Lessons learned the hard way.......

rplank

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
Share your reefkeeping lessons for the newbies. Here's my most recent:


When putting your new bottom dwelling fish in your tank, don't drop it in directly above your bubble tipped anemone.
 

SilverSurfer

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
OMG! It got eaten?
 

SkyShark

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
Lessons learned the hard way.......

That sucks... but your story made me laugh.
My recent lesson: for a tank cover to be truly effective, it must fully cover the tank - even a 1/4" gap is enough for a small fish to learn the hard way that they cannot survive outside of water...
 

Shaunv

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
1) Dip your corals and inspect closely! I dip and still ended up with nudibranchs and flatworms. So it's not fail safe, but do your best to avoid the pests you don't want

2) acclimate your corals! I can't tell you how many corals I have received from an LFS under Halides and placed them under my Kessil and had them RTN.

3) quarantine your fish. You never know what they may introduce to your tank.

4) be patient and add things slowly. This is really hard to do but worth it in the end
 
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jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
Stay away from new tech until it is not new anymore.
Dip and QT.
Stuff that worked 10 years ago, still works today.
Even though everybody can post online, not all advice is equal.
If you like somebody's setup, just do what they do. In the end, most experienced reefers tend to take mostly the same paths regardless of where they started.
 

SynDen

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C President
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#6
Dont use tap water, get an RO system and save yourself the headache
 

jgonzz

Hammerhead Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#8
jda123;327871 said:
Stay away from new tech until it is not new anymore.
Dip and QT.
Stuff that worked 10 years ago, still works today.
Even though everybody can post online, not all advice is equal.
If you like somebody's setup, just do what they do. In the end, most experienced reefers tend to take mostly the same paths regardless of where they started.

I could not agree more !
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
QT or dip EVERYTHING. I lost 4 fish to MV because I didnt QT a mandarin thinking that it wouldnt do well in QT. If I didnt act as fast as I did, I would have lost all of them.
 

SkyDiv3r17

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
No matter how many alarms you set for checking your rodi system filtering water, it will always overflow and ruin the floor unless you put the bucket into the tub.
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
SkyDiv3r17;327906 said:
No matter how many alarms you set for checking your rodi system filtering water, it will always overflow and ruin the floor unless you put the bucket into the tub.
Or an alternative option, install a mechanical float valve and auto shut off check valve so it shuts off for you. I had many flooded floors before I did that to mine.
 

opakapaka

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
I have an emergency overflow in my RO water barrel at the top where it dumps into the floor drain if the auto shut off valve does not kick in. No alarm needed for this one.


SkyDiv3r17;327906 said:
No matter how many alarms you set for checking your rodi system filtering water, it will always overflow and ruin the floor unless you put the bucket into the tub.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
I forgot - there are two types of ATOs and other automated systems:
1). Those that have failed
2). Those that will

Be prepared and trust nothing but gravity*. At $100 Harbor Freight Generator can save you thousands in livestock.

*Even though gravity is constantly changing to some minuscule degree, if it changes too much then nobody will care about their tanks with all of the larger problems around.
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
jda123;327917 said:
I forgot - there are two types of ATOs and other automated systems:
1). Those that have failed
2). Those that will
While every device you put on your tank will eventually fail (not just controllers), IME automation puts you at a lot less risk. For example, my heaters get turned on and off by my apex, which puts no stress on the contacts that its internal thermostat uses. If my apex ever fails and leaves the heater on when it shouldnt be, the internal thermostat kicks in and turns it off. The heaters are also sized so that any one heater can only raise my tank temp to 80 degrees on its own. Therefore to cook my tank, my apex, and at least 2 heaters have to all fail on.

The chances of one component failing at one time are higher than they should be. The chances of two components failing simultanuously, are incredibly low. The chances of three or more components failing simultaneously...you will probably win the lottery or get struck by lightning before that happens.

Moral of the story, design any automation scheme expecting any one or two things to fail and you will never "have a bad time"
 
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Jfaiii

Butterfly Fish
#16
I learned this one the hard way. Calibrate your refractometer regularly. Corals do not care much for saltwater that isn't salty, even though your refractometer says it is...
 

ReefCheif

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#17
If it aint broke, than dont fix it!!

Learned that one the hard way a few times, which means I didnt actually learn at all!! HAHA
 

Highway66

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#18
urchins will eat feather dusters, mine did.

fish will find even the smallest gap in your cover and will jump. My blue spot jawfish found my hole

even the "no moving parts sensor" ato will fail if you dont periodically clean it. Mine failed in the off position, not as bad as failed on, but still a mild disaster.

If you have a controller and havent added simple code to prevent disaster, becuase your too lazy/busy/tired... you will kick yourself later. I did, kick myself that is, lol
 
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Mermaid.purse

Copepod
M.A.S.C Club Member
#19
Urchins will also eat trumpets, Duncans and Cheato.

All tangs are buttheads

Towels, towels and more towels!

Never be more then an hour away.
 

kutcha

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#20
ALWAYS check your equipment before you put it in your tank i learned this the hard way wanted a little more flow in my sump to pick up detritus so i threw a powerhead down there without examining it well my dog chewed on the wire lets just say alot of stray voltage and dead things cause of it
 
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