Brain builder: How do I get smarter in the hobby?

[Big G]

On a daily basis, I enjoy reading through the "Unanswered Threads" section. Postings are so wide and varied. Finding something new and interesting there is an easy way to get my curiosity going. Which prompts pondering through what I know and what I don't. Sometimes it's a "rabbit hole" but more often than not, knowledge is gained and appreciated.

 

[fishface NJ]

Take advice from the older wise reefers not the newbies

 

[Treefer32]

So many ways to learn, but there's nothing outside of the trials and tribulations of our own reefs that teach us more than anything.

For 6 months I've watched my 4 year old 340 gallon reef deteriorate. I have so much filtration and was considering throwing money at more. UV, or sulfur denitrator, or 100 gallon water changes every week, and so much more. I finally took a step back and said, when did things deteriorate, once I started thinking about all the changes made, I realized 2 things happened at the same time as root cause:

1. I reduced my vodka dosing because things were going well.
2. I made a coral food heavy batch of home made food.

This lead to a fun bell curve of a chart on my apex of my nitrates rising by 3-10 points per week over the last 16-20 weeks. Starting at 11 and, then 14, then 20, then so on. Just kep skyrocketing until they finally hit 65 and things in my tank were looking worse and worse. I lost two corals that I paid a lot for. I was pulling my hair out as to why my nitrates continued to rise.

Then, I increased my vodka dosing, changed the food I was feeding. Now I'm watching both nitrates and phosphates fall week to week. Ever so gradually so as to not anger the coral gods anymore than they are.

Sometimes it's the simple things. Spend a $1000 for the next new gadget or assess one's current habbits and evaluate each step, each change, to realize the answer is far simpler than one realizes. My corals are back to growing, looking great, coloring back up and things are looking healthy now. Much more than a month ago! And all I spent? Was an extra $12 on a one extra bottle of vodka. . . . I didn't even drink any. . .

Sometimes, in the need to learn something new all the time, we need to go back to basics and remember the basic cycles that we learned when first starting out!

 

[Timfish]

First, accept however much you learn there will always be a lot more to learn. Question everything, there's a lot of dogma that's based on what seemed reasonable assumptions decades ago but's contrindicated by current research, even question research you've read as new research can put older discoveries in a very different light. Keep maintenance simple.

 

[MooreReefing]

If you’re a little obsessive about your hobbies like I am, the best way I found was to research and ask as many questions as possible. I feel like newer reefers can be scared to ask questions out of fear of being annoying or embarrassment they they did something wrong when they first get into the hobby. However, most reefers I know, myself included, love to talk about the hobby with others as most people in our lives don’t share the same interests and are more than happy when asked questions. Also if you can find someone with a tank similar to yours, and their tank is successful, follow along with their methods and approach. You can learn a lot and then apply it to your tank and hopefully achieve the same successes. I modeled my tank and a few of my methods after someone else and have had a lot of growth and success in just 6 months of it being up and running.

 

[PaPaWicked85]

All except magazines and podcasts to me. Nothing against podcasts, but I'll fall asleep even if I'm 100% invested in the subject matter. So far I've learned the most from talking to my local reefers, R2R, and Youtube, specifically BRS because they do so much in depth analysis of equipment, livestock, and methodology that is repeatable and verifiable. I think experimenting is beneficial, because what works for 100 people may not exactly work for you. Each system is different, even if done the exact same way. Tailoring yours requires a bit of experimentation be it fine tuning numbers or even where you place your lights and corals.

 

[stephnjeph]

This is currently my favorite thread. I take reef keeping and the lives of the individual livestock very seriously. I enjoy hearing each of your thoughts on education in the hobby. I hope many more post their educational experiences. Thank you all for sharing.

 

[Greybeard]

Experience is your best teacher. Keep maintaining a reef, you'll get better at it.

If there's a reef club in your area, join it, and take the time to show up at meetings. Helping others is a great way to learn. If they're newer than you, great... share what you know. If they're more experienced than you, great... let them share what they know. Everybody wins. Getting rare these days... nobody wants to drive to a club meeting anymore, or throw a few bucks into dues... Shame, really.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Experimentation, Reading Books and Talking to others in this hobby are perfect ways to get knowledge!

I know experimenting with lives is bad, but a lot of the time it works out
I would never have had my stocking without experimenting! I mean, if I didn’t experiment with taking a clam under my wing, I never would’ve had the beauty of my Deresa.

Reading is controversial. Sometimes the things you read aren’t up to date (especially with so many changes in species names), but the general care of the species never changes. No matter how hard that fish is, the general care will not change. It may adapt to suit the fish/invert’s preferences but it will never fully change.

And finally, Talk to others! Whether that’s online, in person or even just your LFS worker. We all know things and one of the things I say to others is;
Why have the knowledge but never share it?
It’s just pointless if you do that, your knowledge could change the care of a species but you may just keep it hidden. That helps nobody except yourself, I myself am not always a social person but if someone struggles with something, I will help them
I also thank talking to others, because if I hadn’t said this to anyone I would be ashamed to show this FTS.

That Derasa is growing like MAD! WOW!

 

[i cant think]

That Derasa is growing like MAD! WOW!

It’s gotten to the point he’s growing into the glass wall and I can’t move him without damaging his byssal threads.

 

[ReeferHD]

all of the above

 

[KrisReef]

So many ways to learn, but there's nothing outside of the trials and tribulations of our own reefs that teach us more than anything.

For 6 months I've watched my 4 year old 340 gallon reef deteriorate. I have so much filtration and was considering throwing money at more. UV, or sulfur denitrator, or 100 gallon water changes every week, and so much more. I finally took a step back and said, when did things deteriorate, once I started thinking about all the changes made, I realized 2 things happened at the same time as root cause:

1. I reduced my vodka dosing because things were going well.
2. I made a coral food heavy batch of home made food.

This lead to a fun bell curve of a chart on my apex of my nitrates rising by 3-10 points per week over the last 16-20 weeks. Starting at 11 and, then 14, then 20, then so on. Just kep skyrocketing until they finally hit 65 and things in my tank were looking worse and worse. I lost two corals that I paid a lot for. I was pulling my hair out as to why my nitrates continued to rise.

Then, I increased my vodka dosing, changed the food I was feeding. Now I'm watching both nitrates and phosphates fall week to week. Ever so gradually so as to not anger the coral gods anymore than they are.

Sometimes it's the simple things. Spend a $1000 for the next new gadget or assess one's current habbits and evaluate each step, each change, to realize the answer is far simpler than one realizes. My corals are back to growing, looking great, coloring back up and things are looking healthy now. Much more than a month ago! And all I spent? Was an extra $12 on a one extra bottle of vodka. . . . I didn't even drink any. . .

Sometimes, in the need to learn something new all the time, we need to go back to basics and remember the basic cycles that we learned when first starting out!

I think this answer is a very valuable reminder that sometimes technology can cloud a persons vision so they miss the corals in the Bryopsis fronds. Thanks for posting, I'm going to my closet and pouring myself a stiff vodka dose to begin my own recovery!

PS: If you find you really want to spend money on some technology to fix this issue, I have just the thing to sell you for my own rediculous profit motives and no benefit to you except the joy of knowning you are trying to buy the best reef money can purchase! This offer may break some selling rules on here, so let me add that this offer isn't valid in the United States.

 

[Crofty]

As a new reefer, one thing I've learned is you need multiple sources of knowledge. There's so much variability and opinion out there you have to weigh info against the sources, merge it together, and confirm through 'experimenting' by implementing in your own system

Single source info is a huge pitfall to long term success in my opinion. But its tempting to just go with the easiest/most accessible. I still need to give podcasts and magazines a try.

 

[death-by-reef]

I would like to give a shout-out to the saltwater aquarium radio podcast it’s the best of the best
Jeff if ur reading this ur the best

 

[Big G]

As a new reefer, one thing I've learned is you need multiple sources of knowledge. There's so much variability and opinion out there you have to weigh info against the sources, merge it together, and confirm through 'experimenting' by implementing in your own system

Single source info is a huge pitfall to long term success in my opinion. But its tempting to just go with the easiest/most accessible. I still need to give podcasts and magazines a try.

Here's a good one: https://www.tfhmagazine.com/articles/saltwater

 

[Eienna]

I don't bother with books because all the ones I've seen are so old I doubt their usefulness. I do *enjoy* books, though, so suggestions are welcome. I do all the other stuff, though I haven't subbed to a magazine in forever.

 

[Eienna]

Voted all with the exception of YouTube and podcast for obvious reasons. (Most needs to be filtered)
as “other” I find good information on scientific papers and article’s

I find that it's my best source, provided I am particular about who I listen to.

 

[glency]

Im only a year and a half into this hobby but I’m a fast learner and a sponge for information. Once I get into something, it’s all-in. Reading forums, books, watching videos, and listening to podcasts helped me. My advancement slowed with the passing of Jake of Reef Therapy. Listening to him and Mark helped me learn so much and gain so much reef IQ, especially about skimmers

 

[TWYOUNG]

Reef2Reef and Youtube have been great resource for me.

I just got back into the hobby last year after being out for 8 years. So much have changed.

Just means, I have so much to catch up on.

Although I've maintained a sw fish tank at all times I was away from reefkeeping for 25 years! DEFINITELY some changes there lol!

 

[54Dutchman]

I chose other among some of the other choices - My clear path information (no bias or guessing) has been my lfs owner. Hard to beat a good mentor.