ThunderGoose
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2016
- Messages
- 938
- Reaction score
- 1,176
- Location
- Beverly, Mass
- What state or country do you live in
- Massachusetts
Despite spending months reading reefing forums and watching BRS videos I still made a lot of mistakes. And I'm sure I'm not done with the mistakes. Here are some of the things I've learned from getting my hands wet.
1) The tank isn't big enough. I don't think it matters what size you buy.
2) Half your budget should go to lighting. Even if you have to get a smaller tank. I bought a cheaper lighting set up and I've already replaced it. Everything looks so much better under the higher quality lights.
3) Go slow. I've been good about this with fish but not so much with corals. If I go to a LFS or to buy from a local reefer who frags I will buy more than I intended to and some of those purchases will be regretted. Either the coral is too hard for a newbie or it's not pretty enough and is taking up space I wish I'd saved for other options. Impulse buying will turn into something you'll regret.
Except for the Bubble tip anemone which I shouldn't have bought till the tank was older but is doing great and is a lot of fun to watch and feed and has nearly doubled in size.
Which brings me to:
4) There's a lot of biology involved and living organisms don't always follow the rules (or, as I like to tell my students, Biology doesn't read the Textbook).
Happy Reefing!
PS. Anyone have any ideas of how I can convince The Husband that since we don't ever use the fireplace it would be a great idea to put a 6 foot long reef tank in front of the fireplace? Much more attractive than the empty fireplace.
1) The tank isn't big enough. I don't think it matters what size you buy.
2) Half your budget should go to lighting. Even if you have to get a smaller tank. I bought a cheaper lighting set up and I've already replaced it. Everything looks so much better under the higher quality lights.
3) Go slow. I've been good about this with fish but not so much with corals. If I go to a LFS or to buy from a local reefer who frags I will buy more than I intended to and some of those purchases will be regretted. Either the coral is too hard for a newbie or it's not pretty enough and is taking up space I wish I'd saved for other options. Impulse buying will turn into something you'll regret.
Except for the Bubble tip anemone which I shouldn't have bought till the tank was older but is doing great and is a lot of fun to watch and feed and has nearly doubled in size.
Which brings me to:
4) There's a lot of biology involved and living organisms don't always follow the rules (or, as I like to tell my students, Biology doesn't read the Textbook).
Happy Reefing!
PS. Anyone have any ideas of how I can convince The Husband that since we don't ever use the fireplace it would be a great idea to put a 6 foot long reef tank in front of the fireplace? Much more attractive than the empty fireplace.
