Originally Posted by
Murph
When compared to other forums I think we have a pretty decent community here. Even the occasional debates don't usually degenerate into the flame wars I have witnessed on other forums with even more benign topics than aquarium keeping.
The bigger problem IMO is that excepted methods are becoming pretty much written in stone with little tolerance being given to experimentation or other less Orthodox methods. There is not much doubt that there are people out there who have discovered and are having some success with these other methods but shy away from posting these to the various forums without fear of responses like, "your fish will be dead in a month". This is leading to stagnation in a far from perfected hobby.
IN the mid eighties from what I can remember the excepted methods where CC substrate UG filters in skimmerless systems and the longer you could go without making a water change while still maintaining water quality was considered a sign of success.
Imagine if you will forums like this existed back then and I posted that I had remove my UG filter replaced my CC with a 4 inch sand bed and added a large amount of rock from the wild and have begun making 15 percent water changes weekly.
These days the likely response from some would have been; "You will hopelessly disrupt your biological filtration with that deep a substrate and water changes, introduce a multitude of parasites and other unwanted life with the rock and your fish will be dead in a month"
I am glad this was brought up because I was called just short of a fish murderer when I first posted. I had just had my tank a day or so when I started adding fish. My LFS had given me the web addresses for a couple sites this one included and I was reading everything I could find on taking care of things. After reading some stuff here I posted because I was so freaked out what was being said about cycling. I can't say people were rude really but they gave me many sleepless nights of worry. I can also tell you I was at my LFS every night for the first two months bugging him with questions and having him test my water. (EVERY NIGHT) Thankfully he was very patient. He Kept reassuring me and PROMISED me everything would be fine. I started up with biospira, tons of LR and LS. Today I am happy to report that after 3 months my fish are still alive and well. Aside from two fake perculas clowns that died from brook within days of buying them at ANOTHER LFS I have all the same fish. I do have an Achillis Tang with popeye now and I have no idea why he has it when he has always been very healthy - never one case of ick or anything. I am finding this extremely frustrating due to the lack of information available here AND in the books I have purchased. The only thing I can come up with is possibly not changing enough BUT all my parameters were good so I figured I'd let things be. Lesson learned there!
Now please, I am not suggesting everyone do it this way. Perhapes I was just VERY lucky I don't know. I can say that I did not cut ANY corners aside from time. I purchased a bigger pump, bigger skimmer, tons of LR and LS. Even my lights are over kill for 95 gallon tank at over 900 watts but I like it that way. It gives a little advantage I think.
Another example is fish compatiblity. I keep reading you can't have this with that etc.. it makes me crazy sometimes! Again maybe I am lucky but I have several Tangs together including 2 yellow Tangs, a purple Tang, Cole Tang, 4 clown fish (2 true percula and 2 Clark) etc and they all seem happy.
Bottom line- I think this site is awesome and there is a lot here to learn from other users with much more experience, but everyone has an opinion and sometimes what works for one person won't for another.
I do have to say I have an awesome LFS and I absolutely love them! They are very knowledgeable and will not sell you something just to make a sale. Maybe that and a combination of good luck and a little over kill make a difference. Anyway just my 2 cents ...
Samantha
