Reef Hobbyist Advice and Misconceptions Through the Years.

jimk60 · Jul 23, 2022

Back in he 1980s in my first salt water fish tank I had all these little white dots moving around on the glass. Told the guy at the fish store and he promptly sold me something to get rid of them and it did. Wasn't till years later that I realized I killed all my pods!

Curtswearing · Jul 25, 2022

I've been doing this for 37 years at this point. Back then, Marine Biologists rolled their eyes at us when we started keeping corals...because there was NO WAY ON EARTH we would ever be able to keep them alive! We apparently proved them wrong and many of our fragging techniques which hobbyists designed for the purpose of thermos trading are now being used by Marine Biologists and other ecology-minded people. In effect, the shoe went to the other foot. Regardless, while I can't speak about other stores in my location, I work on Saturdays for the employee discount. If I added up the years of experience of all of the employees, it's going to add up to many, many years. We won't sell fish, corals, nor other inverts for inappropriate tanks. While most of the reason is because we are also hobbyists, it also benefits the store. If someone buys something and it is immediately killed, or kills something else, and we told them it was a fine addition, they no longer trust us. Repeat customers are the bread and butter of a LFS.

Gatorpa · Aug 6, 2022

Here’s one: nitrate and phosphate is terrible for a reef tank.
Now many guys dose it daily.

Ashish Patel · Aug 15, 2022

I feel the worst misconception is buying Dry rock labeled as liverock and thinking they can get natural ecosystem with bottled bacteria! We absolutely need to seed our tanks with established LR (at minimum with sponges, fan worms, coralline).

-Mostly all the bottled solutions are an issue for me. They seem to just be playing mother nature, Chemiclean, Vibrant, etc!. If its not a trace element that I know is depleted, its not going in my tank. I remember for 10 years in my FOWLR tank, i dosed kent essential elements bc someone told me Protein skimmers remove trace elements.

-You have to setup a QT - otherwise your not a good reefer. Seriously, i heard this for 20 years when I didn't have a QT. Like how is someone new thats barely able to succeed in a display tank going to have the experience to succeed in a sterile QT tank! They should just buy QT stuff or from a reputable source.

- LED doesnt grow corals

- I absolutely hate Biopellet reactors (very risky), I hate GFO (stop overstocking your tanks, get rid of sand, increase flow, get a Refugium), Nopox, all that stuff. Phosphates are good for our corals! I must admit I am a big Chemipure fanboy - best carbon by a mile and worth the high price.

Trident method - pushes that you can avoid water changes with their system, NO one can avoid doing waterchanges, we can just prolong them long time,

Ultimately, I stick with a proven method as the Berlin method, (protein skimmer, rock, flow, refugium, and Kalkwasser). These method are natural as can be and less prone to crashes. i think the one thing that doesnt get pushed enough is cleaning pumps or propeller pumps. The slime that forms on our pumps reduces flow so quickly that a point should be made to change them monthly or minimum every 6 months. However, most ppl dont remove for cleaning for years at a time. This itself will ensure nutrients stay in check and things are stable long term.

gbru316 · Aug 15, 2022

Ashish Patel said:
I feel the worst misconception is buying Dry rock labeled as liverock and thinking they can get natural ecosystem with bottled bacteria! We absolutely need to seed our tanks with established LR (at minimum with sponges, fan worms, coralline).

I'd argue that thinking that we can perfectly replicate mother nature in closed systems with orders of magnitude less space for flora/fauna/ecological processes is a misconception, in and of itself. And that necessitates some artificial methods not found in nature (for example, the ocean isn't a bare bottom). But that's just me.

And as this thread illustrates -- we learn more about different paths to success every day. What was once foolhardy is now accepted as gospel. What was once "cutting edge" is now obsolete (I mean, does anyone use the Jaubert method anymore?)

In the end, we're all searching for a system that works for us. But even the best solutions are merely going to be "good enough" when compared to their natural environment.

Ashish Patel · Aug 15, 2022

gbru316 said:
I'd argue that thinking that we can perfectly replicate mother nature in closed systems with orders of magnitude less space for flora/fauna/ecological processes is a misconception, in and of itself. And that necessitates some artificial methods not found in nature (for example, the ocean isn't a bare bottom). But that's just me.

And as this thread illustrates -- we learn more about different paths to success every day. What was once foolhardy is now accepted as gospel. What was once "cutting edge" is now obsolete (I mean, does anyone use the Jaubert method anymore?)

In the end, we're all searching for a system that works for us. But even the best solutions are merely going to be "good enough" when compared to their natural environment.

Not possible but we can get pretty close to natures processes. I've been in the hobby for a long time so early on I was overwhelmed with the methods and products that I honestly thought everything was needed to have a thriving reef. I guess with internet we learn I was not the only fool back in the 90s and we all made the same mistakes.

However, i just realized that basic common sense, patients, and developing an eye are the greatest asset any hobby I think if there was a way to bottle sponges it would be done but these organisms are like a natures carbon IME, they keep the tank crystal clear and god only knows how much other things they hold that are vital to our ecosystem. I honestly feel hair algae is another organism that is vital. -so long as its been eaten first. Both don't get nearly as much talk bc it like everything else has to make business sense.

I will say that I believe Ecotech marine and Bulk reef supply are the best companies in the hobby. There mission seems to be not chasing money and making good products. BRS its obvious Ryan is a hobbyist first. Ecotech has been around for years and has only 4 products. Id also put Coralvue in the mix, they make outstanding products that help us and BRS never shares misinformation to sell products.