In your experience....

[DLANDINO]

What is the one greatest thing that you have learned and how did you learn it? GO!

 

[alten78]

Patience, read it here of course

 

[FF337]

Tied. Patience and Backup power supply.

 

[Riglin]

That sooner or later you will start hoping for things not to grow, so buy small.

 

[oquockyo]

Stable is the key word in reefing.

 

[FWC]

Do everything properly and don't rush.

Quarantine never hurts either.

 

[julie180]

Don't fall into believing that your nitrates have to be zero. Chasing numbers drove me crazy in the beginning.

 

[Zimmer]

The realization that usually, there are many different, GOOD, ways to do something. Do your research.

 

[rfurst]

There is no one way to do it. When you first start you are always looking for the right formula to follow and there just isn't one. All there is are lots of choices.

 

[bif24701]

Carbon dosing

 

[Calappidae]

I learned not to be a panic everyday tester.. Everytime I saw a ph test of 8.0 I freaked out and dosed reef buffer.. I screwed it up even more that way and everyday had issues.. I eventually let it go and everything fixed itself. Sometimes it's best to let the tank take care of it's own problems than interaction in certain situations.

Patience is a biggy too.

 

[Apotack]

Nothing good ever happens quickly. Make small changes over long periods of time.

 

[campos]

Patience!!!!

 

[snorvich]

Nothing good ever happens quickly. Make small changes over long periods of time.

Unquestionably this. The biggest things I have learned over doing this for a very long time usually involved screwing up. On here, you have the opportunity to avoid screwing up. Some listen, others do not.

 

[DLANDINO]

Good ones! Keep them coming! For me, it was learning that nearly everything is fixable and that panicking and making hasty changes to help correct a problem rarely works out to your advantage.

 

[Reef Frog]

Do not procrastinate when pests make their first appearance. I'm talking about things like bubble & bryopsis algae, aptasia, blue clove polyps etc. It's so much easier if you address things early.

Get rid of them at the first appearance and stay on it. Don't put somebody else's grungy frag plugs in your tank, get a nutrient control strategy & equipment in place before you need it (because you probably will), remove or kill the organism the day you see it. Do anything you have to to keep pests from spreading. Dip new corals & consider QT for them if you can.

 

[crissie]

A short time researching before you buy saves a hell of a lot of stress further down the line.

 

[fijisrfr]

Making my own food from the supermarket, saves a lot of $$$$$!!!

 

[Misled]

Nothing good ever happens quickly. Make small changes over long periods of time.

That and I'm old, at least that's what people keep telling me.

 

[BigCountry74]

The Home Depot/Lowes plumbing department is your friend....