- Joined
- Nov 23, 2006
- Messages
- 13,377
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- Los Angeles
- What state or country do you live in
- California
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." - Thomas Edison
After a lifetime in the hobby, I can occasionally reflect back on some of the great successes that I’ve had...and on some of the many, many failures that I’ve been involved with! Failures aren’t that bad, really. In fact, their pretty darned helpful...As the sayings goes, “Nothing is ever wasted- it can always serve as an example of what NOT to do!”
I was thinking about my worst-ever reefing disasters, and, fortunately, there have not been all that many...However, the ones I have had have been notable...and educational!
My biggest mistakes came out of my own arrogance, really.
For example, I was going to be the ONE reefer to keep several Centropyge angels in his reef, including a Lemonpeel, Vrolicki, Coral Beauty, Flame Angel, and Bicolor! I really thought I could pull this off in a large reef with specialized aquascaping... Not only did this end with some predictable results (a lot of nice LPS corals getting snacked on), it resulted in 5 very ticked-off, very beaten up dwarf angels! Stupid...For some reason, I really thought that my “methodology” would pay off and that it could work...WRONG.
But hey. I OWN it.
Or the time I tried to build my own protein skimmer...with a bad concept and cheap materials. Yeah, it didn’t work, and the resulting leaks and lack of functionality reflected my DIY skills! It was a good thought, but poor on the execution side. Completely unlike the Angelfish fiasco, which was a “lose-lose” proposition!
Or time I tried to make a continuous-feed brine shrimp hatcher...Do you know how LONG it takes to get brine shrimp eggs out of the water column in your reef? Long time. Enough said.
However, failing- and I mean this in the most literal sense- can actually be beneficial in so many ways, especially if you share your failures publicly. Right now, somewhere out in Reef-land, there is another reefer contemplating the same disaster-inevitable idea you did...
So imagine, for a moment, if you do a quick “confessional” here about your biggest reefing screw up, and he or she stumbles on it, and decides NOT to recreate your disaster. Think of the savings in money, frustration, and innocent animals’ lives...It’s all good. Failure makes you a more successful reefer- IF you learn from the mistake, and IF you share it with others!
So, don’t hide your failures. Trumpet them from the highest mountain. Run around, scream, share, yell at people if you must...But tell ‘em that you screwed something up...Tell them how, why, and what it was that you did to screw it up! Then laugh about it and feel better!
I’m working on a piece on the many screw-ups we’ve made here at UC. It’s actually kind of funny...Marketing blasphemy, you say? No. Not at all. Rather, it’s a living embodiment of practicing what we preach...We will all benefit from being human, being honest, and getting through our trials and tribulations in reefing together. We all have more to gain than to lose from sharing. Trust me.
So now, it’s confession time...What’s the biggest screwup- the worst mistake- that you’ve made in reefkeeping. Don’t be shy. Own it. Share it. Your failure will lead to others succeeding...so it wasn’t really a failure after all, right?
Right!
Stay Wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
After a lifetime in the hobby, I can occasionally reflect back on some of the great successes that I’ve had...and on some of the many, many failures that I’ve been involved with! Failures aren’t that bad, really. In fact, their pretty darned helpful...As the sayings goes, “Nothing is ever wasted- it can always serve as an example of what NOT to do!”
I was thinking about my worst-ever reefing disasters, and, fortunately, there have not been all that many...However, the ones I have had have been notable...and educational!
My biggest mistakes came out of my own arrogance, really.
For example, I was going to be the ONE reefer to keep several Centropyge angels in his reef, including a Lemonpeel, Vrolicki, Coral Beauty, Flame Angel, and Bicolor! I really thought I could pull this off in a large reef with specialized aquascaping... Not only did this end with some predictable results (a lot of nice LPS corals getting snacked on), it resulted in 5 very ticked-off, very beaten up dwarf angels! Stupid...For some reason, I really thought that my “methodology” would pay off and that it could work...WRONG.
But hey. I OWN it.
Or the time I tried to build my own protein skimmer...with a bad concept and cheap materials. Yeah, it didn’t work, and the resulting leaks and lack of functionality reflected my DIY skills! It was a good thought, but poor on the execution side. Completely unlike the Angelfish fiasco, which was a “lose-lose” proposition!
Or time I tried to make a continuous-feed brine shrimp hatcher...Do you know how LONG it takes to get brine shrimp eggs out of the water column in your reef? Long time. Enough said.
However, failing- and I mean this in the most literal sense- can actually be beneficial in so many ways, especially if you share your failures publicly. Right now, somewhere out in Reef-land, there is another reefer contemplating the same disaster-inevitable idea you did...
So imagine, for a moment, if you do a quick “confessional” here about your biggest reefing screw up, and he or she stumbles on it, and decides NOT to recreate your disaster. Think of the savings in money, frustration, and innocent animals’ lives...It’s all good. Failure makes you a more successful reefer- IF you learn from the mistake, and IF you share it with others!
So, don’t hide your failures. Trumpet them from the highest mountain. Run around, scream, share, yell at people if you must...But tell ‘em that you screwed something up...Tell them how, why, and what it was that you did to screw it up! Then laugh about it and feel better!
I’m working on a piece on the many screw-ups we’ve made here at UC. It’s actually kind of funny...Marketing blasphemy, you say? No. Not at all. Rather, it’s a living embodiment of practicing what we preach...We will all benefit from being human, being honest, and getting through our trials and tribulations in reefing together. We all have more to gain than to lose from sharing. Trust me.
So now, it’s confession time...What’s the biggest screwup- the worst mistake- that you’ve made in reefkeeping. Don’t be shy. Own it. Share it. Your failure will lead to others succeeding...so it wasn’t really a failure after all, right?
Right!
Stay Wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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