Newbie Authors Wanted
 

Hello,

I'm planning to create a new section in this part of cyberspace by dedicating an area for complete newbies. Hopefully it'd also be an opportunity for us to add a new image and design to the site as well. The goal is to have a place where the navigation, graphics, and reading is a lot easier for newcomers than to ask them to sift through all threads in the forums that we have now. Afterall, newbies don't know where to start.

Now, the exact content and layout is still up in the air but I have come up with the following, which hopefully should address most of the commonly asked and missed areas for getting started in this hobby:

Newbie Steps
1) How to get started?
2) Equipment list
3) Costs
4) Resources (boards, books, lfs, aquariums)
5) Is it really all that expensive and complicated?

Next thing you need to know...
1) water parameters
2) what light, color temperature, par
3) basic coral and fish info

Time to get started
1) Choose your tank size and type
2) Plumbing
3) Sand it!
4) Fill it up
5) Cycle
6) Stock it up
7) Maintenance

The above list looks short and easy but there could be a lot of information (even not getting into details) covered. So I'd like to know if anyone is interested in writing in one or more of the above numbered areas. For example, under "water parameters" we can have a series of articles written by multiple members on the different water parameters. And same thing goes for "how to get started" since we all have different stories for how we began.

If there are questions on how to approach this, please reply to this Sticky. If you want to go ahead and give one of the above area a shot, then post a thread with a self-explanatory title. For example, if you want to write on "Stock it up" for a new tank and suggest what may or may not be a good animal to add for newbie, just post a thread titled "Stock it up". Then anyone who wants to pitch in their articles in the same subject area just reply to the same thread. After we have a few we can vote to see which one(s) would make it a reference article on this site for newbies. Also, we may want to combine articles with credits to both authors, etc.

The overall point of doing this is to create a content and guide that doesn't delve into the nitty gritty stuff but offers a general understanding of the technicality in this hobby. For example, authors need not get into equations of how water chemistry affects pH, alk, etc but can offer a general guide of why for example pH is lower during night time and that they need to watch both alk and ca (maybe even mag) levels for proper balance. So you can see there aren't really any limits on the articles other than where creativity takes you.

Titus

I'd rather see links for the beginners to information that is already out there, and give them some guidelines for searching info.

Hello,

Great idea! Do you have any links to provide? Or you can write an article on where to find information?

We can do this in association to the articles.

Titus

Perhaps you could define who is allowed to post here and who isn't seeing as I am not allowed to, I would appreciate the required qualifications listed.

Hello,

Articles and experiences only. Not questions such as:
this, or
this

That is also why I asked in the Lounge should I create a separate forum just for the newbies to ask newbie question as I want to have this forum only for articles, not questions.

Titus

You can just delete my lippy post any time...... (please)

what a great idea.

abbrevs
 

Hi. Speaking as a newbie, something which would help me a lot in understanding the posts is a glossary of terms and especially, abbreviations. "LFS, gf, nori, and orp" went swimming right over my head when first encountered, and there are bound to be more I haven't seen or figured out yet.
Looking forward to reading more articles here!
A.

aquamarina, here is a link that should get you started with more acronyms than you care for!! :razz:

http://reefcentral.com/modules.php?s...&eid=2&ltr=all

the proper format for using abreviations is to use the whole word first followed closely (or in brackets) by the normal abreviation. for example: I love my long tentacled anenomone (LTA), my tank raised percula clownfish have finally made it their own. LTA's seem to like a medium current and the percs seem to be drawn into the swaying tentacles.

Now that would be a real PITA (pain in the ass)... :razz: :lol:

D.Y.I,S.W,L.R,F.O.W.L.R,L.F.S, OR %@#$*&#$^@#*&^^%
 

The subject heading should speak for it self, as a newbie i have probably covered 4 or 5 internet web sites now, and still i have not been able to figure out what some of the abbreviations are. Whats D.Y.I.

The first rule of thumb in teaching anyone anything is YOU DO NOT Abbreviate any thing, you spell it out completly.

how is any one suppose to learn any thing when you teachers are speaking alien from another solar system.

Another thing would be to make a Abbreviation chart for us new people to learn.

DIY is "do it yourself." I think posting articles about how to get started is a great idea. I know that when I first started out it would have been great to have all of the basic information in one place.

I had an idea on this. What if someone were to make fish profiles of all (or close to all) of the fishes commonly offered in the hobby and suitable for new (under 3 month old) tanks?

I mean, something like what you see in the freshwater forums. Let's say you had a completely seperate sticky on yellow tangs or blue damsels highlighting their positives and negatives, giving a rough guideline for what to look for in individuals concerning color, behavior and price. I think that would be a pretty nice boost for beginners looking for fool proof additions to their new tanks.

I know a lot of this material exist on the net wherever, but none of it is compiled here on CanReef.

On the flip side of the coin, there could be a sticky listing all the animals commonly encountered that newbies, or anyone really, should stay away from. Things like pinniatus batfish, regal angels, etc. I've not seen these list anywhere except on books. A stickied thread with pictures detailing all these species would be a great benefit to this section of CanReef IMHO.

Just curious how the newbie authors thing is ending up.. Do we still want some articles or did the "link to established articles" team win out? I don't mind writing a few articles (with photos when possible), but if it's not going to be of much use I'm much rather just throw some links into a thread.

Any articles you write are welcome. We plan to build the library link once we've got a few things there to read. Thanks for the offer.

I think that articles or links about compatible fish and tank sizes required for them would help newbies like me to avoid overstocking issues that I am currently facing. I goofed, due to lack of knowledge and proper research, and have ended up with 2- 3 stripe damsel, 1- lawnmower blenny, 1 bicolor goby (blenny), and a 3.5" green spotted puffer in a 30g tank. Now I am frantic to get a 70-120g tank to house them properly.

Welcome to the board RM.

I think a recommended reading would be far more useful than articles on what and what not to keep, and how to keep them.

Would you build a house without a plan or experience?
Would you go on a long distance trip not knowing which way to go?
Would you marry someone sight unseen?

So why would you invest thousands of dollars in a reef tank without learning how to run it?

No you would learn and ask questions first from a reputable source.

The problem with posting for example a "do not keep" fish list for beginners is that moments after it's posted some bozo will post contradicting the information. This kind of boasting does little to improve the information of the thread and is often misleading to a beginner. Not to mention they never mention how many died before they could find one to break the "general rule".

I think that forums and posted discussions can be confusing for beginners when they see so many points of view. They don't have the experience to weed through them yet. Online communities are very a very useful tool but if you don't have the basics down they can lead you astray.

Not to mention often people posting advice, should actually be asking for it and listening as their tanks are nothing to aspire to. (originally I had the word "suck" here but thought it too harsh.)

Unfortunately, it seems that many of the people that truly do have the experience and reefs to model after tend to be less vocal about it. There are many lurkers with beautiful tanks on Canreef that rarely post. Apparently they have lives and jobs or something like that.

A Big thanks to the ones that do spend the time and effort.

Thousands of dollars and thousands of doomed animals could be saved by directing beginners to a good book. If somebody is too cheap to buy a decent book or too impatient to read it, then you can't help them anyways.
They won't spend 30 seconds searching for the already well written answer either, they'll just post the question again for the 67th time.

The good part is that these people create good deals for the rest of us.You can just watch the buy and sell to pick up their tank at 1/4 of the price when they get frustrated and get rid of it. The bad side is that dozens of animals lose their lives to these type of aquarists.

I see frustrated aquarists every weekend that got bad or misleading advice. They all want to be successful and save money. Often they have spent enough already to have had a very nice set-up, if they made the right choices.

The most important advice I can ever give somebody is: "Buy a good reef book."

A book won't teach you everything, but it will help build a good knowledge foundation.