I agree with this completely. I think if most hobbyists would stick it out the experience they gained would make them more successful.

 

I have noticed that one of the common traits amongst many newbies who post here with problems like "fish sick / dead", "corals keep dying", "nitrates too high", etc. is that, once they post a picture of their tank, many of them have skimped on the live rock compared to their tank size...

 

Probably because A) commercial live rock is expensive (e.g. $7 - $8 a lb) and if you have, for example, a 55g setup you should have around 50 - 75 lbs of rock... which would cost around $ 400 - $500 retail  so the newbie reasons he can "buy 20 lbs now, and the rest later..." and later never comes;   and B) they don't know about lower cost alternatives like Utah Rock or simply buying "used" live rock off of forums like this one.

 

 

 

 

Hardcore Opinions - There are those who insist that what they are doing is "right" and by inference, if not by statement, what anyone else is doing differently is wrong.

 

Resale - maybe not difficult to understand, but as good as the used market is to pick up equipment, it's that bad when trying to sell unneeded stuff.  I think that it would be useful for new hobbiest to understand that purchases of new equipment should be wise and thoughtful - because changing your mind will be expensive.

 

Acronyms - AC, MH, T5, LR, LS, VHO, LFS, LW, LED, RO, FW, FWE, Ca, Alk, Ph, PC, DI, DSB, RDP, SW, HOB...

 

Testing/Dosing - This probably scares more people away from the hobby than anyone would care to guess.

 

Minimum required equipment - What is necessary and what is luxury?  If you looked at BobC63's hardware as "necessary" only a fraction of us could afford to do this hobby.  I suppose you could put the priority or relative importance of things compared to each other along with this.  (No offense Bob - you know we are all jealous)

 

Everything - everything - from the tank / stand / canopy on down I bought either:

 

used (lighting, koralia pumps, return pump, UV, carbon reactor, calcium reactor, controller, current sump, and of course the tank / stand / canopy) - and most right off the Buy /Sell Forum here at WMAS

 

or got for basically free (Utah rock and sand) - again, courtesy of some knowledgable folks here on the Board

 

or DIYed (plumbing, old sump, Ca / Alk / Mg chemicals) for "pennies on the dollar" compared to buying retail

 

or got at a deep discount (ozone for $30 off ebay, heaters buy 1 get 2nd 50% off, fish food $10 / case)

 

The only things that I have paid full retail for were the skimmer, salt, test kits, and a couple of my fish and corals.

 

I'd bet that the "typical" reefer with say, a 90 - 120 setup, and who bought most of their supplies from retail stores... has probably spent more $$$ than I have.