Hobby regrets

[Conesus_Kid]

In the spirit of having others learn from my mistakes, I thought I'd start a thread where we can list regrets we have experienced in the hobby. I think when you've been doing this long enough, it's easy to think of at least a few.:deadhorse:

If you could "start over", what would you do differently?

I'll start:

1. I wouldn't get an acrylic aquarium. In fact, I wouldn't wish an acrylic aquarium on my worst enemy.

2. I would use an external skimmer driven by an external pump. I am sick of trying to restart those finicky submersible pumps on my skimmer. :headwally:

How about you? Any regrets?

 

[Willistein]

Good idea for a thread!
I regret:

1. Not QT-ing my fish to avoid ich from the very beginning - I've lost several. Laziness does not pay off in this hobby. In fact, it makes you pay.

2. Going through several smaller tank sizes and related equipment before arriving at the 120 I have now. I guess it was a learning experience, but I've probably spent 3x what I could have by just starting with a 120.

 

[Capt_Cully]

#1) starting a reef tank in the first place. Cash hemorrhage.

 

[willybub]

Rushing anything!

I setup my 90G as fast as I could because I was so excited to have the tank going
Now things are just a clutter, wiring, cramped sump, just overall I was in a hurry and things arnt "neat". Always "ill fix that up later" and never do, going on 3 years now like this but moving soon so the tank will likely be tore down and set back up a lot slower.

 

[NirvanaFan]

Starting with a 75 gallon tank. I should have just went big and gotten the 180.

 

[dmv]

I regret putting my 125 in the basement. We don't have a big place but I like looking at a display on and off all day as opposed to looking at it while I'm feeding and doing maintenance one time a day.

 

[AmherstReef]

1) not starting a reef tank sooner
2) starting too small , 29g bio cube three years ago
3) not putting in a basement sump from the beginning

 

[emm0909]

I'm not sure I've got any regrets. I had a 29 gallon fowlr. Then I bought a 265 gallon off a guy, sold all that equipment, cherry picked the rock and took the rest to the store. With that store credit I bought a 75rr. With the rest of the money I ended up with a G1X skimmer and a Tek light.

I got softies, learned to frag them and gave them to friends. Got better corals, learned to frag them and gave them to friends. I'm at the point now where I never pay for salt and I just trade for corals. I love this hobby.

I'll be on this thread next week to let everyone know that my tank crashed or some other horrible thing happened.

 

[Capt_Cully]

In all seriousness, live rock. If you buy it from someone who's getting out of the hobby, beware. There's usually a reason they are getting out, aside from lack of time. Usually nuisance algae or other pests.

If you do buy it, reincarnate it. Then recure it the old fashioned way.

 

[SkiFletch]

Never, ever, ever buy a tank whose width is smaller than its height... Stacking rocks tall SUCKS. My initial tank was a 45g (12" wide, 24" tall). Great tank for freshwater, horrible tank for plants. Even the current 65g I have is serviceable (18" wide, 24" tall) but I'd way prefer one that had either the same or more width than height

I regret not having backup equipment on-hand at all times. You never know when something is going to break.

I regret leaving my tank in the hands of someone un-trained in it's systems or how it works when I'm on vacation. When the heater fails "off" while I'm away in the winter and it's not noticed... :headwalls:

It's been a while, but I still regret gambling on quarantine measures. Ich = BALLS.

Edit: Never trust a Fairy Wrasse. It WILL find the 2" gap in your tank covering and end up as a potato chip on the floor.

 

[jacksonpt]

2 things...

1) taking risks on livestock. Do the research before hand. If you're not sure it'll thrive in your tank, it won't... don't buy it. Keep stuff you can keep happy.

2) not getting a back-up generator sooner. Watching fish/corals die sucks. Having a tank crash sucks. All the lingering issues associated with a crashed tank suck.

 

[Gravesj1s]

Oh,,,man! I so totally gotta take a prozac now.

Yep, how about trying to siphon a dead, decaying, bacteria infested , the completely disgusting glob of grotesque remains of an anemone through a hose that's to small. One big suck should get it ....and it did, right in my mouth.....EWWWWWwwwww!

It took some sessions,but my therapist and I have put this behind us......so she tells me.

-Steve

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Best reply ever, Steve!

 

[Foody]

Lack of regrets equals lack of learning. Every painful experience I've ever endured in my entire life, hobby or otherwise, has resulted in knowledge and/or wisdom.

 

[psychofishy]

Steve, that's the best/worst one yet...

My regrets
1. not wearing glasses when fragging zoanthids back in 2009 or 2010.
One of my Lunar Eclipses spit right in my face, which caused me to not be able to see out of 1-eye for over a week.. I got lucky!

2. Setting up in a rush/with a small budget.. I've had several tanks in the past but until I started my current setup (which is still cycling..), I never had the patience or the money to do it right. I made some stupid decisions and killed valuable/precious inhabitants in the process...

I've learned since then, both personally as well as professionally
There is a way to do it "Right", There's a way to do it "Now" but there is no way to do it "Right Now".


I'm sure I'll have more regrets in the future....

 

[snoopie702]

Selling my expensive gear like apex and LEDs when I moved... knowing I was going to setup again.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[jaybfresh]

...Taking a chance on a flame angel in a reef tank

 

[skidoctor]

1. Starting small- 15g--->29g--->37g--->90g. Should've held out and started with the 90. So much $wasted.
2. DIYing things when I didn't really have a grasp on the hobby. On the same token, taking the cheap way out only to find that you get what you pay for. Now I have a bunch of useless equipment laying around the house rather than a controller to automate everything.
3. Impulse buying. All of the livestock I purchased after researching and talking to hobbyists are alive and thriving (minus a stylo and birdsnest I lost this week for no apparent reason). Things I thought looked cool or were talked into are now either swimming with the fish gods or skeletons in my sump.

All this aside, i really don't regret anything per se. I have learned so much and I'm thankful and envious of all those on this forum who teach without knowing it.

 

[TomBONAIRE]

What a great thread for us novices!!!! Mine: lurking daily on this board for over TWO YEARS without pulling the trigger and setting my system up. Hoping it will happen soon.

 

[cardiffgiant]

I built my own stand for my 90. It came out OK, but when I needed to figure out how tall I needed to make it I just went with the same height of the stand for my old 55. The better measurement to use would have been the height of my skimmer plus a few inches of clearance for removing the collection cup.

By pure chance there was just enough room for it.