Not really sure but... if you have to ask if you're a newb, then your definitely a newb.
When are you not considered a newbie?
- Thread starter Crustman
- Start date
Your score...
32 %
Novice Reef Chemist
I'm okay with my score! Guess this still means I'm a newbie too.
32 %
Novice Reef Chemist
I'm okay with my score! Guess this still means I'm a newbie too.
Aquarist007
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14680765#post14680765 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
It's When I SAY You're Not!!!
Seriously, it is when you feel you have your tank under control and can deal with the various problems that may befall it. No matter how skilled one is there are always questions to be asked and material to research. I see most Newbies that are active in RC move over to the Reef Discussion in a year to two years. Yet, even over on that forum there are a ton of questions that probably should be asked over here. The same goes for Advanced Topic.
Water Keeper hits on a good point here. Its not necessarily what you know in this hobby but more on how to learn.
This includes a good geographical knowledge of this site and who to turn to for what advice you need.
Most of the forums and esp the new to the reef forum have threads that are stickied at the top of them with important advice on that particular forum. They should be read
Aquarist007
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14762527#post14762527 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mouse
When you look like this.....
or this:
or can point the finger like this:
or this
I've been on here for years and still can't find Toledo.
Paul B
Premium Member
Isn't that in Kansas?
There is one more thing I would like to add, well maybe two.
Everything you learn here or anywhere else about this hobby is not necessarilly true. It may be true today, but tomorrow it may change. People have been keeping fish for 4,000 years, even the Romans kept fish. They kept them to eat but they still had to keep them alive. They had refrigerators but electricity was not invented,(or actually discovered) for 3,900 more years.
But salt water aquarium keeping is in it's infancy. It is only 40 years old. Thats half of Waterkeeper's life.
SCUBA diving is only just over 60 years old.
We have gone through UG filters, wet drys, roataing spray bars, Berlin systems, Jaubert systems, natural systems, semi natural systems, un natural systems, solar systems,
rotating wet dry drums, canisters, diatoms, (cough, cough) DSBs, SSBs starboard and bare bottoms, incandescent, flourescent, power compact, metal halide and now we are getting into LEDs.
We have dosed, iodine, calcium, magnesium and iron.
All of these things had and have a place in the hobby and they all have problems. It just depends on what problems you can avoid by using these systems for the purpose we intend to use them for.
Wet dry systems for example are fantastic to eliminate ammonia so in a fish only where there is large carnivores, it is (IMO) the best system. There is the problem of nitrates and we can incorporate another system for that. Of course that system may be a maintenance nightmare so something has to be added to counteract that problem.
There is not one system that will do everything and maintain itself.
There are also vast amounts of conjecture, un truths, ignorance and just plain guessing.
Don't ask a question about hair algae and expect a simple "cure" like add a sea hare. There is no cure because it is not a disease.
We are trying to "cure" a natural healthy (albeit) annoyance.
It grows on every healthy coral reef in the world and it will also grow in our tanks for reasons that are not entirely clear.
No, it is not because there is nitrate, phosphate, DOC or the Tooth Fairy in our tanks. These things (except for that Fairy) will make it grow greener and faster but if you have a tank with fish in it that you feed, there will be plenty of nutrients to grow algae. It grows inside the corals also and without it our corals would croak.
It can be "controlled" other ways.
You will read an awful lot about ich. The lifecycle has been studied to death. Something in the study of it's lifecycle is totally wrong. I don't care what professor you learned about ich from, there is something missing. (you can tell them I said so, just spell my name correctly, it's W A T E R K E E P E R
It certainly does not attack every fish it comes in to contact with and no one knows why. There are guesses about immune systems and the paracites interbreeding too many times, or the fishes health in relation to stress etc.
There are diseases like HLLE which attacks the majority of tangs and angels if you keep them long enough. That is caused by
stray electricity, stress, vitamin A deficiency, a bacteria, a virus, or all of those things. No one knows.
So, while you are trying to learn all you can, inject some common sence and realize that this stuff is not cut and dry. There are very few hard answers. That does not mean to stop reading, quite the contrary, read all you can, because that is the one and only way to sort out the truths from the almost truths, or todays truths.
I really hate to say this, but listen to Waterkeeper. He has been doing this almost as long as me. Don't listen too much to me because I am much more radical that he is which is why I almost never give advice to Noobs. :lol:
Have a great day. Or for those that are Christian, a great Palm Sunday
Aquarist007
New member
but Paul you didn't mention RUGF once in that whole post????
Aquarist007
New member
this guy would probably be able to help you out with that:
Agu
Premium Member
I worked for a major pet store franchise for a short time and while I was there I had access to their marketing materials. According to their research the average aquarist stayed in the hobby 9 to 12 months. After that time they either gave up, or moved their business to more advanced vendors or online. The marketing guidlines were to sell those "new aquarists" as much equipment, supplies and livestock as possible before they quit or moved on.
To corporate America a newbie is defined by time in the hobby and where they spend their money.
FWIW,
BTW why I quit should be obvious
To corporate America a newbie is defined by time in the hobby and where they spend their money.
FWIW,
BTW why I quit should be obvious
The usual reply for a Bengal fan is
Next
The amount of time that we can expect a winning season.
Next
The amount of time that we can expect a winning season.
Garage1217
GET OFF MY LAWN
I think you pass the noob stage when....
- Everything stays healthy with minimal effort & maximum growth
- Your tank stops becoming a giant money shredder as you toss hardware at it trying to overcome things you are doing wrong
- You finally figure out that purchasing every coral you see is equal to sleeping with every nice looking woman you see. No matter how pretty.. you never know what biological disaster it could bring if the proper QT or protection is not put in place.
- You actually get to sit back and enjoy what you have created.
Once you reach that magic moment of reef zen... Then you can give up the noob title and get promoted to "reef keeper with experience"
Now the real question is, when you do become an expert?? I cannot yet hand that title to anyone I know personally & about 95% of the so called experts claim that title in order to sell you a product. Keep that in mind.
- Everything stays healthy with minimal effort & maximum growth
- Your tank stops becoming a giant money shredder as you toss hardware at it trying to overcome things you are doing wrong
- You finally figure out that purchasing every coral you see is equal to sleeping with every nice looking woman you see. No matter how pretty.. you never know what biological disaster it could bring if the proper QT or protection is not put in place.
- You actually get to sit back and enjoy what you have created.
Once you reach that magic moment of reef zen... Then you can give up the noob title and get promoted to "reef keeper with experience"
Now the real question is, when you do become an expert?? I cannot yet hand that title to anyone I know personally & about 95% of the so called experts claim that title in order to sell you a product. Keep that in mind.
Last edited:
RiffRaff
New member
OK here is the real answer. You are no longer a newbie when you dare to venture off the new to the hobby thread and risk the ridicule of the not so nice reefers. Or if you ask a question in other forums and they don't point you back to this section, then you probab;y have made it
:thumbsup: :lol:<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14757098#post14757098 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
But Adrienne is not as those chocolate Easter bunnies fit right in with our April motif of wreaths, yule logs. lawn gnomes and Christmas tree stands.
and page four
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
alright maybe I’m opening Pandora’s box here. PaulB, do you run a RUGF?
SPStoner
Team RC
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14680765#post14680765 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
It's When I SAY You're Not!!!
Seriously, it is when you feel you have your tank under control and can deal with the various problems that may befall it. No matter how skilled one is there are always questions to be asked and material to research. I see most Newbies that are active in RC move over to the Reef Discussion in a year to two years. Yet, even over on that forum there are a ton of questions that probably should be asked over here. The same goes for Advanced Topic.
What he said
