What were your biggest purchase mistakes?

When I started in the hobby I had this faulse perception that the Inexpensive stuff would preform what I needed it to do.

I bought a cheap coralife light, turbofloater skimmer and cheap powerheads, pumps etc. only to Upgrade them with better equipment. What I should have done is buy good used equipment.

buying a new pc light was dumb when I could have bought a used halide system for the same price. Same for the skimmer.

[tinman]

it all started many years ago with a little 20 gal freshwater now, i've got the biggest collection of weird stuff that i'll never use but won't sell or throw out either! man i'm such a gear junkie and i want more! kein i know what you mean!!!!

[Lance]

Originally Posted by christyf5

......god, where do i start. I've wasted a lot of money on useless product in this hobby...

So true! I'm one of those types that has to have the newest, biggest, bestest product on the market. And not just SW either; I do the same thing with woodworking tools. I must have every router bit known to man. If I used half of them I'd be exaggerating.

[es355lucille]

Geismann Infinity Light - So any of you that think that buying high end is the total way to go!! I got a dud.......first all the balasts burned out.....external and internal. Just recently there was a short in the socket connection and took out a plug on the aqua controller Jr. Then my wrasse jumped the other day and broke the lens on one of the HQI......maybe the fish don't like it!! LOL! (fish is ok)

This thing is just cursed!

[whatcaneyedo]

This looks like a fun game!

Coralife PC fixtures. I've had two 65W ballasts burn out within a year for no reason.
Coralife Aquagloves. I've bought two sets and within a year three out of the four gloves leaked through the seams.
Coralife timer powerbar (anyone see a pattern here?). The little sliding covers broke very easily and the timer would occasionally not shut off the lights!
AquaMedic Biotherm Controller. They don't even make these anymore... Two of them lost their their calibration within two years and cannot be re-calibrated. What good is a temperature controller that is out 8ºC?
AquaMedic Titanium heaters. I bought three and had to send three back when they would no longer heat up. All within a year.
RedSea Prizm Skimmer. Needs no explanation.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

This looks like a fun game!

Coralife PC fixtures. I've had two 65W ballasts burn out within a year for no reason.
Coralife Aquagloves. I've bought two sets and within a year three out of the four gloves leaked through the seams.
Coralife timer powerbar (anyone see a pattern here?). The little sliding covers broke very easily and the timer would occasionally not shut off the lights!
AquaMedic Biotherm Controller. They don't even make these anymore... Two of them lost their their calibration within two years and cannot be re-calibrated. What good is a temperature controller that is out 8ºC?
AquaMedic Titanium heaters. I bought three and had to send three back when they would no longer heat up. All within a year.
RedSea Prizm Skimmer. Needs no explanation.

Coralife, Aquamedic and Red Sea. Yup, I've had experience with all three brands and they're crap!

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Lance

Coralife, Aquamedic and Red Sea. Yup, I've had experience with all three brands and they're crap!

+1 agreed

[Coleus]

My only regret is that I should never come to Kien's house and see his tank : ). Because I would happy with my 45 bow font with Rena xp 3, couple cheap powerheads and couple fishes and some softies.

Now couple years later, looking at my tank and Kiens tank and after spending tons of my money and still wonder if I am in the right hobby lol.


Ok back to the main topic. My worst purchase would be any thing to help my tank cycle faster like bateria liquid, nitrate destroyer. The are all bs except for biopellets


S

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by kien

I purchased a 150g tank a couple of years go. Now I'm out thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars! What a money pit!

Hahahahah, that's awesome, I started with a free 20 gallon and upgraded to a free 55 gallon tank. 6 years and 20k plus later. What kind of hobby is this? But if I had a choice I would probably do it all over again. Any one looking to purchase a kidney? I want a bubble king 250.

Serious note. 3 x 400 w is way too much for a 210, 250 is plenty enough.
Bigger is not always better. Coralife power bar, I am on the third one in less then a year. Free if anyone interested. Hydor 1000 skimmer. Try to take the cup off is like pulling teeth. Aqua doser is 50/50 works decent but could be a lot better. Zeovit, good product but absolutely not a necessity. All ki d of magic potions. The things we go through to try to grow some coral.

[zum14]

Originally Posted by Bblinks

Serious note. 3 x 400 w is way too much for a 210, 250 is plenty enough.
Bigger is not always better.

Ya I bought 3 X 400w on a good deal, they were nice but im not sure how I convinced myself my power bill wouldnt go through the roof. There currently stored in the basement away from any plugin. Just to be safe.