Share your NOOB experience and WIN a TUNZE Reefpack 250!

[bigkai]

When I first got started buying coral I got 5 leather frags. They were doing great realy growing good. I had to go out of town and my wife calls me tells me she got a realy cool star fish well when I got home all my coral was gone and come to find out my wife had bought a chocolate chip star fish and they love to eat soft coral. She told me that the guy at the LFS told her it was reef safe.

 

[Maveric30]

ive had couple things go wrong on my 1st reef tank. as far as equipment goes... ive purchase some of the cheapest things i could get. an oddysea psk-75 and a 30 dollar uv sterilizer. the psk kept breaking down. and the only the thing the sterilizer did was blow massive amounts of bubbles out of the return line. scraped both of those. the air conditiong unit broke down for the 2nd floor of my house where my tank is... while i was working i called home and had my mom put a larger freezer pack in a ziplock back and put it in my sump to keep the water as cool as possible...i come home to find that the bad had blocked an overflow part in my sump and a couple gallons was soaked in the carpet.as far as live stock, ive had to replace 5 dimond gobys. the first one i had lasted the longest, however, he eventually went missing. one day i was chanign my filter sock and guess what i found....yea, true story. he was in my filter sock, no idea how. as for the rest of them i will say they dry up quickly when they're laying on your carpet. my current one is going strong and my tank is covered. and most recently i was sitting in front of my tank doing my usual water tests. i had my thumb on top of a test tube and started shaking it to mix up the calcium testing chemicals when the tube popped out to my grip and droped straight into my sump. im still praying nothing will come of it.

 

[CrabDragon]

I bought a ReefKeeper Elite w/net module...1 yr ago..and I've never had a reef tank.


I will have one soon though! Finally! After 3 1/2 yrs of waiting, i have an awesome job that will let me go reef crazy...once i get paid lol

 

[Chameleon]

when does this thread end. I didnt see it in the rules...

 

[Tropboi561]

So when I put my 90g together I used a metal clamp on my return pump in the sump. Everything was good for I'll say the first 8 months. All the corals were looking great and growing. Then it started, everything started going south. My corals were dying and algae was growing like crazy. So I had to start cleaning out the tank. Oh yeah I lost a couple of fish too. I didn't know what was the problem, till one of the members from my local club came by the house and saw the problem. I don't think of looking there and I should of known that was the problem. So till this day I'm working on getting my tank back to its prime. That's my story.

 

[GuyWalker1219]

Sent from my Android phone Via Tapatalk

 

[Seasonedreefer]

My unforgettable noob experience was not knowing you had to top your tank off using freshwater.

 

[Tom@HaslettMI]

when does this thread end. I didnt see it in the rules...

I was wondering the same thing.

Tom

 

[alexingalls09]

I am guessing feb 1st since it is a january prize

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app

 

[Elysium]

I believe it is 30 days from the start of the contest. So February 4th.

 

[mgovernali]

Went to the local petstore to start a small freshwater tank. The guy at the store convinced me to go saltwater and sold me a 20 gallon with a biowheel filter and pc light. 4 boxes of ready made salt water, gravel and plastic plants and corals. Livestock was a pair of clowns and a copper butterfly. Everything died within weeks and red slime covered everything. It wasnt until I started to read online and go to the Local LFS that I realized I had been told everything wrong from the start. Live and learn.

 

[Steveowhits]

I have read many funny/sad stories. Great thread, bump to all.

 

[GHill762]

With my first reef tank years ago, I used a razor blade to scrape the algae off an acrylic tank. Needless to say I didn't look at the tank till I was finished and the tank was then slated for a sump.

Ouch..

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app

 

[sweat044]

When the water would get low, I would top off with saltwater. One day I tested and the hydrometer was off the charts. Many of the fish lived. I have since learned my lesson.

 

[dennis5546]

In 2009 I retired from the Navy with 25 years of service. I have always had fresh water fish but with my new job as a defense contractor, I decided to sell my 72 gallon bow front tank. I sold the tank on craigslist and did not have a buyer for the fish. My wife volunteered to bring the fish to the local Fish Store and maybe get store credit towards dog or cat food. 2 hours later my wife came back, all excited and informed me, she bought some Saltwater fish. I was a little confused since I just sold my tank with equipment and why would someone buy Saltwater fish with no tank. I had not even heard of reef tanks so I had a big learning curve ahead of me. The next day I went online to find a used Saltwater tank that was already setup with everything I needed including live rock with blue mushrooms and a large leather. I told the seller my situation and my limited knowledge of reefing. He filled my head with reefing knowledge, just enough to make me dangerous. I ended up with a used 75-gallon tanks. 3 years later, I have upgraded everything including the tank to a 150 tall and a 29-gallon Biocube. I have my wife to thank for getting into reefing though at times she hates the money I put into the hobby.

 

[thejoshdavis]

I once thought that copepods were pests and signs of a very dirty tank.

 

[Flyride95]

I once thought that copepods were pests and signs of a very dirty tank.

lol I've though the same thing.

 

[theevilsock]

so far my biggest noob mistake was when I was refilling my RO/DI bucket late at night, i fell asleep...woke up the next morning to a garage full of water. My wife was not pleased...

 

[dvo247]

When I was first starting out I thought if I timed it well enough, I could refill my salt tank straight from the tap with a hose and add salt as I was going. Also, turns our that if you dont acclimate Cowfish for a long, long time and introduce them slowly with none active fish they will release a toxin and kill everything in your tank including its self.

 

[ReddyW]

so far my biggest noob mistake was when I was refilling my RO/DI bucket late at night, i fell asleep...woke up the next morning to a garage full of water. My wife was not pleased...

This, four times!

The other noob mistake was listening to the LFS about using crushed coral. Detritus trap and super ugly. Combine that with an API phosphate test and hello hair algae. I wish I had pictures of how bad it got.

With new substrate and a ULR phosphorus checker I'm algae free.