What message would you like to get out there to all new reefers?

ARCreef · Jan 25, 2018

Hi all! ARC Reef here

We would love to get some feedback from you in order to better help newcomers to our great hobby:

The largest market segment for our products are first time reefers (those brand new to the hobby and those making a go at it again after 10 years). Being in this unique position we take full advantage of that opportunity to educate the consumer with a little bit of helpful information about the industry and the hobby in general in hopes of giving them the basis for a good beginning. For the past few years we have included a half page of helpful information with every order. We feel that this helps eliminate some of the many roadblocks that many new reefers encounter and improves the success rate of those that remain with the hobby. While some information may sound like a no brainier to you, unfortunately not everyone is a member of a forum where all this is readily available. On a daily basis we hear some pretty bad information and much of it usually attained from a LFS. So what information would you like to give beginners to the hobby. We plan to update our pamphlet with the results, we encourage other companies out there to also chime in and to use these results to furnish their customers with the information needed to make proper decisions and provide the basis for a strong foundation into the hobby.

Here is some info that we already include:

We differentiate between wild caught and aquacultured and point out how their decisions have purchasing power behind them and can make a big difference in the future of this hobby as well as affects on the sustainability of many species. Not simply because we are an aquaculture company

Equipment: We recommend a master test kit, refractometer, 2 part, and a protein skimmer as essential starting equipment and state that if you are dosing it you should be testing it. As well as proper lighting is needed and the lighting that come with your petsmart tank are not adequate for a marine reef tank. (almost half of our new customers get into the hobby with a petsmart tank now, before that it used to be the walmart 55 gal tank. Our sales always increase immediately following black friday from customers who get a tank on blackfriday).

Stress the importance of water changes and how it can correct many problems in a closed system such as their aquarium. Also the difference between RODI and tap water. We found over 90% of newcomers use tap water and a dechlorinating product, some even use mineral rich well water.

State the importance of Stability in an aquarium. Everything from temperature to water chemistry needs to remain stable and if changes are needed it must be over several days not instantly.

Patience is the key to success. Only bad things happen over night.

We recommend joining one of the many great forums and we go on to say in closing how you're not in this alone that there is so much great info out there and people more willing to help than in any other hobby.

If you can think of any other info that you think all newcomers getting into the hobby should know or maybe you've made a mistake in the past and think we should include some info on how to avoid that pitfall feel free to chime in with your idea if it makes it onto our pamphlet we'll ship you out a bottle of our Coralline Algae in a Bottle product or 10 lbs of Dry Rock (your choice) on the house.

Thank you and hopefully some of the info posted up here by you guys will help a newcomer remain with the hobby.

ARC Reef
Atlantic Reef Conservation

leahfiish · Jan 26, 2018

Patience is a really important one, as well as research. Know the correct identity of any livestock you are buying, it's lifespan, how big it will get, what it eats, and aggression level.
Another thing is that there are many ways to be successful with reef keeping, each method has its pros and cons, but my advice is to stick to one method, and as your knowledge and understanding of reef keeping grows, you can implement other techniques. For example some methods prefer a lot of chemical filtration, others use a big refugium, etc. I usually prefer keeping everything simple and upgrades to fancier and flashier equipment "as needed".
I also highly recommend quarantine, if for no other reason than to avoid getting your old fish sick from a new fish. Even if it's just a 4 week observation period, that highly reduces the chance of introducing something like velvet or brook into your display.
Finally, regarding pests and algae... If you aren't sure what it is take a good picture of it and ask a store or forum to ID it for you. A picture is worth 1000 words. And 99/100 times it will be better to deal with these things asap, even if your not sure what it is. Siphon it out or remove it before it can spread. If you notice something growing or increasing in numbers within a 1 week time frame it's probably bad.

JoshH · Jan 26, 2018

I would also add that if you do go to great forums like this for advice on something you're dealing with, posting your question or issue along with basic information such as tank parameters and as mentioned above pictures is vital information others need to help you out. If you don't provide the proper information it can be really difficult or next to impossible to narrow down your problems right from the get go

KIRBLIT · Jan 26, 2018

I'm going to go with something that sounds really easy to do but nobody seems to really take it to heart when starting a hobby.

Fail to plan, plan to fail.

With every new hobby comes some sort of learning curve, and reef aquariums have a steep one. If people would just take some time to really find out what they are getting into they can avoid alot of mistakes and save alot of money buying decent equipment to start, and taking time to learn from others mistakes.

Freddy0144 · Jan 27, 2018

there are lots of great points here I have been into reefing for the better part of ten years and still learning from mistakes. I think what has made me successful is reading, Coral Magazine is good, there are also some great authors out there. I also like YouTube, but this has to be taken carefully I have seen some really bad things on there too. budget and plan. I knew how I was going to build my tank and filter system before I purchased anything. This applies to a 10 gallon nano to a 1000 gallon reef. Plans can change and that is okay too. When you build a house there are always changes, the house gets built and eventually finished same with the tank, eventually the reefer will get the tank to auto pilot mode were we can look at the occupants and understand what is going on then test the water to validate the findings.

That is another important point validate your test occasionally, it may cost a few dollars but is worth it. For example I have all new test kits, I tested my water and recorded all my results then took a sample to the store and had them test the water and compared my results. Now I know these test kits are accurate for the next 6 months or so.

Record, test results, live stock additions and so on. Find something that works for you Reef Trace has a good app for recording test results, but lacks an area for tracking live stock. If we keep a journal we will understand what has worked, what did not, and maybe be able to avoid big mistakes.