Mistakes I made as a Newbie

I mistook my T8's for T5s. Naturally all the coral i stocked up on died.

 

I removed a brand new plugged in heater from my sump and stuck it back in way too hot and crack..... dumbass

 

Trusted an lfs without doing my own reasearch and/or consulting with 3reef. Listening to my brother when he told me that a reef tank with lps and sps is not that much more maintenance than a freshwater cichlid tank.

 

Once established it isn't, but until then its like shooting yourself in the foot...twice.

 

Even once established I still say its more maintenance than a cichlid tank. but at the same time much more enjoyable and the oohs and ahhs you get are much more rewarding.

 

I didn't join a Reef Club.

It was really up to me to figure things out by myself. Some of the advice I got in the beginning from my LFS was questionable at best. In spite of some of the "conspiracy theories" about LFS's, I don't believe they were trying to rip me off. They were just telling me what worked for them. I just found better ways of doing things by doing my own research. When I finally found a Reef Club, I was now with a fairly large group of people who were also trying to make their reef tank the best.

Additionally, that opened me up to frag swaps, access to used equipment, comradarie with people that have similar interests, education that would have taken much longer doing my own research.

 

i have a cichlid tank, had two actually.... id say the first 2 months were hectic but after that its been running fine for 2 years now and the only maintenance i have to do to the tank is a water change every TWO weeks and clean up the fluval 305. every 4-6 months i replace the media in the filter.

so, FAR LESS WORK, than even an established reef. just consider all the equipment that needs monthly cleaning, a skimmer that requires 3 day maintenance (clean the cup at the least), lighting bulb changes (cichlids dont need anything special for lighting), no salt to premix the night before, and im sure the list goes on.

 

good call. im not in a reef club. i have 3reef, my LFS (sorta trusted though starting to fail me), and the power of the internet. ill find a local reef club, i think there is one an hour south of me in the Joliet area (JARC).

 

Buying compact florescent lighting and cheap return pumps have been my biggest mistakes in the past.

 

I fiddled around with my tank WAAAAAAAAYYYY too much. I aquascaped and re-aquascaped on a regular basis. I moved corals around repeatedly.

We cannot recreate an ecosystem in our tanks. However, the animals, algaes, bacteria do adapt to their environment and make do with their artificial environment. Don't keep changing their environment on them.....they don't like it!!! LOL

If you need to do something, do it. However, don't cause disruptions unless it's necessary. It stresses out fish. It messes with the microbial balance that has been achieved.

Want to know what the most dangerous coral is? It's called the Arm and Hand coral. Keep those corals out of your tank unless it's for maintenance or something else that is necessary.