Quote:
Originally Posted by Dearth
I've been in the SW hobby for about 9 months now and have had some interesting chats with various SW hobbyists. At one time I was on 5 different forums learning what I could and found out real fast that all hobbyists are not created equal and it includes this forum as well. It's one of the reasons I no longer visit any other forum as this one seems to be the most tolerant one.
I've met some hobbyists face to face and talked with several in private chats and their responses to me being in the hobby with a nano tank has been wide and varied. Some have greeted me with enthusiasm and offered me no end of help while others wouldn't give me the time of day cause I run a nano tank.
I have met many who were willing to give me advice as long as I did it their way and if I refused or said I'm doing it this way those people will no longer talk to me. Then there are the ones that feel I should learn as they did by trial and error and shelling out countless thousands of dollars to learn from my mistakes at the same time are willing to offer smidgins of advice.
Then my personal favourites the ones that despise the hobbyists that run nano tanks it doesn't matter how nice your nano is they won't talk to you because your not a true hobbyist in their eyes and in their eyes guys like me are ruining the hobby.
So it can make it nerve wracking when you want to ask or show your tank because you never know how you will be received and there are many experienced hobbyists with many many years of hobby experience that tend to forget that they were once a newbie too and maybe didn't have the guidance of the forums or other hobbyists to set up and run your tank.
Yes it can get old hearing over and over the same questions about algae, diatom blooms and aiptasia but then that is why people come to the forums to learn. Maybe a FAQ forum should be posted for questions such as these. IE. I have seen many newbies ask about diatom blooms the standard answer is just wait for the bloom to mature...well it really doesn't answer the question and there is no standard answer but it helps to know it can take 3 days to 2 months to bloom. Stuff like that.
Ok I'm done feel free to flame rant or ignore
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So... how come we didn't see you at any of the PG Reef Tank Tour showings? Do you work Sundays? Staffan, Doug, George, Craig, myself and everyone else on the 40 person emailing list are all very receptive to meeting new people and sharing our experiences and advice (plus you get to see some tanks in person).
A good introductory book would answer a lot of questions that new people ask before they ask them. But books are long, boring and expensive whereas internet answers are short, lively and free so I guess that wont ever change. The search function works well too.
I too have created accounts on RC, Ultimate Reef, Reef Frontiers, TGVAS, BCAquaria etc. But its pretty much the same everywhere. Canreef has the advantage of being local/national, relevant and just active enough.
Some people on here have nanos with more gadgetry, that are more expensive and contain more specimens than the average persons +100gal system. Their basic requirements are no differen't than a large tank. In some ways they are actually more difficult to keep.