The Three Best Pieces Of SW Advice you have

[wachuko]

I wanted a SW tank/setup... made a list, budget, researched equipment and gave myself 3 years to get it done... 6 years later, tank, stand, Wet/Dry filter, fine sand, gravel was all still sitting in a corner...

Wet/Dry Filter was not the right setup to go with... so this is still sitting new in the garage since I really needed a sump... the sand I bought with the gravel was probably great for decoration but really sucks for a SW setup...

So my list of three:

1. Save your money and not equipment... when you are ready then buy your equipment...

2. Be sure you read read read... if you are in this site you have reached a great source of information, congratulations, now read and research

3. Water quality is key... make sure you get the right equipment to sustain the quality of the water you have in the tank...

 

[WaterKeeper]

1. Your fish live in WATER. Set up the right environment by using RO/DI at the start.
2. The surest way to remove every type of pollutant is by doing regular water changes.
3. Nothing happens in this hobby overnight, unless it is a bad thing.

 

[Freed]

Cope beat me to it:

1. QT
2. Quarantine
3. Q. T. no ifs ands or butts.

 

[Zoophile]

1.) Don't save money by buying cheap equipment. Save money by buying GOOD equipment the FIRST time.

2.) Learn HOW and WHY things happen in your tank. Water testing is your eyes and ears!

3.) Absorb as much knowledge as you can. Learn the basics like the back of your hand before dosing with purple kool-aid just because someone said it brightened up their acros!

 

[Ebisan]

1. RODI
2. Research before you buy (e.g. fish, equipment)
3. Using RC as a resource

 

[Kemo484]

1. When you think you've done enough research, do a little more

2. Quarentine Tank, worth every penny

3. Let's try and buy tank bread fish and inverts and coral frags instead of collected ones. Help preserve the reefs for future generations.

 

[Kemo484]

double post, sorry

 

[FUA]

The Basics

1. Don't overstock
2. Don't overfeed
3. and have some frickin patience man!!

 

[jamiep]

1. Never trust one person (Esp. LFS's)
2. Get a bigger tank to start with
3. Expect to want to redo everything inside 6months!

 

[zotzer]

1. Join a reef club
2. Get as much information as you can, and be discerning about who is giving it (even here on RC...not all reefers are created equal, and post-count is not always an accurate measure of knowledge :
3. Set up a system you can manage and *enjoy*

Tracy

 

[Vinnie71975]

And of course Welcome to your new addiction!

 

[r0bin]

1. Buy the best equipment up front and whatever tank you think you want, go at least one size bigger.

2. Watch your water quality very closely

3. Don't buy a purple pseudochromis (joke) kinda sorta, well not really, lol :lol:

 

[K' Family Reef]

this has already been posted three other times but

1.
QT, QT, QT

2.
before one even begins to reef
and purch LR/fish/corals - recom to learn about all the possible (((PESTS))) that can come into our aquariums... espec on LR or corals that are being added - if one doesnt know what to look out for they may just think what they are seeing is a neat anenome (majano) then try and feed it and watch it grow/spread (have read this many times here on RC and other forums)... once a person is thousands of dollars into this hobby down the road... THE STAKES ARE MUCH HIGHER... have seen veteran reefers having to completely tear down their systems due to majano (and other pests) infestation - demoralizing to say the least and not healthy for the pocketbook or ones 'time' invested either!... this rock comes from the great unknown and who knows what may be along for the ride - which is why QT is the best thing to do to observe/monitor ANYTHING before adding it to main display

3.
QT, QT, QT


most people (myself included)
get into too much of a hurry then end up regretting it later when say hundreds of dollars in fish end up sick or dying... and many people only assoc QT w/ fish - ich etc...

but there are many other reasons to QT...
i got flatworms by adding chaeto(macroalgae) to my system - when i was already on top of QT procedures... caught me way off guard but who would have thought to QT chaeto???

since starting out in this hobby
have heard the veterans reiterate this fact many times and it seems that it almost takes a few lessons before one really begins to accept why so many who have been in the hobby for years really emphasize this one point over and over again!