LFS advice...

[blacknails]

Hey guys..

Just wanted to share a something... I've been rather surprised lately cause I've heard more than one LFS owner telling people that you should never change water for saltwater aquariums.

They say that you only need to top up and once you change water the tank and all it's inhabitants will be finished. I've heard this from more than one small fry LFS whose Marine tanks are all in bad conditions w/o adequate lighting.

I mean... What in the world?! Obviously that is warped logic and those LFS owners who think that they are so well informed are screwing up the minds of many many trusting and naive new hobbists!!

What should we do when we encounter something like this? Correct them? They would surely argue back.. Argue with them? Laugh out loud in the LFS? Keep quiet and watch the many many victims tanks and LS die off? Try to save all their LS by buying everything in the store?

[terryansimon]

I think we can do our own CITES agreement.

like.

approved friendly by SRC or something certificate. or proud member of SRC or something like that lah.

but then again, whatever suggestions we can give, there will always be this sort of establishments who are ill-informed and un-educated in the art of proper fish husbandry.

[Dazza]

I usually just tell the lfs owners and any one who care to listen thats not the case unless your tank is the size of the ocean.

[terryansimon]

maybe I should start doing that as well.

[[d]3v|L]

I think we can do our own CITES agreement.

like.

approved friendly by SRC or something certificate. or proud member of SRC or something like that lah.

but then again, whatever suggestions we can give, there will always be this sort of establishments who are ill-informed and un-educated in the art of proper fish husbandry.

who do we think we are? i don think we have the rite to do this..

[terryansimon]

there isn't a law stating a shop cannot be associated with a hobby club.

it can be done. then again, by doing this, we'll probably be stretching our resources.

[Dazza]

I think we shdnt go ard "condemning" the shops etc etc. If we see ignorance or lack of knowledge thn its gd to help correct any misconceptions lah. Anything more than that may be seen as going too far.

[roidan]

irresponsible their advice might be...but at least it will drive those fad-crazy hobbyist out of the hobby faster and not drive prices up so high...hehe

[islander]

after all its their shop!who are we to tell them what is right or what is wrong.anyway thats what the SRC is here for.to educate hobbyists the the actual facts bout marine hobbying.i too have been victimize by mean lfs bosses,tell u tis and tell u tat.but thru experiences we'll learn.so is tis lfs to be blacklist or wat.pmed me the add la...then i can go visit.hehehe...

[Dispar_Anthias]

Hey guys..

Just wanted to share a something... I've been rather surprised lately cause I've heard more than one LFS owner telling people that you should never change water for saltwater aquariums.

They say that you only need to top up and once you change water the tank and all it's inhabitants will be finished. I've heard this from more than one small fry LFS whose Marine tanks are all in bad conditions w/o adequate lighting.

I mean... What in the world?! Obviously that is warped logic and those LFS owners who think that they are so well informed are screwing up the minds of many many trusting and naive new hobbists!!

What should we do when we encounter something like this? Correct them? They would surely argue back.. Argue with them? Laugh out loud in the LFS? Keep quiet and watch the many many victims tanks and LS die off? Try to save all their LS by buying everything in the store?

This their nitrate level in the tank is 100mg/l

[Virus]

This is my personnel opinion... it's not a case of It's their shop and stuff like that.... if you open a shop, you should have the knowledge and the responsibility to tell customers of the correct way to keep a fish.. They're LIVE, not some electrical kettle or some ornament.

How would you like if you buy a Flowerhorn and the shop owner tell you it's fine if you want to buy some more tetras to go with it? LOL.. they'll become fishfood for the Flowerhorn....

[blue.tang]

if u feel that they (LFS) are not rite...juz dun listen to them.. Dun need to make thing big anyway most reefer would know that there's a site called "SRC", which they can get Reefkeeping information & knowledge there

[jas_soh]

while i agree with (bluetang) that we need not make things big, but we are talking about LIVES here when we speak of the fishes, the corals and so forth. i guess it is greatly dependent on our individual personality when it comes to you in the face knowing that the LFS is either telling a big fat lie in your face or he knows nuts about doing the right thing...

everyone of us start this hobby from somewhere... if the reef-newbie choose to listen whole-heartedly to what the LFS says and treat his words as gospels, and refuses to do his own research homework, then he just have to "pay his school fees" lo alternatively, we can bring along pieces of papers written "GO VISIT HTTP:WWW.SGREEFCLUB.COM.SG/FORUM" with us when we visit LFS. and when we encounter the above circumstances we quickly slip the paper into his hand.....

[edwincis]

This is my personnel opinion... it's not a case of It's their shop and stuff like that.... if you open a shop, you should have the knowledge and the responsibility to tell customers of the correct way to keep a fish.. They're LIVE, not some electrical kettle or some ornament.

Maybe these pple also hearsay from other 'blur blur' ones therefore 'the blind leads the blind'... perhaps no bad intention afterall. They are just too enthusiastic to share the knowledge that they just learnt (though it is wrong anyway)....

[terryansimon]

actually, such LFS may flush out "fad-crazy people" who dwell into marine fishes just because every other soul is into it.

deter them by price and all. but at what cost? sigh =\

[sjsheng]

never change water... why dont say never feed ur marine fish...

kinda lame...

never change water mean u never bath...

we are keeping a fish which grow in nautural habitat...

we must setup an environment same to its living place...

we dont have current or wave so we creat...

there is rain everytime so a water change is just to act as a "rain"... replace the water... lOls...

correct me if i am wrong...

[MalaysiaBoleh]

I have never changed my tank's water for 6 months oredi and everything is alive and kicking. There are many reefcentral forumners who also never change water.

[blacknails]

Hmmz... Maybe if you have a DSB and denitrifier kit and little livestock it's ok not to change water? I dunno...

[Achilles Tang]

The number of water changes in the saltwater hobby compared to freshwater fish-keeping for sensitive fishes like discuses is already less frequent, but logically, in an enclosed system, it makes sense for water changes... only lazy bones will skip water changes.

In a saltwater or even a FW aquarium, the water is always in a state of flux... always changing... usually towards a negative state where things are being used up eg. trace elements and bad things being added in eg. phosphates, pollutants etc.

Unless you have an excellent system where everything is replenished and all pollutants are removed to the absolute degree similar to good quality natural salt water, then trust me... water changes are the easiest way to ensure that things are in the safe zone.

Even if you have the most super duper system and equipment, you will see definite changes to your tank in terms of positive signs every time you do a water change.

Don't listen to bad advice from LFS.