nineball
Active member
You can all contribute to the book. I'm taking the Tom Sawyer approach, but instead of you guys painting a fence, it's editing a fish book
I'm dusting off some old posts about fish & coral acclimation, QT&HT (quarantine & hospital tanks), and fish & invert disease identification and treatment. After I've sifted through it and I'm completely sick of working on it, I'll post it in this thread. You guys can let me know if it needs to be more or less technical or detailed. Also the general direction of the writing. Let me know what you like and don't spare my feelings with what you don't like.
It's a hard subject to read and absorb, and an even harder one to try to teach and explain. I remember my first job at a fish store, I had ten years experience keeping fish so I thought I knew it all. It wasn't until the first customer asked me how a marine tank works that I realized that I didn't know all the answers and I had absolutely no idea how to explain it to someone who knew nothing about it. More than 20 years have passed since then and my current goal is lowered from teaching someone how a marine tank works to convincing them that I know how it works. I've yet to convince myself and the fish and corals definitely aren't buying it so it's gonna be a slow process
These first topics (QT/HT, acclimation, livestock health) aren't the fun ones like aquascaping or modifying equipment, but they are one of the most overlooked and important.
Mr. Wilson, I can tell you that there were a couple of times where you took the high road and gave very eloquent synopsis of complicated subjects with an attitude that was NOT condescending and hence extremely helpful. All too often we are afraid to ask the obvious and when someone takes the time to fully answer a question we were too embarrassed to ask it raises the enjoyment of this hobby by a quantum factor.
Also I cannot stress enough just how beneficial Chingchai's thread was, in the sense that it was organized, thorough and full of rich detail for each chapter in the journey. The steps he followed in preparation were well documented and I believe represented sound practice for this domain. He listened to advice and often shared concerns with the forum community in a way that was atypical to the normal experience. I am sure that many were not aware that Chingchai had already been recognized for TOTM for a smaller precedent tank and that his experience carried over into this build. His vision was very well articulated at the outset and his execution was second to none. I'm sure he would be happy to have you include some elements of his build in your book. You have my permission to use any part of my build as you see fit.
Speaking of TOTM ........I think Chingchai's build is ready for a nomination. How does that happen? How can we nominate Chingchai's tank for that honour? I think he is ready as it is a fabulous example of what is possible in a remarkable period of time with good discipline and determination to ensure best practices are followed. He has also been a great asset to this forum in that he has listened and given freely of his time to answer all questions as well as taken the time to include us all in the journey.
Peter
