In this thread post your most idiotic reefing mistake

[Magickiwi]

My biggest mistake wasn't really my mistake exactly. I simply listened to the dude at the LFS when he said a green brittle star was reef safe. Well by reef safe he meant it wouldn't eat corals, what I THOUGHT he meant was that it would co-exist without harming anything in my tank (Normally what is meant). Several fish later I finally caught the bastard in the act and then had to take apart large portions of my rock work to get the big sucker out.

Lesson learned: People at the LFS aren't necessarily speaking in the same context as you so do your own research and trust nothing unless you've verified it with a valued source.

[xenon]

About 6 years ago, I attempted to QT my fish with ich in hyposalinity (1.009).

I dropped them from 1.026 to 1.009 properly (3 points per hour).

I noticed the fish not doing very well once I got to 1.009 so I quickly added some salt to the water and they bounced back. The following day I got some proper calibration fluid and I was off my 3 points. What I thought was 1.009 was actually 1.006.

Lesson learned.

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

My biggest mistake wasn't really my mistake exactly. I simply listened to the dude at the LFS when he said a green brittle star was reef safe. Well by reef safe he meant it wouldn't eat corals, what I THOUGHT he meant was that it would co-exist without harming anything in my tank (Normally what is meant). Several fish later I finally caught the bastard in the act and then had to take apart large portions of my rock work to get the big sucker out.

Lesson learned: People at the LFS aren't necessarily speaking in the same context as you so do your own research and trust nothing unless you've verified it with a valued source.

I think this is the biggest mistake we all make especially when starting out. It took me a couple of years to wise up and stop listening to guys at LFS