How has RC influenced your tank?

[boiler_2000]

As a newb, I love this website. It has helped me, comforted me, and kept me up at night with the info I have found here. As all you fellow reefers know, learning this hobby is a grand adventure and is very rewarding but can be extremely trying at times. I have found this website to be a huge help whether it be for answering one of those annoying newby questions like "I have hair algae with a 2 month old tank what am I doing wrongfilling a hunger for knowledge, or just for fun when Im sitting around watching the Sunday Night Football Game!

My question to you is what is the best or most important piece of information that you have learned on this site?

Mine (being a newb) has been a couple things. A specific piece was learning what a pod is and how it is good for your tank. I about crapped myself the first time I saw an amphipod waddle out in the middle of the day and then slide back into the rocks. I was convinced at that point that Sigourney Weaver didn't kill the alien and its babies were living in my tank but I came here and found enough info to learn that they are actually good for my, same goes with bristleworms.

The other thing I have learned is that there are many different ideas, theories, and ways to run your little ocean. And Reefers are pretty oppinionated by nature. So you have a lot of people that will imply that their way is THE ONLY WAY. But you find that there are MANY BEAUTIFUL tanks out there that run very different from each other. So this hobby is about reading and researching as much as you can and then experimenting with those ideas and finding what works for you.

So lets hear what RC has done for you!

[tmz]

Reef Chemistry

[Mr James]

I don't run an UGF anymore.... And I do all of my shopping here.

[foltzcd]

Great place to shop and learn. I learn to avoid problems by reading about those of others in the forums.

[old salty]

It's made me realize that no upgrade is too absurd!!

[tripinpn01]

evrytime i have a question i know where to turn to. i think the biggest infuence is seeing everyone's tank and striving for that "perfect" balance... if there is one. last year i was only doing water changes with two tangs in a 40g tank, now i am very diligent about maintanence and keeping my water parameters up to par and always trying to keep my fish happy

[nlmotoring]

This is by far the best website that I have found anywhere. You almost never need to ask any questions because they are already been found when you search.

[uscharalph]

I feel I'm just better informed.

[Vinnie71975]

It has givien me a wide base of info to look at and ideas for formulating my tank a 20g fowlr Which it looks like is going to be upgraded to a 75g Fowlr cause i am getting a 75g for a STEAL!!! come on who here would argue with a 75g tank for 25 bucks!!! it has a slow leak and is being resealed by a professional.

[rustybucket145]

My corals actually live now!!!

[Reefer07]

I haven't even started my tank yet but it's going up this weekend, or starting at least.
Everytime I have a question I just come here and I think I have a pretty good grasp for everything I am going to need to know to start as I have been reading stuff on the net whenever I get a free chance.

[capn_hylinur]

I have had 2,222.5 misconceptions corrected since I joined this site and I only have .5 left to go --great

This is a very powerful learning environment--by being proactive on it you learn more then just reading books and articles.
One of the best ways to learn is by teaching others.

[Runfrumu]

Actually I've learned alot of great info here, and I'd attribute 99% of the success I have had so far to things I've learned on here. Any forum is going to have people who are just here to be disruptive. But most of the people here are very helpful and seem to want to help you succeed.

[Shagsbeard]

The importance of Quarentine. I guess I learned that here... or I LEARNED it by experience but should have learned it here since people who knew better told me to.

[papagimp]

Thanks to this site, I"ve had to tear down and re-do most of my tanks, lol. Thanks alot! But they do look 10,000% better since i've applied the knowledge learned here.

[an411]

I have to say without this website I would probably not have a tank and if I did I would have done everything wrong

[Mavrk]

If it wasn't for this site, I might actually be listening to my LFS for the latest technologies, etc.

Originally posted by tripinpn01
last year i was only doing water changes with two tangs in a 40g tank, now i am very diligent about maintanence and keeping my water parameters up to par and always trying to keep my fish happy

Do you really have 2 tangs in such a small tank?

[Nanz]

Theory and Reality are two complete different universes.

I have tried many ideas that in theory should work but in reality fail miserably, hehe

RC and the kind people here make it easier for me to learn about Reef Keeping without having to spend an enormous amount of money on failed experiments that in theory should work.

[ljosh]

I would not even have a saltwater aqaurium let alone 2 because of this site. I am not sure if it is a good or bad thing but Mastercard should probably be giving RC dividends.

[sabbath]

It is nice to get really unbiased results of a huge pool of people all over the world.

I am better at getting corals and animals that actually work together. Chemistry is another big one. Lighting. Good Protein Skimmers..............

[jehudson]

A LFS sold me 90lbs of live sand because "you need 90 lbs of live sand". I'm a little Aggravated about that. Had I known I could "seed" non-live sand I would have done so. Fortunately I think that's the only ride I was taken for. Oh well. Since finding RC, I feel good about what I have and know I can find out what I really need berfore going shopping again.

Most importantly (to me anyway), I appreciate the way people answerd my first post in the "new to the hobby" forum. Nobody made me feel like a imbecile, and lots of people replied with very thoughtful and thorough answers. Ya'll are awsome

[GinaSofia]

I've made invaluable RL friendships and without RC my tank wouldn't have survived my compulsive decisions and purchases.

[papagimp]

Originally posted by jehudson
Nobody made me feel like a imbecile, and lots of people replied with very thoughtful and thorough answers. Ya'll are awsome

Same way i felt with my first post. Just remember the kindness you were shown and pass that on to another in need of assitance. Even if you don't know the exact answer to someones specific question, giving your personal experience on a topic will often help out in some way.

[Dr Begalke]

That you really can (and people do) keep 6 tangs in a 40g tank..

[bmcq]

The best part of RC is the vast pool of knowledge that exists from I don't know how many cumulative years of SW. It doesn't matter if you have a 7 gallon nano or a 1000 gallon reef tank. There is a lot of info from both sides of the spectrum that can be utilized on any size tank. You have the ability to look at tanks the same size as the one you have and go by the lessons learned of others. The one thing that keeps coming up in just about every post on this site is patience, patience, patience ...... when you feel the urge to go out and buy that fish, coral, etc ... take the time to search here first. You will probably save yourself some heart ache and loss of money you could better use to feed your addiction and help your tank in the long run. The best thing I have learned is ..... my best resource is RC !!