13 Essential Reefing Skills

I was inspired by this: 100 essential skills for Geeks, and I wanted to make a list for reefers.

1)      Plumbing Expert

This is pretty self explanatory.  You have a big glass box full of water in your living room with pipes running all over the place.  You will need to know how to fix leaks, swap out pumps and do water changes without spilling water on the floor.

2)      Master budgeting

How much does it cost for your tank to run every month?  When will you need to replace your closed loop pump?  Do you have money saved in case that happens?  Success in this hobby can be the difference between having a plan to replace burned out parts and not having one.

An addendum to this is learning to negotiate.  Prices at your LFS are never set in stone.  I usually ask for a better price if I’m buying a couple of things and I always do if I’m buying a lot.  A couple of weeks ago I saved about $150 on a $400 purchase just because I asked.  That’s almost 4 corals!

3)      Electrical Engineer

Do you have enough power to run your tank with the lights on, the AC and the stove?  What happens when you trip your GFI (You ARE using a GFI, right?) on your display tank, does your sump stop working?  Also, it’s important to know how to safely run your wiring so that its away from salt water.

4)      Chemist

How much alkalinity do you need to add to your tank to bring it up from 7dkh to 9dkh?  How will that affect your calcium?  What if your magnesium is low?  Don’t even get me started on your strontium levels.

5)      Stomach of steel

There are some weird things growing in our aquariums.  Also, cleaning your protein skimmer requires a gag reflex set to high.  ‘Nuff said.

6)      Vet

There are very few people in the world who know how to treat Cryptocaryoniasis in your Acanthurus shoal, so you’ll need to become an expert on researching, diagnosing and  treating disease.  Same goes for coral.  You’re going to need to know how to treat coral pests and parasites.

7)      Spotting great deals

And not just spotting great deals on coral.  The majority of my tank is second hand.  I got it from a guy who was getting out of the hobby.  I got a custom built brand new tank that had never seen water, metal halide lights, a stand and a sump for 1/3 the cost it would have run me to buy it new.  There are deals to be had, especially with the economy the way it is.  People are getting out of the hobby and selling their systems off for cheap.  Grab deals when they’re available.

It’s also great for knowing to use inexpensive chemicals instead of overpriced bottled chemicals.  Learn about sites like Bulk Reef Supply or where to source a big bag of Calcium Chloride.

8)      Hacking

I mean this in the programming sense, like this usage:

In the computing community, the primary meaning is a complimentary description for a particularly brilliant programmer or technical expert.

If not for some brilliant reef hackers, would we have the protein skimmer?  The refugium or the algae turf scrubber?  I consider people like Marc Levenson to be one of the best reef hackers out there (did I just coin the phrase ‘reef hacker’?)

9)      Dietician

Similar to item 6, you need to know everything about your charges.   You need to know what your fish eat, what they should eat and how to get it to them.  I make my own food and I’m a firm believer in feeding mainly marine originated food (I do use garlic).

10)   Catching fish

I consider this to be my best ‘useless’ skill.  I can catch a fish in just about any aquarium.  It’s great for fish that are trouble makers, sick or are eating things they shouldn’t (like my $50/polyp palys)

11)   1337 h4×0r wit pooters

The world is on the internet.  Find a local reef board, learn to sign on and post.  The most up to date information is online and there are thousands of people able to help you out.  LRN2GOOG.

12)   Know how to calculate the volume of water in a tank

(L x W x H)/231

Useful for dosing.

13)   Identify coral and fish

If you don’t know what it is, how will you take care of it?  I use CoralIdea and FishIdea when I’m out.  That information on my phone is powerful.

Am I missing anything?

Related posts:

1. Back To The Future: 13 Essential Reefing Skills
2. The Impact of Recession On Our Reefing Industry
3. Hate To Love This Reefing Thing
4. LFS That Lie
5. Reefing Season

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