Why so many Problems?

[KCombs]

Paul this is another good thread...
I think some people simply have a labor of love and they like Reef Tanks because they embrace the challenges...
...not "lumping"
...but it is those types like yourself (I dub them the "learners") that actually like the "diversity" of the reef tanks and take interest in the sublties and "little bugs" and such that makes Reefing unique

Then there are the "collectors"; people that simply want to own a reef tank with as little bother as possible: Dead rock, Designer Zoos and super bright SPS sticks...
A show tank featuring two "outcroppings" and a lawn of crystal sand inbetween...

...and the "techies"; the ones with the overkill Skimmers, Apex controllers, and latest LED lights... same people that oft quote some Reefing Guru's "Study" as gospel and woebegone if your 90's equip just doesn't measure up

^ yeah all that sounded a lil snarky, just making a point, but I know these "types" because all of them were/are me...now or at one time ...

its all good; it makes the hobby and makes interesting discussion/debate

 

[tahiriqbal]

Many congrats Paul, she is just like her grandad

Tahir

 

[fishy888]

I can tell you that you certainly have been an inspiration for me, I am even thinking about a bottle for my display too. My tank is no TOTM but I love it, from the copeppods right on up to the fish. It is doing great.

 

[mistacheese]

Congrats Paul! She's a beauty.

 

[KafudaFish]

Congrats.


Just think without the internet we would have missed Gretta.

Hello Gretta.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Now someone invented the internet and that was a mistake.

You got to be joking? That was one of the best things that ever happened in history. So many different facets of life became so much more efficient.

 

[Paul B]

KCombs that is exactly true. There are 3 types of reefers. There are so many people who just want a tank so they can brag that they have a tank, that is fine and I perceive it as someone who likes to hang a beautiful picture in their house for beauty. Nothing wrong with that. Then there are the tekkies who enjoy technical things and have the latest solar powered skimmers, nuclear powered dosers and geothermal powered water changers, again, perfectly normal.
I do enjoy my tank for it's beauty because what is more beautiful than nature? (excluging my Granddaughter of course)
I also enjoy it for the technical aspects although I would never buy any of those things but I do love building them.
I actually enjoy the things that many people would call problems. I don't want leaks or mold but I do like a challenge like trying to keep an animal like a moorish Idol. I know most people buy this fish just because it is eating. They all eat, that is how they got to that size. But I know that if I buy a fish like that I will not be lucky enough to have it live for 20 years if I just throw it in a tank, feed it angel formula with sponge and assume it will be fine even though 10,000 people before me could not do it.
You have to think like that fish, not like a Noob. You have to get in it's mind, learn how it makes it's living, know what it likes to do, research how it plans to find a date and where it takes that date and where he likes to take her for dinner and what they order. Observe what neighborhood they prefer to live in. These are all things that will allow a beautiful animal like that to live a long happy disease free life.
For that I went to Tahiti and spent time with them in their homes. I learned a lot about them and now I believe if I had a larger tank I could keep one for 20 years. I will never know because as I am getting older I may downsize my house and a larger tank may not be in the plans. A larger tank is necessary for a fish like a moorish Idol and I will not gert another one in mypresent 100 gallon tank.
Oddly enough moorish Idols have been in the aquarium trade a very long time, over 30 years and none of them lived very long. One reason is that most aquarium books were written by wholesalers or biologists who never spent time with them in the sea. Most fish don't text so you need to get in the water with them to learn the most important things about them, or at least read something about them who has spent some time with them and not in a tourist resort woth 50 other divers.
You need to get in the water with them by yourself, with no time limit, no restrictions, no other agenda. Just you and the fish. You will learn more in an hour than you will in a lifetime reading about it. :reading:

I know we all can't dive, I am not stupid, but we al can have common sence and figure out where to get correct information from. We should know from the experience of the author what to believe and what to take with a grain of saltwater. Or a cup. :fun2:

Before we take advice from someone we should IMO check out their other posts and if possable look at their tank and how long it has been running disease free. How old are their fish?
How long have they have an animal that we want to learn about.
Many posts about a particular creature are written by someone who had that fish for a few weeks or had two or three of them for a couple of weeks.
Any aquatic creature will live a month or more even if you don't feed it.
And a few flakes will keep them alive for a few months, that means nothing. They are living on the the resources of the good health they were enjoying in the sea before they were collected and not thriving.
Thriving means (to me anyway) that the animal is not sick, is living for years, not months, and is in breeding condition which is the condition all fish in the sea are in. If it is not in that condition, it is either sick or prone to getting sick.
Fish in breeding condition almost never get sick and should live their normal lifespan which for most fish is 15 or so years, some 20, but no fish has a lifespan of just 2 years. That is just miserable and means we need to re think what we are doing wrong.
As I have said manytimes,I am not the God of fish tanks and not my place to tell anyone what to do with their hobby. That is for them to decide. This, like everything I do is my opinion and no way means for anyone else to think like me. :dance:

By the way, I spelled my Granddaughter's name wrong. It is Greta, not Gretta. :fun2:

 

[Paul B]

That was one of the best things that ever happened in history. So many different facets of life became so much more efficient.

Yes, that is true but coming from someone who was born way before the internet, the world was not a bad place then. I don't know if I am happier now or then. I also don't think the world is in a better place now after the net.
There is definately much more easy information now and like before, half of it is wrong.
I look at old pictures of myself then, and I was smiling then like I am now.
Having the internet just replaced how we spend our free time. If we had an office job (I never did) we had to work (or look out the window)
When we came home from school we went outside to play,(there was no air conditioning anyway).
Playing outside had advantages, it helped us stay healthy and make friends, real friends, not virtual friends. We actually had to stand near someone to look at them.
And sometimes we disagreed and had a fight. Sometimes we lost and we learned a lot from loseing.
We also learned how to have respect and why we should have respect. We could tell from looking at someone if they needed help such as an older person or a sick person, pregnant person etc.
On the net, we are all equal and we should not be equal in all aspects. Some people need more help, some need more respect and some need everything. Others don't deserve respect or help which is not a nice thing to say but although we were all born equal, our actions determine how much respect we should receive. It is hard to explain but I have been around a while and have met fantastic people from all over the world, but as you know there are people in the world now but the world would be a better place without them. Hitler comes to mind. How many people would be alive today if it were not for him and a few others like him?
But this is not where to discuss this. I am sure "everyone" on here deserves respect and I try to give it to them.
I am also sure that all the Ladies on here look like Supermodels also.

I once had an older, blind friend that I used to help to work every day. We would get off the train at Penn Station in Manhattan and while we were waiting for the subway he would sometimes ask me:
"What does she look like?" And I would say "Jimmy, how do you know to even ask me, when you can't see anything?" He would say he could smell them. Ladies smell nice and wear perfume.
I would say, she is alright, or not so good looking. And what he said floored me.
He said "I" was at a big disadvantage. To him they were all gorgeous because he could perceive them as gorgeous as he wanted but I was "limited" to have to actually see them.

He could only judge people by their actions, not their looks.

Those are words to live by and that sentence changed a lot of ways in which I view the world.
He was totally correct and a brilliant, fantastic and wonderful man.
I miss him

 

[Shells4]

Aaawwww...beautiful baby. She even looks a bit like you You can see the joy in your eyes!

 

[Lwhite]

Congratulations Paul!!

 

[Paul B]

Thanks guys, yes she looks exactly like me. :dance:

 

[dallasg]

congrats to you and the family!

Thanks guys, yes she looks exactly like me. :dance:

maybe she has more hair

 

[Paul B]

maybe she has more hair

Much more. OK so if it were not for the internet, I couldn't see pictures of my Grand Daughter so fast. Sorry, I have to look at her again. I will get back to fish soon, I think.
My fish are mad at me too

 

[dadnjesse]

Well with 12,000 posts you must be commenting on something

 

[Paul B]

Well with 12,000 posts you must be commenting on something

Not really, I generally post pictures of myself in various positions, some in a Speedo, some in a Hawaiian shirt. Things like that.

I may have a few threads on here someplace. :spin2:

 

[CoralReeferGal]

Beautiful baby, Paul, congrats to you and your family!!

 

[Paul B]

Thank you, she is too cute isn't she

 

[KCombs]

^ the beauty of time is it doesn't run backwards

 

[RaineyDays]

I am so glad I found this thread! As a newbie I have mainly been reading the "new to the hobby" forum and I now realize that was wrong. This post should really be in that section as it opens the mind as to why I got into the hobby in the first place. I found the new to the hobby section so full of militants and people who are scared to death about their tanks that I got stuck. I now have a tank with live rock only in it because I am scared to add anything because I know it will be wrong.

Anyways, I now have a whole new outlook again. I work on the water, I dive in the water and it was only natural for me to have the water in my home. I am now going to relax, add a fish or two, add a coral or two and watch and listen............to my tank. I'll figure it all out eventually. I have kept myself and my dog alive for a long time so I probably won't screw it up too bad.

Thanks Paul, for bringing me back to reality.
Happy Reefing!

 

[Paul B]

RainyDays, first of all, Thank you. I see it is your first post. I think you should post more, (especially if you are saying good things about me :beer

You are correct, there are plenty of militants on the Noob forum but they are also on the other forums. Many people will try to force you to set up their tank just like theirs, even if they got into the hoby last week.
This reminds me of a story, (everything reminds me of a story)
Once when I was in Viet Nam in a large clearing in the jungle we were standing around just talking, killing time and this guy walks up to us who we did not know.
He had that green paint all over his face, bullets over his shoulder, 3 or 4 grenades hanging on him, sticks stuck in his helmit and he was carrying a 45 pistol along with his M-16 with the bayonet attached to it and about 20lbs of cartridges.
He looked just like Rambo in one of his more Manly roles.
We were just standing there with no shirt on drinking a hot beer.
I figured he was there for a year and just crawled out of the bush, so I asked him how long he had been in Nam.
He said to me that he got there last tuesday.
It probably took him from last tuesday just to find all those explosives to hang on himself.
I told him not to stand too close to us because he was the first guy they were going to shoot.:worried:

Anyway you are correct there are so many posts about what you can not put in your tank. Look up beach sand. People say it is dirty, has cigarette butts and needles in it along with sun tain oil and insecticides.
I think you can pick out cigarette butts, needles and beer cans.
Sun tain oil is not an item that you will find an abundance in on beach sand that gets washed by the tide and rain.
If you have even been to the places where our fish are collected you will see that most of them don't even have sewage treatment facilities and no place to dump garbage so you may find Oldsmobiles, washing machines, old Beatle posters, used Paris Hilton dog clothes, empty drums of Oil of Olei and Jimma Hoffa.
No really, there are lots of places with no place to dump stuff so it just lays there along the roads. That is what fish collection Islands look like. I have been to many of them.

NSW also, people have a fear of NSW. Like really! NSW is bad? They think their fish come from Poland Springs.
It just amazes me how much of this stuff scares people, it is not rocket science and a tank is not supposed to be sterile. As a matter of fact, a sterile tank is a dead tank. :spin2:

Sometimes even I miss a beer can or two but never an Oldsmobile :smokin: