Things you wish you had known as a beginner

[Awkwardspaceprince]

I'm new to saltwater aquariums. What are tips and tricks or just general things you wish you had known as a beginner?

 

[jtp7004ft]

Be patient and do research before every purchase.
Use the R2R search function for your questions, most of the time someone has had the same issue. If you can't find your answers,just ask
Ooh, your local fish store (LFS) doesn't know everything, that's why we turn to this site for good advice.

 

[62518161]

Skip the bio cube (my personal experience.) Did ALL the upgrades and still wasn’t happy.

 

[Spare time]

Don't go with live rock just because it matures the tank faster.

 

[adittam]

You don’t need to automate anything right off the bat. See how you like the hobby on a budget, then if you decide you want a full controller with ATO, programmable dosing, electronic testing, and auto water changes (etc), feel free to add it down the road. I suspected this, and went with manual everything off the bat, saved a boatload of money, and am figuring out which (if any) parts of maintaining the tank I want to spend money on automating by actually doing them manually for a while.

 

[Nick Steele]

Go with a sump system. AIO are fun but man do I wish I had a sump!

NSA aquascapes. Doesn’t block flow as much and can be used to place much more coral than with a regular aquascape.

Leave plenty of room between glass and rockwork. Some of my rocks come very close to the glass and I can’t get my algae scrapper in there to clean so it gets and stays dirty mostly.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Feed your fish a variety of foods.
Buy quality test kits for Alk,Po4.
Test and supplement magnesium.
Plan out your filtration system for the long haul.

 

[blaxsun]

Get the bigger tank, then go for the size above that. You’ll save money in the long run.

 

[Awkwardspaceprince]

Go with a sump system. AIO are fun but man do I wish I had a sump!

NSA aquascapes. Doesn’t block flow as much and can be used to place much more coral than with a regular aquascape.

Leave plenty of room between glass and rockwork. Some of my rocks come very close to the glass and I can’t get my algae scrapper in there to clean so it gets and stays dirty.

Ive looked into getting a sump but every where i look i still don't really understand what its for!

 

[Gordi]

Be patient and do research before every purchase.
Use the R2R search function for your questions, most of the time someone has had the same issue. If you can't find your answers,just ask
Ooh, your local fish store (LFS) doesn't know everything, that's why we turn to this site for good advice.

I've honestly tried to be patient but it's so addictive! I bought a fire shrimp yesterday and then researched it. I'll probably never see it again (apart from the antennae).
Bought a Xenia coral which detached itself from the plug and vanished.
Allowed the gift of a Royal Dottyback into the tank. Didn't know how restricting these things are. Now just want to catch it and get rid of it.
I wish I had asked on here first instead of asking after the event.
P.S. If anyone wants a Royal Dottyback I'll put a postage stamp and label on it and throw it in the Bristol Channel (UK). I'll happily pay the postage worldwide.
Be warned, anyone who wants one of these nasty gits.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Brs 52 weeks of reefing is like the reefing bible. If youre new i suggest making it a priority to watch the series, if you do youll already be ahead of most hobbyists. Theres a lot of content so dont expect to binge it all in a day.

Api test kits suck. Not good for anything but checking to see if the tank is cycled

Never put an aquarium up against the wall, always leave room to get behind it. 1 itll usually ruin the sheetrock/wallpaper and 2 if its a large aquarium sometimes you need to be able to mess with plumbing or the overflow in the back

Make sure you can keep stable parameters before adding coral, learn about how much you import and export in the tank. If you add food, itll turn into watse and then nutrients and therefor must be removed from the water by skimming, macro algae, water changes etc. Same goes for alk cal and mag when you have coral.

You dont need the best of the best to be successful. You can grow coral with china lights and wavemakers just the same as high end stuff, but you definitely get what you pay for.

If things dont look right to your eye, there is most definitely something wrong, test your water and when in doubt do a water change. If you still cant figure it out, between icp tests and now even bacterial dna tests can give you the answer to any problem in your aquarium.


Dont impulse buy anything unless you know the general care requirements for the animal. Theres lots of stuff that doesnt get along in the ocean.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Don't buy that inferior product just to save $20

 

[Gordi]

Be patient and do research before every purchase.
Use the R2R search function for your questions, most of the time someone has had the same issue. If you can't find your answers,just ask
Ooh, your local fish store (LFS) doesn't know everything, that's why we turn to this site for good advice.

Brs 52 weeks of reefing is like the reefing bible. If youre new i suggest making it a priority to watch the series, if you do youll already be ahead of most hobbyists. Theres a lot of content so dont expect to binge it all in a day.

Api test kits suck. Not good for anything but checking to see if the tank is cycled

Never put an aquarium up against the wall, always leave room to get behind it. 1 itll usually ruin the sheetrock/wallpaper and 2 if its a large aquarium sometimes you need to be able to mess with plumbing or the overflow in the back

Make sure you can keep stable parameters before adding coral, learn about how much you import and export in the tank. If you add food, itll turn into watse and then nutrients and therefor must be removed from the water by skimming, macro algae, water changes etc. Same goes for alk cal and mag when you have coral.

You dont need the best of the best to be successful. You can grow coral with china lights and wavemakers just the same as high end stuff, but you definitely get what you pay for.

If things dont look right to your eye, there is most definitely something wrong, test your water and when in doubt do a water change. If you still cant figure it out, between icp tests and now even bacterial dna tests can give you the answer to any problem in your aquarium.


Dont impulse buy anything unless you know the general care requirements for the animal. Theres lots of stuff that doesnt get along in the ocean.

That's a lot of fantastic advice for newcomers like myself! At least I have nothing died on my reef after 8 months. And that's all down to you guys!

 

[PeterC99]

Get an experienced reefer to mentor you!

Reefing is extremely complex and most things involved will be new to you. Getting an experienced mentor will help you avoid the land mines that ALL new reefers encounter!

 

[Nick Steele]

Ive looked into getting a sump but every where i look i still don't really understand what its for!

It helps eliminate clutter in the tank, adds water volume (more stable), can help with cleaning (can siphon sand into a sock in the sump and not lose water so can do as long as you want) many benefits to sumps.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I wish I had known everything in this reference book article:

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean, but it is no...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ariellemermaid]

Ive looked into getting a sump but every where i look i still don't really understand what its for!

It helps eliminate clutter in the tank, adds water volume (more stable), can help with cleaning (can siphon sand into a sock in the sump and not lose water so can do as long as you want) many benefits to sumps.

All of these things but I do want to emphasize clutter in the tank, as well as nutrient export. You’re going to end up with a ton of equipment in the tank otherwise and all of these get in the way of cleaning which you’re going to do regularly. You’re soon going to want to add corals and need to keep nitrates down. Sump gives you the option of a macro algae refugium and skimmer (HOB skimmers add to clutter and I’ve read aren’t very effective). You don’t have to have a sump to start, but down the line you’re probably going to want one. Adding a sump after the fact is much more difficult and less ideal than getting a proper tank/sump built in combo to begin with. But, don’t let a sump stop you from getting into the hobby. Makes things easier but there are many ways to do reefing.

Most importantly though: quarantine! Don’t think about a reef aquarium as one tank but rather 2 (minimum). Even if you aren’t going to do full QT and copper treatment, you at least need to have an observation QT, and if you aren’t going to do any of that, you still need a hospital tank to treat sick fish which you will deal with and for the most part can’t treat in a reef tank. It’s also difficult to get all the fish out of a reef tank so that’s why an ounce of prevention can save every fish in your tank from dying. I do full copper QT on all fish and have never dealt with ich or velvet, however, I still had new fish bring in flukes early on that killed some of them. It would have been a nightmare dealing with this in the reef tank rather than this all happening in QT. I could have lost some of my favorite fish because of a cheap cardinal.

QT does take a little of the fun out with all the dosing, measuring, water changes, and waiting to put fish in your DT. But, down the road it will save your tank and a lot of headache. I personally have a second QT for corals and inverts. If you’re going to buy corals from Petco there’s a good chance they have ich cysts on them. Alternative is to only buy from sources that grow corals in fish less systems, that’s less of a risk. However, I recently got montipora eating nudibranch’s in my coral QT from a new batch of snails! If this was in my DT with huge plates of planted Montipora it would be a nightmare to deal with; this is at least manageable. So it’s not just all about ich and velvet either.