What purchases do you regret making or not making?

[ReefChef19]

I can tell you that I have wasted more money on buying cheaper items that either has not met my expectations or just broke. When I did my tank upgrade in May I saved to where I could afford what was best.

Biggest loss I’ve taken is lighting-

5 G4 XR15’s
4 G5 XR15’s
5 ReeFi’s duo extremes
5 G5 XR30 blues
2 Orphek bars
2 Reefbrite bars
AI primes
48” T5

and now I’ve settled on 4 different lights than all of those and couldn’t be happier. I took a hit on selling them just to finally find the lights I always wanted and met my expectations

Which lights did you end up going with after all those?!

 

[Ghost25]

My biggest regret when building my first tank was buying dry rock (Pukani) the months and months of algae, dinos, cyano and poor growth was absolutely not worth it.

This time around I plan on shelling out for aquacultured live rock.

 

[CanuckReefer]

Food, for both the fish and corals/inverts. I used to buy whatever various frozen brands, seaweed, and filter feed, all from a few LFS. For the last 10 years I have made my own frozen mix all from wild caught seafood, dulse, and nori. It is cheaper, and better for the health of the inhabitants. The colours on my fish pop now, and they are fatter. I still dose live phyto from respected manufacturer and reef roids occasionally for the corals , as I don't have the patience to do that myself....

 

[Hydrored]

Which lights did you end up going with after all those?!

Stratons

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Interesting. What was your issue with the AI Primes?

I think those primes are the worst lights in the hobby, they are good for 20g nano tanks with a single clownfish and maybe some GSP but the design is junk, the par sucks and the spread is poor. I couldn't wait to replace mine; replaced two over my frag tank with a single reef breeder 24 and was amazed at the difference (cheaper too!).

I remember my fans would rattle after 2 months and the blue LED did not match, when I spoke to AI support they basically said "what do you expect for cheapo lights". At least they replaced the one with the rattle fan...

 

[grevedin]

Regret buying four Orphek V4 Gen 1 a fee years ago. Never again.

 

[lefkonj]

I regret a few things. First is my initial skimmer, hated it replaced it within 18 months. Second is not going bigger.... I have a 180 but if I could go back should of done a custom built 280. Right now can't imagine tearing this down and building a new one, and I am sure my wife would say 'NO'

 

[Dark_Knightt]

I regret buying my ORA mandarin, not because I didnt like her, she was my favorite fish, its just even with pods and frozen food feedings daily she didnt make it. I spent about $500 on her and pods. $500 is a lot of money, especially when you're 15 XD

 

[Alex Cataldo]

i regret getting back into this hobby LOL ...money pit!

Quite the expensive one this is. Even though it doesn’t have to be all the time.

 

[Alex Cataldo]

Totally agree about float valves on RO containers- cheap insurance lol!!

I remember my old 65 gallon with a dog door small cavity to work with. Ended up removing all the extra cords and controls from underneath there and mounted them on some painted plywood for aesthetics. Maintenance did not have to be that difficult.

 

[zalick]

I regret buying a 10g, bag of salt and blue damsel in 1998. If only I'd bought microsoft stock instead. ;Woot

 

[Tastee]

2016 Apex... I have heard the classics were pretty rugged but so far on the 2016 I have had the head unit quit twice while under warranty and x2 WAV powerheads quit just out of warranty. Amazing how that happens. EB832 died at 3 years. Problem is none of this stuff is repairable. Once it stops it can't be fixed, or they'll fix it for about the price of a new unit. Can't forget the salinity probe, only good for a year or two. The real cost is your wasted time trying to get in contact with their support. I have put everything back on manual timers and I think when this head unit dies I'm going back to old school keep it simple set up.

If you search this forum you will find one of our lady DIYers posted a good article about repairing a failed EB8.

 

[Tastee]

No real regrets for me, guess I’ve been lucky so far. The first coral I put in my 65g tank did however teach me something and limit what I can keep in that tank - Neon Green Sinularia. It is the dominant coral in the tank and looks great but it means that the tank is now Softie and LPS only - it’s chemical warfare means no SPS can survive.

Happily I have a second 130g tank which will never have leathers in it so I can grow some SPS there - two going good already.

Apart from that I have the Neptune PAR meter which is a little used luxury. Don’t mind buying it but realistically after baselining my tanks I may never use it again (-: