. "It must be receiving too much light!", I thought to myself as I readjusted my aquascape. "It must be getting too much flow!", I fretted as I adjusted my powerheads. Finally, I tested my nitrates and phosphates. Oops! Water changes and some prime turned it back to red within a week.

 

[brode]

Let the daughter and boyfriend watch the fish and dogs while we went out of town, got a call 3 days later that all 20 African Cichlids were dead and my sailfish catfish that was 11 years old. He thought the pellets were in a shaker and dumped the entire can in. No reef issues that time. Three years later had them watch everything again and lost half my saltwater fish 2 anemones and all corals, yet to get an answer on what they did. Forward 2 years went away again they watched everything again (full system monitoring on all tanks now) came back to magnetic frag rack upside down with 6 frags under it. I asked her why she didn’t fix it I got the answer “you said “Just feed them a frozen cube at night, I’m monitoring them from my phone.” I think I have learned, from now on I will have a friend that has a reef tank stop by and check on things.

Oh and I flood with RODI all the time, the wife is not happy when that happens.