The best/hardest lesson you've learned?

well mine is kinda funny (and you have to laugh at yourself some times)
I am new to owning a canister filter (fluval 404) which I got second hand.
I researched how to get it going but did not on maintenance and so on.
So I decided it was time to rinse the sponges and stuff.
I unpluged the filter and proceeded to remove the lid withought removing the hoses from the water!! well as you can imagine within seconds I had niagara falls in my living room. I removed them quickly and every towel and some sheets in the house were soaked. In the panic I even slipped in the water and fell on my backside.
I could do nothing but LMAO:rofl:
 
plecos jump too... oops, pleco jerky... twice. (gold nugget and snowball... full retail price [wifey no longer picks out fish ;)])
shrimp also jump... and are very hard to pick up once they do if they're small... d*** bottom feeders... why are they even able to jump?
known jumpers jump higher and fall harder (it took a while but my crossecheilus langei is healthy as a horse now).

the common one... ALGAE HAPPENS... especially when your plants don't get what they need (enough: light, ferts and co2). it is really hard sometimes to convince people that ferts and co2 are essential building blocks to their planted tanks.

healthy plants do create a much healthier environment... dieing plants just compound every issue you already have.

ugf + plants = go ahead, make my day.

diy canister... not what it's all cracked up to be... costs more to make one AND buy one then to JUST BUY ONE.

nitrates < 10 in a planted tank = no fun for daddy.

re-constituting water from scratch (r/o, rain, etc.) is MUCH easier than guessing what's in your tap to contend with... but comes at its own cost.

if your tank is at it's light threshold it's way easier to replace one bulb at a time and let them burn-in before swapping out another.

uvc DOES NOT stop diseases that are transferred directly from one fish to another or caused by water param issues. (i knew that but it was re-iterated when the water company decided to clean out the water mains in my neighborhood)

a concrete curb isn't any softer when covered with snow at 40 mph feet first (bumper hopping).

there's a lot to learn in this hobby... sometimes in life too.
 
LOL lots of good responses overnight :) Glad to know I'm not the only person who has been humbled a few times in this hobby.

Keep them coming! :popcorn:
 
Things I've learned:
Hanging the syphon out the second floor window creates enough suction to vacuum up a lot of the wrong things....ie large snails I wouldn't usually worry about AND the occasional moss ball! DOUGHT

Heat kills...when it's 90+ in the house it's 90+ in the tanks enough said!

SANITY, I can keep it w/o being medicated ;) thank you fishies!!!!
 
That life is to be lived and enjoyed and to not waste time on useless emotions like anger. Being nice to others, even if a stranger, can be rewarding.

That the life you know can come to a crashing halt in a split second.
 
That Common Sense Is Not That Common
 
Life goes on.
 
Along the lines of non-aquatic, my best lesson is probably that "this too shall pass." It not only means that the hard times will end, but that you have to cherish the good times because they can go away too.

It's my idea for my next tattoo (in gaelic).

Long way: Dá fhaid é an lá tiocfaidh an tráthnóna
Short way: Imeoidh sé seo fosta
 
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