Beginners Education

Arguably, there are few “pastimes” as challenging and all-consuming as marine (and especially reef) aquarium keeping. Longtime hobbyists might forget the relative ease with which they likely got “into” reef aquaria--very possibly with a lot of freshwater aquarium keeping experience behind them. While it is true that the foods, equipment and methodologies of today are greatly improved from those of yesteryear, there is now so much more to learn from the get-go. Definitely a lot of choices to make! With the massive amounts of (often contradictory) information out there, beginner reef aquarists might feel more intimidated now than ever before.

That’s totally cool. You’ll get “there” soon enough. The most important thing is to move forward step-by-step, and to have fun along the way. The whole point of spending all that money and time on this (or any) hobby is to relax and maybe learn something, right? The vast majority of saltwater aquarists who throw the term “newbie” around don’t really mean it as a pejorative; if anything, they recall that period with nostalgia (and maybe even a bit of envy), for it is the fleeting beginner stage where aquarium keeping is especially exciting and the animals so incredibly fascinating.

No one here would suggest that a beginning aquarist should avoid challenges, but we certainly would advise one against making some of those beginner mistakes. In reef aquarium keeping, there is no bigger virtue than patience!

In this section, you will learn how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls for novice aquarists as well as how to build the foundation of knowledge you’ll need to master the art.