Steve27
Community Member
One year in and still really enjoying it. Thought I would share some tips and experience to help anyone interested. I am by no means an expert and certainly realize there are tons of different ways to be successful in this hobby.
1. Have a plan and stick to it. Have an idea about what fish and coral if any you want, set yourself up for maintaing that.
2. Take things slow. Things slowly change/grow in this hobby, don't rush anything or make rash decisions on a whim. Add fish and corals slowly in the beginning.
3. I've had minimal algae issues, which I attribute to mixing dry and live rock, as well as cycling them together for a few months prior to adding into my tank. I feel that getting as much biodiversity/bacteria in the tank from the get go really helped minimize algae and cyano issues. Live rock can certainly bring unwanted hitchhikers, but I feel the pros outweigh the cons.
4. Research fish purchases and buy from trusted vendors if you don't quarantine yourself.
5. Buy quality equipment from the start. It's better than buying junk and having to repurchase quality in a few months.
6. Start with minimal equipment and learn husbandry first. Don't purchase fancy controllers, automators, dosers, reactors, right off the bat. Start with good pumps, protein skimmer, salinity monitor, test kits and learn how to properly measure things and what your tank needs are prior to trying to automate everything.
7. Keep up with maintainenece. Water changes, vacuuming sand, blowing off debris, scraping algae off glass, etc. Make sure you have the time to do these when you plan the type of tank and set up you want.
Just some thoughts and tidbits that can hopefully help some folks.
Happy reefing.
1. Have a plan and stick to it. Have an idea about what fish and coral if any you want, set yourself up for maintaing that.
2. Take things slow. Things slowly change/grow in this hobby, don't rush anything or make rash decisions on a whim. Add fish and corals slowly in the beginning.
3. I've had minimal algae issues, which I attribute to mixing dry and live rock, as well as cycling them together for a few months prior to adding into my tank. I feel that getting as much biodiversity/bacteria in the tank from the get go really helped minimize algae and cyano issues. Live rock can certainly bring unwanted hitchhikers, but I feel the pros outweigh the cons.
4. Research fish purchases and buy from trusted vendors if you don't quarantine yourself.
5. Buy quality equipment from the start. It's better than buying junk and having to repurchase quality in a few months.
6. Start with minimal equipment and learn husbandry first. Don't purchase fancy controllers, automators, dosers, reactors, right off the bat. Start with good pumps, protein skimmer, salinity monitor, test kits and learn how to properly measure things and what your tank needs are prior to trying to automate everything.
7. Keep up with maintainenece. Water changes, vacuuming sand, blowing off debris, scraping algae off glass, etc. Make sure you have the time to do these when you plan the type of tank and set up you want.
Just some thoughts and tidbits that can hopefully help some folks.
Happy reefing.
