Oh my god! Did you SPS keepers know this?

[monkeyboy]

I think i've already told this story before but i'll tell it again because i'm really really bored.

A buddy of mine who used to work with me went to another local reef store of which i will not speak the name of... We had heard some weird advice that had been given thru mutual customers but we needed to see it for ourselves. He went down when both of them were there (its a husband and wife operation) and started rambling off questions. I forget exactly what he asked but i'll never ever EVER forget the answer: "oh them acnoforia's dont live very long at all", pretty sure he meant acropora as he looked over at his show reef lit by 3 or 4 NO flourescents with a large electric brown maxima clam on the brink of death, then my friend asked a question about halides and the wife chimed in from the back room with a chuckle "dont need 'um!", and the guy says "its like those people that buy cadilacs, just to show off your money". Theres alot more but i forget right now so i'll post them later.

BTW anyone that gets a reef setup there gets one of those really bright twin tube light strips with those technologically advanced full spectrum bulbs and those coral bulbs (actinic's), not to mention an arsenal of canister filters...

So everybody turn in your halides for NO's and you can chuck all that "acnoforia" because it's gonna die anyways. Just thought i'd do you a favor.

Anyone else get any ridiculous advice like this?

 

[cubera]

Yup...the flavor of that story is all too familiar....reminds me of this "LFS" owner in town (no names) who freaked out about the prices of our frags. He said, "I can buy a whole darn colony of them acnepornos for what you want for a tiny one!!!" I told him I was very sorry we couldn't help him. Later in the week I went to his "LFS" and discovered my worst nightmares. Every fish in the store was either dead and rotting or on the brink of death. I not so tenderly reamed his ass and told him we would never sell him anything for any price. (He also had some dead/dying reptiles and the place was a sty.) This was about 5 weeks ago and I am happy to say he is no longer in business as of last week. I still laugh about them "acnepornos"!!!

 

[Reeffreak]

A store like that (if still open) should be reported to the local Humane Society. Most of these agencies have investigations departments that will actually go out to stores and see if any acts of cruelty to animals are being made. If so they have the ability to issue citations or close the store if serious enough.

Steve

 

[Alice]

LOL cubera on your "porno frags"

Good for you on telling him off and I'm glad the $^#@ is out of business!!!

 

[DeathWish302]

Gonna add to the humor, so here goes (you fellow reefers from Northern Indiana know whom i'n talking about!!!) Not to mention names, but PETWARE HOUSE, is the same. Went in one day to browse before i went to the REAL reef store in town. The clerk asked me how my setup was doing. I replied ok, then he asked if i regretted the dsb. For some background, he preached to me for weeks that all dsb's cause is algae and i MUST do a plenum system. Ummm, if i'm not mistaken a plenum system is a form of a dsb. Dumbars!!! Then he asked me if i was stilling thinking about Mercury Vapor ballasts for my tank. Then stating that no bulb will fire with them, as i looked on to the pendant Iwasaki's over the reef pond. Then he tells me 10 watts/gal is just right for acros (he pronounced it right, sorry guys) and that my plan for two 400 watters over my 55 is plain insanity. While we're talking, he is in the process of dumping a half-full, 5 gal bucket of FRESHLY mixed kalkwasser into the pond, and then adding buffer immediately after. Forgive me if i'm wrong, but 55 gal or 5000 gal will still be shocked by the sudden addition of kalk and then buffer??? I could just see the calcium carbonate form.....

Wow,
DW302

 

[Terra Ferma]

One of my personal favorites was a guy trying to buy a Lion Fish at a LFS he just bought the tank at. After a slough of questions by one of the owners (good people), the guy responded that his "saltinity was at 1.1" and that everything was fine.

 

[monkeyboy]

lol, how many different ways can one mispronounce acropora?

Another one, same store: Sold a 6" clown trigger to cycle a 20g reef with no mention of returning it...

 

[BCReefer]

I'm new the marine aquarium but I had a fresh water for 3 years. I live in the Vancouver Area of Canada and it seems that no matter where you go, you get people that should not be in the business. I have gone into some stores and I see fish dead and being eaten and it bugs the hell out of me Since I am new to marine, I have gone all over the area looking for good places to not only buy fish but get some questions answered and I am finally settling down to 2 – 3 places even though I have to drive for 45 minutes. Its well worth the time.

 

[Reef55]

Hehe... I got a good one

One of the 3 fish stores in town just opened a salt water section. I went in playing dumb, just to see how much they knew. I was told the following: "Every tank needs an angelfish. They follow the other fish around and eat their poop, keeping your tank clean". I walked out without a word.

 

[lkaras]

hey DeathWish302

what street is that shop on? I thought i have been to all the dumps in indiana

 

[Bubafat]

Actually reef55, some angel fish and tangs do eat feces, so his advice wasn't entirely bad.

The only thing I hate about the place that I work is that I'm the only one that advises people to get halides, everyone else in the store thinks PC's are the best. The owner thought that he was "da sheet" after he got a dual 175w on his 500 gallon tank, I had to laugh.

I think that the main reason why LFS are so behind in the times is that it is a lot of work to run one, and either they have no time or are just ignorant to read the magazines and books that they sell (if they at least sell up to date ones), instead they base their info off of what they have been taught.

I am not even supposed to tell customers about online sources of info, like these boards as if they start reading the boards, they will then get smart and buy from Premiumaquatics and marinedepot and not from us. Not that I care, I tell the customers I like anyway, not like I get commission or anything.

The majority of people hired at LFS's I've found know little or nothing about marine tanks when they start, so all they do is spout off the same stuff that their boss told them. I get paid $7.50 to listen to mainly newbies and idiots who have believed the crap the other people have told them, and think that I'm full of it when I try to tell them the truth. Now that's fair, HA!

Buba

 

[MFisher]

Thats not exactly good advice but I've found that my Acroporas (Acaporas at my LFS

) take on a much deeper, more flourescent color under dim lighting. I had frags from all of my Acros under three different lighting regimes at once: Dim old PCs, intense new VHOs, and MH. The MH frags were pale, the VHOs a lot darker and those under the PCs had a very dark, flourescent colors.

Go figure. I don't think that Acroporas need the bright lights everyone says they need. As long as calcium is up and H20 quality is ok they're really easy to keep and grow well.

 

[Anonymous]

Another my LFS is lame thread. We have a great one, Exotic Fish. Why not tell people in your area were they can find a good LFS?

 

[Reef55]

Bubafat... yes, I know they do, but the problem was that he said every tank should have an angelfish... 10 gallon reef and up, from the very start.

 

[Litoria]

I wonder if these LFS know how to pronouce "cichlid'. "Yup, Ive got bout 20 of them chicklids in my 15 gallon. Running one them bubbly things ya know, with the tube. Tanks reeel nice. Only lose one or two fishies a week."

 

[monkeyboy]

Buba, i hear ya!!! When i finally get a customer that knows what he's talking about i cling to them and don't let them leave! The thing i do most at work is convert peoples systems from canister filters to a sump with a skimmer. Online is a big issue at the store but most people will buy from us if we talk them thru the whole thing instead of just taking the free advice and logging on. To tell you the truth the thing i deal with most is old ladys that buy betta fish for those ugly plant vase things. We go thru around 100 bettas every month! Smart reef customers are very few and far between, and anyone thats really into the hobby is online.

 

[Humilis]

oh them acnoforia's .... I try to learn something new everyday

. I've had enough for 3 days

.

 

[Jenemone]

I mentioned my hair algae problem at the LFS and was told that hair algae was good. It converts nitrates. The more the better.

 

[tonga]

well, it does absorb nitrates, but it means you have a excess nutrient in your tank (sometimes phosphates), it isn't harmful to the tank other then being unsightly.

 

[tanzy]

Hair algae may encroach on to the corals and snuff them out. Some trap detritus. Unless you like your fibre or you're a full time tang, I'll rather do without them algae.