Worst advise seen/been given

[Reeferstin]

I was told you dont want a drilled tank for saltwater its just as easy buying a over flow kit failed to mention what would happen when the power goes out

 

[rynosreef]

“If you want this fish, you better buy it now. We just got it in yesterday, and well...” *looks around and then whispers “..our water is so terrible it won’t last long.”

I can’t say it was bad advice per se, maybe just brutally honest heh.

I’ve also noticed some LFS’s seem to be itching to say “well maybe saltwater aquariums aren’t for you.” if you disagree with any of their advice. Hehe yeah buddy you’re about 10 years too late with that one liner.

 

[Bob Wiley]

"You don't need to quarantine, just float and dump"
Said by reefer friend who pretty much only buys fish online and floats & dumps them.
Also has no hospital/extra tanks or equipment lying around in case any fish get sick. If they do... its thoughts and prayers. Their DT is currently green and overgrown with algae.

Luckily I found this forum before my DT cycled which allowed me to push pause there and ramp up a QT setup. Even if you pooh-pooh quarantining your finds, you can't argue with the collateral benefit of having the extra equipment lying around to spin up a hospital tank in an emergency. I cringe at the thought of my dudes getting sick in the DT and sitting there helpless waiting for a rush Amazon shipment or for the LFS to open its doors. Not to mention starting from scratch knowledge-wise trying to diagnose the sickness and what-all types of meds/treatments you'll need to attack it.

 

[Perthegallon]

RED STONY STARFISH IS SAFE FOR YOUR CORALS
Immediately eats corals

 

[DaneGer21]

To remove fish from observation/qt tank and put them right into the DT because it’s a more natural and less stress environment.

...but yet this is how their purchased, segregated by themselves

 

[Perthegallon]

When I first got my tank, I was driving by and saw a random fish store. I had my fiancé with me and we decided to pop in and take a look. She found a chocolate chip starfish and really wanted to get it for my tank. My tank was fairly young but already had corals. It was cheap so I told her if it’s reef safe we can get it. We asked the fish keeper and was assured that it was reef safe and we should have no problems. So I bought it. Luckily at my next trip to my lfs I showed my normal fish keeper a photo and he immediately told me it was not reef safe. Needless to say, I ended up donating it and I believe he became Harlequin shrimp food.

i have heard that some* fish stores will say anything to make a sale. But I blame my self for the impulse buy, and should have done my own research. That was a cheap lesson, but since then I do my own research before any purchase. (Thank you reef2reef!)

Same thing but red stony to me

 

[ca1ore]

I don’t know that I’ve been on the receiving end of any intentionally bad advice from any of my LFS. Myths and half truths make their way through the stores certainly; but they’re here on R2R as well. I’m a reader and tend to do my research ahead of buying anything so perhaps less likely to be led astray. Even here in this thread, some of the things noted as bad advice contain kernels of truth.

 

[BackToTheReef]

So having been the new guy at the LFS at one point in my life I tried to avoid giving bad advice or advice on something I didn't know or have experience with. We were lucky to have a lot of talented fish "geeks" with all kinds of expertise from Koi to Geophagus to reefs. So if I didn't know I just asked and learned from them. Needless to say I am sure I screwed up at some point.

The worst one that I remember and still eats me up today was when we got the new corallife halide/T5(?) fixtures in (LEDs weren't out or were just coming out and hadn't taken off yet)/ A customer of mine wanted to set up a large reef so we started squaring him away with a nice 180 RR. Beautiful stand and canopy, sump, skimmers, etc.

I see him later that week and he scowls at me as he walks past without saying a word. The 6' halide/T5 fixture wouldn't fit under the canopy he bought and his wife was ticked off! I Lost him as a customer for good. It gutted me for screwing up and upsetting him, 15 to 20 years later I still remember that look.

 

[Perthegallon]

“You can just buy one coral.”

What is there something wrong with that

 

[robbyg]

“That anemone will be fine, they are really easy to care for.”

I have given up on Anemones. I love them but they are just time bombs waiting to go off unless you have a tank that has a lot of safe guards. The last anemone I had was an 8" across green carpet anemone and for some reason after several months of staying in one spot he decided to move up and get out of the tank. I caught him about 4 times in a row and moved him to locations that I thought he might like. Then on the fifth night he got to the overflow and somehow managed to get halfway through one of the 3mm wide slits. I did not know that it was possible for him to do that but he did.

In the morning I had to stop the Return pump and leave him dry on the overflow side to force him to come back into the tank, after three hours of occasionally wetting him down and he eventually came back in but not before releasing a bunch of toxins into the water and killing several fish. I am just done with them!

 

[sas226]

I have given up on Anemones. I love them but they are just time bombs waiting to go off unless you have a tank that has a lot of safe guards. The last anemone I had was an 8" across green carpet anemone and for some reason after several months of staying in one spot he decided to move up and get out of the tank. I caught him about 4 times in a row and moved him to locations that I thought he might like. Then on the fifth night he got to the overflow and somehow managed to get halfway through one of the 3mm wide slits. I did not know that it was possible for him to do that but he did.

In the morning I had to stop the Return pump and leave him dry on the overflow side to force him to come back into the tank, after three hours of occasionally wetting him down and he eventually came back in but not before releasing a bunch of toxins into the water and killing several fish. I am just done with them!

Some birds just aren't meant to be caged bud. Let the peacock fly Captain!

 

[ReefBeta]

"You don't need to test both Calcium and Magnesium. Just test Magnesium, and divided that by 3 and you get calcium."

 

[robbyg]

"You don't need to test both Calcium and Magnesium. Just test Magnesium, and divided that by 3 and you get calcium."

Lol I wonder how many people just pulled out their calculators.

 

[Picasso the Triggerfish]

“Purchase the seahorse, it will do fine with your wrasse and tang.”

My personal favourite