5 tank-mistakes that beginner's mostly miss
- Nov 17, 2020
- Anshika Mishra
- 259 0 0
When you are setting up your first marine aquarium, there are tons of information and therefore it becomes difficult to know what you have to do and what to ignore. But these tiny things can make your aquarist experience super fun or super annoying. So, here are the five best pieces of advice that beginners tend to ignore.
1. TANK COVER
The first great thing that beginners ignore is buying an aquarium cover. There is no doubt that tanks look better without cover and the way tank looks is important so it is understandable that many new reefers choose not to cover their tanks.
But the reality is that an uncovered tank is "a ticking time-bomb". Pretty much all fishes, especially beginner's favorites like Clownfish, Gobbies, and Blennies love nothing more than emulating free willy. If you want to convince yourself you will definitely find people online who have had luck with fish not jumping, but on every success story, there are 10 failures.
It is just a matter of time, it really is sad losing your fish when it was your fault. Just think what it would be like, walking into the rooms and finding a crispy Nemo on your living room floor.
2. BUYING SECOND-HAND KITS
Keeping a marine aquarium is an expensive hobby and it is really common for people to give up after a year or so, either because of time constraints or because people run into problems that suck the fun out of the hobby. You are likely to lose half of the money you have spent on buying shiny new kits.
When you are starting out, it is understandable to want to buy everything new, it takes away the risk of buying something wrong. It means you are going to have fun spending spree in a shop and many second and many second-hand tanks will advertise for sale, uncleaned which is immediately off-putting.
Even if you didn't drop out in the first year you are likely to want to upgrade when you have learned a bit more so one way or the other you are likely to lose lots of money when you sell up. Furthermore, simply buying new equipment doesn't make any difference in how successful your tank will.
The energy and enthusiasm you have put in your tank is a much bigger factor in your success. Even if you have the budget for it you are far better off spending the money on amazing livestock for your new reef. Cleaning an old tank is also a bit of a chore you can actually make it very easy.
Just fill the dirty tank with water and then add a load of vinegar or critic acid crystals, the dirt will then fall off leaving you with as good as a new tank for half the money or even less.
But at the same time don't end up buying any cabinet with significant water damage, it just looks awful and would not brush out.
3. RESEARCH EVERY LIVESTOCK PURCHASE
Saltwater fish, invertebrates, and corals are so damn awesome that it is sometimes impossible to resist making an impulse buy. But the cutest fish can be the most aggressive and bottle top size fish can grow over a foot long.
Accidently buying an aggressive fish, coral, or invert can ruin the enjoyment in your tank and make the whole experience stressful rather than relaxing.
The best practice is to read a few articles watch a few videos and ask for people's experiences, a quick google search while in the shop will probably prevent 90% of disasters.
You should not rely on what your local fish shop will say. Most won't give you bad advice but some will and even with the good ones you are much better off relying on your own research as you know better about your tank and what facilities you are and not able to provide the fish.
This is a really important thing to stick to as you grow in the hobby, it is easy to assume for example that all
Wrasses are peaceful until you buy a six-line Wrasse that turns out to be the devil.
4. BUYING TOO MANY FISH
One of the most asked questions is how many more fish can I buy? and chances are that you probably have too many fishes in your tank.
With proper planning, the right filtration, and careful selection of tankmates it absolutely is possible to have a heavily stocked fish tank. But in your early days, it is really important to do everything with caution.
While corals are usually stars of the show for most reef tanks, fish are often getting more attention, particularly in the early day and this can lead to overstocking which in turn leads to the algae problem. And you know if algae take over it can be an absolute nightmare to get rid of.
Knowing how many fish you can keep isn't easy but the best answer is to take it slowly and build up one at a time making sure your tank has enough space and filtration capacity to handle extra fish and it is good to have two too few than one too many.
5. TAKE IT SLOWLY
New tanks take time to blend in as they do through various stages and most tanks take a good six months to a year to become fully established. Adding too many fish can disturb the balance of your tank which can cause algae outbreaks and will actually slow you down in the long term.
Adding corals too soon can be just as bad. Corals just don't like a new tank and can fade away and die in no time if your tank isn't ready and beyond that graduating to stony corals too soon can cause a further problem because they use elements like calcium and alkalinity in your tank.
If you haven't tested those levels it is a toss of the coin as to whether they will survive and if they do they will immediately begin to deplete the elements in your water which if left unchecked can crush your tank and wipe out all of your corals.
So, in a nutshell, water aquariums make terrible short-term projects and the very best tanks are born out of patients more than anything else.
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