Biggest mistake you made while in the hobby

[vwreefer]

Ok so let's face it we have all done some foolish things and made some big mistakes in this hobby as we learn how to keep corals and fish in our tanks. Let's share on some of those stories. I will go first......

My ongoing list of mistakes and bad decisions.

dosing my tank without testing the levels
purchasing equipment without researching the brand (examples are heaters, lighting, skimmers, etc...)
buying on impulse of fish and corals because it looked cool but was wrong for my tank.
not keeping up on the maintenance of the tank
making too many changes all at once to address water quality issues.
having a budget in this hobby
not drilling my tank before setting it up.
flooding my house by forgetting to turn off the RO/DI unit.
forgetting to change my filter sock.
Getting in and out of the hobby several times over the years and selling everything and having to start from scratch.
flooding my house with poor plumbing design for my return lines
burning up a power strip due to moisture and salt creep.
putting my stockman standpipe together upside down and not realizing this for an entire year.:smash:

 

[kalapnath]

buying used equiptment.....................................

 

[jerl77]

buying a fish tank !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NYreefNoob]

being cheap on the equiptment, lessoned learned

 

[Og Drogon]

being cheap on the equiptment, lessoned learned

+1
Yep now I'm running around making up for it :-/


Fix Your Fin Or Get Your Fin Fixed!

 

[stbarnabas]

Converting for fresh to salt (more money involve) lol

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Dipped a chalice frag =(....

 

[Brando457]

Dipped a chalice frag =(....

I thought all corals could be dipped


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[xxxAngeloxxx]

I thought all corals could be dipped


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Except chalices

 

[DCG1286]

Except chalices

How did you come to that conclusion?

I am really NOT trying to pick on you BTW ... that's just incorrect info you are throwing out there.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

How did you come to that conclusion?

I am really NOT trying to pick on you BTW ... that's just incorrect info you are throwing out there.

Hey this thread was made to b honest on what we have done in the pass. It wasnt made for telling people what to do or not to do.

 

[DCG1286]

Dipped a chalice frag =(....

I thought all corals could be dipped


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

Except chalices

Hey this thread was made to b honest on what we have done in the pass. It wasnt made for telling people what to do or not to do.

Take your own advice ... :smash: Again, you have no evidence to support the your claim that chalices cannot be dipped ... one chalice frag being left in dip too long or it wasn't healthy to begin with is not enough to back to you up. :duh:




Used equipment ... ... ... ... ... ... In general I have gotten pretty lucky, but there have been times that the extra money should have been spent to get something NEW and save the time and headache of fixing the used stuff.

 

[Mattl22]

Adding sps b4 I even knew how too dose my tank

 

[ed4]

Getting my friend Adam into the hobby. We're enablers of each other to blow through money like the world will end tomorrow.

 

[Reef Reaper]

heater issues!!

 

[Imbarrie]

While working on the plumbing I started the return pump with the drain disconnected and pointing directly at a 240 volt outlet and pumping all over the floor.
Sparks, smoke and a bright arc of light. It was behind the tank so I had to remove the sump to rewire the outlet.

 

[Brando457]

Hey this thread was made to b honest on what we have done in the pass. It wasnt made for telling people what to do or not to do.

But you saying not to dip chalices without saying why doesn't make sense considering I've dipped my chalices and have never read of them not being dippable, nor have I had problems with the 3 I have.




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[ed4]

He probably meant to say that he lost a chalice from the dipping process gone AWOL. Too much dip added or dipped for too long.

At face value, the connotation from his post implied that, generally speaking, dipping kills chalices. This probably wasn't what he intended to say.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Dipped a chalice frag =(....

May be you can rephrase your statement with an added word "INCORRECTLY" will smooth out the comments.

Well, this goes for buying "used equipment correctly and incorrectly", "plumbing correctly or not correctly" and so forth.

 

[Fishluva513]

My biggest mistake in this hobby was not having a friend in the hobby. So i walked into my local fish shop and said i need everything for a 55g saltwater tank. All said and done i walked out with a bs canister filter a 2 bulb t5 light some salt and crushed coral everything cost my like 7 8 hundred bucks I got ripped big time


Matty'sCornerAqauriums