Dear New Hobbyists…

[robinm]

I'll push back against this somewhat. I agree chasing a particular set of numbers because someone's told you they're ideal is futile, however stability is the key and making adjustments to maintain stability is not tinkering. If your dKh is dropping stepping back won't solve it, up your dosing. I've had 2 episodes of dinoflagellates, the first was a tank killer my phosphates had dropped to zero, I dosed phos to bring them back up then just changed water in the hopes that balance would restore itself, it didn't and I lost a lot of coral. The second time again my phos briefly dropped to zero, as soon as I saw dinos I instigated 3 days lights out and started dosing H2O2, within a week the dinos were gone and the tank was back on track. My advice would be your test kits are a window into what's going on in your tank, if you're unsure reach out to a community like this where you will get advice from the most experienced reefers on the planet but sometimes you do need to intervene. Knowing when to intervene is the key and you can do a lot worse than asking here.

 

[KrisReef]

Dear New Hobbyists,

Please limit tinkering with the chemistry of your reef tank. The old salts also said it this way. “Keep your hands out of the tank.” It’s for your own good and the good of your animals. Nothing happens fast in this hobby except nuisance algae and livestock death.

Relax, take a deep breath, stop trying to fix every little PH fluctuation and the like. Enjoy the process and learn as you go. You’re building a foundation for an amazing reef aquarium and that takes time!

Have a great day and happy reefing!

Thanks Rev. I will try to keep these things in mind as I reboot my reef tank, again.

 

[Crimsonphoenix]

I had to go look one of these up on eBay myself, haha

Includes radioactive ore….

 

[tbrown]

Wait so is it literally harmful to the water chemistry to put your hands in the tank? Been doing so to spot feed…

Sometimes it can be harmful to you. There have been several people recently that have reported getting infections from sticking their hands in the water with cuts or punctures. I believe it was @Fish Styx that was hospitalized and @Battlecorals Adam went to the doctor or hospital for a similar infection.

But yes, if you have stuff on your hands/arms and that gets in the tank water it can harm your reef inhabitants. Sunscreen, soap, etc. can sometimes be harmful to fish and corals.

However, my hands are constantly in the tank arranging corals and rocks, flipping snails back over, cleaning the glass, etc. I wash my hands before and after putting them in the tank and I try not to touch my face until they've been washed and rinsed well - palytoxin is real but can be avoided.

I know a lot of people use long gloves to work in the tank. That's always another option - just make sure the gloves don't have coatings that can harm your reef.

 

[Fish Styx]

Sometimes it can be harmful to you. There have been several people recently that have reported getting infections from sticking their hands in the water with cuts or punctures. I believe it was @Fish Styx that was hospitalized and @Battlecorals Adam went to the doctor or hospital for a similar infection.

But yes, if you have stuff on your hands/arms and that gets in the tank water it can harm your reef inhabitants. Sunscreen, soap, etc. can sometimes be harmful to fish and corals.

However, my hands are constantly in the tank arranging corals and rocks, flipping snails back over, cleaning the glass, etc. I wash my hands before and after putting them in the tank and I try not to touch my face until they've been washed and rinsed well - palytoxin is real but can be avoided.

I know a lot of people use long gloves to work in the tank. That's always another option - just make sure the gloves don't have coatings that can harm your reef.

Yup. I almost lost my arm to vibrio.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Includes radioactive ore….

lol

In grad school, one of my first tasks was to clean out the lab chemical storage area.

Some obviously nasty stuff with big warning labels, but one little plastic bottle was labeled uranium acetate with not much else on it. Naive me assumed it must be depleted or something.

But the lab had a Geiger counter, and it let out quit a ruckus when the sensor got near that bottle. I was not pleased to now be responsible for it.

 

[danimal1211]

I heard Ben Johnson say it well and I’m paraphrasing but Learn to do it the tried and true simple way and once your system is stable and happy then you can look at more advanced approaches to make gradual improvements.

 

[SueAubu]

Oh man... So true. Unfortunately, no one listens to this advice, and this is a lesson most choose to learn after they've had a tank-tastrophe.

(yes, I'm talking about myself)

"I'm just gonna move this onnnnnne thing.... Not much"

.... 5 hours later.

 

[SueAubu]

My grandson still asks me, "Memere remember that time you put the sign on the fish tank telling you to keep your hands out of it until Sunday?? Why did you do that?"

Learn this life lesson now, kid. This will allllll be yours some day!

 

[mousehunter]

I used to administrate an office network. The stuff some people put on their hands was the death of many mice and probably a few keyboards. My mouse does not work... Then 5 minutes of cleaning with a q-tip to get all that hand lotion out of it's guts - good as new (for a week or 2 anyway). Sorry, just and old pet peeve - I could see that bottle of lotion and know I would be forever cleaning that mouse.

But I have oily skin I (maybe). I can see a surface film build up virtually every time after I work in my tank. Wash up first - but then who knows what is in the soap I am using to wash with and did I rinse all of it off (lots of soaps have moisturizers I guess).

 

[jabberwock]

Dear New Hobbyists,

Please limit tinkering with the chemistry of your reef tank. The old salts also said it this way. “Keep your hands out of the tank.” It’s for your own good and the good of your animals. Nothing happens fast in this hobby except nuisance algae and livestock death.

Relax, take a deep breath, stop trying to fix every little PH fluctuation and the like. Enjoy the process and learn as you go. You’re building a foundation for an amazing reef aquarium and that takes time!

Have a great day and happy reefing!

FACTS.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

"I'm just gonna move this onnnnnne thing.... Not much"

.... 5 hours later.

One thing turns into a whole redesign of a tank