What is a common mistake you see people make in a hobby that isn't talked about enough?

[VintageReefer]

People mistakenly thinking clownfish are hosting Anemones, when in practice its the Anemones which are hosting the clownfish

Hah! Look at the silly mistake I made.

 

[magallonbuckinbulls]

Another would be folks who don't research at all! (or minimal research) and just rely on asking folks/group questions which have been repeatedly posted/discussed for years. lazy! lol

You see these folks generate posts by the second . They want all the information handed to them.
And to top it off, they're also ready to start a frag business lol

Happy pajarete (Mexican Starbucks) Wednesday y'all

 

[BryanM]

Knee jerk reactions.

Not listening when asking for help.

Not researching, especially fish, compatibility, tank size.

 

[IceNein]

Buying only green coral

I saw someone mention this, and as a result I actively consider the variety of color when I buy new coral.

 

[jackson6745]

IMO Dry everything and bottle bacteria is the biggest setback in the hobby these days despite so many advances.

 

[TheMetalReefs]

thinking you only need 1 tank....You set up your tank, let it cycle and before you start adding stuff ypu find out you need a quarantine tank... okay, imma wing it...crap now i got sick fish, now i need a hospital tank... getting inverts and corals, now you need a tank for those too!

 

[Northern Flicker]

Overspending when they start up their tank, and then always measuring the tank against the investment.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

IMO Dry everything and bottle bacteria is the biggest setback in the hobby these days despite so many advances.

Dry rock is fine as long as you cure it before putting it into your tank. Most people don’t have the patience to do that though and want to start aquascaping and cycling their tanks immediately.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

thinking you only need 1 tank....You set up your tank, let it cycle and before you start adding stuff ypu find out you need a quarantine tank... okay, imma wing it...crap now i got sick fish, now i need a hospital tank... getting inverts and corals, now you need a tank for those too!

Next thing you know you are diagnosed with multi-tank syndrome

 

[Northern Flicker]

Dry rock is fine as long as you cure it before putting it into your tank. Most people don’t have the patience to do that though and want to start aquascaping and cycling their tanks immediately.

Even just adding a small amount of rock from an established system is enough.

 

[jackson6745]

Dry rock is fine as long as you cure it before putting it into your tank. Most people don’t have the patience to do that though and want to start aquascaping and cycling their tanks immediately.

Patience, exactly. But why? Because dry rock doesn’t have a biome, dry rock could be leeching nutrient and pollutants, and in some cases depending on rock, dry rock is not as porous. Last one is a non issue with the correct rock. Stuff like carrib sea is junk. I couldn’t believe the dense epoxy like structure when I was drilling it. Tossed it. So are you curing to purge the rock of stuff, or to have it establish a biome with other media that seeds it? Essentially it all just more time to a dry cycle.

I am not anti dry rock. I use dry Marco rock in one of my tanks and had no issues, but this tank is plumbed into an established system. With some live rock mixed in. These main issues I think is because guys are paranoid about “pests” which cause them to remain sterile for longer than need be. The tanks seems to seed over time (much longer) with the minuscule biome from corals and frag plugs etc.

The mistake IMO is the lack of established or live surface area like rock or sand in the system to seed the dead stuff. It’s kind of backwards to have a tank fighting Dino’s 6 months to a year into its life when there’s guys like me and others having colorful acros and happy various corals within the first few days. To each their own but in the wrong hands and application dry rock has caused lots of needless difficulties for reef keepers.

 

[TheMetalReefs]

Next thing you know you are diagnosed with multi-tank syndrome

yeah! lets not even get into breeding or frag tanks you keep on the side to sell. All of a sudden you have a small fish store in your 1/1 apartment.

 

[Tahoe61]

Changing the fundamentals of your system because one coral in your tank is not quite right, but every other coral and invert and fish are behaving as expected. A common example is Goniopora not expanding normally today? "Well let's go ahead and change flow, lighting and add magnesium".
After many years I have learned to pick my battles. Occasionally a coral is going to do poorly, and I shouldn't over think it.

 

[56longroof]

There are so many but the biggest one i my opinion is not researching the hobby before you start putting a system together. There are tons of great books and this forum for resources. Getting advice from Facebook is the worst possible way to go about it.

 

[magallonbuckinbulls]

Stuffing your tank with a bunch of fish and corals just because they are free! This is silly.

Happy Thursday y’all

 

[Gumbies R Us]

There are so many but the biggest one i my opinion is not researching the hobby before you start putting a system together. There are tons of great books and this forum for resources. Getting advice from Facebook is the worst possible way to go about it.

I agree with this! I feel like people should use the resources that are out there before starting a tank! It can save a ton of headaches and financial debt, haha.

 

[jaykinch]

chasing numbers, thinking you know best, whats good for someone else tank my not be good for yours

 

[RocketEngineer]

Not considering certain pieces of equipment as a consumable item. Example: something electrical that switches on and off dozens of times a day ( heaters) will eventually lead to failure. Therefore they should be replaced on a regular basis. This goes for switched outlets as well. Given the above, consider how your system is put together and how easy said items are to remove and replace.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Check valves do NOT work in a reef setting. In order to seal fully, the hobby size valves need to have pristine surfaces. The life in our tanks grows to populate every available surface, including valve seals. Therefore, when you need it to work, you are likely to find it doesn’t due to fouling from some critter. The smart solution is to design the system to not need them.

 

[Dburr1014]

Believing in somebody else's results and you trying the same exact method thinking it's going to work the same way.