Worst mistake

[gwhiz]

So many to choose from.....probably when i completely drained my 50 gal saltwater barrel during a water change. And left the valve open that leads from the barrel to the sump. And then opened the valve on the RODI to refill the barrel. And then went to sleep.

I've flooded a number of times, but this one was a comedy of errors with no mechanical issues to blame it on....it was all me:blush: .

 

[jgoal55]

Ive never made a mistake, except for that one time I thought I made a mistake.

ok really I think my biggest mistake was throwing a turbo snail in my HOB overflow to clean some of the algae up and then forgetting all about it. Overnight it climbed up the u-tube and slowed the siphon down to the point where my display tank overflowed and my ATO kicked on because the sump level was too low. Had about 30 gallons of water on my hardwoods. not good at all!

2nd mistake, using a HOB overflow.

3rd mistake, not using an aqualifter with it until much, much later.

 

[son of adam]

Good thread idea....

My best of the worst would be.
<ol>
<li>No hose clamps on the skimmer pump. The water shooting straight up out of the sump into the power supply was mucho-stupid-o.</li>
<li>Doing a water change and not turning off the pump going to the refugium. It drained the sump and fried my heater. My dumb*** is asking my wife " what is the smell " I snatched it out as it's fall apart ready to kill.</li>
</ol> Anyway.... Other things I learned is keeping my shop vac and koi pond form ready for the busted tank that could get you.

 

[cameron]

My worst mistake... this won't be a popular one, but buying a tank in the first place. Man what a huge chunk of change went out the door on that thing.

Worst mistake I did to my tank, not buying the best thing I could afford every step of the way. In the end, I spent more trying to spend less.

 

[chauwall]

FutureInterest;292026 wrote: Biggest mistake? Hard to say... they're all pretty big .

I guess the one I suffered the most for though was having too small a sump for my display. With each power outage or pump failure I'd have 12 gallons of water to clean up! Now i have a 135 gallon sump to rectify that problem... talk about overkill.

Ouch! I don't think the wife likes that Water overflows are the worst!

 

[theplatypus]

Spending $100 on a fish without doing any research first.

 

[lees]

Buying too small of a tank. I'm bored with the one I have now and it seems like the only solution now would be to go 70g plus. I'd like to do a 40 breeder,but then what? 6 months from now I would definately want the 70. Deep Sea RR$$$$$$$

 

[bobz]

Budsreef;291977 wrote: My biggest is putting the 120G on an unfinished stand thinking I would be able to finish it later. Yea, like that's going to happen now.

Hey, it's only been two years! You'll get to it.

Z

 

[cameron]

I don't think you will ever be happy regardless of the size or the number of tanks you have setup.

 

[lees]

Cameron;292301 wrote: I don't think you will ever be happy regardless of the size or the number of tanks you have setup.

You could be onto something there.

 

[soarin']

My biggest mistake was accepting a 55-gallon tank for free from friends. It wasn't drilled or anything, and we are renting a house with hardwood floors (tile in the breakfast area where the tank is) so it's been slow going with that one, because I am afraid of something coming loose somehow and flooding the place. I am thinking of making that one a FW planted tank making life easy on me (I have two others)

 

[lees]

F/W,S/W? 55 gallons is 55 gallons should something come loose.

 

[chauwall]

Cameron;292301 wrote: I don't think you will ever be happy regardless of the size or the number of tanks you have setup.

I am completely satisfied with my 120. Plenty of room for tangs, corals, any small fish, water parameters are steady due to volume, etc. I think if it were any bigger or smaller, I would feel different but I'm good for a long, long time.

 

[glxtrix]

Selling off my SPS. Mistake would be being stupid in thinking adding water faster through the kalk reactor would result in less kalk mixing....HA!!! Fortunately I was there when the top off kicked on and saw pure white water coming out....DOH!

 

[crew]

ya.. its fun to think about what I would do with all the money I would have if I didnt have a tank

very similar to dreaming about winning the lottery hahaha

 

[smoothie]

#1 Let my tank be a hospitol tank for a friend's dying corals (never hurt before) and got a mini tank crash from it. #2 Cheap *** glass heater got stuck on wide open crackhead heat and boiled my tank. Lost 90% of my corals, but my powder blue was fine and still is. He is a ninja

 

[crew]

did the tank water really start boiling by the heater??

 

[smoothie]

Not boiling really, but way too hot and the magic red indicator light was still on when the water was at 91. Hooked it back up in my garage brute I use for mixing and the same thing. Wouldn't shut off. That was a long week of water changes and running 5gal buckets from the ro to inside. (ps..left the ro outside during the freeze and now need another...mine exploded)

 

[zdaytonaroadster]

same as many other, standard 55 gallon non drilled..though i've never had a flooding issue and i have a great HOB overflow