Beginner sucess rates?

[AC1211]

So as the title says what is a good sucess rate for beginners?
When i was keeping freshwater my early sucess rate was roughly 50-50 until now where I have it up to almost 90% soon to hit 90%.
In saltwater I am unsure as outside the 2 clowns I eill not declare anything a sucess through 1 year. Nothing else has shown growth. If everything were to die tomorrow which it won't I would put my sucess rate at 11% or so because everything else that I have has not grown enough or done well enough to be declared a sucess although I have only lost one invert (cleaner shrimp). So what should I expect am I doing average above average, below average... my 4 lps frags and my rock flower nem are alive but no growth for 6 months with them is that concerning?

 

[Quietman]

At 7 months, I have some corals that a growing very nicely, others that are just holding steady, some are struggling and some have died off (about 10%). Seems to be a nice bell curve. 10% success, 40% adequate and struggling, 10% failure. I have noticed over time the curve shifting to the left which is what I expect. I haven't invested in expensive or high demand corals yet as like you, I think maturity from dry start takes a year based on what I've seen here and elsewhere. At the year point I would like to see 25% success, 50% adequate, 20% stuggling and 5% failure or better.

 

[W1ngz]

I don't think I'd call anything a failure unless it either dies, or you quit. A reef tank is hard, and the learning curve is practically a cliff face when you're first starting out.

If literally half of what I put in my tank died in the first year, I don't think I'd have stuck around. I'd say about 75% survival in year 1 of a newbie is pretty good. Thriving is a whole other story, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect everyone to have a thriving tank in year 1.

 

[S2G]

You mean survival rate? Its hard to throw a % at it. You shouldn't be losing many animals. I'd say a good success rate is 90% or better as a beginner. If your losing more than that you're probably rushing things or buying poor quality animals .

Success would be the ability to maintain stable parameters long term and make small adjustments as required. If your corals & nem aren't thriving figure out why then fix it.

As a whole there's probably only 25% success in sw & probably 10% fw. The price of sw usually weeds out the fish bowl people.

 

[W1ngz]

the fish bowl people.

hahahahahahaha

 

[lilgrounchuck]

What equipment are you running? What are your parameters? Lighting schedule? Too little or too much of this or that can make all the difference. I started out with a Current Orbit light for about 5 months and everything stayed alive, but very little growth. I switched to a mars 300w and I had 4x as much growth in 2 months than I did the previous 5.

 

[Lithoman]

Got way too much invested.. no giving up here!

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I think it's about planning and proper investment. I never had a tank before, but I spent the time to research and plan, bought the correct equipment from the beginning, didn't rush and developed an in-wall 120 gallon SPS tank that has been very successful and that I'm proud of. I avoided many of the pitfalls that an over-eager beginner may face.

For what it's worth, it was the nine-month mark before pretty much any coral I put in I knew would do well without question. Spending money on quality livestock is as important as equipment. . . that $9.99 eBay acro is less likely to thrive than a healthy frag from Battlecorals or your local acro guru.

Best of luck!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Tough question...good discussion to have.

 

[good.reef]

Here is my tank at 9 months. 1st saltwater tank ever. Lost 0 fish and 1 chalice frag and 1 duncan frag so I'd say it's a 99% success rate. The orange hammer and gold torch have been in there since month 2. Good growth on all of my corals. I don't dose anything and haven't done a test in over 6 months. PWC every 10 days or so. I really think that people chasing and adjusting numbers causes bigger problems than just letting the tank do it's thing...

 

[krash7172]

Coming from fresh water myself, it took about 18 mo to get my first reef in order. About another year to be proud of it. If I did it again, I could probably do it in half the time. To answer the original question, I had much failure in the first 18 months but it improved rapidly.

 

[Tahoe61]

Here is my tank at 9 months. 1st saltwater tank ever. Lost 0 fish and 1 chalice frag and 1 duncan frag so I'd say it's a 99% success rate. The orange hammer and gold torch have been in there since month 2. Good growth on all of my corals. I don't dose anything and haven't done a test in over 6 months. PWC every 10 days or so. I really think that people chasing and adjusting numbers causes bigger problems than just letting the tank do it's thing...

Stunning tank at 9 months for a first time reefer. You have talent.

And I wholeheartedly agree, some make this a lot harder than it needs to be. More observation less testing.

 

[W1ngz]

To answer the original question, I had much failure learned a lot in the first 18 months

Fixed it for ya

 

[Kfactor]

I just got back in to the hobby after 6 years and the one thing I find is how you start the tank . I had my tank running with no lights on and no fish for the first 3 months . Then I added 1 fish a month and turn the lights on after around 4 months. After the tank has been running for almost a year now and found my corals seem to be doing really good now I think everything stabilized and has been pretty good

 

[Victor_C3]

Maybe I’m just a natural, but I’d say my success rate from day one has easily been 90%+.

In two systems I’ve previously set up, the only major livestock I ever lost was a cleaner shrimp and a Copper Band Butterfly. I can’t recall ever losing another fish.

Excluding an incident where a friend watched my tank for two weeks while I was on vacation, the lights failed to turn on for 10 days, and he didn’t realize it was an issue and I lost all of my corals, I’ve never lost a coral.

My first system was a mixed reef and my second was an SPS dominated. The only reason I tore down previous systems was when I moved.

I just move slowly and stock reasonable fish in an appropriately sized aquarium. Honestly, I don’t find the hobby to be that hard, you just need to stay on top of your maintenance and do your research. It’s all about diligence and attention to detail.