Best and worst thing you have bought?

just out of curiosity. why do a few of you here think that amino acids are a bad buy? I thought that they were a good thing to add occasionally to a reef.

 

From what I've read, my opinion is that feeding amino acids is a bit like dosing iodide; one may see benefits if applied in moderation to a system that utilizes it, but it's not necessary for any tank and can easily be overdone.

 

Best: my current setup. Apex Jr/EB8/VDM, Nuvo 16, inTank Fuge Basket, IM Fuge light, Tunze ATO with kalkwasser, BuildMyLED 3 ch light, Pukani dry, black sand, cherry picked palys and zoas, 3 beautiful SPS frags, 2 very nice scan frags, 2 mini maxis, YWG/Pistol, one of the best looking purple firefish I've ever seen.

Worst: PC lighting (it was 2008, i didnt know), Purple Up, Purple Dottyback, Strontium & Molybdenum Additive (pointless, again 2008)

Super Extra Worse: that one little frag with bryopsis

 

I second purple up being worst!!! Lol

 

Best: GFO reactor, ATO ( these 2 things made such a difference in the amount of work and satisfaction I get out of my tank)

Worst: 2nd hand dry rock- didn't know it at the time of purchase, but found out quickly that the previous owner had a major bryopsis outbreak

Although the dry rock was AWFUL everything else that I've bought 2nd hand has been great and so much cheaper than new!

 

Best: A sump. It's made life so much easier and keep the tank looking a lot less cluttered than if I hadn't built one.

Worst: Pincushion Urchin. I bought it because I was told that it would help keep my tank free of green hair algae. It just ended up knocking over corals and it died while I was on vacation, spiking my tank and killing everything else along with it. It never even touched the green hair algae

Another awful purchase was LR from a certain LFS. I bought the rock for my first tank two years ago and me being the uneducated person I was at the time thought I saw little corals and life everywhere. Turns out it was just tons of different types of algae. Never bought rock from there again.

 

Best: ATO.......it still blows my mind why I never dropped the $60 for one! Also, my Reef Radiance light, which I've only had for about 3 months, but I'm very happy with it.

Worst: Freakin' pistol shrimp! Im eating him, I swear. Had to chisel two frags off their plugs and glue them onto rubble rocks, as he was taking the plugs and using them for cave doors!

 

haha.. haven't had problems with my Pistol Shrimp.

Best: Controller
Worst: Heaters with built in thermostat not controlled by bigger controller.

 

Another best and Worst:

Worst: Eheim 150 heater------- PITA to calibrate!!!!
Best: Eheim 150 Heater, tank stays consistently between 78.5 - 79 degrees : )

 

Best: Reefkeper lite.

Worst: Reefkeeper lite (until you thoroughly understand how to work it and the mechanical/non-mechanical relays) Used old LR. Pretty sure it was the root of my phosphate problem back in the day with my 240 build.