Well, Toolman, I had a bad day yesterday and I would like to apologize for the harshness of my words. I do, however; stand behind their meaning and here's why:
Here's one of your first posts concerning the contents of your tank:
"I must be lucky I have a 12 gallon Aqapod with 1 Pony 2 false clowns a sand sifting goby as well as a mandrian along with 2 peppermint shrimp and a blood.
Ted"
At that time I asked you how long you had your current set-up because I knew you were heading for a crash. Shortly after, you were asking about test kits when you posted this:
"Just going to buy a cheep damsel if it goes belly up I know I got a problem.:grumble:"
Then you started posting about all kinds of problems you were having with your tank and about how you were loosing fish. I encouraged you not to give up hope and you could re-build after the current crisis was over but you had to understand that your bio-load was the problem, you responded with this:
"the 12 gallon got 2 gallons changed every week and there was no stress everything I did including adding fish was preceded by a water sample being checked. Who is going to throw $90.00 away on a sea horse that won't make it? I tried a new store closer to home my mistake not again."
Water quality is only ONE reason not to bio-load your tank. Fish get stressed out if they don't have the proper space to move around and stressed fish lead to diseased fish very quickly. Horses will get stressed without enough vertical space and plenty of safe objects in their tank to "hitch" their tail. Horses can die if they are the only horse in a tank. They are social creatures they NEED a friend and they prefer a herd. I suggested you add more horses to your tank only if you got rid of your clowns and moved your horses into your 28 gallon. The only species of horses that can survive in a 12 gallon tank are dwarfs.
Biff gave you this advice: "Sorry to hear about your tank It's always sad to lose things. Yes this is a hobby, and it can be a very enjoyable one if done right. If you rush things, it can be so stressful and awful! I think tank crashes are probably the #1 reason why people get out of this hobby (either that or the expense of it, probably). Keep doing your maintenance routine. Your tank will be fixed over time. After that, the main lesson to take away is not to overstock, and not to stock too quickly. If you follow those simple rules, everything else comes pretty easily." I gave you similar advice and encouraged you to re-build because I thought you had learned your lesson about tank sizes and bio-loads. You haven't figured out your problem and you're already shopping for new horses? You need to get your tank stable before you add anything. Stable doesn't mean you didn't kill anything for a few weeks, stable means you've got a healthy system, healthy sandbed, good source of pods and a good size for the species of horse you are looking at getting. If you don't, you'll kill more horses and that upsets me.
With all due respect, Sir, I believe your renegade attitude towards stocking and maintaining your tank is irresponsible. I'm quite certain it is it cause of your current episode of fish killing. I ENCOURAGE you or anyone else to point out any errors I may have made in my advice to you or my assessment of your situation. The advice I have given you is a combination of my reading books, articles and posts on this forum. If I have misunderstood I would like to know.
As far as your calling me "judgmental" I can understand why you might think that so let me clarify my position concerning you and your posts to this forum. I have not judged you, I have not judged any person on this board. I have strong opinions. I am opinionated. It is possible to voice opinions and not judge the person who believes differently. Never would I presume to know enough about you or your life to "judge" you. You are posting to this forum to solicit advice about planning your tank. I have opinions about that. If you don't want people to respond to your posts then why are you posting why are you asking for advice and then getting upset when people give it to you?
You suggested I don't know :pooh: . There, I agree with you. My knowledge of marine aquariums pales in comparison to many of the people on this board. There are so many mistakes I was about to make but didn't because of the advice I've received on Living Reefs. Admittedly, I don't know :pooh:. I'm learning every day. If someone has questions about tanks or horses, I know where to go to get responsible answers which will have to do until I have more experience in this hobby. Living Reefs has not yet steered me wrong and I have managed to do all kinds of things I never thought possible because of the wisdom of the members here.
Finally, Ted, I would love for you to find enjoyment in reefing. The world is a big, bad place sometimes and marine aquariums are a beautiful way to find solace and inspiration. If there is anything I can do for you to help you enjoy reefing responsibly please, don't hesitate to ask. However; if you won't adhere to the basic, fundamental guidelines that will help you provide a healthy environment for your critters then I would like to see you enjoy a different hobby- one that does not include killing innocent fish.
Catherine
