Let me start out saying that I'm new here. Not only new to Reef Central, but new to the marine aquarium hobby in general. My husband and I have a 75 gallon cichlid tank and we had talked for a while about converting to a saltwater...well, instead, we kept the cichlid tank and just got a whole new 90 gallon setup!! Now we have both, but one day we will take our 75 gallon and make it into a saltwater predator tank. Right now we want to work on a reef in our 90 gallon. We have completely consumed ourselves in this and have actually put off paying bills or saving money for that repair on our car we need - just to buy something for our tank. This is definately a hobby you can get obsessed with - quick.
I feel that, although I'm a complete newbie myself and therefore am not qualified to give absolutely quality advice on these things, I have some newbie advice that I have experienced and I wanted to share for those newbies that don't really know what they are getting into. This site is a great one to go to for help! I'm just throwing in my 2 cents and in no way does that make me an expert.
My number one piece of advice is - INFORMATION. Gather as much as you can. You want to get a reef going??? Great - now look up everything you can and get as much information as you can. If you don't you might regret it in the long run. It's not as simple as water + coral + fish = super aquarium. You have to understand that to have a good thing, you need to have good information. It's kinda like school - study,study,study!!! I am basing this on the example of my brother-in-law who, being consumed by envy of his buddy's marine aquarium, decided he could do one himself...in his words, "If that idiot can do it, so can I!" So he gets a tank, adds some saltwater and throws in about 5 fish the next day. Let me say - he's invested a LOT of money in dead fish! Now he has a tank covered in that green hairy algae, has a bird wrasse, and a sea cucumber. He can't get a clean up crew because his bird wrasse eats them all! But he can't get rid of the bird wrasse because his wife has grown so attached to it. His tank is 4 months old. It could be a great looking little setup - if he had been patient and looked up some information. Reef Central is definately a great place to go! But my brother-in-law calls it a "gossip column" and that's why he has dead fish and a very dirty tank. Never be too proud to say I NEED HELP.
Also - don't plan on not spending a lot of money on this hobby. It's very much an investment. You can get everything used at a great deal and still spend a big chunk. Sooo, if you aren't willing to invest - you probably shouldn't take this hobby up. Another thing I consider my brother-in-law and that is CHEAP. He was NOT willing to spend that money on that lighting or that filter or that chunk of live rock. Why did he need that? Well, I've already told you how his tank looks now and he has spent more money than EVER trying to make up for his mistakes and replace the things that he has with the things he needs. If you do it right the first time - that money is well spent. That's my opinion. Like I said, I've only been doing this...Ohhhh, 2 weeks now! so
ANOTHER THING!!! That is very important - that is stressed on this site plus all other quality reefkeeping sites. PATIENCE! You have got to have patience. Good things come to those who wait. Remember the brother-in-law throwing 5 fish in a day old tank??? Yeah, that's not a smart thing to do. If you follow advice numero uno, when you look up your information - you will be able to see that a tank needs time to cycle and fish need time to adjust and TIME is a big deal. Please remember this because I've seen my brother-in-law's aquarium. You do NOT want that. Trust me.
That's really all I have to say. I know there are so many people out there that have no idea what reefkeeping is. I just so happened to have a great friend that has had great advice that led me to this site for even more great advice! I've talked to some experience and some inexperienced reefers and realized that there were some things that new reefers do and believe that are doomed to failure. I really don't want that because I cry when I see a dead fish. Seriously. I'm very emotional about this.
:sad1:
OK. That's all. I was just hoping to help someone in some way because this is a very passionate thing. I'm hoping someone like my brother-in-law will log into this site and read this and think..."OH! I should listen to this!" and maybe I can save some poor fish from an untimely demise...
Thanks for all who read this. It's kind of redundant to what is already put on here...but I thought maybe hearing it more than once is better than not hearing it at all!!!
Peace! :rollface:
I feel that, although I'm a complete newbie myself and therefore am not qualified to give absolutely quality advice on these things, I have some newbie advice that I have experienced and I wanted to share for those newbies that don't really know what they are getting into. This site is a great one to go to for help! I'm just throwing in my 2 cents and in no way does that make me an expert.
My number one piece of advice is - INFORMATION. Gather as much as you can. You want to get a reef going??? Great - now look up everything you can and get as much information as you can. If you don't you might regret it in the long run. It's not as simple as water + coral + fish = super aquarium. You have to understand that to have a good thing, you need to have good information. It's kinda like school - study,study,study!!! I am basing this on the example of my brother-in-law who, being consumed by envy of his buddy's marine aquarium, decided he could do one himself...in his words, "If that idiot can do it, so can I!" So he gets a tank, adds some saltwater and throws in about 5 fish the next day. Let me say - he's invested a LOT of money in dead fish! Now he has a tank covered in that green hairy algae, has a bird wrasse, and a sea cucumber. He can't get a clean up crew because his bird wrasse eats them all! But he can't get rid of the bird wrasse because his wife has grown so attached to it. His tank is 4 months old. It could be a great looking little setup - if he had been patient and looked up some information. Reef Central is definately a great place to go! But my brother-in-law calls it a "gossip column" and that's why he has dead fish and a very dirty tank. Never be too proud to say I NEED HELP.
Also - don't plan on not spending a lot of money on this hobby. It's very much an investment. You can get everything used at a great deal and still spend a big chunk. Sooo, if you aren't willing to invest - you probably shouldn't take this hobby up. Another thing I consider my brother-in-law and that is CHEAP. He was NOT willing to spend that money on that lighting or that filter or that chunk of live rock. Why did he need that? Well, I've already told you how his tank looks now and he has spent more money than EVER trying to make up for his mistakes and replace the things that he has with the things he needs. If you do it right the first time - that money is well spent. That's my opinion. Like I said, I've only been doing this...Ohhhh, 2 weeks now! so
ANOTHER THING!!! That is very important - that is stressed on this site plus all other quality reefkeeping sites. PATIENCE! You have got to have patience. Good things come to those who wait. Remember the brother-in-law throwing 5 fish in a day old tank??? Yeah, that's not a smart thing to do. If you follow advice numero uno, when you look up your information - you will be able to see that a tank needs time to cycle and fish need time to adjust and TIME is a big deal. Please remember this because I've seen my brother-in-law's aquarium. You do NOT want that. Trust me.
That's really all I have to say. I know there are so many people out there that have no idea what reefkeeping is. I just so happened to have a great friend that has had great advice that led me to this site for even more great advice! I've talked to some experience and some inexperienced reefers and realized that there were some things that new reefers do and believe that are doomed to failure. I really don't want that because I cry when I see a dead fish. Seriously. I'm very emotional about this.
:sad1:
OK. That's all. I was just hoping to help someone in some way because this is a very passionate thing. I'm hoping someone like my brother-in-law will log into this site and read this and think..."OH! I should listen to this!" and maybe I can save some poor fish from an untimely demise...
Thanks for all who read this. It's kind of redundant to what is already put on here...but I thought maybe hearing it more than once is better than not hearing it at all!!!
Peace! :rollface:
sorry had to say it, too many people think they are hidden terrors!
