Looking back - share your lessons learned!

Lots of good pointers here, many of which I, too, learned the hard way over the years. Here's a couple more concerning tankmates:

Most fish love live food; if it's live and fits in his mouth, it's food.

Any crustacean has the potential to become an opportunistic predator; if it's mobile and has claws, it can kill.

 

Natural fixes (ie getting you trates and pho. down) work WAY BETTER then adding fun named chemicals in the LONG run. Short term stuff in a bottle fixes it quick but a natural fix will fix it indefinitely.

You can have too many snails.

Cover the WHOLE top of your tank with a mesh top. Sometimes even the most unlikely fish will jump out of very small openings.

Only buy coral and fish that you love. Don't settle for "starter" coral of it doesn't really appeal to you. Never buy a damsel cause "they" tell you too start with one.
there is a ton more, but one of the hugest pieces of advice I would give is research a ton and take advice from others, but use decrement when figuring out who gives good advice. Look at their tank threads then decide if you want that persons advice or not 3reef rocks btw!!

Heidi

 

Lesson's learned.
Take more time when building your stand. Make sure you have the proper tools ( I didn't and it shows)

If you are as anal as I am about the placement of your equipment/wires, make sure you figure out where you want everything to go prior to setting the tank up. This way it will be a lot easier for you to configure/move items around

 

not asking questions, learning for yourself. looking into the future, sometimes peeking around the corner will keep you from getting hit bya train, be careful with your local fish store until you know he's not trying to make sales you don't really need, don't trust anybody's ro/di water but your own, sometimes the things we buy to clean the glass will scratch the --it out of it, letting things go to long without fixing them, make sure you get that clamp on those pumps tight enough {whoa nelly}

 

I took this from one of my previous posts on a different thread. The reefers that I think did it right all say the same thing:

• Take it slow, allow your tank to cycle, add livestock slowly allowing the system to adjust to the changes.
• Research everything prior to buying if you can.
• QT all your fish, if you can afford a QT setup for everything and have the room for it, QT corals and fish. If you can't QT corals, at least dip them prior to adding to your main tank. IMO the wrong QT setup can actually do more harm than good. I've never QT'd a coral, snail, crab, shrimp, pod, etc. but if you have the right QT setup to accommodate everything, I don't see a problem with it.
• Don't overstock, or if you do make sure you have the filtration to handle it. Keep fish adult size in mine when adding
• Maintenance - you have to keep up on maintenance, especially in the beginning, it gets easier as your tank matures. Use RODI water, choose a good salt mix and keep up on WC.
• Lighting: Knowing what lighting is needed for the corals you plan to keep. For example, initially I had MH lighting and I got great results, however I prefer T5s for the corals I currently have and the depth of my current tank - less heat, more variety in bulb combination to bring out the colors in your corals, longer bulb life, lower electric bill, etc.
• Depending on need, pick a dosing method and try to maintain it. I currently have a CA reactor but by no means do I believe I get better results because of it, it's just less time consuming for someone with a busy schedule. I actually believe a good 2-part is better if you have the time.
• Try not to mess with the tank too much, from my experience the less I play around with stuff or add stuff, the better my results.
• Additives - make sure you do your research, and by that I don't mean seeing someone on a forum using it and deciding to use it based on their experience. Try to determine your need, read and ask questions prior to adding anything to your tank. Yes, I do dose Lugals (iodine) in small amounts, I think it helps with the colors in my tank, however, it's VERY dangerous so make sure you know what you're doing prior to trying something like this.
• Do your research on equipment, don't take shortcuts on the important ones like skimmers, good bulbs, return pumps, etc. I've learned it's better to wait, save some more $$ and get the right thing. At the same time, there's lots of "stuff" on the market, you don't need all of it.
• On-Line Forums are great sources of good and bad advise, be careful and research the advise you're given. Don't just do/buy something because a popular member of a forum said it. Do additional research, check out their tanks to see their results, etc.
• Have fun with your tank, don't stress over every little thing - that usually trigger panic and the addition of something you probably shouldn't add. Treat even tank problems as a learning experience.

That's all that comes to mind for now.