My Biggest Mistake in this hobby

[yazid]

I know during the phase of this reef hobby, some of us do look back and said "I should not have done this or that". I hope everyone can share their regrets so new hobbyist would not have to suffer the same path.

I'll start first. My biggest mistake is

1. converted my existing home PVC piping to copper piping....should have use steel instead.

2. should use ceramic tiles in my study room (where the tank is) instead of laminated flooring. Although not as bad as wooden/parquet flooring.

3. should start with a big bang and get that 2x250WMH and 1x400W Radium instead of moving slowly from 6x4' Fluorescent -> 2x150W Mh. Should not have waste that money.

4. should buy the higher than the required chiller capacity. Buying "just enough" will cost more money in the long run.

5. should have got that big sump to act as a reservoir when power failure. Small ones not only flood the sump but flood the whole house.

6. Listen to the experience reefers and save money, don't buy gonipora, don't think cute little fish don't eat your small polyps, don't buy cleaner wrasse, they eat special diet and will not survive on ick alone, don't buy Marine snow it is 96% water. Don't buy those cute little angelfish that grow into a monster.

7. If you can DIY, do it, it save you tons of money.

[Sinn]

Try not to start on 2 footers if u wanna keep corals....

[Achilles Tang]

copy the sump setup of LFS...

[robe]

Listen to LFS owner sales pitch on this and that equipment and advice.......

[Fishfreak]

My biggest mistakes are:

1 listening blindly to LFS 'advice' - no more, but I enjoy listening to some of the trash dished out

2 not quarantining new fish - all new fish stays in quarantine for at least 4 weeks now

3 buying a cleaner shrimp, flowerpot - now I discourage others and those fish/corals not suitable for newbies or 2 ft tanks that are so common out there

4 keeping a tang in a 2 footer - taken out, 2 ft is now all reef and no fish

5 starting with a two footer - have a 4 footer now

[wolfie]

My biggest mistake is:

1. Not doing enuff research b4 venturing into tis hobby.

2. "Falling" for tis hobby juz when I realise that I dun haf enuff $ to support it.

[Dinosaur]

My biggest mistake is that i shouldn't have started this hobby in the first place.

Cos once I start it, I can't stop it

[NormanH]

Having my maroon clown before knowing what it is capable of

[Limpc]

As for me:

1. No Sump, No DSB - battling with high nitrate

2. Member of SRC - cannot sleep without reading the last post of the day.. ke ke ke.

Happy New Year all.

Limpc

[jason]

FOR ME,

1) SHOULD NOT SET UP A MARINE TANK WHILE GOING TO HAVE A BABY, MOST LIKE YOU END UP HAVING ONLY BABY.

2) SHOULD HAVE A QUARNTINE TANK.

3) SHOULD BUY METAL HALIDE BUT NO MONEY

[Tanzy]

Same as Dinosaur, shouldn't even have started in the first place. Too darn expensive to keep upgrading.

[TTBoy]

Choosing reef tank over gf.

[hotsoup]

Converting my Luo han tank into marine!!! Should go for the biggest tank I could afford

[RMX]

well, i jus found out part of the pipe system at home.. uses pvc pipes, while the rest are copper pipes

now i wonder why the fire shrimp did a funky twisted dash round the tank and then took a long long rest.. hmm

oh yes, that was months ago, b4 i started using the hagen nutrafin (not an advert, but it's the only thing i trust now).

the coralband shrimp (added later) inside has molted few times alerady

[Creetin]

mi biggest mistake was not having enough dough for a massive 5/6 footer+chiller+MH *sob*

now can oni itchy itchy and kick miself, itchy itchy and kick miself...

[Hon]

Sorry...May I ask what copper piping at home got to do with reef keeping ??

[yazid]

Sorry...May I ask what copper piping at home got to do with reef keeping ??

Reef and Copper does not go very well. I do regular water changes and top up using the water from my tap. Imagine if the top up water gets contaminate with the copper. Or in the long run

Copper gets build up slowly in your reef tank.

One day, you'lll wonder why corals does not survive in your tank?

Anyway, I bought Sera Copper Test Kit (Cu) and test the tap water from my copper pipes. No signs of contamination, yet. I won't say it is safe but there is always a risk.

[DragonGoby]

Yazid, have you tried using DI resins on your tapwater? Will save you some sleepless nights!

For me, my first tank (2'):

1) Should have started using a larger tank!!

2) Shouldn't have gotten that dumb anemone. It crawled into the propeller and got shredded up. Too bad it didn't happen today or I could have gotten free "yu sheng".

My second 4' (now a FO, upstairs):

1) 6mm glass. MAN!!!!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING OF?!? Going to get rid of that tank ASAP, the glass is now bent from the pressure.

2) Not drilling the tank, ended up using siphon overflow instead. Too risky.

My present upgraded 4':

1) Should have modified the cabinet with 2 additional support pillars behind before placing the tank in. As it were, I realised that only after the tank was up and the sump was fitted in, so the 2 pillars had to be placed only in front. Better than nothing, but I'd have preferred the peace of mind having more behind. Kiasu syndrome. Even better, I was thinking I could have added euro-bracing to the bottom of the tank as well to provide extra stability.

The new tank's still under construction, so there isn't a lot to complain about, yet.

Regards,

Hong Yee

[Kole aka Chris]

I'm a disturbed man. I eat two dishes every night while my fish and corals have at least five types of food to choose from. I have no social life. Instead of heading to the pubs for brooze and babes, I'm now going around rural places to hunt for fish and corals. Sign!! My wife constantly threatens to pour detergent into my tank!!

If there's a MRC (Marine Rehabilitation Centre), please let me know....I'm addicted and can't kick this habit!!

[yazid]

Another mistake that I miss to add.

Never, never forget to switch back on the chiller after doing a water change. I did just that! Arghh! Temperature was at 33 degrees for 5 hours.

It's a horryfying scene when I came back from the office.

Luckily, only my 2 fox coral doesn't survive the ordeal... The rest is coming back up.

I'm going to fix the return from the chiller back to the sump. That way, I don't have to switch off the chiller at any time.

[Joe_P]

My Biggest Mistake......

Getting interested with SPS........

Now spent a bomb on equipment....

have to have sleepless nights worrying what my next PUB bill would be like......

running around rural areas at weird hours hunting for specimens.....

PM so many reefers for frag trades and sales .....

disturb and begging LFS owners to bring in SPS.......

and now trying to get as many of u guys to join me in this extremely highly and unrational craze.....

[dodo]

My biggest mistakes are(can be considered as regrets too):

1)getting started in marine

2)getting hooked on marine

3)trusting too much in LFS

4)spending $ on lousy stuffs(keep upgrading & upgrading & upgrading)

5)not having a bigger tank

6)not researching enuf into the newest product/ways to maintain a tank

7)...8)...9)...10)...

aiya...so many mistakes...dun wan to say too much lar...wait wife see my postings....kena red-carded from going LFS and upgrading...*sigh*...if such day did arrive...life will be so meaningless

[pet]

Hi Yazid,

BTW what's the problem having parquet flooring?

+++should use ceramic tiles in my study room (where the tank is) instead of flooringlaminated flooring. Although not as bad as wooden/parquet flooring+++

Thanks,

Pet

[cool water]

A yo: My biggest mistake is knowing SGREEFCLUB cause i have to spend most of my free times with him than my wife.

[yazid]

Hi Yazid,

BTW what's the problem having parquet flooring?

+++should use ceramic tiles in my study room (where the tank is) instead of flooringlaminated flooring. Although not as bad as wooden/parquet flooring+++

Thanks,

Pet

You don't want to flood/wet your parquet flooring with seawater. In the long run it will warp and rot.