Reefers Good-Bad-and the Ugly

Davesgt · Jan 27, 2014

Ive been thinking about this lovely hobby we have and the people it brings us to on a daily basis. Experiences are what sometimes makes and breaks us with others. I want to know what kind of experiences you have had with others? are they friendly/helpful, or have you ran into the not so pleasant experiences? I have ran into many people in this hobby that have been great to deal with, but ive ran into some that make you think twice about sharing your coral or equipment with. I use to be a SPS guy so to speak but had a bad incident where I had a grandparent whos health went down hill rapidly, and my time was spent mostly with them. Well to make a long story short tank got neglected but nothing major and I had a equipment failure and it was catastrophic! Lost 3/4 of my sps except some montis and a few hearty acros. After that I tried to put the collection back together and well when I reached out everyone fled and lost my number lol. Lets hear your good or bad stories about this community.

MrDJeep123 · Jan 27, 2014

I overheard a son talking his mom into buying him an Achilles tang just after his other fish died at the fins of vicious damsels. Not to mention their water quality was horrid. I seen their water test outcome. I didn't need to see the color chart to know how crappy the water was. I went over to the mom and explained the test parameters. I then explained to her why she shouldn't buy the tang. She understood and thanked me for the help. They left with new jugs of water for water changes and no tang. LFS owner wasn't exactly pleased and neither was the little boy.

Davesgt · Jan 27, 2014

That little piece of helpful info saved a fish so that was an awesome score. Ive had people call about a coral add I ran once and insist that they had their tank in coral ready shape to later find out in the conversation that they had chiclids and that they were saltwater because the add aquarium salt. When I broke it down for them they got mad and hung up lol True story!

MrDJeep123 said:
I overheard a son talking his mom into buying him an Achilles tang just after his other fish died at the fins of vicious damsels. Not to mention their water quality was horrid. I seen their water test outcome. I didn't need to see the color chart to know how crappy the water was. I went over to the mom and explained the test parameters. I then explained to her why she shouldn't buy the tang. She understood and thanked me for the help. They left with new jugs of water for water changes and no tang. LFS owner wasn't exactly pleased and neither was the little boy.

SeahorseKeeper · Jan 27, 2014

When Hurricane Sandy hit, I really saw how my local reef club pulled together to help members in need. It really was inspiring. People were offering to loan generators to people in need along with other equipment. I also saw numerous members offering up frags to help others when the time came.

MrDJeep123 · Jan 27, 2014

SeahorseKeeper said:
When Hurricane Sandy hit, I really saw how my local reef club pulled together to help members in need. It really was inspiring. People were offering to loan generators to people in need along with other equipment. I also saw numerous members offering up frags to help others when the time came.

This is awesome!

MrDJeep123 · Jan 27, 2014

Davesgt said:
That little piece of helpful info saved a fish so that was an awesome score. Ive had people call about a coral add I ran once and insist that they had their tank in coral ready shape to later find out in the conversation that they had chiclids and that they were saltwater because the add aquarium salt. When I broke it down for them they got mad and hung up lol True story!

Lol! I've come across similar thought patterns amongst our locals.

Davesgt · Jan 27, 2014

This is Amazing! I don't have a lot of tanks anymore but im always willing to frag to help a reefer rather its free, trade, or a good deal. Love hearing stories of people coming together to help each other.

SeahorseKeeper said:
When Hurricane Sandy hit, I really saw how my local reef club pulled together to help members in need. It really was inspiring. People were offering to loan generators to people in need along with other equipment. I also saw numerous members offering up frags to help others when the time came.

Small triggers · Jan 27, 2014

We had a large derecho come through last summer...everyone really offered help to those of us that lost power
There have definitely been situations when I've offered free frags and someone with a big tank and lots of corals asked for them...
I've also sold good equipment to have the buyer come back 2 months later and say it was broken when they bought it...ummmm no...

Davesgt · Jan 27, 2014

Ive offered free frags of corals but a lot of the time the people who will respond is the ones who have tank that are not capable of keeping the coral rather it be not enough light or that's just been setup. To me its hard to sentence a frag to death after nurturing it for months LOL

Small triggers said:
We had a large derecho come through last summer...everyone really offered help to those of us that lost power
There have definitely been situations when I've offered free frags and someone with a big tank and lots of corals asked for them...
I've also sold good equipment to have the buyer come back 2 months later and say it was broken when they bought it...ummmm no...

BigRedSquid · Jan 27, 2014

I was at petco just looking around and a older retired couple asked me what kind of fish they were looking at.(dog faced puffer) They proceeded to tell me they just retired and where looking to start of a fish tank and weren't sure if they wanted fresh or saltwater. I directed to a LFS that they can help and from my understanding they went salt and went big

JMSKI333 · Jan 27, 2014

One time my buddy's dad's float switch got stuck and his tank got topped off with a ton of kalkwasser. He came to me at like 10pm for some saltwater (he was out of salt). I happened to have a 55 gallon can mixed, heated and ready to go. After giving him 20+ gallons of water he was able to get things under control on his end. In return, a few days later he gave me a $35 gift certificate to our LFS. I thought that was pretty cool of him.

Davesgt · Jan 29, 2014

JMSKI333 said:
One time my buddy's dad's float switch got stuck and his tank got topped off with a ton of kalkwasser. He came to me at like 10pm for some saltwater (he was out of salt). I happened to have a 55 gallon can mixed, heated and ready to go. After giving him 20+ gallons of water he was able to get things under control on his end. In return, a few days later he gave me a $35 gift certificate to our LFS. I thought that was pretty cool of him.

there's still good people out there glad to see you helped a brother in need

Alarm777 · Jan 29, 2014

I had posted my 75 gallon saltwater tank for sale. A local reefer came down to look at the tank and loved it, I told him that I was going to refurbish a 135 that I was going to buy. after about a 45 min conversation with him he offered to give me frags off his coral for free just to help me get started with my reef tank. I thanked him for it and we keep in touch and talk all the time now.

Davesgt · Jan 29, 2014

That's what I love to hear.

Eienna · Jan 29, 2014

Where do I start? I could swear there were superheroes in this hobby XD

Tuna_bullet gave me a used 100g acrylic tank and helped me get the plumbing right ♡ he also gave me a couple filter socks to go with it. I'm going to buy a couple of his zoas at MAX and hopefully bring him a nice little frag of my leptastrea for all the help!

Dodgerblew has offered to send me some rasta zoas when I'm ready ♡ my favorite zoas of all time! I want to do something in return, but I dunno what yet.

Even the UC owner (sorry...name escapes me right now) says Santa may be coming with a couple frags for me ♡ I'm gonna try to save up for a copy of the book he wants to write...and to buy some UC corals too!

And I didn't ask them for any of it!!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

I've also gotten a lot of helpful info from the people on the forum here and from those notable reefers who take the time and effort to make all those youtube videos!

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I've only really run into one that I wish I hadn't...and yet, it was still good for me in terms of rather painful experience. Never buy a tank, acrylic or otherwise, without inspecting the braces. I sank $400 into one only to find out the top center brace was broken clear through (and warped a little, possibly by heat - he said he used to use halides). It bowed so badly upon filling that we were advised by experts to empty it before it emptied itself, because it was definitely going to go. Odd thing is, at his house I hadn't seen such bowing - just crazing - and he said (after I handed the money over and the lid was lifted >.<) that it had been like that for a few years and was fine. I don't know. Maybe it was. Sure wasn't by the time I got it home, though.

I didn't ask for a refund when I found out...and actually I'm kind of glad I didn't, because I got at least my money's worth in rock (aiptasia & phosphate city, but hey), sand, and the sump.

Davesgt · Jan 29, 2014

Awesome! im glad that you've had such great experiences. Oh yea Scott from UC is amazing, hes has hooked me up in the past also.

Eienna said:
Where do I start? I could swear there were superheroes in this hobby XD

Tuna_bullet gave me a used 100g acrylic tank and helped me get the plumbing right ♡ he also gave me a couple filter socks to go with it. I'm going to buy a couple of his zoas at MAX and hopefully bring him a nice little frag of my leptastrea for all the help!

Dodgerblew has offered to send me some rasta zoas when I'm ready ♡ my favorite zoas of all time! I want to do something in return, but I dunno what yet.

Even the UC owner (sorry...name escapes me right now) says Santa may be coming with a couple frags for me ♡ I'm gonna try to save up for a copy of the book he wants to write...and to buy some UC corals too!

And I didn't ask them for any of it!!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

I've also gotten a lot of helpful info from the people on the forum here and from those notable reefers who take the time and effort to make all those youtube videos!

----------------

I've only really run into one that I wish I hadn't...and yet, it was still good for me in terms of rather painful experience. Never buy a tank, acrylic or otherwise, without inspecting the braces. I sank $400 into one only to find out the top center brace was broken clear through (and warped a little, possibly by heat - he said he used to use halides). It bowed so badly upon filling that we were advised by experts to empty it before it emptied itself, because it was definitely going to go. Odd thing is, at his house I hadn't seen such bowing - just crazing - and he said (after I handed the money over and the lid was lifted >.<) that it had been like that for a few years and was fine. I don't know. Maybe it was. Sure wasn't by the time I got it home, though.

I didn't ask for a refund when I found out...and actually I'm kind of glad I didn't, because I got at least my money's worth in rock (aiptasia & phosphate city, but hey), sand, and the sump.

Davesgt · Jan 29, 2014

I hate to rant on but I was looking on facebook at some of the aquarium forums and I cant help to see a lot of negative talk among reefers bashing others aquariums, example, bashing what kind of clownfish one has or what corals they collect, that one has a sand bed and one doesn't! This hobby is all about unique taste! why have n aquarium if everyone will have the same, you could just go visit someone and get you aquarium fix if they are all the same. Im all about going and seeing tanks different than mine!

retiredsailor · Dec 2, 2014

I'm quite late to this thread but I think it's still important to contribute. I've come across three reefers who have left an impression. The first two are somewhat negative and I'll leave it at that.
The most favorable interaction I had was with R2R member skinz78 which actually brought me to tears. I had just joined the site and my intro post mentioned how I was going through treatment for cancer and started the tank to give me something pretty to watch while I was too weak to get off the couch. Shortly after posting he sent me a message offering free zoas to make the tank even prettier. Unfortunately I had to decline but just the offer really meant a lot to me. I'm not used to people being kind for no reason. When it does happen it tends to leave a very strong impression.

s2nhle · Dec 2, 2014

I traded my 60g acrylic frag tank for SPS from the local reefer. He brought me several bag of different SPS corals. Unfortunately, since it was too cold outside so he poured hot water in the cooler to keep corals warm, the hot temperature killed of the corals. he then offered me to come to his house and pick whatever I wanted in his 210g tank. Every now and then, I keep offer me more corals for free. Of course, I refused corals but keep our friendship going.