"Some LFS will try to sell you equipment that is really not needed to keep a successful tank. You should always read and ask questions before making any type of purchase."
Well, this is a page dedicated to some of the mistakes I have made while in this hobby. Mainly, it will list purchases that I made while listening to my LFS. Purchases that I really did not need and were only done out of ignorance or because the LFS suggested to.
Please, do not get me wrong here. One thing I have to make clear is that all tanks are different so what might not work for me, might work for you. Just make sure that you purchase equipment with the full knowledge of what it is supposed to do. Do not purchase it just because the LFS told you to. Remember, most of them are just trying to make a buck!
XDE 250 watt HQI Bulbs
Mistake: Buying cheaper bulbs to save energy and money.
For many years I have used Ushio bulbs and for some unknown reason I decided to switch to a cheaper bulb. I switched to the XDE bulbs and that was a big mistake. My corals turned brown, and I was fighting a bad case of cyano and dinos. Once I switched back to the old bulbs, within a week my corals were back to normal and my cyano and dinos were gone.
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Return Pump
Mistake: Buying a Rio, Sen, and then a Dolphin return pump before actually spending the money to get a Mag pump.
I have used pretty much all sumergeable return pumps out there. I have used Rios, Sens, Dophins, and Mags. After more than 5 years of reefing, I can tell you that the only pump that has been able to remain at the top of my list all these years is the Mag. I am at the point where all pumps in my tank, with the exception of the intank water flow pump (Tunze) are Mag.
I use a Mag pump for my skimmer and for my return pump. Mags transfer little heat to the tank and they are quite powerful. They are also very quiet.
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CPR CY192 Sump/Skimmer
Mistake: Trying to save money by purchasing a combined sump/skimmer. The sump was too small and so was the skimmer. All skimmers and sumps are always overrated by the manufacturers and my mistake was to fall for their false claims.
After many years of trial and error I learned that simple is better. My current sump is a 30 gallon AGA tank. Yes, nothing fancy, just a straight regular 30 gallon tank. I use a AquaC 180 skimmer that is rated for twice as much volume as what I have now. In the long run, it would have been cheaper to spend the money on the tank and skimmer from the get go instead of trying to get the CPR CY192. Trying to go cheap actually ended up costing me twice as much.
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Digital Thermometer
I decided to purchase this thermometer because it is much more accurate and also easy to read. For many years I was using the old fashioned liquid thermometer but it with time, it got covered with coraline algae and could not be read. I would clean it often but the coraline would just grow within a few days. Also, with the old fashioned thermometer, I had to make a rough estimate of the water temperature. Now with the digital one, I get accurate measures (78.8F) and can keep a much more accurate log of my tank.
The thermometer is battery driven. It has two types of displays, one is the time of day and the second is the temperature of the tank (F or C). Also, the thermometer is driven by a prove which can be placed in the sump, or overflow to give an accurate water temperature reading.
I got this little thing for about $5.00 so I would highly recommend it to anybody.
Update 08/11/2001:
After testing it with other thermometers, I found out that this electronic device was -5 degrees off!!! I am going crazy because my the thermometer read that my tank was hitting 88 degrees when it was actually only hitting 83! I really do not need that so I got rid of it and got the Ranco Controller instead. |
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Read, Read, READ!!! Reading is just as important as having water in the tank.
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An online magazine for the marine aquarist. |
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What to do about a kalkwasser overdose. |
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See what one hobbyist did with his own two hands. |
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Jake Harvey describes his 90-gallon reef aquarium. |
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A brief description and profile of the Blue Throat Trigger Fish. |
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