advice from lfs

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#1
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#1
well i had posted that thread a few weeks back about my friend usung playsand blah blah blah well hes been going to all the lfs' in his area and was telling me about some of the advice they have been giving and i just found it kinda funny
first they told him u dont want a thick sandbed because the sand traps nitrates
second they ask him what kind of filter he was running he told them he has a magnum filter and just one powerhead for now but plans on getting more ph's. u know they told this man that he'll be okay for a little while but he will definitly have to swith to a biowheel asap *crazysmil correct me if im wrong but was this not terrible advise???
 

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

Superstar Fish
#2
Jun 12, 2004
2,778
3
0
48
Montreal, Quebec
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#2
not great advice indeed. Well the barebottom advice isn't that bad...but the biowheel ?! I'm building a site right now, it's far from done 'cause i wanna have a load of info, in french and english, and there's a section about lfs and their advice. Tired of lfs wannabe biochemists, non-ethical prodedures/advices that only lead to failure. When you deal with fishies that don't reproduce in captivity and corals that are globally fading away, it pisses me off badly when some ignorants don't give a crap like that.
When i started in 2004, i was told 9999 different and contradictory advices.
Water at 1.018, selling half dead stock, specials on dying corals, fake live rock, wrong equipment, selling aiptasias ( yes...) etc..
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#3
Dec 1, 2003
1,830
0
0
36
Michigan
#3
Its pretty basic advice...sandbeds have been debated for sometime. Sometimes if not maintained properly they do trap nitrates. A lot of people do thin to no sandbed...some people do really thick ones. With the bio wheel for a fish only aquarium maybe a few pieces of live rock a bio wheel is a good set up for begginners considering it is simple to set up and fairly easy to maintain...and depedning on the magnum filter, generally speaking they are only used to polish the water. So the LFS facts were not necesarrily wrong but they did over generalize/simplify.
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#5
Dec 1, 2003
1,830
0
0
36
Michigan
#5
I have had quite a few bio wheels on marine tanks...they begin to pose a problem when your tank matures...all you have to do then is take the bio wheel out.
 

FreddyJ

FreddyJ

Large Fish
#6
May 5, 2006
187
0
0
#6
Interesting that ya'll posted this thread today. I was at my LFS (which I'm starting to figure out is a little shoddy, but overall it's alright) and they have a large display salt water tank. They had two biowheel filters on it and I noticed that only 1 of the biowheels was actually spinning. The other three were so gunked up with crust it that they couldn't move anymore. Also looked like they were neglecting it....the corals and anemones etc. (sorry I'm not SW guy, but love to read the threads, so I'm not entirely sure what they were) were in such sad condition. They were all shrunken and miscolored. It was sad. It was such an awesome tank and it seems like they are just neglecting it. I don't know whats going on there....
 

C

CoolWaters

Superstar Fish
#7
Dec 10, 2006
1,028
1
0
Milpitas
#7
u just need a sifter and the sand and your fine.

some LFS are in it for the money...not mine XD great advice too bad there stuff are so dam expensive...saw a couple of people conplaining about it o_O

hey i would too if their selling a Ocellaris Clownfish for $40 -_- not even that big...
 

T

TheFool

Large Fish
#8
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#8
Sometimes you pay for quality - what's cheaper a live 40 $ fish or a dead 10$. Most lfs are hopeless tho'... a few are really, really good.
 

kaihonu82

kaihonu82

Small Fish
#9
Mar 30, 2006
30
0
0
santa clara, ca
#9
you just got to remember that just because they work at the LFS, doesn't mean that they are gurus. shoot, they could work in a completely different department (one of the shops near me also deals with hamsters and reptiles). you have to take their advice for what it is...and if their advice sounds shady, ask someone else

course, there are people out there that work at LFS that actually DO know what they're talking about..you just gotta be able to pick them out :)
 

bigredspecial

bigredspecial

Large Fish
#11
May 12, 2004
731
1
0
40
St.John's, Newfoundland, Canada
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#11
There are a few people out there who know their stuff. All advice should be taken with a grain of salt however - research everything yourself. Even if someone is right 99% of the time, they're wrong 1% of the time.

I know I've given bad advice before by accident, only to catch myself later. Whenever that happens, I'm quick to tell that person different, but that only works with people I'm in regular contact with.
 

Fuzz16

Fuzz16

Superstar Fish
#12
Oct 20, 2006
1,918
3
0
Wellsville, KS
#12
i dont trust what any lfs guy tells me...theres only one i take seriously but oly because hes bred discus before.
ill ask a question and then go home and look it up, normally thier wrong. someone told me a pacu would be ok in a 30g...like...wth.

but i dont know, dont trust anybody but a lot of research...meaning more then 3 different sites
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#14
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#14
From what I've read, they are a good reliable option. I think most hobbyists see it as the new PCs?

From JL Aquatics:

Traditional fluorescent tubes are quite bulky and use up a lot of space above the aquarium. In contrast, T5’s are much smaller in diameter and have much superior reflectors in most cases.
 

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