I can't believe I did that

[BSJF]

Ever look back at what you used to do and go OH MY?

For the first eight years of saltwater reefing, I used tap water, mixed my salt up in my sump, never tested the water, and was very lazy about even doing WCs.

I had a lovely tank back then. Of course if something didn't live in it, I just didn't buy that again. Otherwise, I had most of what I wanted and it thrived. Until one day, I came home from dinner to a cloudy tank. Poof - all my corals were GONE! I had done a WC earlier. The only thing I can think of is that I used a different dechlorinator than I usually did and it was a bit dated. That of course led to a cycle and a series of treating a fully stocked tank (Nasa tang, Palani tang, yellow tany, emporer angel, foxface, mature wrasses, bluespot, etc) for secondary issues. Lost all but 1 fish.

That is when I discovered online reef forums. Totally changed what I know and what I do.

So, now that you know my dirty laundry, share your story...

[Europhyllia]

for ten years I had a nano. I too rarely did water changes. Mostly top off with freshwater.
I grew a lot of cyano and xenya at one point. Other times I focused on massive amounts of hair algae and a leather coral.
For the last few years that grossly neglected tank was home to a pair of clowns that survived the neglect although they stayed pretty small on their occasional flake food diet.
Then that tank crashed after my little boy increased the flake food diet by 34000% by dumping the whole can in.
I got a bigger tank and started taking the whole thing more serious.
Hadn't really updated my fish library in a decade... wow much had happened in the last 10 years!
I increased my fish library by 2500% and started enjoying the hobby more.
I vowed to redeem myself by giving the clowns a worthy retirement and better care.
In the big tank on yummy frozen food they rapidly grew even though they already were several years old at that time.
I briefly thought about rehoming them when my focus shifted to a Caribbean theme but gave myself permission to cheat and make good on my promise to provide a stable home for them until they pass away.
I really enjoy water tests now, TDS meters, weekly water changes (Thanks Alton for the ideas), a clean-ish tank, well fed critters and all the reading and researching that goes with it.

[BSJF]

I forgot how fat and sassy my tangs are now too because of my changed habits.

I think when I got serious my nitrates were too high for the test kit to measure, even after a few 50% WCs. Yikes.

[justahobby]

I still can't believe how I would make SW w/ tap from a garden hose and stir w/ a stick, my arm, anything I could find! Pretty sure I would add salt before the water too. Then pick the 10 gallons up and over the 55g and dump it in. Tank would look like a snow globe (salt never mixed up) and amazingly my RBTA lived through it!!

Now I use about 1200 gph worth of pumps to mix and aerate for 24 hrs, add salt after rodi water, and use a pump and hose to pump water into the sump so the return pump mixes the new SW w/ tank water. And for some strange reason all my livestock do not close up and get mad during WC's anymore

[tony]

i kept a yellow tang in a 45 hex, for about 3 years

[CoryDude]

Did the straight from the tap water changes like everyone else.

I didn't let my first tank back in '95 cycle. So I had hair algae. In order to clean the rocks, I'd pull them from the tank and scrub under a running faucet in the bathtub. Then I'd wonder why my my friend's tank was stocked with pods and my tank was sterile.

Also, before I ever had a sw tank, I walked into a pet store with a display tank that was coated in cyano and infested with green hair algae. I thought the tank was some kind of saltwater planted tank, and I told the owner I wanted a tank that looked as good as theirs. I just remember him looking at me kind of funny and nodding his head.

[alton]

Not reef related but;
In my 135 before salt I had two oscars and I would do a 50% water change using the garden hose and then attach it to the hose bib and fill it back up. While I was waiting for it to fill up I got busy and forgot. My wife sounds really mad when she walks into her living room and the carpet is soaked with the water still bubbling out of the top of the 135!

[Kristy]

I thought the tank was some kind of saltwater planted tank, and I told the owner I wanted a tank that looked as good as theirs.

Ok, that is HILARIOUS! Can't you just imagine the guy trying to decide if you were deadpan with your sarcasm?

I love this thread, by the way. So many dumb mistakes.... so little time to recall them all. Here's one:

In our first little 10g hex tank we bought a condy anemone for our pair of juvenile occelaris clowns to "host" in. We were not feeding the condy, so it was only a matter of time before the first little clown went missing. I shone a flashlight on the body of the condy and you could see this little orange and white outline of the clownfish. GULP!

[txav8r]

I love this thread, by the way. So many dumb mistakes.... so little time to recall them all. Here's one:

In our first little 10g hex tank we bought a condy anemone for our pair of juvenile occelaris clowns to "host" in. We were not feeding the condy, so it was only a matter of time before the first little clown went missing. I shone a flashlight on the body of the condy and you could see this little orange and white outline of the clownfish. GULP!

Been there. I had a condy eat a longhorn boxfish.

[CoryDude]

Ok, that is HILARIOUS! In our first little 10g hex tank we bought a condy anemone for our pair of juvenile occelaris clowns to "host" in. We were not feeding the condy, so it was only a matter of time before the first little clown went missing. I shone a flashlight on the body of the condy and you could see this little orange and white outline of the clownfish. GULP!

Hate to see what it spit out after a few days. Ugh.

I still know the old pet store owner from my d'uh moment, and years later he told me he thought I was being sarcastic.