If you could go back and tell your reef newbie self something, what would it be?

[MizzouMark]

Quarantine all of your fish. Marine velvet is a brutally efficient killer.

 

[EgotisticObeseChihuahua]

Create an aquarium wholesale company, and make a monopoly of the aquarium business!

 

[moosevandyke]

1, Don't add corals to soon. Let the tank mature nothing good happens in the first 6 months to a year
2. Don't chase numbers at the start. Find your tanks sweet spot and hold it. Have a controller with trident tester for the big 3 so ya can see patterns
3. always QT fish my favorite is Marine collectors always get great fish
4. Buy livestock from reputable people!!
5. Run icp tests monthly and dose trace elements
6. Don't dose a bunch of stuff. Keep it simple. Water changes, fish lots of fish for poop and feed good food like LRS.
7, buy the big tank

 

[softreefer]

1. skimmer, flow and temperature control are critical. dont try to save on thaws.
2. flow is vitral fo immobile life. so called low flow soft corals require way more flow than u think.
3. nutrient control N, P is achieved by supplementation of whats missing (N, C), not adsobtion media. A system fed on pellets will automatically have elevated P and shortage of N once corals grow. Add N to get rid of red slime (cyanobacteria), rather than remove P with media. zero (or close to it) N and P is not a goal, its a disaster! corals NEED NUTRIENTS just like any other form of life. THEY DO NOT FEED ON LIGHT ALONE!

4. icp IS A BLESSING. but there was no such thing back than. so DO MORE WATER CHENGES.
5. Al polution even at low concentrations kills tough hair algae and bryopsis. at high concentrations it also kills bubble algae and some sarcophytons.
6. Buy easy fish. while u CAN train a mandarin or a crab goby to come when called to the feeding station, its a royal pain in the long run to handfeed many times a dat. on the same line avoide green chromis at all costs. its not a beginner fish, has maly health problems that manifest at different times in captivity, long term survival is unlikely at best.
7. Gobidon looks like a nice little fish but nobody tellls u its a royal pain! it will constantly bite any other fish, corals and clams, doing a lot of damage in a short time. not remotely reef or fish safe, even with large tangs.

 

[kdx7214]

Wait until you win the lottery to start

 

[Mark Goode]

Ohhhhhh... share with the class your lesson learned!

Nothing too scary. It's just those wretched flatworms - They. Keep. Coming. Back.

 

[William Chiavetta]

Use live rock from the ocean!!!

Why do you say this?

 

[Magok]

Quarantine everything not just fish...

 

[Reef Puncher]

Always use live rock but thats what I did from day one as a noob in the late 80's, lol.

i would do anything to go back and toss the dead rock. to this day only my dead rock grows cyano and dino. they wont even grow on the live rock i had in there

 

[encrustingacro]

1. Get a bigger tank--it will help with parameter stability.
2. Wait for your tank to fully cycle before adding anything in, and keep your lights off while cycling.
3. Don't run your lights at max power--it will kill your corals.
4. Get two powerheads--most of your cyano/algae problems are will be caused by bad flow.
5. Research what you put in your tank before you get them
6. (more for me now) Keep up with weekly water changes.

 

[Nano_Man]

Do things as natural as possible
Don’t leave my wages in the local fish store
When you’re reef is running good enjoy it be satisfied with what you have

 

[Mark Goode]

Don't waste money on the thrice-cursed Neptune Apex.

 

[plutz]

Get a CUC before you need it not after…

 

[Levinson]

Don't start

 

[gbroadbridge]

A piece of advice, or a lesson along the way... If you had the opportunity to go back in time with the reefing knowledge that you have today, what would you tell your newbie (or noob-y..) self?

I'm curious to hear your experiences!

Walk away - don't go down that money hungry, time consuming rabbit hole.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Some folk get stuck at the top of mount stupid, be better than that;

I like this so much I'm going to stick it on the fridge for my kids.

 

[Hugster78]

Get rid of this T-8 fixture and get Radions, in about 30 years.

And I would have said buy as many Ati 8 bulb fixtures you can.

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Quarantine everything not just fish...

Okay, I would like to hear this story! I had asked a few weeks back on if people QT a CUC. I don't hear much about QT except with fish. Care to elaborate?

 

[AlyciaMarie]

1, Don't add corals to soon. Let the tank mature nothing good happens in the first 6 months to a year

Oh so true! As a new reefer, you get so excited and just want to throw so much into your tank! I learned that lesson with my first tank. All my new, fancy coral was fine and dandy until is suddenly wasn't overnight. I've gone much slower with my current set up. Although it isn't perfect (and never will be), I'm much happier with it. I've never heard of someone being dissatisfied with the outcome of their tank because they choose to be patient, especially with adding livestock!

 

[exnisstech]

There are way too many experts giving advise. If people giving advice don't have examples of their success to share listen to the person that does.