Quote Originally Posted by matt
Pretty much everyone in the reefkeeping hobby went through a learning curve (we're all still learning) during which we made mistakes and lost animals. Your situation is a little extreme, though. Smile!
Amen. Unfortunately most of my learning curve occured before there was an internet and any of the great books that were mentioned earlier. My first "newbie" book talked about undergravel filters and air lift protein skimmers were "cutting edge" technology. My biggest mistake as a beginner was listening to the advice I got from fish stores like it was gospel. I'm not saying that you can't get good advice from a fish store, its just that the beginner cant tell the difference from good and bad advice. In addition, its sorta like a doctor diagnosing a disease over the phone. Rarely does the beginner give all the information necessary to make a good diagnosis. The folks at the fish stores do their best to help, but its hard to do by remote control.