Best Practices and top 10 mistakes

[forhabi]

Thanks Guys and Gals of RC, great input !

I wish i had the experience in reefing to consolidate all the input here into a nice little package that newbies like me could refer to.

Any expert volunteers to take this up??

I hope so !!

[Anthony8858]

DO NOT OVERSTOCK!!!!!

[burntom]

My suggestion after what I discovered this morning?

If you're buying your first fish (an incredibly cute little Pink Bar Goby), put a cover over your QT. Otherwise you'll find a dried up little friend on the carpet in the morning.

Sob.

[clown2be]

how bout putting the LFS water into your tank that had copper in it? OOOPS!! once a LFS wrote on the fish bag with a nonpermanent marker and when i floated the bag all the ink ran off into the tank. OOOOOOOOPPPS , If they write on the bag i always check the marker.

[forhabi]

Any Gurus out there who would like to help compile a the list of mistakes and best practices - in oder of severity/priority?

i would have done it but unfortunately dont know enough about reefing to give it a good shot !

thanks
M

[K9]

Originally posted by fishtanker
using tap water

big mistake

Since when??? I've seen some pretty darn nice tanks that ran only on tap water. I myself have been using tap water for top-offs and water changes the last month or so.

Would I suggest it? No, I would suggest using RO/DI or distilled water. But don't call it a "big mistake" to use it. IMO, I'd remove "using tap water" from your list of "Top Ten Common Mistakes". You want proof that tap water doesn't cause a catastrophy in your tank? Look at the photo gallery of my tank on my Web site.

[alprazo]

Top 5 Mistakes

1. Watching xenia, glove polpys and gsp grow off their rocks
2. Not removing hitchhiker crabs at first site + adding emerald crabs
3. Waiting a day to re-attach the frag that fell over and not using enough super-glue (I now use a whole tube for every frag)
4. Assuming that the circuits wont trip when adding 800 watts of light and not having a backup plan.
5. lack of battery powered air pumps for power outages. I lost 1/2 my tank last Oct after 5 days without power.

Oh yeh - FORGETTING TO LEVEL THE TANK AND BRACE THE FLOOR BEFORE FILLING IT. (I did this twice)

5 best things

1. temperature controller
2. Having a spare return pump
3. joining RC
4. Putting the sump in the basement
5. R/O with DI and auto shut-off

[chaetomorph]

Not underestimating murphy's powers to get water out of your tank

Just learned this tonight. Filled my 75. Dechlorinated. Was using gravel vac to siphon out 5 gallon buckets to mix salt.. Mixed a whole 50 gallon bag worth. Pizza came. Maintained syphon by putting both ends into water. Left tank ate pizza. G/F goes into the basement and screams. Realizes that the one end of the syphon made it out of the tank. Only about 10-15 gallons worth still in tank. Squeegeed basement carpet for an hour. Most of it channeled it's way to the drain in the basement. Wow, I can't believe I did that. Good thing salt was buy 1 50gal bag get one free.. Hope the moisture doesn't bring the house down.

[VoidRaven]

Originally posted by burntom
My suggestion after what I discovered this morning?

If you're buying your first fish (an incredibly cute little Pink Bar Goby), put a cover over your QT. Otherwise you'll find a dried up little friend on the carpet in the morning.

Sob.

I would like to second, third, and fourth this comment. Been there, done that, and buried a Flame Angel as a result.

[Flipturn88]

Don't:
Buy a damsel because it is a "good, hearty first fish"
Buy a mandarin for your 20 gallon tank thinking it will be okay
Go into this hobby hoping to only spend a couple hundred. Sorry, but that's simply impossible.
Buy the cheaper equipment because it saves money; you get what you pay for--trust me.

Do:
Read Read Read...oh and did I say read?
Ask advice whenever you are unsure of something, and be willing to take the advice
Be prepared to become highly addicted!

[Flipturn88]

Originally posted by alprazo
Oh yeh - FORGETTING TO LEVEL THE TANK AND BRACE THE FLOOR BEFORE FILLING IT. (I did this twice)

Amen to that one! Another I learned from experience.

[AEALOVESHERGIRLS]

What happened as a result of not bracing the floor? Is my tank doomed to crash through to my kitchen?????????????????

[Flipturn88]

No, I was mainly talking about the not level part. My tank cracked and I had to make an emergency move (very stressful).

I didn't brace mine, but I did put a large board underneath to catch any spills...I think you are okay. I've never heard of anyone's tank falling thriough the floor.

[alprazo]

As my tank was filling I noticed it was started to sink into the floor on one end. I ran to the basement and noticed that I set-up the tank to run parallel with the floor supports and one was cracking in the middle. I had to empty the water and buy one of the metal pump jacks at HD. The house is nearly 200 years old and termites have done their damage over the years. It came very close to going through

[AEALOVESHERGIRLS]

OMG alprazo, you just gave me a heart attack!

[stevedola]

Heres one for the TANG POLICE.

Mistake:
Dont put a baby Purple tang in a 29g with the antisipation of getting a 120 by next xmas.(not that ive done that but many have:-)) It doesnt always turn out that way. Be very care with tangs but they do need alot of room length wise to swim. Have some common sense when dealing with any new inhabitant. What/How do they naturally eat/interact/react in the wild.

[MiddletonMark]

Stevedola ... that brings up a huge point.

Do all prep work, research, and future plans BEFORE getting any livestock. Don't buy, then set up the right size tank, or get the lights needed for the anemone, or do ___ after the fact.

If you're getting the 120 in a year ... get the fish after you have the tank.