How to learn this hobby

Naiad

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Man this is so true the sad part is some of us get all the gadgets to automate and will still do everything manually. I literally have 3 dosers that have set next to the tanks for 4 months along with the tubing and jugs. My apex literally only monitors for me and works the lights. I actually really enjoy working on my tanks though it's my release and helps calm a hectic day or week.

Anyway everyone good luck reefing and enjoy.
Hey I do too! Maybe one day I will have my apex running dosages and see what it is really capable of lol. Right now it is just a warning system to tell me I need to fix things. It hasn't earned my trust yet to handle things on its own yet [emoji33]
 

cmcoker

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I hope my wife doesn't read this. [emoji14] She's pushing me to start a business selling disease-free fish. :mad: I already only get 3-4 hours sleep per night. :D
Ha, mine wants to start one delivering emergency meds in our area, after dealing with diseases in qt fish and having to find the right thing...

I'd buy from you [emoji38]
 
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Humblefish

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Ha, mine wants to start one delivering emergency meds in our area, after dealing with diseases in qt fish and having to find the right thing...

I'd buy from you [emoji38]

Maybe we should go in business together. ;)
 

CenlaReefer

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Ha, mine wants to start one delivering emergency meds in our area, after dealing with diseases in qt fish and having to find the right thing...

I'd buy from you [emoji38]

Same here! I would buy fish from Humblefish rather than spending my time, money, and aggrivation on the qt of some new fish. Leave it to an expert.
 

Lowell Lemon

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Might happen someday, if the time & place is right. ;)

The only problem with your plan to sell disease free fish is the customer and their tanks...oops.

I would buy from you and avoid all the cost of medications! But I still might run some U.V. once and a while for insurance. I know old habits die hard.
 

Sistawolf

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I've helped my fair share of people get into this hobby, and I've noticed a trend lately that almost always backfires. The prevailing attitude goes a little something like this: "I can skip learning the basics because I'm going to buy a controller, some reactors and a few other gadgets to automate everything for me." :eek: I actually advocate the exact opposite for noobs: Learn to do everything manually first, and then look for devices you can can connect to your WiFi and control with your iPhone. :p My reasoning is this:
  • You spend more time learning how to operate the gadget than focusing on the fundamentals of the hobby. I know people who will check every probe and every setting on every controller before even thinking of looking to see what's going on inside the aquarium to find the problem. Maybe a snail is stuck inside your pump and it's shell jamming the impeller is the reason why the pump won't come on? ;)
  • If ever your kalk or calcium reactor or ATO were to break ... Do you know you can use a milk jug and crimped airline hose to gravity drip supplements directly into your tank? :eek:
  • Spending thousands on toys for your aquarium really adds pressure to succeed with it sooner rather than later. Especially in the eyes of a disapproving spouse.
  • The best deals in this hobby always come secondhand. Unfortunately, top-of-the-line used equipment isn't always readily available. But if you're patient and keep an eye out, a deal will come along. In the meantime, learn to do everything the hard way. :p
I'm also not one to push a newbie into buying "the biggest tank you can afford/fit" and insist that you have to use a sump. Buy a cheap, small, second hand system and work out the kinks of your tank husbandry with that. Experiment with all the things you heard, think you know, in there. :D Once you feel more confident in what you're doing, then is the time to upgrade to a larger system. By then you will have realized that a quarantine or frag tank is a not a bad idea, so your "old tank" won't go to waste.

So how do I get better and learn this hobby? #1 Go slow (can't stress the importance of this enough) and #2 Read. I'm going to share a secret with you: No matter how well you plan it all out, no matter how hard you try ... you will never, ever reach the finish line with your tank. There will always be a coral/fish to trade for some other one, or a tweak/modification to make on your tank. It never gets completely finished. ;) So be patient, enjoy the ride, and go slow.

Read as much as you can here on R2R and other forums. And there are two books IMO every newbie in this hobby should read cover to cover:
  1. The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner
  2. Natural Reef Aquariums by John H. Tullock
Thanks you so much for sharing this with me.. going to get these books now.. :) your a genius!
 

Chrisfish

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Thanks you so much for sharing this with me.. going to get these books now.. :) your a genius!
This is not my thread but I just had to thank @Humblefish for this posting, besides that fact that you are such an asset to R2R and always so helpful this post is so encouraging for newbies and those who are not into or cannot for many reasons buy the biggest tank or the most expensive equipment, and don't misunderstand, I'm not knocking any of that either! But I just really liked everything you said:)
 
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Humblefish

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I have not bought a fish medication since the 70s. :D
Dropping a copper penny in a SW tank doesn't count as a fish medication. :D

Thanks you so much for sharing this with me.. going to get these books now.. :) your a genius!

This is not my thread but I just had to thank @Humblefish for this posting, besides that fact that you are such an asset to R2R and always so helpful this post is so encouraging for newbies and those who are not into or cannot for many reasons buy the biggest tank or the most expensive equipment, and don't misunderstand, I'm not knocking any of that either! But I just really liked everything you said:)
Awww shucks :cool:
 

Brew12

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Dropping a copper penny in a SW tank doesn't count as a fish medication. :D



Awww shucks :cool:

2 Questions..... why is this not a sticky?

And a less related question... why is it so hard to find information on how to start a new tank while still following good quarantine practices? Is there a golden thread in the forums specifically on this that has almost been lost to the ages?
 
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Humblefish

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2 Questions..... why is this not a sticky?

I'm only authorized to make threads stickies in the fish disease forum. ;)

And a less related question... why is it so hard to find information on how to start a new tank while still following good quarantine practices? Is there a golden thread in the forums specifically on this that has almost been lost to the ages?

I wrote this thread on How to QT: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/

Combine it with this fine article: http://www.reefedition.com/291/
 

Brew12

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I'm only authorized to make threads stickies in the fish disease forum. ;)


Hmmm... I have a feeling that having posts from you stickied in the noob section might lead to fewer posts in the fish disease forum! :D

I wrote this thread on How to QT:
Thanks Humblefish. I've read your post on how to quarantine so many times I've almost memorized it! I have come to the conclusion that it will be impossible for me to quarantine my DT on first set up. I am going with dry rock and processed "live" sand to minimize the possibility of "bad" hitchhikers. I do feel my tank will be healthier with pods and I want to run Chaeto in my sump. My new plan is to add a reasonable size CuC, chaeto, and seeder pods to my DT once it is cycled. I will then let it sit fallow for 76 days and buy my first fish for my QT at day 40 so they are ready to go in when the DT is ready.

I can't tell you how many hours I have spent trying to find a better way. If there is a better way, I'm at a loss. If this is the best way it would be nice if it were easier to find!
 

Paul B

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Dropping a penny in a tank won't work for a few reasons. First now you need to find very old pennies as the new ones are made out of old VCR machines and don't contain much, if any copper and the dosage is five pennys for five gallons of water (I think as it has been a long time since I did that)
 

Joey waid

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I'm the type of person who if he's in contact with it, I want to learn about it and learn how to care for it or fix it. Case in point I collect watches, so I spent 6000.00 on tools and books and DVDs and taught myself how to repair and maintain them. Pinball machines too. The list goes on. Why pay someone to do something if you can do it yourself. It saves money, time and a sence of pride in doing it yourself. I am also one of those people if I cant do it 100% or better than the pros ill let them do it and have them teach me. If I see it done a least once I can most likely do it. I have worked for people for free just to learn and have gotten a lot of jobs that way too. The problem with fish is I have almost no patients. Before I started working on watches I would be balls to the wall, after screwing up a few high dollar movements I figured I better change my approach. So learning patience has been a huge help in fish. If you have no patience you should not be in this hobbie, even if you pay someone else to do it, they can only do so much too.
 

sil40sx

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Why is my salinty reads 1.046? I always top off with fresh new saltwater mix daily.

Can someone help me please? :D
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 55 49.5%
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  • None.

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  • Other.

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