Dude, we're in BC, it would be a stretch to think it wasn't a double entrendre.

- Thinking that only certain fish are prone to 'jumping' and carpet surfing (not taking into consideration that fish get startled or can become aggressive and chase one another. :frusty: This of course; coming from a person that did not have any type of cover over his display for the longest time. I caved and put plastic mesh over the display. VERY glad I did.

Trying to eradicate and scrub off every tiny trace of algae in your "reef" tank. Reefs in nature have algae. If your tank is in balance it will always have some algae but will not over run the tank. If you want ZERO algae, don't call it a reef tank. Call it a coral garden, because it's not natural.

Haha well when I joined the site it was when I got my calcium reactor. I kept adjusting and testing and it was driving me nuts. So mad scientist did'nt really fit. So thats how I chose Madreefer. So kinda 3 meanings in a way. No more ganga for me:sad:

Spending too much money.

Also, for Vancouver hobbyists, I think using DI is a waste of time.

I have a DSB in my tank, but then again it needs it for the seagrass. I wouldn't use one in an SPS tank.

I also clean my skimmer cup pretty thoroughly. I don't think it is a waste of time as it still looks brand new :)

Empty wallet syndrome

Letting my friend convince me to get into the hobby

What I find is procrastinating anything with your system.
The I'll do it tomorrow.
We all do it.
Leads to all kinds of problems!

Doing stuff (like adjusting skimmer or plumbing) to your tanks:

1) after midnight & just before you go to bed
2) just before you leave the house on a trip
3) keeping ick-magnet fish with potentially aggressive tank mates
4) keeping more than one ick-magnet fish in the same tank

and yes

5) starting your first reef tank knowing you are certified as OCD by a doctor friend:microwav: (most expensive "mistake" ever):wink:

Stupidest thing I ever did was thinking I didn't need a quarantine tank.

One nasty case of Marine Velvet, a complete 120 gal mixed reef breakdown, 12 dead fish and 4 destroyed sps colonies later I learned the error of my ways.

+1 to the doing stuff after midnight. Woke up this morning to my newly installed (1:30 am) UV sterilizer with a slow drip on the carpet. 1/2 hr of re-tightening all the seals and it's good to go but next time I'll wait til morning to install.

Why are mangroves a mistake???

I didn't have a chance to read any of these but great idea OP :)

I overflow vessels with water all the time! Just this weekend I narrowly escaped disaster twice. I have a small powerhead in my topoff reservoir which I use to fill my mixing tank from. It's a slow fill and I've forgotten about it several times. This time the 90g reservoir ran dry with the 20g mixing tank filled right to the brim!

Then later that day I forgot to reset my rodi timer for a few more hours and was downtairs for some other random task when I remembered to shut the unit off with half an inch to spare.

I'm not to be trusted with water.