***sharing of mistakes made by (me) reefers

[asg]

Hi! everyone. thinking of kick starting this poll as i am leaving the hobit soon, i just want to have a place(thread) to share the mistakes i made and hopefully others will share as will.

i hope that this thread will be useful to newcomers as they can learn from other people mistakes instead of them committing the same mistakes.

i have committed more than one of the mistakes at different stages of my hobit life. for eg, i have not heard of PO4 like 3~4 months into starting my tank. the algal was growing faster and faster and there is just no way that i am able to manually remove them.

i have read a lot of books that time but they are not emphasising much on PO4 and that it is a main source of food for algal. i am unaware of wetwebmedia, SRC, etc at that time and the only help that i have is from books and LFS.

not surprisely, LFS started to sell me products and products that claim to remove algal. needless to say, the products are not helpful and i am not attacking the algal problem at its root.

as luck has it, when i am at one LFS and i started to read through almost every product on the selve, i saw rowophas and decided to give it a try. like what they say, the rest is history...

side note; my concern here is not those new reefers that are aware of wetwebmedia, SRC. my concern here is how do we reach out to those new reefer whose only sourse of information is from LFS....

[jervismun]

For me... the neglecting of work is most evident... this hobby is way too addictive... makes my (somewhat exciting) job seems boring

[vt_snowman87]

too much money spent! no stable income (student) yet spend so much money.. lucky my dad also into this hobby, so got a little sponsorship..

my girlfriend gets very jealous over my tank also..

[Jameshong]

endless $$$ spending !

High maintenance cost N time spending thus family N work are affected .

[reefer_cosmo]

This is from someone who has just gone full fledge into a "proper" marine tank (for just a few months), the previous 2 years I was experimenting with a Fresh Water tank converted to Salt Water: Killed many fishes, mostly self-caught from Bedok Jetty ... thus, financial impact was minimal in the past.

Now, by doing things the "proper" way ... i.e. buying proper marine tank and equipment, rowaphos for phosphate control, high quality activated carbon, AZ-NO3 for NO3 export, Aquapharm Part A & B, Trace-Elements, Fish/Coral food, Water Filteration unit, Quality Salt Mix etc. etc.

The number 1 problem I see is the financial impact of this hobby. If you really want to do it well, there's no avoiding the costs involved in buying the essential quality equipment and supplements. Which can be a problematic issue when you are married and have family expenses to take care of: When push comes to shove, which will you prioritize?

Sadly, some people I talked to when I was at some LFS shopping ... their hobby have caused the breakdown of their marriage, and they are fully aware of that fact, but it still happened.

This, I will rate as the #1 danger/mistake of this hobby. When you are so addicted to it, and so deeply invovled in wanting to build the best reef tank, other aspects of your life just collaspes around this hobby.

The person involved loses perspective on what is important. Heck, even the value of money is distorted: Rowaphos 500g S$70, that's 2 cans of high quality powered milk for a new born baby. A high quality skimmer S$500, that's many food court meals ... and if you don't eat fancy stuff, almost 1 month of food bill for 1 family.

Like all luxury items, only the extremely rich can afford to spend without thinking or blinking of their eyes. I would classify this hobby as a rich man's hobby (a luxury item). Much like driving of a car in Singapore. If one's financial means is only marginal, and got into this hobby without 1st realising its full financial impact, it's just one deep black hole. Rich guy don't care, but if you are a normal wage earner, it can be a source of great concern/problem somewhere down the road.

[RockyBoy]

Buying of expensives equipment means nothing if still don't know how to maintain the parameters right.

Also, should not depend on the LFS recommendation to buy this and that. Sadly to say, most of the 'advises' by them are wrong.

[briang]

My biggest mistake was buying a 36 gal tank when the area and my lighting could accommodate a 75 gal. tank. My 2nd mistake was upgrading to a 55 gal. tank when the space and my lighting could accommodate a 75 gal. tank. Finally got my 75.

[cdckjn]

So far so good for me, it is a constant battle to fight not too spent too much time, money on this hobby AND at the same time balance with family/wife/kids. So far I feel that my joy from this hobby is so far been worth the effort and time put in. Just don't be too ambitious and stick with low-cost techqniues and equipment and keep a simple FOWLR tank (2ft).

[winger24]

20/04/08 0900hrs to 1402hrs I'm...dying.. backache.. skin peeling.. backache.. arghh..scraping coraline off RMS i bought second hand... Should have bought NEW one.. yeah.. should have bought new one... I SHOULD BUY NEW ONE...

Dyingggg..DIE CORALINE>> DIE!!! Now where is that other useless credit card hiding...

Cruel hobby.... i just need to vent

[reefer_cosmo]

20/04/08 0900hrs to 1402hrs I'm...dying.. backache.. skin peeling.. backache.. arghh..scraping coraline off RMS i bought second hand... Should have bought NEW one.. yeah.. should have bought new one... I SHOULD BUY NEW ONE...

Dyingggg..DIE CORALINE>> DIE!!! Now where is that other useless credit card hiding...

Cruel hobby.... i just need to vent

Sorry about your misery ... but I dunno to cry for you or laugh with you!

Yeah, always buy new stuff in this hobby. The condition of equipment detoriates really fast under saltwater condition (and also the encrusting algae issue that you facing now).

If buying old stuff, then have to be mentally prepared for some cleaning up or equipment malfunction shortly. Sometimes not seller's fault also, becoz they selling "as-is" condition.

[beebeefl]

BECAREFUL of life rocks from LFS . please quarantin liferocks before adding to cycling tank bcos if any rocks that has bad smell and place in yr new tank will caue ammonia spike gradually and u will see fishing gasping for air.

(my lesson learn)