When did you find out about forums?

[aStRoBo|]

after i attended aquarama03 and see our AT boss giving speech and see the website~!! ahah..

[Domino]

This is a great thread!!

I'm from Belgium and I live & work in Malaysia. I was in FW for a couple of years, and always wanted to get to a SW tank one day. After a few months of reading books here and there, I turned to the internet. I visited couple of forums (Malaysia doesn't have one...), and SRC seduced me in the first few minutes. after a few days of just reading, I became a member. I also appreciate that the forum is between people living in similar weather conditions and also similar market as far as LFS are concerned. Malaysia is still behind on the Marine stuff , but couple of new shops in KL are raising the standards now and more and more is available. I come to Singapore often for business so I can get things I can't get here in KL and it would be really nice to meet up with some of you guys.

Anyway, started my 4x1.5x1.5 tank in mid-january and it's almost cycled. I went for the Canister + LR + Hang-on Skimmer solution (maybe because it looked more like my FW experience and one book said it was OK... I hope I won't regret it!!)

I'm not posting much yet, mainly reading and getting my own experience before I give advice on this still new subject for me.

Yup this site is great!! Everyone is friendly, response time is amazingly fast and responses are good!!

Sorry my post is getting long, but I just really want to say something about LFS responsability and our responsability with regards to wildlife. Most of the diving spots i've been to ten years ago have become and eyesore now...

I remeber a thread not long ago from a member who had bought a tank, salt, fish and corals and set-up the whole thing in one day... It was off topic, but here was my opinion:

Somehow, I beleive the LFS bear a big part of responsability with such reckless starts. I know they have to make a living too and some just want to sell sell  . But a happy customer is a long term customer.

When I first visited LFS for marine aquariums, I had shop owners who had these ready to start kits with all you need to get going in less than a week: "just add the salt and the water and do test after one week. If Ok can add the fish lah... very easy lah!" I will never buy anything from those guys. They don't know the basics themselves and worse, mislead you.

Maybe the SRC can have a role to play: The SRC could come up with a chart of ethics and quality to rank LFS shops. You could have an SCR approved or recommended sticker (with a year) on the door next to the credit card stickers. Member feedback can easily be used to asses them. This might make shopkeeper more scrupulous about their business and understand the longterm benefits of good counselling.

To this a bro replied that we are here to help each other and not to interfere with other people's business. I agree to a certain extend, but clubs such as this one can be used as pressure groups to push the LFS to be more responsible. OK, Let's not penalize the bad LFS, but show our support for the good ones. If the SCR puts a sticker or poster in the "SCR recommended shops", the good LFS should be happy (it would be a customer recognition for their work) and would-be hobbyists would learn about the SCR as they go around couple of shops before they get started. It would be a win-win situation for all parties and in time other LFS could "convert" to preaching the right stuff

Really, The only thing that makes me feel bad about this hobby is our contribution to the destruction of natural reefs mainly due to lack of knowledge and lack of customer pressure on LS providers. I see strong local forums such as this one as one of the rare opportunities to try and change things... at least try...

Sorry I was so long... just trying to get the message across. I would be so glad to get some comments.

[Tanzy]

Since Dec 26 2002, more than 50% of reefers have used the internet to conduct research before diving into the hobby. I think that's a good sign.

[fisheye]

I am Singaporean but living here in Canada now for ten years. I am a aquarium fish addict, I keep both freshwater and saltwater aquarium. I just browse the net and happy to find the Singapore Reef Club. Its interesting to learn alot from your DIY section as to Led lights. We all learn from each other everyday thats the best thing about this hobby. I like the friendly atmosphere on this website compared to some western website they can be arrogant, like they know best everything.

[skylinws]

This is where tat i can do my research and I learnt alot of thing✌