What's the dumbest/biggest mistake you made when you first entered the hobby?

[mpjmeyer]

I'll start...

When I first got into the aquarium hobby, I started with a simple 10 gallon freshwater tank without doing any research. Went to Walmart, picked up a 10 gallon starter kit and strutted out the store as if I were getting ready to house a new species of fish that would change the world. I figure I'll just fill it and add fish...how much easier could this be. After a few days of adding water, the tank would get nasty!! I told myself, "what the heck did I do wrong?". So naturally, I emptied the contents, including the fish, and threw everything in the dishwasher to get cleaned....then started over.

A week later...same problem. "what the heck is going on with this darn filter?!" I told myself. So once again, dishwasher it went, I even scrubbed the equipment with the best Dawn soap I had. After the tank got ugly the 3rd time, I decided to finally do some research to see what the heck was happening and guess what the problem was....Nothing! My tank was trying to cycle. So the 4th time, I let it go and a little over a week later...crystal clear water, healthy fish, no problems for years. There were times where I didn't touch the water for weeks except to top it off.

That was the biggest amateur move I've ever made and still shake my head when I think about it but after tons of reading up on aquariums, I'm understanding it more and more everyday. We won't mention the fact that I didn't think about back siphon and flooded my basement floor 1 day after running my saltwater tank with the ATO pump hosing.

What's your story?? C'mon...it'll be out secret...

 

[Tokash23]

Topped off with saltwater for the roughly the first month then realized my salinity was through the roof. Ooops lol

 

[Jimbo662]

Not realizing evaporation shows up in the filter section of an all in one and you don't see it...and thinking it's not happening because the tank was still full.

 

[Rob Lion]

....telling the wife the true start up cost for a new tank :/

 

[Johniejumbo]

....telling the wife the true start up cost for a new tank :/

 

[Salty1962]

Purchased a Panther Grouper. Out grew the tank in 4mths Not to mention the pain of keeping feeder fish!

 

[Johniejumbo]

i put my new 75 gallon tank on a table not quite big enough for it. the front edge was hanging off. It lasted a good few months but the bottom seal eventually gave one night. Woke up with a very wet floor and an empty tank . Along with a few hundred bucks worth of dead fish and corals. Almost gave up the hobby

 

[Roy 9121]

I was using a butter knife to scrape something off a rock in my tank. I dropped the knife, and it stuck right in the center of my elegance coral. It never recovered.

 

[azbigjohn]

Wasn't when I started, as I ran FOWLR tanks for many years without major problems...

Once I decided to gt into corals and reef tanks, not being careful with inspecting everything that went into my tank. I let aptasia into my tank on a single coral frag, and within a month, I had hundreds throughout the aquarium. Never could get on top of it, and tried everything (and every creature). Finally ended up crashing the tank, and starting over.

I am not dedicated to QT-ing and observing EVERYTHING that hits my tank before it hits the water of the DT.

 

[reef-freak]

Not getting a bigger tank

 

[gcarroll]

Purchased a trigger and a banded cat shark. Trigger ate the fins off the cat shark. After that i went reef with reef safe fish only!

 

[Waters]

Buying cheap equipment to save money.

 

[reeftilldie]

Not calibrate refractometer, dosing incorrect amount of ca,alk, not removing detritus settle on the sump.

 

[Sm51498]

Purchased a Panther Grouper. Out grew the tank in 4mths Not to mention the pain of keeping feeder fish!

They are such pretty fish! A shame they don't stay small.

I made a bunch of small mistakes first time around. I think my biggest mistake was just trying to do this hobby on a college student budget. I made it work but I shake my head when I think back at it. I have learned a ton from that experience though.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Keep in mind there was no internet...

I decided to have a sump and I selected the external Lifeqard Modules... kindda like this.

The instructions said to glue the modules together. I did. I started it all up for the first time and I remember smiling as the hummed was so beautifully. Next thing I know BOOM! and the modules all blow apart under the pressure. Drained half the tank (3rd floor apartment) before I could stop it. Called Lifegard and discovered "glued" in our hobby means CEMENT, not silicone.

 

[bevo5]

OH man - so many. I've had tanks for close to 30yrs because I'm old. During that time I've done so many idiotic things. Let me think:

-Thought just dumping straight salt into the tank to raise salinity was a good idea. That went horribly wrong.
-Didn't tighten the outlet tube of the EHEIM one night and drained a 29g onto my floor
-Bought a tank from Tenecor which immediately failed the day after they went out of business so nobody to get money back from.
-Put wild caught Frontosa and too-smallish Tricoti in a tank together. Frontosa worked through $80 meals for a while.
-Spray painted the back of my new tank without covering the tops - put a ton of spray paint into the tank. That one sucked.
-Introduced Ich into my biocube like a moron

I could go on and on.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I've learned if you say/think the words "I should..." DO IT! DO IT NOW! Like "I should put a lid on that tank." "I should put an anti-siphon on that tubing." I should clamp that down". DO IT! Because tomorrow you'll be cleaning up the mess created by not doing it. Or is that just me and I have really bad luck. LOL!

 

[buckroe07]

I measured my salinity and found out it was low so I added salt mix directly into the display with fish in it.

 

[JFrar]

I think years down the line you still make stupid "newbie" mistakes.... im almost 10 years into the hobby and a couple weeks ago i had my heater on and put an alarm on my phone to turn it off.... I fell asleep on the couch, the alarm woke me up, being tired i unplugged my return flow pump instead of the heater and went to bed.... 85 degrees the next morning did not lose anything though(lucky me)

 

[Smo]

I did not quarantine everything wet. Put new coral frags, CUC and fish directly into my first reef tank. Only took a few months for fish to start succumbing to multiple diseases including Ich.