Common mistakes made in the saltwater hobby.

[psilentchild]

Thanks.

 

[dwolson2]

LFS's do have a bad rap, as there are some good ones, but MANY of them do give bad advice(the one down the street I have heard many times giving bad advice)
Also for the RODI, I use and egg timer for sprinklers with a much higher success rate(still had the hose come out and dump water all over my garage)
Some I've made over the years and not previously stated:
Not monitoring levels..at all
Dumping salt straight into the tank
using tap water for top off
not acclimating corals/fish
"forgetting" to do cleaning maintenance

 

[Curious George]

Not doing research before buying an animal. Impulse buys are really common. People buy something "pretty" then get the coral or fish home and realize they don't have adequate lighting or a big enough tank to sustain the animal for its entire life.

 

[Crawlin03snake]

I am a newbie and I hated the look of salt build up on my lids ( too lazy to take care of when I'd do water change) so one day I took them off and cleaned them really good, or so I thought w windex, and little by little everything died afteri did that bad move

 

[MHG]

Not running GFO from day 1....... Dry rock leaches po4

Turning the skimmer up high when there is nothing to skim..... It will. Overflow when there is something to skim.

Drilling too small a hole in the top of your dosed ligpquid container.... The suction will crush it and cause a alk or calc leak .

Reading the instructions on Zeo suppliments rather than taking the dosing advise from the Zeo forum.... Hello Dino....

Listening to the Internet and buying 1.5 - 2 ponds of dry rock per gallon..... Way too much rock...

 

[Overgrown]

Not doing research before buying an animal. Impulse buys are really common. People buy something "pretty" then get the coral or fish home and realize they don't have adequate lighting or a big enough tank to sustain the animal for its entire life.

Agreed.Its something that seems to inevitably happen though despite any/all warnings. Its unfortunate to see.

 

[Shoryureppa]

Using a hydrometer instead of a refractometer.

Topping up sump with salt water.

Not understanding water requirements for corals.

Not dipping corals - i now have a garden of plants in my DT and I have to keep pruning it.

Not having a fish trap in case things do not work out.

Pretending to know something when you clearly don't It's all about learning isn't it?

 

[Shoryureppa]

Using a hydrometer instead of a refractometer.

Topping up sump with salt water.

Not understanding water requirements for corals.

Not dipping corals - i now have a garden of plants in my DT and I have to keep pruning it.

Not having a fish trap in case things do not work out.

Pretending to know something when you clearly don't It's all about learning isn't it?

 

[Bladez]

Wait a minute - I've used a Hydrometer for more than 20 years and never had a problem.

(mistake #1) Purchasing a coral that almost never survives in an enclosed environment which in turn (mistake #2) encourages collection of that species. Goniopora for example.