Attention Newbies

j21kickster

Active Member
Hey Guys-
You may or may not know me- But im J21kickster (Justin). For the most part i hang out in the reef forum and sometimes frequent the nano area. I must admit that i rarely venture to this domain but...I guess that is not pertinent.
Basicly what i came to say is, well, first off :) WELCOME:) to the board. I have learned sooo much just over the months that i have been here. If you are truly devoted to giving your tank inhabitants the best you can, and mabye arent sure how; look no further.
Sometimes it can be very confusing. The general consencus is that saltwater tanks are so hard to keep. This could not be farther from the truth. Once you have the base knowledge down it isnt bad. This is a hobby that requires continuous learning, depending how deep into it you wish to travel. In stead of saying it is hard- The phrase should be- It taked dedication and pre-knowledge.
This brings me to my next point. Please Please Please make sure you know what you are buying before you do. This hobby can cause you to be very impulssive and that is one day might cause the end of it. When you go to the store or order online; you should be able to tell yourself a few things. These include: What it is, How big it will get, How will it do with you other tankmates, and can i meet its requirments of survival. And i cant stress this enough- The LFS employees are not always right
. Sometimes they just make things up because they dont know. So make sure before you buy any thing at all, you can anwser all of those qusetions and fulfill its needs with out the help of anyone else. Once you start to do this you will realize, there is a lot of things that are being sold that shouldnt- Just because the store sells it, does not mean it will live- Even under expert care.
I know this forum is for people new to the hobby, but if you want to learn- chek out the other forums, read the info and if you still dont get something; Ask. That is what we are here for. If you come across the unfortunate event where someond tries to make you feel like a beginner- dont let it get to you. There are occasionally some of those people who pass through.
So to bring this all to an end- just have fun here. Keep in mind that essntially, you are playing God to the creatures in your tank- and make sure that you can before subjecting them to your hand.This is a great hobby and we are glad to have you here. Hope to see ya in the REEF!
 

Originally posted by EQ2118
Thanks! I trust the people in these forums waaaaaaaaaay more than I do in any pet stores!

absolutely
thanks kick for a great thread :)
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Nice of you to look out for the newbies, and congrats on making this your 3000th post.
Thomas
 

j21kickster

Active Member
Thankyou guys and girls- just trying to brighten someones day:)
Yeah!!! 3000
Also as mentioned-and i forgot to add, Patience is a definate virtue. The world was not created in a day neither is a SW tank. Take it slow. Trust me that you will be glad you did. This is not a hobby to rush into the first time you gee a cute little nemo fish. Fight the urge and pace yourself- Good Luck
 

robchuck

Active Member
Well put j21kickster
I don't frequent the board as much as I used to, but I must say that the information I have learned from members who share their vast experience of the hobby here has been the primary reason my tank is flourishing today.
 

stillfrodo

Member
I have said it before and I'll say it again. THIS BOARD HAS BEEN INVALUABLE!!!!!!! Thanks to all the guys and girls who take the time to research and answer any question us newbies may have...
 

nacl-man

Member

Originally posted by RobChuck
Well put j21kickster
I don't frequent the board as much as I used to, but I must say that the information I have learned from members who share their vast experience of the hobby here has been the primary reason my tank is flourishing today.


yup! :cool: same same same
 

jp0379

Member
I couldn't agree more. And just like the LFS people, not everyone here knows everything, but since no one here is making money off of their advice, everyone tends to be more honest. PLUS, you get many different opinions and experiences, so you have lots of information to base each decision on!
 
Cheers Justing
Trust me...LFS ppl aren't always right. Perhaps its my lack of knowledge because i have a pretty good biology background but not marine bio, but i figure if something lives in water and you buy it...it should come in water.
Now, I went to my LFS yesterday and bought some snails (which were dead i later found out) and some live rock (which now keeps me skeptical whether it is live with micororganisms or not). Anyhow, as they went to package the live rock, they just put it in a plastic bag... like the regular bag you would get when buying groceries. I actually had to ask them to put it into a fish bag with some water. NOw i don't know if saltwater organisms going into an endosporic state where htey can survive out of water (such as freshwater protozoans) but i figure it was common sense to thinkg "well, if it lives in water, i suppose i should but this in a bag of water".
thanks for the welcome, I've only been 3 weeks into this awesome hobby and i' skipped a lot of the prep work there appeasr to be...but my critters are thriving and i'm learning tons bout ecological relationships in these tanks.
Cheers
 

Originally posted by j21kickster
And i cant stress this enough- The LFS employees are not always right
. Sometimes they just make things up because they dont know. So make sure before you buy any thing at all, you can anwser all of those qusetions and fulfill its needs with out the help of anyone else. Once you start to do this you will realize, there is a lot of things that are being sold that shouldnt- Just because the store sells it, does not mean it will live- Even under expert care.

Isn't this the truth!
....and we learned the hard way. Now I read! read! read!....books and all these knowledgable posts here. Thanks j21kickster and everyone else for lending your wisdom and experience.
:) Tracy
 

gailkaitschuck

New Member
OK, so I'm in our one and only LFS that even looks at saltwater...and they are in the process of expanding...and some poor guy is asking the clerk how to go about buying a saltwater tank and setting it up.
AFTER the helpful clerk tells him he only has to wait 2 weeks after he sets his tank up to start adding fish, he goes off to help some other hapless customer.
I manage to grab this poor would-be saltwater tank owner and encourage him to come to this forum (plus several others) and read up as much as he can before he plunks the first dollar down on a system.
Hopefully he listens.
Gail
 

cfritz8770

Member
thanks for all support...
I've had freshwater fish all my life and I have had such a rocky start to this...
I have learned -- be careful -- the lfs says what they think you want to hear, not what is good for the tank (maybe that's why sw fish have no guarantee like fw fish?!)
Cheryl
 
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