I remember this guy... thanks watts for linking it. Guys, there are two issues here, not one.
First, this guy was touting his own, personal observations as
[hr]
fact and attempting to change the paradigm of fishkeeping based on his personal observations, and got belligerent when chided by the members here for his actions.
Second, he claimed that his method would change the way we cycle tanks.
These two issues need to be addressed separately.
First, IMO, anyone who comes on here and touts a method that's never been solidly proven in any kind of scientific or reproducible way, then attempts to pass that knowledge onto neophyte aquarists as proven, deserves a chiding. It's irresponsible behavior, because if he's wrong (any mature hobbiest knows that we all are just students in this science, and we can be and are occasionally ... or often .. wrong), he's going to frustrate a lot of people, do the boards a discredit, and worse, kick an enthusiastic entry level hobbiest right out of this fantastic hobby through pure frustration. He did this, and he deserved what he got. He refused to even acknowledge that he MIGHT be wrong or that his situation may be isolated, and further refused to even acknowledge that other methods may be a bit more user-friendly. While his method may have worked, it may not be easy for just anyone to do.
Second, he claimed that it would change the way we cycle aquariums. All, we need to be open minded. We got angry with him on his original thread because he refused to entertain our skepticism. But to come back here and laugh at him later for going away isn't right. This to me is akin to burning some heretic in the middle ages who claims that the Earth revolves around the sun. The people in those days "knew" that the sun revolved around the Earth, and anyone who thought differently should die for it. We ahve to be open for new ideas and innovation. If this board was here 20 years ago and someone came on claiming that you can run a stable system with just a bunch of live rock in the tank and NO bio-media in your filter, we'd have called that person crazy. I'm not suggesting for a second that I condone the way he went about it, but there are posts on this thread saying the idea of a 24 hour cycle is "absurd." Perhaps it's not. Open mindedness is the key here. For me, the idea of a 24 hour cycle will be a tough sell, and I'll continue doing it my "old fashioned way" but to me it's interesting to see that other people are experimenting. To come on here and say "This is the new way, everyone else is dumb" is just ignorant, but we should welcome those who want to share ideas.
So my point is, interesting idea, poor execution. Let sleeping dogs lay.
