What mistakes have you made...

[Ward9320]

Lets here it guys and gals, what are the mistakes you have made in this hobby? All the time I see people posting up pictues of their aceivments and how proud they are of there tank and accomplishments, which they should be. But everyone in this hobby has made a mistake one way or another but no one usually brags about that or post pictures of it.

I feel that everyone from the newest reefer to the 25+ year reefer veteran could benifit from seeing and learning from other peoples mistakes. Its one thing to be told "Oh no, you don't want to do it that way" and actually seeing pictures of what could happen if they did do it that way.

 

[rworegon]

This could be a very very very long thread. I don't think I have enough vacation time to list them all. Probably the biggest was being in too much of a hurry.
#1: didn't set up Quarantine until I started losing livestock to disease.
#2:I concentrated on stocking my reef before I got the equipment I really needed to succeed.
#3: buying livestock from unproven sources.
#4 taking advise from people without doing due diligence research for myself.

The list goes on and on.

 

[GHill762]

1. silica based sand in my first tank
2. started with a package deal of crap from petco (cheap heater, cheap filter, cheap light) then spen a bunch of money over the next few months upgrading everything to what I should have started with in the first place.
3. (last week) knocking the ATO tube out of my sump and only realizing the next day that my sump water was low and I pumped about 5g of water on the carpet :frusty:
4. buying anything from my lfs's tanks.. full of disease, death, and 3 brown corals.. I'll pay shipping or drive 2.5 hrs to some really nice lfs's before buying anything local again.
5. starting with tap water, though it didn't really hurt anything.. it's well water, I think that's where my gha came from but other than that no ill effects..

like anyone, my list could keep going..

 

[cdness]

Too many to list...

 

[Eienna]

Uuuugh. I don't want to think about them all, but it might help someone else so here goes nothin'.

1. Starting with a 20g tank (much too small - I was always a step behind whatever was happening and it's very restrictive in terms of livestock.)

2. Bought a used acrylic tank with crazed seams (didn't know that was bad) and a broken center brace that I didn't see until after I handed over the money. It bowed badly when I tried to fill it. $400 burn.

3. Said acrylic tank had been neglected for some time and I attempted to use the water I had put in it instead of wasting all that salt mix. I caused an incredible greenwater bloom in my 20g that took a UV sterilizer and many water changes to clean up...I should have tested that water first.

4. Attempted to use the rock and sand from that 125. Even after a thorough soak and rinse it still leached phosphate.

5. Trying to run that 125 with the outflow too far underwater. When I stopped the pump the thing backsiphoned and I ended up with an unbelievable mess before I figured out the problem. I just thank the Lord it doesn't seem to have damaged the apartment (...we're renting.)

More to come...

 

[Spendley]

When my tank had just finished cycling we had a flood in our basement, where the tank is (totally not my fault!!). With dehumidifiers all over, my tank got to a solid 92+ degrees. One turbo snail died, one survived.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Buying equipment twice. I bought three different lighting systems. I should have just done the research first and bought once.

 

[docs911]

Impulse buying!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[aslmx]

gsp
mushrooms
invasive palys
6 line
etc...

 

[TimSc2013]

Bought some of my first live rock 20 years ago at a LFS that had aptasia on it. I thought they were cool, not knowing what they were of course, and took the time to feed them individually with brine shrimp from a test kit syringe...

 

[Ward9320]

Bought some of my first live rock 20 years ago at a LFS that had aptasia on it. I thought they were cool, not knowing what they were of course, and took the time to feed them individually with brine shrimp from a test kit syringe...

This one made me laugh, mostly because I probably would have done the same thing. When I first started my tank I wanted to have something living in it so badly. Which unfortunally let to some not so smart impulse buys ie. pulsing xenias.

 

[aslmx]

Bought some of my first live rock 20 years ago at a LFS that had aptasia on it. I thought they were cool, not knowing what they were of course, and took the time to feed them individually with brine shrimp from a test kit syringe...

that's great...

 

[robbrouse]

None I used all the advice from R2R and was perfect.. If you buy that I have some ocean front property in Utah to sell you... Too late and tired to type it all. Mostly buying the wrong stuff and having to replace it.

 

[Quinn123]

Putting a 2" majestic angel in my reef tank thinking it would be ok, came home one day all my mushroom disappear. There was about 100 mushroom on one rock.

 

[JWR]

Spending $15,000.00 to set up a tank with $5,000.00 of stuff because I replaced everything over and over.
Putting the Kalk reactor on manual then leaving for a month.
Forgetting to turn off return pump before water change. - ato pumping fresh water into system.