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

[RamsReef]

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!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

OMG! That's exactly how I was saying it in my head!! I need to lay off the coffee.

 

[cracker]

My biggest mistake was thinking I knew everything I needed to know !

 

[PJS]

OUCH!!!

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

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.

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.

Forgetting the RO/DI unit was running and flooding my downstairs neighbor's apartment in college

(I wasn't new in the hobby either)

Not realizing the drain towards the bottom of the tank was meant for a closed loop system and just made it an overflow to the sump. Realized what it really was the first time I lost power and sump just wouldn't stop filling and filling and then overflowed.

Using a kalkwasser paste to kill off 40 or so aptasia. The resulting Alk/ph spike killed half of the coral.

Bought a 150 gallon tank and set it up on a used metal stand.... came downstairs and stepped in 2 inches of water all over my basement.... not a drop of water in the tank as the front and bottom glass separated from each other. Not a good start to the day at 6:30am

 

[PJS]

Introducing aiptasia and bubble algae to my dream, what a nightmare...it took over a year to conquer the tasia, still battling the bubble, regaining real estate at a slow consistent pace.

 

[Reefinny]

I like the told my wife the real cost comments... mine just shakes her head... is that new?? Um no hun it grew... well that fish looks new... traded it for coral... really ... where did all the coral come from?? Let me guess... you traded it for Cash!!!

 

[Bdog4u2]

Canister filter

 

[HgrReefs]

Black sand and a magnetic algae cleaner. Ugh...

 

[TroutbumNV]

Keeping a sebae under stock hood lighting. In my defense my LFS said it would be fine.
2nd one was believing them, not knowing the signs, then losing nearly the whole tank when it went south.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

I got a 30" tall tank....it's going to be drained soon as I go for a 20" tall tank once it arrives.

Nothing like putting on a snorkel to grab that frag that fell aaaallll the way to the bottom...for the third time! Never again!!

 

[Bradley Crocker]

HOB overflow...or lack of its maintenance more specifically. I think it flooded a total of 6 times before I "upgraded" to my 30" tall 110...mistake #2.

 

[Homestead_Dad]

Went to PETCO with the wife and ended up with a blue damsel and a condy Anemone. Damsel was in distress with unronema marinum didn't know it until two days after I had put it in my tank. The condy has actually been great but scared to put anything else in with it.

 

[jrr98002]

When I did my first tank a long time ago, cycled with uncured live rock (on purpose...wanted the dieoff actually). I knew what I was doing pretty much, waited until my ammonia/nitrite were zero and all that, then slowly started stocking. However, I had an immense brain farq and forgot that I would end up with an insane amount of nitrate from doing that, given that it was 115 lbs of rock. It didn't help that my nitrate test I had to start was defective. Long story short, my nitrates were about 450ppm and I had already put a few fish and coral into it. Still very surprised nothing died. Several massive water changes ensued naturally.

 

[Reefinny]

Other than the wife issues (not bringing her in - her finding recipts - buying fish with out her) one of my BIGGEST mistakes was early on I was making RO water and did not have a float switch. Well I forgot I was making water and left the house, came home to a LOT of water on the floor in the basement. I now have float switches! My novice mistakes definialty went to not buying quality equipment. I dont think I have one thing left besides the tank of when I started. Over the years have been able to upgrade everything.

 

[cshplumber]

I got a 30" tall tank....it's going to be drained soon as I go for a 20" tall tank once it arrives.

Same here. 110 tall. Any maintenance = wet armpits & a sore back.

 

[cnseekatz]

Using a kalkwasser paste to kill off 40 or so aptasia. The resulting Alk/ph spike killed half of the coral.

Ooops

 

[cnseekatz]

Mounted my MP10 controller to the inside of my cabinet... above the rim of the sump. You get where I'm going with this...

Came into the office to find my tank looking like skim milk, and smelling like the beach after a storm. The controller pulled off the wall (somehow) and landed in the sump. Breaker never tripped, and I electrocuted my tank. This was less than 1 week after adding a $600 pair of bonded yellow dwarf lionfish that I'd been searching for for over a year. I haven't found even a single yellow specimen since.

 

[Panalo]

Not buying a reeffects ready tank and flooded the house.

 

[Panalo]

Reef*

 

[salty150]

Buying cheap equipment to save money.

This!!!

Going the "cheapest" route in this hobby only brings misery...