Dumbest thing you did as a Newbie! - Page 5

MarkD40 · #**101** 03/06/2006, 06:04 PM

Didn't think about putting a heater in my 50 gallon trash can with my fresh salt water. Did a 40 gallon water change and when I checked my tank my fish were swimming like they were drunk. Couldn't figure it out until I noticed the temperature on the thermometer in the display tank was 65 degrees. The temp was 78 degrees before the water change. Thankfully the fish pulled through.

kamil5000 · #**102** 03/06/2006, 06:14 PM

Buying a clownfish instead of that goldfish that my wife suggested i get for my 4 year old's nemo theme birthday party.

Ahhh...... only if I knew the difference between $1.99 & $19,999.99 back then

kamil5000 · #**103** 03/06/2006, 06:21 PM

Also buying a seaclone skimmer.

Why does every newbie fall into this trap. Is this some sort of initiation process.....buy a seaclone skimmer....then discover that it is useless.

vdKroon · #**104** 03/06/2006, 07:28 PM

Go 120 km. away from home, park the car, wear my snorkel on, and dive to catch about twenty (20) of 'those tiny/cute little anemones'* to put on my new tank....

Aiptasia... of course

TheCoralReef731 · #**105** 03/06/2006, 08:48 PM

Mistaking alkalinity buffer for pH buffer, so now my alkalinity is 16.5 dKH. ouch.

Oh, and aiptasia.
And also not getting a big enough cleanup crew - and not even having one now.

Opiy · #**106** 03/06/2006, 10:23 PM

Getting electricuted while grabbing a wet power cord with wet hands.

Electricution from sticking hand in a bucket of water witha heater in it that is NOT submersable.

Electricuted from grabbing a power strip with wet hands.

God will I learn from my mistakes already !!!!

fareforce · #**107** 03/06/2006, 10:49 PM

Hmm. Where to start??

Lets see. Buying a SeaClone. Of course I followed this with a RedSea Prism, now I have an aqua C.. Much better...

Using Crushed coral because I liked the way it looked.. Needless to say I now use sugar sized sand.

I could go on, and on...

Btboy2004 · #**108** 03/06/2006, 11:33 PM

Buying an Eclipse Hood to use for a saltwater tank

tacobell45 · #**109** 03/07/2006, 01:53 AM

I couldnt get my brand new MH light fixture to work, I called and was told that it takes alot of currunt and I needed to turn off lights, tv etc. in the house and then try it. I did it and was thinking how bad its going to be to give up tv and sit in the dark for the coarls , Called back and told him it didnt work and he said to wait untill around 9 or 10 that night after people arnt using so much power and that will give the fixture enough to work! My husband came home and just shooked his head ,went in there and in a few minutes I saw the bright lights on GOT to plug it in properly not just get the colors right The guy never said that.

tacobell45 · #**110** 03/07/2006, 02:01 AM

OH and its a fixture that was cheap somehow 180.00 in this hobby Thats cheap! so now I have a 300.00 dollar Back up for it, does sound like it could go any time

hulley · #**111** 03/07/2006, 08:33 AM

I removed my bio-balls, all at once! By the time I realized my tank was crashing, it was too late! I lost an achilles, emporer and red sea sail fin! I'll wait till my tank is more mature next time! I'm not even gonna use bio-balls next time! Only lots and lots of live rock! And my big ol skimmer!

colettem · #**112** 03/07/2006, 09:17 AM

My first dumb thing happened this weekend. The "expert" who set my tank up recommended silencing my durso standpipe with a piece of open pore filter sponge over the top. This weekend the powerful force of suction siphoning down the pipe when I turned my return pump off during tank maintenance was enough to suck the sponge all the way down the pipe.

Only way to fix it was to saw through the plumbing, then found the pipe was completely non-standard size making rejoining very tricky.

ho bag · #**113** 03/07/2006, 09:28 AM

Dumbest thing i ever did as a newb, still being a noob....Was to get into the damm hoby to start with!

Swanwillow · #**114** 03/07/2006, 10:29 AM

I still use tap water-but thats just me (you learn to live with algae)

oh, my MH never turned on just right... I had to well, jiggle it just a little to get it to fire. one day, the bulb was a little wet, and my hand met the tiny bit of metal peeking out on the bulb...
good thing that the MH was jsut sitting idly on the tank, so when I tried to pull away it fell to the floor. shattered the bulb, sold the fixture... bought a new one that I didn't have to jiggle.

and it HURT

MarkD40 · #**115** 03/07/2006, 05:53 PM

Never restrict your return...learned this the hard way!

fishgirl7 · #**116** 03/08/2006, 08:44 AM

PAYING $9.00 FOR A MIS IDENTIFIED HERMIT CRAB -GUESS I GOT OFF EASY!

RLMainers · #**117** 03/08/2006, 10:57 AM

Used a damsel to "cycle my tank".

ho bag · #**118** 03/08/2006, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RLMainers
Used a damsel to "cycle my tank".

Ya im guilty of that too. Cant get those bastards out either!

Zach117 · #**119** 03/08/2006, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Lets see. Buying a SeaClone. Of course I followed this with a RedSea Prism, now I have an aqua C.. Much better...

I was going to say the same thing when I saw this thread!! I am only in the second step and am thinking about ordering the remora right now.

MarkD40 · #**120** 03/09/2006, 10:56 AM

ditto

IslandCrow · #**121** 03/09/2006, 11:49 AM

After reading this, I was just happy to hear someone else out there has run their RO/DI unit with the flush valve open. I just thought everyone had really underestimated the amount of waste water produced.

Now, the biggest mistake I almost made was going to a Petco to start my SW tank. Fortunately, the guy who helped me there had actually worked for a real fish store and told me not to buy anything there and if I knew what was best for me, not to ever come back. Then he gave me the name of the place he used to work. It was hard to find, there's no fancy 200 gallon display tank, and there's barely room for the tanks he does have, but he always cuts me a good deal, the fish are always healthy and happy, and he actually sells quality equipment at a very reasonable price.

IslandCrow · #**122** 03/09/2006, 11:49 AM

After reading this, I was just happy to hear someone else out there has run their RO/DI unit with the flush valve open. I just thought everyone had really underestimated the amount of waste water produced.

Now, the biggest mistake I almost made was going to a Petco to start my SW tank. Fortunately, the guy who helped me there had actually worked for a real fish store and told me not to buy anything there and if I knew what was best for me, not to ever come back. Then he gave me the name of the place he used to work. It was hard to find, there's no fancy 200 gallon display tank, and there's barely room for the tanks he does have, but he always cuts me a good deal, the fish are always healthy and happy, and he actually sells quality equipment at a very reasonable price.

tehon3299 · #**123** 03/09/2006, 12:55 PM

Dumbest thing done as a newbie?....

NOTHING!...yet.

I didnt buy anything until after I found RC! I am now setting up my 90g AGA RR tank and dont buy a single thing unless its researched and recommended from RC!

BTW...thanks guys!

Sprockett · #**124** 03/09/2006, 01:10 PM

Still a newb but the biggest goof was to put my tank together without doing my homework first. I had to change so many things before I finally got it right I was ready to give up at one point.

Now I'm adding a sump/fuge now and I've been water leak testing and tweaking for a week now to get things perfect before I hook it into the main tank.

That was a good lesson learned

Debbie64 · #**125** 03/09/2006, 01:36 PM

Still horrified about this one. When I first started the cycle on my tank, and got the sand in, it was horribly cloudy. Turned off the returns and the powerheads so everything would settle. At the time, I was keeping the heater in the overflow.

Heater in overflow. Returns off. Heater in overflow. Water - slowly - evaporating, exposing heater. I now have a little warpy indentation in the overflow from where the heater almost melted the acrylic right through.