Biggest Beginner Mistake?
 

Let's say a newbie has a marine tank (fish and live rock, basic stuff).
Excepting the process of cycling a tank, what do you think is the biggest
mistake that marine tank owners make, which may result in dead fish?

dwhite

"Dan White" wrote in message
...
| Let's say a newbie has a marine tank (fish and live rock, basic
stuff).
| Excepting the process of cycling a tank, what do you think is the
biggest
| mistake that marine tank owners make, which may result in dead
fish?
|
| dwhite
|
That's an easy one. Going too fast. I was told when I started, "start
out slow, then taper off from there." He wasn't kidding. Many people
will tell you that from the time you put water in the tank, you
shouldn't put fish in there for 3 months, some SPS corals for a year.
You'll get many bits of info like that, but the constant is patience.
Everytime you change something....change it by degrees...over time.
Then observe for days, even weeks to see what the results are going
to be. When in doubt, wait a while.

billy

"Dan White" wrote in message
...
| Let's say a newbie has a marine tank (fish and live rock, basic
stuff).
| Excepting the process of cycling a tank, what do you think is the
biggest
| mistake that marine tank owners make, which may result in dead
fish?


As an aside, have you signed up at www.reefcentral.com yet? I'd
highly recommend it. There are others, but it's my favorite.

As an aside, have you signed up at www.reefcentral.com yet? I'd
highly recommend it. There are others, but it's my favorite.



I bookmarked it, but haven't spent much time there. I thought I'd get
(hopefully) some quick feedback here so I can think about it. I'm in
renovations right now so if I did do the tank it wouldn't be for another
couple of months probably. I really don't know how the technology has
changed over the years, but I thought that with skimmers etc etc that maybe
marine tanks were much easier now. But maybe the technology isn't the main
thing -- maybe it is the knowledge of what to do. You say "patience," wait
weeks and months after changes. That could be very important info that
wasn't well known 25 years ago...

thanks,
dwhite

Id have to agree with the other comment, overstocking too fast, too much.
People see all these great mature tanks on the net, but forget that some of
these tanks have been set up for 3, 5, 10 years!

It took me a couple of years to truly get my tank to a point it hummed along
nicely. And even then one hot weekend with me out of town wiped out
everything.

Think about what you want to do, and then do about 10% of it until you
measure the time the tank has been set up in years and not weeks or months,
and then, add things slowly, one coral, one fish at a time.

D

"Dan White" wrote in message
...
Let's say a newbie has a marine tank (fish and live rock, basic stuff).
Excepting the process of cycling a tank, what do you think is the biggest
mistake that marine tank owners make, which may result in dead fish?

dwhite

Dan White wrote:
Let's say a newbie has a marine tank (fish and live rock, basic stuff).
Excepting the process of cycling a tank, what do you think is the biggest
mistake that marine tank owners make, which may result in dead fish?

dwhite


My big mistake was replacing evaporated water. I thought I had to mix
salt in with make up water. Anyone want to guess how many top-ups it
takes to get a 1.030+ reading in a 75 gallon on the good 'ol hydrometer?
Thought I was precipitating sodium in the aquarium for a minute there.
Casualties: one beautiful yellow tang. Thank God I listened to everyone
here with the "take it slow" advice. Instant ocean MY A$$.

I think the patience thing is the toughest part. I started my 72 gallon fish
only tank 2 months ago and there are no fish as of yet. I added the live
rock (about 100 lbs) and watched as an empty tank cycled. Like watching
grass grow! Not only that but the room that houses the tank is very bright
during the day so you can imagine all the lovely growth on the rock. So much
so that I have now encased the tank in black garbage bags while the rocks
cycle. Within a couple of days the white spider web looking type stuff and
other junk has gone.

But talk about patience!! Now I look at a 72 gallon expensive garbage bag
with ammonia levels through the roof. But patience is the key. All the
technology in the world can't replace good old fashioned time and patience.
When I take my daily "peeks" into the tank it looks better and better each
day. I am actually hoping to add a few clean up crew members by mid to late
February. Hopefully a damsel or two by early spring.

It's hard since I came from the freshwater world where you can whip up a
beautiful tank in a month or less. I have several awesome looking freshwater
tanks in my home but wanted to venture into sal****er. If you're going to
make the investment in a marine tank. I would take my time and do it right.

--
Happy Fishin' ...
Ray

"j" wrote in message
...
Dan White wrote:
Let's say a newbie has a marine tank (fish and live rock, basic stuff).
Excepting the process of cycling a tank, what do you think is the biggest
mistake that marine tank owners make, which may result in dead fish?

dwhite


My big mistake was replacing evaporated water. I thought I had to mix
salt in with make up water. Anyone want to guess how many top-ups it
takes to get a 1.030+ reading in a 75 gallon on the good 'ol hydrometer?
Thought I was precipitating sodium in the aquarium for a minute there.
Casualties: one beautiful yellow tang. Thank God I listened to everyone
here with the "take it slow" advice. Instant ocean MY A$$.

"Ray Martini" wrote in message
...

I am actually hoping to add a few clean up crew members by mid to late
February. Hopefully a damsel or two by early spring.


You will have had a tank up for about 6 months before you put any fish in?
This can't be right, is it?

dwhite

"Dan White" wrote in message
...
| "Ray Martini" wrote in message
| ...
|
| I am actually hoping to add a few clean up crew members by mid to
late
| February. Hopefully a damsel or two by early spring.
|
|
| You will have had a tank up for about 6 months before you put any
fish in?
| This can't be right, is it?


Right? It's careful. For a full reef tank, with a long-range plan of
sensitive inverts and corals, I'd say it's wise. I'm unable to wait
that long, but for those that are, more power to them. They're likely
to have less problems and a fabulous tank.

"Billy" wrote in message
...


"Dan White" wrote in message
...
| "Ray Martini" wrote in message
| ...
|
| I am actually hoping to add a few clean up crew members by mid to
late
| February. Hopefully a damsel or two by early spring.
|
|
| You will have had a tank up for about 6 months before you put any
fish in?
| This can't be right, is it?


Right? It's careful. For a full reef tank, with a long-range plan of
sensitive inverts and corals, I'd say it's wise. I'm unable to wait
that long, but for those that are, more power to them. They're likely
to have less problems and a fabulous tank.


Does anybody know exactly why waiting so long improves health, or is it more
of a trial and error thing that just showed that longer waits had more
success?

dwhite