Saltwater crocodile: You posted:
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Unfortunately, a lot of these LFS's have no idea on the advanced areas, and so will be more than willing to sell you whatever you want, and then take your money. Honestly, how many of you have a Quarantine tank, set up ?
Ok, here I go. The LFS that set me up (and I mean that both literally and figuratively) told me the following:
1: There is no need to set up a quarantine tank. It is a waste of time and money, and will not help the fish in any way. Definetly false, and I knew that before I had bought any books etc., common sense and the low cost of a qtank told me that.
2: A DSB or Plenum setup as a method of NNR will not work, and will cause the eventual crash of your tank. Not True. If you want Nitrate reduction, you must buy this reactor ($$$$) and monitor it closely to ensure hydrogen sulfide is not emmitted (that very last part is actually true).
3: PC lighting will never be enough to keep any coral alive (including mushroom anemones). You must buy this MH system ($$$$$$$$$$$$) in order to have a good survival rate. Not true.
4: Regal Angels are easy to keep (this was not to me, witnessed this occuring to a son/dad combo, the kid was around 10 yrs old). Obviously false.
5: We keep our fish in tanks with copper in them, to prevent disease outbreaks. This on has much debate about, as copper Rx over time diminishes a fishes ability to fight disease-it weakens the immune system. Now, to treat ich on a new fish, that catches it in a q-tank, obviously this short-term Rx is good, but continual long term copper exposure has bad effects.
6: You need to use a sump with bioballs. Not true, in fact increases nitrate levels. Granted, having a sump is a good idea, but bio-balls in a reef tank is not recommended.
7: A reef tank could never handle more than 2 fish (75Gallon setup). Obviously not true, just need to add slowly, and watch out for any chance of overstocking.
8: Last one as fingers are tired! Sharks are great pets. I don't need to point out the issues brought up about cramming a nurse shark in a 125 gallon tank.
I found out in this and reefc forum that many other reefkeepers are boycotting this LFS as they are in complete disgust with this sort of mis-information going on. If you try to tell them that some newer ideas have been out for a while, that work, and don't need a ton of costly equipment, they basically show you the exit sign. I am all for an LFS or MO service defending their business practices, when those practices are based on sound and correct current information. If they're unsure about a method, do to lack of knowledge about it, then they owe it to their customers to state they have little or no experience with that, instead of shooting it down as a new and unreliable method.
Just my 2c's
