What’s the best piece of advice you can give to any reefer?

[rja]

I just want to formulate a good “code” to run by as I progress through this hobby. One of the greatest tips I got from a gentleman at my LFS was to “not turn my tank inside-out if one coral isn’t happy”

 

[WirelessMike]

Take your time and don’t make knee jerk reactions! Number one thing about this hobby is nothing good happens fast in this hobby. That’s my take. Great thread to start btw!

 

[A Young reefer]

Do not compare your tank to others. you will never be able to copy it because each tank is different and unique in its own way.

 

[jhuntstl]

Find a few coral vendors you 100% trust. Ones that are dedicated to healthy pest free specimens.

If I could go back, I'd have bought exclusively from SBB and BC.

 

[Big Smelly fish]

Don’t get sucked in every fad that comes along.

 

[Dburr1014]

Slow and steady wins the race

 

[IKD]

Pick a very patient and understanding spouse/partner.

 

[Miami Reef]

Quarantine everything!

 

[DeniseAndy]

The journey is a rollercoaster, enjoy it even in the rough spots. Life is not perfect, neither are you.

 

[SPS2020]

Great advice above!

Here's a few off the top of my head:

Set your lighting and leave it alone (at least 6 months to a year) before making adjustments.

Adjust one variable at a time or you will not know cause and effect.

The cost of the tank will probably be the least expensive piece of equipment.

 

[dennis romano]

NEVER tell your significant other how much you have spent.

 

[SPS2020]

NEVER tell your significant other how much you have spent.

That was going to be my next piece of advice. LOL

 

[jmichaelh7]

I just want to formulate a good “code” to run by as I progress through this hobby. One of the greatest tips I got from a gentleman at my LFS was to “not turn my tank inside-out if one coral isn’t happy”

Patience.

I cannot stress this enough.

Every single reefer in this hobby most likely wants to change something or investigate when they suspect or think something "might" be wrong.

Let mother nature take it's course, unless it requires immediate intervention

 

[90's reefer]

Best advice after 30 years of reefing is to have a plan from day one.
Pick the kind of system you want.
Pick your desired parameter levels.
Now focus on keeping everthing in your set range.

 

[blaxsun]

Buy what you can afford to replace.

 

[jmatt]

Stay away.

When you first hit the board and immediately see the Latest Posts, it's like "Today's 10,000 Reasons Not To Do This".

 

[youcallmenny1]

Give up any attachment to your disposable income.

 

[BobbyCline]

Take a 2 week break from the hobby....then quit.

 

[Blumy]

Wet rock and don’t be afraid of pests. Easily controlled. Biodiversity doesn’t come in a bottle.

 

[Biokabe]

NEVER tell your significant other how much you have spent.

I get that it's a popular joke, but IMO this is actually really, really bad advice. My wife knows everything I spend on the tank. The tank has never caused any friction in our marriage, other than when I don't clean up after it, and in fact now she might even enjoy it more than I do. If I hadn't been honest about the tank, I could easily see it causing some problems.

For actual advice... well, patience is a good one. There's a reason it's in my signature. But the actual advice I'm going to give is this:

Don't try to avoid water changes. Do what you can to make them as easy as possible, but don't try to use any of the water change-free reefing methods until you really know what you're doing. Of course you can ignore that advice and have success; many people have. But eliminating water changes requires you to keep your tank in balance with both nutrient export and parameter maintenance, and doing that on top of learning how to keep a reef tank is just increasing the difficulty of your tank in exchange for a small cost-savings to an expensive hobby, and a somewhat larger decrease in your regular maintenance.

In my experience, it's not an exchange that's worth it when you're getting started.