What did you learn in 2014?

JOKER · Jan 5, 2015

I learned a lot, some hard lessons and some easy ones. The best lesson I learned was stability is the key!!!!! There is never any guarantees in this hobby but hard work pays off.

McAllyn · Jan 5, 2015

1. use the right silicon...

Mac

bknapp · Jan 6, 2015

JOKER said:
I learned a lot, some hard lessons and some easy ones. The best lesson I learned was stability is the key!!!!! There is never any guarantees in this hobby but hard work pays off.

This.

Patience is important as well.

fishdoc11 · Jan 6, 2015

I learned that after 13 years of reefing I couldn't go more than a year without a tank

JOKER · Jan 7, 2015

The wrong silicone definitely BAD!! Patience is good one too. I had a coral I thought was a goner and decided oh well it isn't hurting anything so I left it and it is now coloring up nicely. I will say that LED lights take some knowledge and tuning to get everything happy. Fishdoc I had just about decided I was going to get out of the hobby a few months back but then I realized it wasn't going to be easy.lol. Now I am planning and buying stuff for the LARGE build coming soon!!!! Just got in 56 lbs of brs pukani today and have 52 lbs of the shelf from them as well. Now just a few more orders of rock.lol

Tahoe61 · Jan 7, 2015

fishdoc11 said:
I learned that after 13 years of reefing I couldn't go more than a year without a tank

I went 11 months in 2014, not good. Now I am mucho better with a new build and learning a few new tricks.

Dowtish · Jan 7, 2015

I learned once your tank is set up the way you want it you can get away with only testing 2 times the whole year.

Do I suggest doing this? Absolutely not, but it happened...

NeveSSL · Jan 7, 2015

fishdoc11 said:
I learned that after 13 years of reefing I couldn't go more than a year without a tank

Haha! That is quite funny, Chris.

JOKER said:
The wrong silicone definitely BAD!! Patience is good one too. I had a coral I thought was a goner and decided oh well it isn't hurting anything so I left it and it is now coloring up nicely. I will say that LED lights take some knowledge and tuning to get everything happy. Fishdoc I had just about decided I was going to get out of the hobby a few months back but then I realized it wasn't going to be easy.lol. Now I am planning and buying stuff for the LARGE build coming soon!!!! Just got in 56 lbs of brs pukani today and have 52 lbs of the shelf from them as well. Now just a few more orders of rock.lol

Well now you have our attention.

Any details?

Dowtish said:
I learned once your tank is set up the way you want it you can get away with only testing 2 times the whole year.

Do I suggest doing this? Absolutely not, but it happened...

Ha! That is funny. But you know, if something was off, you wouldn't have needed a test kit to tell you, anyway.

For me, this year was feeding my biopellets and feed them consistently. I know we have all talked about this, and I've been a big proponent of it, but I didn't know how much I wasn't feeding. Once I got my automatic feeder going (and feeding 3 times a day), my tank has improved drastically in quality. I should have known.

Brandon

JOKER · Jan 8, 2015

NeveSSL said:
Haha! That is quite funny, Chris.

Well now you have our attention. Any details?

I will say it is going to have little over 200# of rock and a 100 gallon sump. 7' long 2' wide and 25" tall, using dry rock pukani and shelf from brs complete custom peninsula style. Large skimmer and ats. Still hadn't decided if going to run pellets or just run a remote dsb. Got the plans and planning a metal stand which I think I will build and just skin it and have a cabinet above and to the side.

Triggreef · Jan 8, 2015

There's not much you really need to dose in terms of trace elements that are so mass marketed. Even in a heavy stocked tank. The bigger worry should be those elements building up over time.

roadrashpaul · Jan 8, 2015

1. Stability is important
2. You need to dose alk and calc even if your test don't show calc being used
3. Water changes are more important than I thought
4. Water changes are a pain in the ***
5. A brittle star will eat soft coral that has fallen on the sand bed
6. ATS work very well after your nitrates get lowered and they grow tons of pods for your mandarin

JOKER · Jan 9, 2015

Paul I made my water change simple with a pump and a hose. I also do small water changes rather than big ones, makes it less trouble and quicker.

NeveSSL · Jan 9, 2015

JOKER said:
NeveSSL said:

Haha! That is quite funny, Chris.

Well now you have our attention. Any details?

I will say it is going to have little over 200# of rock and a 100 gallon sump. 7' long 2' wide and 25" tall, using dry rock pukani and shelf from brs complete custom peninsula style. Large skimmer and ats. Still hadn't decided if going to run pellets or just run a remote dsb. Got the plans and planning a metal stand which I think I will build and just skin it and have a cabinet above and to the side.

Click to expand...

Nice! That sounds awesome.

Brandon

pelagic · Jan 13, 2015

I've learned

1. Low Phosphate doesn't mean nitrate is low as well
2. Nitrate can be absorbed by the live rocks, and the nitrate can be released later
3. Algae scrubber is probably the cheapest and the one of the best way to take care of the water.. BUT you need to DIY it! lol
4. don't ever stop water change for 6 months again! lol

.AcroKiller. · Jan 13, 2015

pelagic said:
I've learned

1. Low Phosphate doesn't mean nitrate is low as well
2. Nitrate can be absorbed by the live rocks, and the nitrate can be released later
3. Algae scrubber is probably the cheapest and the one of the best way to take care of the water.. BUT you need to DIY it! lol
4. don't ever stop water change for 6 months again! lol

You don't have to DIY it I have an L4 turbo aquatics algae scrubber ready for ya.