Question for BRS (Noob needs knowledge)

SoHereEyeSit

Well-Known Member
BRS Member
Planning, plumbing, patience, and plenty of BRSTV for me right now with my first (eventual) reef tank underway.
What was the first issue that you encountered with your first reef tank? And how did you tackle it?
Thanks in advance, happy reefing.
 
Oh, this is an easy one. Trying to save money by buying crap gear. I and many others found out that the hard way that the nicer gear makes a huge difference in many cases. Is it essential? No. Personally I ended up buying nicer versions of everything I cheaped out on within the first 6 months.

You're better off buying quality used gear if you are on a tighter budget.
 
Do research on everything you want before buying it. This is something every reefer is guilty of not doing. But if you take your time and do the research before hand you will have less headaches later down the road.
 
First issue. Everything is expensive and there is always something to spend money on.

Need water. Buy RODI unit
Need to test tank. Buy test kits
Need to check salinity. Buy refractometer
New plumbing has a leak. Buy more pipes and parts

Waiting is the other first issue.
Waiting for the tank to mature
Waiting for the ugly stage to pass
Waiting to add fish slowly
 
First mistake, starting with the wrong tank. I should have spent more time defining what I wanted then spent time finding that. That said, I learned a lot from it and tank 2 is better for it.
 
Cyano!!! Cheap Lighting and Low Flow…. I fixed that and Cyano disappeared. Make sure you get the right lights and pumps, it'll save you money and headaches in the long run.
 
Do research on everything you want before buying it. This is something every reefer is guilty of not doing. But if you take your time and do the research before hand you will have less headaches later down the road.
This applies to livestock, too. As a newbie I get SO frustrated when I buy a coral that is non-aggressive only to learn that it was mislabelled, and it is actually something with 4-8" sweeper tentacles that will jeopardize other corals. It is hard for a newbie to distinguish a metallic green galaxea from a hairy green mushroom ... as just one example ...
 
Planning, plumbing, patience, and plenty of BRSTV for me right now with my first (eventual) reef tank underway.
What was the first issue that you encountered with your first reef tank? And how did you tackle it?
Thanks in advance, happy reefing.
Besides all the other great answers, I would say one of my first issues that needed to be corrected quickly was Evaporation. Get yourself a good ATO!
 
Folks here give great advice!.... What a super resource this site is. I would advise to invest in a quality RODI system and a respected ATO unit. The ability to quickly and easily supply saltwater as well as stable salinity should be your first goals. A newbie might be excited enough to go buy RO water, but that will get old quick and your tank will suffer if your upkeep starts to slip. Just be realistic about the difficulty and time you're willing to invest. I can't see hauling buckets if you live on the 12th floor of an apartment bldg....lol
Don't rush anything and I agree with ChrisV that you're better looking for quality used stuff than cheap new junk. Best of luck!
 
On the topic of test kits, there are some that are only used when you are cycling your tank (e.g. ammonia and nitrite) and others that are used forever. I found the tropic Marin combination test kit to be useful for cycling, as it has ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and pH. For $50 it's a pretty good price. You will quickly get annoyed by comparing colors in testing vials to the colors on the paper cards included with the test kit. At that point, invest in some Hanna checkers. The low range phosphate, alkalinity and high range nitrate checkers have a digital readout and are very easy to use. I only discovered them last year, but I love them. For calcium testing I use the red sea kit.

On the topic of rock, you will have varying schools of thought. I personally like having live rock because I find that there are different headaches that I find more tolerable. I buy rock that is established from my LFS. I carefully hand pick every rock to avoid rocks with obvious pests, then I treat the rocks with flatworm exit before putting in even a single hermit crab, to nuke any potential flatworms. I observe the rock closely and kill any aiptasia and vermetid snails as soon as I see them.
 
Oh, here is another one. Never EVER add a coral to your tank without dipping it for parasites. Personally, if I find certain parasites on a coral, (acropora eating flatworms, monti or zoa eating nudibranch, sea spiders, for example) when I am dipping, those corals go in the trash or back where they came from. Some pests can be managed, but obligate coral eaters can destroy your tank and leave you in the situation of needing to go fallow for a particular genus of coral until they are gone.
 
Understanding that you get out of it what you put into it. It’s work, but in the labor of love sense. It’ll be great in the beginning (when everything is clean and shinny) but if you’re not one to follow a reasonably set schedule it’ll become more tedious than enjoyable. I have 5 tanks w/ 4+ years on them in the house and (in full candor) that I just spent the entire weekend cleaning (still not done) b/c I don’t always practice what I preach. Don’t do what I did be happy with just a few tanks (if you can). My issue are mostly self inflicted LOL.

In any case try to develop a schedule for yourself. If you have a wife/girlfriend/kids try to get them involved to help out and raise their interest. I’m guessing most here will attest a second set of hands/eyes can be your best tool at times.

Lastly as you’ve prolly already realized GREAT club here with TONS of knowledge, continue to take full advantage of it.

Just my two cents and Good Luck
 
Oh, this is an easy one. Trying to save money by buying crap gear. I and many others found out that the hard way that the nicer gear makes a huge difference in many cases. Is it essential? No. Personally I ended up buying nicer versions of everything I cheaped out on within the first 6 months.

You're better off buying quality used gear if you are on a tighter budget.
Totally agree. My first tank was a bunch of stuff I put together (Including a driller tank not a real RR tank). It was nice but always required me to fix or tinker with something. Went with the red-sea and am very please that everything works together nicely and is super quite. I also went with Apex for my controller and am using things that work with it. Pick a controller (Dont have to pick apex) then make sure what you are adding for pumps, etc work with it nicely. Having things controlled in one place makes it much easier to manager.
 
My first big mistake was buying the wrong product. After a lot of research, I then mistakenly bought (and dosed) Microbacter Clean instead of Microbacter 7. Ended up killing all my coralline and setting the tank back months… and I didn’t even fix the dinoflagellate problem.
 
Most important lesson I learned—don’t be in a rush. Take your time; do your homework; speak to people. Enjoy the small achievements along the way. Don’t try to get a world class reef tank up and running in a month. And don’t watch the TV show TANKED. It’s TV, not real life.
Good luck
 
Hardest lesson was to keep my hands and arms out tank never know whats on your skin that harms livestock and chemistry in water also spraying perfumes air fresheners and sented candles in the room where tank is all that gets air born and falls in tank water sometimes we just gotta learn first hand ✋
 
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