I carried my first reef tank around with me EMPTY for five years before I set it up.  Obsession can drive you and can be a good thing, but it can also stop you from taking action out of the need for perfection.

 

From one move to the next move, each time we moved it came with me . . . empty.  My dream tank that would someday actually get setup when the conditions were just right.  This was a 125 gallon glass tank with two overflows.  I saw it in my local pet store and drooled over it until I couldn’t take it any more.  So I finally came in and bought it.  It was probably the only thing I had bought from this store I had been visiting for the last year, other than magazines.  I would come in to the store to see what new amazing critters they had, talk their ear off with 50 questions and then leave.  I was especially obsessed with saltwater reef aquariums.

 

So now I had my big tank at home.  What now?  I decided to build a stand . . . an “uber” stand.  This thing was bomber – a work of art.  But the tank still sat empty.  My wife would say “in the meantime, why don’t we just set it up as a freshwater tank until you are ready for the reef?”  I wouldn’t have it.  After all, this was my saltwater reef tank … my empty saltwater reef tank.

 

So now I had my tank sitting on a stand.  But I couldn’t bring myself to set it up yet and get it running, mostly because of two reasons:

1)      I didn’t want to set it up until I had everything perfect (analysis paralysis – mistake).  This included not wanting to have to break it down when I moved.  So it sat there.

2)      I had bought too big of a tank for my budget.  I had no idea what it was going to cost (when I was done – the total cost) to get my tank completely setup.  There were pumps, filters, reactors, live rock, corals, fishes, a chiller, UV, and on and on.  The funniest part is I didn’t even know that I needed all this stuff when I bought the tank. I just KNEW I was going to do it . . . some day.  So it sat there … empty.

 

At this point most of what I had learned about keeping reef tanks was not from doing it but from reading and reading and reading and speaking w/ experts, a lot of experts.  On the other hand I did have a background in fisheries biology and aquaculture and many other jobs in the world of fish.  I even worked for a lobbying firm on Capital Hill in Washington DC called The Sport Fishing Institute.  Yes, I had experience w/ freshwater aquariums, but somehow my passion and obsession for saltwater reef tanks was so strong that I didn’t want to build a tank until I could do it in a very big and amazing way.  I was being stopped by my need to “get it right” and to avoid mistakes (as if that were even possible).  It makes me laugh now as I write this post.

 

In my case, this 125 gallon reef ready tank didn’t even see water in it for 5 years, and by the time it did, it was actually used as a holding tank in my aquarium consulting business.  Can you believe it?  In fact, my first reef tank was 800-gallons, for a customer.  And it was very successful and still is to this day.

 

In my 15 years in the world of all things aquarium, my biggest lessons have come from my biggest blunders.  The phrase “fail often and fail fast” comes to mind.    So don’t be afraid to get your first tank up and going.  Just do it.

 

 

I would have been much better off buying a smaller saltwater tank (even a used one) so that I could actually get it completely up and running and get hands-on experience by taking action and doing it . . . and yes, making mistakes too. 

 

So just remember that we learn best and most deeply when we make mistakes and screw up.  And if you are doing it right, you will make mistakes, even some big ones.  So accept it and be grateful for it and don’t let it stop you from taking action.  Some future posts will focus on some of these big mistakes so stay tuned.


Technorati Tags: Uncategorized

Related posts

Tagged with:

Filed under: Uncategorized

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!