Most disappointing equipment purchase

[Treebeard]

Same here. I cannot believe retailers sell those POS!
I also bought a Remora Pro from Canreefer who was quitting the hobby and assured me it worked great. That's 90 bucks I'll never see again.

Originally Posted by fkshiu

Sea Clown = worst . . . purchase . . . ever.

[Tom R]

I have thought about this for a while now and the list is numerous fortunately the majority of these items are from my early days in the hobby.

Not sure if it is the worst (because I did buy a Sea Cone Skimmer that Eric of King Ed's swore it would do a 135G) but one of the first return pumps I purchased was a Mag-Drive 18 and it not only was the loudest grinding noisiest pump it also produced major heat problems in my tank.

Tom R

[fragNplug]

Brine shrimp hatchery

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Snappy

Mine was an Aqua Medic heater. The control unit went on the original and then again on the replacement and almost cooked all my corals on two seperate occasions so I finally just threw it in the trash where it belonged.

I would say the same about several Aqua Medic products I've bought over the years and have since asked a friend to give me a good swift kick if he ever catches me buying any more of that brand's equipment.

This would be my second worst purchase. Same thing happened to mine. Lasted about 2 months and the controller went.

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by Lance

This would be my second worst purchase. Same thing happened to mine. Lasted about 2 months and the controller went.

AquaMedic replaced two of those heaters and one of those controllers for me before my current ones actually worked. However I've never owned a heater that was reliable... Ebo Jager and Hagen are no better in my experience.

I'd have to say that my worst purchase would be the three Coralife 65W PC fixtures I've bought. On two of them the ballasts just blew after less than a year of use for no reason. I've owned a lot of different light fixtures, pendants and retro fits and no other one has ever done that.

[mseepman]

Worst had to be a Prizm skimmer at LFS pricing. This thing never skimmed, though I re-tried it at least 10 times.

[lastlight]

My depressing story was my last tank. 400 gallons built on site. It was also cut apart and sold for cheap (lost about $3000 on that deal) after I finished sledge-hammering the marble tile wall i had it in. Only ever saw fw a few times to leak-test.

Good news was we were moving to a new house and I took that opportunity to build my current tank on the main floor.

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

AquaMedic replaced two of those heaters and one of those controllers for me before my current ones actually worked. However I've never owned a heater that was reliable... Ebo Jager and Hagen are no better in my experience.

I'd have to say that my worst purchase would be the three Coralife 65W PC fixtures I've bought. On two of them the ballasts just blew after less than a year of use for no reason. I've owned a lot of different light fixtures, pendants and retro fits and no other one has ever done that.

I actually kept the titanium heater part but trashed the controller and now I just use it on a timer to come on for a few hours at night if it's cold.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by Snappy

I actually kept the titanium heater part but trashed the controller and now I just use it on a timer to come on for a few hours at night if it's cold.

I put a regular heater on the controller. Darn thing goes nutz with power bumps. Once it set itself for 294C Yes, 294C I caugfht it at a tank tamp of 92. Lost all LPS and my shrimp.

So ya, worst purchase Aquamedic temp controller.

[Ian]

Yup same here quiet one 4000....POS