BIGGEST mistake you've made in the hobby

[rubyredrose46]

mine would be going to the lfs asking if I could change my old 5gal fresh water tank into saltwater and was it going to work or is it a bad idea and if i could would I be able to for 100 bucks with a clown and crab for my soon to be hubby's birthday... then them telling me in 2 weeks i could add the fish and crab... then they said we could add a b-tip to the tank for the clown to be happy... tank crashed.... got upset... found 24 gal nano online for cheap.. got water and rock added the clown that made it threw the tank crash.. fish bite the dust the next day.. had a 24 gal tank with rock and water... waited a week.. got a new clown and a damsel.. they said i could add a yellow tang and a powder blue tang and a flame angel. if i got rid of the damsel.. got rid of the damsel had the tangs, angel, clown for about 3 months then tangs & angel kicked the bucket and a week later so did the clown... then found this site and went oh no......

 

[olga21]

Thinking this was a hobby and not a lifestyle!

 

[pete159]

i was hoping to not have to post in this thread.
yesterday i decided to buy an air pump and stone for my 46g.
however it was to powerfull, so i unplugged it and unhooked the tubing from the pump, but left the airstone in the tank.
Now i know why they say to get a valve to prevent what happened next. i woke up today, went to the tank and saw that about 15% or so of the water was gone, and soaked into the carpet and under the walls into another room.
it seems the water crawled up the tubing and make a nice little flood. it almost went into the power outlet which could have caused bigger problems.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Originally Posted by pete159
http:///forum/post/2910773
i was hoping to not have to post in this thread.
yesterday i decided to buy an air pump and stone for my 46g.
however it was to powerfull, so i unplugged it and unhooked the tubing from the pump, but left the airstone in the tank.
Now i know why they say to get a valve to prevent what happened next. i woke up today, went to the tank and saw that about 15% or so of the water was gone, and soaked into the carpet and under the walls into another room.
it seems the water crawled up the tubing and make a nice little flood. it almost went into the power outlet which could have caused bigger problems.

Nice. I did that but on a larger scale. I had a two 1500 gallon systems and two 55 gallons hooked to a central air blower, I didn't think about what I was doing and put the air blower lower then the systems - one night the air blower turned off and siphoned out approximately five hundred gallons of water on the floor. When I pulled up to my shop - it was leaking out the back door. HAHAH!

 

[bluetang66]

Originally Posted by saltygerman
http:///forum/post/2902202
My biggest mistake was listening to my LFS and burying both my Heaters under my sand, base rock, and 75 lbs of live rock...... I did set the dial to 78 deg on both but to say the least they are a little off...

That is seriously funny!

 

[mboswell1982]

showing my gf a list of all the fish i thought she'd like an tellin her she could have any of them, she then proceeds to pick out a 180 dollar fish, an goes, i want that one
so now im stuck gettin her a 180 dollar fish LOL

 

[nexadus]

Moving my 55 - gallon tank, and sailfin tang from it to a white 5 gallon bucket, poor thing died overnight, i should of just set up the QT before we moved, thankfully my other fish lived in a miniature tank.
Also my most major mistake was, yet a LFS selling a Carpet anemone and telling me itll be fine for my tank, especially for the clownfish, needless to say, it had a feast with my yellow tang, firefish goby, dwarf fire angel, and couple of my clownfish, and not acclimating my livestock, nowadays i always QT at least 3-4 weeks!

 

[reefman22]

Thinking a "saltwater aquarium" meant "little piece of ocean" and going out to the beach at low tide and bringing home LOTS of little snail and crabs and Sergeant Major Damsels.....and seaweed....yep, im a moron.
reefman

 

[westwind77]

Setting up my system without a sump! Such a nightmare dealing with in-line items and trying to figure out 'unique' way to work around things.

 

[renogaw]

using red slime remover and not keeping an eye on my pH

 

[txfishman]

using windex to clean my tank and then stocking it again the next day. (took our crushed coral and put in live sand) Everything died.

 

[cufishfan]

reading this particular thread! i'm new and now terrified that looking at my tank will kill everything!

 

[shrimpy brains]

Originally Posted by CUfishfan
http:///forum/post/2934209
reading this particular thread! i'm new and now terrified that looking at my tank will kill everything!

Priceless! You'll be alright. Think how many things you just learned not to do.

 

[beverly pue]

I brought crushed coral, and now my tank is all brown. Is that because of WHAT???? How do I fix it

 

[chele]

Actually shopping at a LFS that ran a "buy 2 fish, get 1 free" coupon. Free fish must be equal or lesser value, of course that means you find three $60 fish to get your money's worth. Pretty fish + no Internet + payday = lionfish, yellow tang and 5" long green bird wrasse in a 29 Gallon.
OK, they survived for a long time with an inexperienced hobbyist. But my LFS, knowing I only had a 29G, should have put the fishies welfare before profit!
Oh, and I've been known to find my live rock on the beach and cure it myself. $0/pound. Hubby hated it when I would go on vacation to NC lol.

 

[small triggers]

My biggest oops was i shoulda bought the biggest tank i could afford at the begining (and hide the reciepts from my husband better). But atleast now he agrees we need a 10ft long tank when we build our new house

 

[canareef]

Just one of many. My anemone likes to move around alot in my tank doesn't stay in one place longer than a month. I usually think nothing of it when he's not visible for a day or two just hanging out behind the rocks till he decides on a new home. Until my buddy comes over and we start painting the walls and he crawls behind my tank and asks me should that thingy be stuck in the end of that pipe.

Then WHAM hit's me like a 40lb bag of bricks That thingy=anemone pipe=suction to canister. That by far was the worst smelling thing to come out of my tank yet. Now when something goes missing I find out where it went immediately.

 

[shyfish]

Hi,
My worst oops... I had a cold, a bad one and I saw a very bad type of worm in my tank. I reached in and got out the rock to get it out of there. That night fish started dying... I had not washed my hands and I had used puff plus with lotion.

 

[reef46]

My worst mistake wouls have to be dropping out of the hobby for a year. I am stuck missing my reef that I sold for 1/3 of what it was actually worth...only to want to get my feet wet again.
Come June I'm starting back up!!!!!