High Tide Aquatics

Biggest Mistake You've Made?

Alex Uribe

Alex Uribe

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Hey, so this is my first post! I got my first saltwater aquarium two months ago, 29g biocube with soft corals and have been steadily getting more into the science of testing parameters lol.

I'm wondering, what's the biggest mistake you've made while owning an aquarium?
 
Hi Alex and welcome to BAR.

Let's see what's the biggest mistake I've made......

That would have to be my early experiences with BAYER pesticide dip, I dipped a whole rock in BAYER then rinsed it & stuck it in the tank. The rock soaked up the BAYER and released it into the tank, end result was almost entire clean up crew was dead about a dozen hermits & some shrimps. Since then I only dip frags in BAYER and rocks in iodine with an extra long rinsing period.
 
Welcome to our place in space and thank you for becoming a $upporting member.
Please define "biggest mistake". Do you mean mess or financial or fish choices...
 
me? Loss of power coupled with loss of back-up power... for an extended time... IE. large earthquake taking out power grid like 89 did, at least here in Santa Cruz we lost it for a week+.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Welcome to our place in space and thank you for becoming a $upporting member.
Please define "biggest mistake". Do you mean mess or financial or fish choices...
Click to expand...

All of the above? But I was thinking "mess" which might turn into financial... I learned the hard way that emerald crabs don't get along well with blood shrimp (the latter was killed by the crabs).
 
Filling up the tank with water and getting things in place before the entire tank setup is complete (stand, plumbing, wiring, etc) ... and yeah I've done that pretty much every tank I've had... exception is the first 10g tank I had a decade ago... there was no plumbing :)
 
BAYMAC said:
me? Loss of power coupled with loss of back-up power... for an extended time... IE. large earthquake taking out power grid like 89 did, at least here in Santa Cruz we lost it for a week+.
Click to expand...
Yikes, sorry to hear that. seems like there's not a whole lot you can do to in the way of redundancies :-/
 
I had an employee leave for lunch while filling a 250gal system....
500gal water loose on the floor.

Another...
(Different) Employee killed a row of fish by adding rid-ich (part of a weekly routine) and melafix on top

Oh the horrors!
 
Alex Uribe said:
Yikes, sorry to hear that. seems like there's not a whole lot you can do to in the way of redundancies :-/
Click to expand...

For power loss it's possible to have a back up plan. The actual plan depends on your tanks location. I live in a single family home in a safe neighborhood so I've used an inverter to supply power from my truck for short periods of time. I have to leave my truck running in the driveway. :eek:
I've considered getting a generator.

I don't know what I'd do if I lived in a large apartment complex. Perhaps a small generator if there was a patio? Things like a UPS are so short term, they seem useless.
 
Adding a six line wrasse as The second fish in my first tank... That tank never had more than 2 fish cause the siine killed anything else I tried to add
 
Welcome!

I think my biggest mistake was rushing quarantine.
I was going on vacation, and figured the new fish looked great, so only waited a week
before putting them in the main tank.
He nicely gave ich to all of his new friends. :mad:
 
monkeybiz said:
Adding a six line wrasse as The second fish in my first tank... That tank never had more than 2 fish cause the siine killed anything else I tried to add
Click to expand...
hmm I was thinking of getting a sixline (fish wise, only have two clowns)... but with the notion of keeping nudis out. also, siine?

thank you all for the responses!
 
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