The WORST advice EVER!!!!

[Belgian Anthias]

Removing my bio-filter because it produces nitrate.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with this. When I started I had two QT tanks setup and was diligent about the process. During the QT process I lost many fish for various reasons, the rarest being disease. Then I started reading Paul B's methods more and more. My wife and I are very outdoorsy and personally I don't keep antibacterial soap in the house because I believe our immune systems need to be worked out in order to be healthy. The fact that I believe that and was trying to keep my fish tank sterile from any disease really doesn't make sense. Since then I have changed methods and no longer QT fish unless I believe they are fighting a nasty cold when I first get them. Since changing practices I have lost one fish and it was not due to disease but rather my purple tang being the snot she is and harassing him to death. When I bring corals home I do dip them in Coral RX which saved me from coral eating nudibranch last week. Long story short in my experience the worst advice I got was try to run a sterile tank.

I actually followed this method too (ich maintenance w/ quality diet), since every fish I quarantined died within 2 weeks, and I figured that reducing stress by putting them in the DT would increase their odds of survival. This worked short-term until I added a fish that had a nasty bacterial infection--my tank was wiped out within 4 days So I'm curious as to what disease maintenance methods you employ (if any), what is the age of your system (mine is 6 months), and where you purchase your fish.

I have begun QTing my fish and have had good success buying them off LADD or from 1 LFS; with any other place, the fish aren't as healthy and don't survive.

EDIT: Sorry if derailing the thread, if so please PM me. Thanks!

Sorry about going off on a tangent, but.....I have done it both ways, and not quarantining is definitely easier, but fraught with many issues. A few points to clarify. Our tanks are poor substitutes for the natural environment. If our fish contract amyloodinium ocellatum(velvet) and/or cryptocaryon(ich) in the wild, after a few days the parasite falls off and the fish goes on its way. In our closed systems we have created an environment that gives the parasites an advantage. The fish cannot swim away, and with each life cycle the parasite increases in number. One could argue that by placing the fish in multiple isolated systems (e.g quarantine tanks) you are more closely replicating their natural ability to swim away. Quarantine tanks take more time, energy, and resources than a display tank IMHO. If done correctly you can have better survival rates then the 'plop and drop' approach to adding fish. Definitely not easy or fun, but I cannot imagine adding fish without some form of a quarantine tank.

 

[Teri NewbieReefer]

The reason I have 'newbiereefer' as part of my R2R name is that no matter how long you are in the hobby, there is always something new... so I know to do some research before implementing advice.
That said, the worst advice I've heard is 'this bottle will instantly cycle your tank for you'... with the LFS not even knowing what type/size tank I was going to do.

 

[rkpetersen]

Send them to me

Come and get mine before they cover every available rock surface. ;Shifty
Definitely one hitchhiker that I could have done without.

 

[sfin52]

Come and get mine before they cover every available rock surface. ;Shifty
Definitely one hitchhiker that I could have done without.

i would love too but your about a 36 hour drive. I dont thank I could do that in a weekend. Maybe we could meet half way.

 

[Dodgersallday]

Worst advice I hear all the time is when people say keeping a legitimate reef tank is a hobby. Well folks, it’s not hobby. We participate in a luxury activity!!!!!

 

[sfin52]

Worst advice I hear all the time is when people say keeping a legitimate reef tank is a hobby. Well folks, it’s not hobby. We participate in a luxury activity!!!!!

what's the difference.

 

[johnalicia]

blue spotted puffer is reef safe

 

[brandon429]

the bandwagon should advise in this thread he needs to certainly self invade with algae because you will stay around until it goes away

Tell him to store up a bunch of waste in the sandbed as well.


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/gha-making-a-comeback.616880/

Vs post some theories and likes, make action in a work thread where someone doesn't want to lose stuff.

I'll take the side of clean your stuff, allow no uglies ever


Can guarantee he will not lose that tank with our method there's no room for tank loss in how we work. If prior detractors think allowing the early gha phase is good for him, post your guarantee in the work thread and we track the predictions vs outcome.

 

[Ross B Reef'n]

LFS: we've never had this tribal blenny in before. He's really cool, and 100% reef safe.

Killed all my frogspawns, one by one, until I stayed up all night to catch him in the act. Had to tear down my entire tank to get him out.

Purple with green tips, green with purple tips, pink and purple, walling, octopus frogspawns... all gone

 

[Oliver d]

It is normal to have ich in your tank just let it and will pass like the ugly phase of your tank.Advice given to me by a employ at a LFS in Dubai

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Kidding right???

I could use some too I do not know where to get them though.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Come and get mine before they cover every available rock surface. ;Shifty
Definitely one hitchhiker that I could have done without.

Where can I get some?

 

[BryanD]

From a 40,000ft perspective.... I would say the WORST advice is....

.... from posters who think successful reefing is a matter of SCIENCE

I think there are thousand of tiny factors that make up a mature tank. You could have two identical tanks side-by-side, and tankA grows SPS like crazy and tankB SPS recedes and dies....even though the tanks are IDENTICAL.

I see far tooooooo much ART and tiny hidden husbandry skills beat out SCIENCE every time.

So when I read a poster who says, "Scientifically you should do steps 1, 2, 3, 4" .... its probably 75% great advice, 25% pure luck to get it CORRECT in your own tank.



.

Yes. YES, it is science. Every second of every day of your reef tank's existence IS science. Your "hidden husbandry skills" IS science. There is NO art involved in keeping an aquarium. SMH ....

 

[MombasaLionfish]

IMO I love science and to me most of it is science however there is a lot of art as well.

 

[4FordFamily]

Have kids they said. It will be fun, they said.

 

[Rakie]

Here's the worst advice I've ever heard, from an LFS...

Customer: My tank is growing algae

LFS: Scrub your rock under hot tap water

Short and sweet. But dear lord... bad advice.

 

[BobbyOtto]

A lot of these "bad LFS" advice things seem more like salty hobbyists who misconstrued what the employee said. Ive been on both sides and 90% of the time its the hobbyist who only halfway listens who ends up with all the problems.

I do have one story though, when a LFS employee tried to sell me a trigger for a reef tank. Turned out she was new and still learning - things happen and she was embarrassed. After that we moved forward.

 

[TVV]

Have kids they said. It will be fun, they said.

They forgot to tell you about the work, disappointments, frustration, time out of your day, and DIAPERS that go along with the joy, pride, satisfaction and fun.

ALL IN ALL ITS BETTER THAN BLUE CLOVE POLYPS ARE CONTROLLABLE IN A REEF TANK!

 

[TVV]

Where can I get some?

I have a rock growing zoanthids that is invaded by blue clove polyps. it is one that I can easily remove about the size of a golf ball. You can have it if you want. Lafayette, LA.