Lesson learned?

[niloc16]

What lesson have you learned or piece of advice would you give to someone else to improve their tank?

[Beverly]

Learn about water chemistry. Test for alkalinity, pH, calcium, magnesium on a regular basis. Keep records of your test results and who much of what additive you use to correct chemistry imbalances. Also, drip kalk into your systems nightly.

Two great places to read up on reef chemistry....

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=19425

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=41

[untamed]

Get the largest skimmer that you can afford. I went through 6 months and lost a lot of sensitive tank life as I fought with cyano...only to finally upgrade my skimmer. Should have done that right at the beginning.

BTW...the skimmer I upgraded from was a Prism Pro. I thought it was handling my 30 gallons - It wasn't.

[Ruth]

Listen when people with more experience tell me something and do it right the first time. Go as big as you can afford on tank, skimmer, flow and lights. And never ever again try to use canister filters for anything except to run carbon. Eliminate all sponges that you are not prepared to rinse out every other day..........oh I could go on and on and on. It is so much cheaper to do it right the first time than to be constantly upgrading.

[marie]

Bad things happen overnight, good things take months

[mark]

To actually talk to other reef keepers and see their tanks first hand.

[EmilyB]

In addition to all the others, check flow first when you see a problem. MANY times I've just had a powerhead quit.