why are people so ignorant when it comes to saltwater tanks?

Question

why is it that so many people are so mislead when they talk about saltwater aquariums?
giving people wrongful advise, when they obviously know nothing of what they are talking about?
you DO NOT NEED live coral for a SW aquarium to thrive. nor do you NEED live rock or live sand, or 8,000 watt metal halide bulbs!
stop furnishing myths and leave the advising to people who know what they are talking about and have had first had experince doing it the right way.
there are a bunch of different ways of making a SW aquarium.
FO (fish only), the most affordable way, only requires saltwater, fish, a few basic peices of equipment, and a filter and heater.
FOWLR (fish only with live rock) is a little easier to do but more expensive as it requires the purchas eof live rock, up to tell dollars a pound in some places. but you can subsidize this with half and half live and regular rocks, cutting costs in half.

reef tanks are the only ones that require corals (and that's only by definition). it's the same as FO and FOWLR but with the addition of corals and other sessile invertibrates. it's aslo the most expensize as there ismore stock to be purchased and water quality must be maintained better.
saltwater is not as hard as it seems if you just put your mind to it, research, and don't mind paying a little extra to do it right. TRUST ME. as a man who's been there they are worth their weight in gold, and beleive me water isn't light.
so give people a chance, don't tell them that they are SUPER CRAZY HARD cause they're not!

it just takes a little work that's all.
and hey what pet doesn't?

also FO isn't just fish in a tank, you can add rocks, sand, and silk plants or even live ones. i just mean there's no live rock or invertibrates

Answer 1

I agree. But then, you've seen my answers already.

Some of my other peeves are:

Live sand (it's been sitting in a bag on the store, and supply house shelf for who knows how long in anaerobic conditions) - buy a few pieces of live rock from your pet store's tanks and it'll seed the regular DRY sand, or take the time to do a fishless cycle.

UV will kill all the bad stuff in your tank (only if it passes through the UV unit - if it swims or sinks into the substrate, the UV doesn't do you any good). You'd be better off buying a small second set-up to use as a quarantine tank.

Of course, there are those who have kept saltwater for several years and have done their own research, and those who are just starting and believe everything their fish store clerk tells them.

(NOTE: I've run saltwater tanks for 9 years, and multiple tanks after the first 6 months of setting up my first, and have NEVER used a UV sterilizer. I have yet to have any of the saltwater diseases (ICH, velvet, Brooklynella,etc.) in my main tanks. Yet in pet stores which use UV, I see these in the tanks. Proper quarantine will go a lot farther for less money.)

Answer 2

The reason people say things like that is because they hear what people say (like pet store employees and other stupid people) and they just spit it back out. It is the same thing with the "one inch of fish per gallon of water" rule. Any reasonable fish owner could tell you that it is useless, but many fish store employees use it anyway. Also, a lot of people are lazy and (as you can tell from some questions on Yahoo! Answers) don't care enough to do research until after all their fish are dead. It is kind of a sad thing...

Another thing is, whenever you see a saltwater tank that looks really nice, it has corals all over it. People then think that all "good looking" saltwater tanks have corals. It really just comes down to ignorance.

Nosoop4u

Answer 3

This seems like a rhetorical question. But I think you may be asking why they tell you everything they will ever need for a perfect marine fishtank. Two reasons; one, for the money. No fish store is in that business to lose money, so they have to sell extras, beyond the absolute minimum. Two, out of love and apprecialtion for the natural environment, which is difficult to replicate. Actually there is one more reason that I can think of. To show off or just share what they know and exchange useful information. Maybe that is why you chose to put it in a nutshell for the rest of us.

Answer 4

I totally agree with you on this one. There are many ways to set up a SW tank, with or without live rock. Just as with every tank is different from the get go. Some people do a search on the web and the first page that comes up, they take the information and believe it to be true.
I do dissagree with copperhead on the UV Sterilizer however. I've had tanks for many many years. If your UVS is in the tank where it needs to be and your water is circulated, more than likely all the water in the tank at one time will run thru the UVS. I have yet to have a case of ich since installing them on most of my tanks.

With SW tanks however, everyone wants them set up in a day and don't bother to understand what the differences are between salt and fresh water cycling and bacteria or what is going on in the tank.

SW doesn't have to be complex or expensive, more time and patience.

Answer 5

fish only tanks are just so bare, so live rock and coral will make the tank look better, but work better on a bioloigcal stand point.


Theres are a difference in what you can do for just getting by, and what you can do to make things better/ right.

Answer 6

Some people find saltwater tanks hard to maintain..so normally they normally just buy freshwater fishes....

Answer 7

Whenever I have fish, i like decorating the tank.
So i buy the salt, mini cave, etc.
It's just fun for me.
I don't want my fishes to be in a tank with nothing fun in it.
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