LFS advice or Reefer Advice Who's better

[r6413utah]

I was talking with a co-worker today who is thinking about a freshwater tank. I gave him a little advise as well as info on finding a web site such as TRT. He made a comment that he trusted either someone he knew or the LFS and did not trust going to a web site. My answer was you don't have to be a Pediatrician to be a parent, as well would you take the advise of 20 fathers/mothers over the advise of a dr's office. It is not always black and white and you have to do what you think is best for you and your situation. Research everthing you can and follow the first 3 rules of pet care 1.) research, 2.) research, 3.) you guessed it research. I told him if you think I am full of it, take something you have figured out all on your own, and ask a couple of professionals and then ask 20 plain joe's out there that have a little knowdledge in what you did, then average it all up and one of two things will happen you will either re-exam what you did or feel pretty go that you did what every one else suggested. EITHER WAY you will find that advise from sites like TRT is just as good if not better then a LFS because you may get more of diverse answers or even questions that may suite what you are trying to do. The answers may not be black and white but most of the time you will find the puzzle is much bigger then the few peices you have and only then will you have the ability to put the puzzle together and figure out what you are looking at. There are no stupid questions just the arogant answers that makes you think its a stupid question.

[Fly Guy]

I think the moral to the story is no book or business person in the industry can TOUCH the collective knowledge of a bunch of hobbysits, Sure, you will get misinformation here and there, but 99% of the time it will get corrected on the spot.....

AS well, the interaction and trying to help other people ourselves will inevitably at timnes get our own thinking questioned and corrected regardless of how much or little we know and THAT kind of learning is priceless IMO

We can ALL always improve our methodology and knowledge

[Little Luey]

The advantage of being a member here at TRT is that one question may be answered by 10 or more people who do not have any interest in you buying anything from them, this is not the case at a LFS, you may get one answer or opinion from someone who may not be in the hobby, is only there to make $6/hr or simply does not care about reef animals in general.
Yes, we do not know it all but areas where I don't know squat, someone else may come in and give a better advice.
Then you can look at the numbers, if 9 out of 10 people are telling you aiptasia is bad and you should remove it, guess what, it is bad. I thrust this guys/gals advice because I feel like I know them, I may have never seen most of them but I consider them experts, just look at the members tank's pictures.
But some of us like to re-invent the wheel and are stuborn, let him make his novice mistakes, he will see the light sooner or later, hopefully sooner.

[Twitterbait]

Bingo, Better to get advice from someone who has no other motive than to give advice. Plus, the LFS owner may have a lifetime of experience... but if you come here you will get thousands of lifetimes worth of info.

[jenajet]

I use both. I take the advice from lfs and then double check here. Many times I find the lfs didn't give me all the facts. The lfs can be nice but I love having TRT as a resource and can make decisions before going into a store.

[cobray]

One thing to remember is that the people on the forum are not trying to sell you anything. They just like to help each other out.

[motorslave]

I think it depends on the reefer and the LFS!

[partobe]

This isn't based on a true story it is a true story!

I had been going to the lfs for almost a year and doing everything they told me to do. My nitrates were well over 80 my corals were dieing I was starting to get red algae in my sand. I joined TRT 3 months later my nitrates are less than 20 my coral is full of life and thriving.

[hng]

I've been a victim of the LFS advice as well. Unfortunately, a lot of them are just interested in selling you stuff and then replacements for what has already died. I've found TRT to be invaluable - you basically have hundreds of people with incredible experience, giving advice for no other reason than wanting to help.

[volitansman]

I've gotten very lucky, I have a good lfs with an excelent saltwater guy. He's the only one I take advice from at the lfs and while I do one or two things differently than he would I find his advice to be pretty spot on.

[zxcv123]

I dont trust LFS. Most want to sell you stuff and make money even if it means giving false info to you, selling yoyu stuff you dont need, or endangering the welfair of the animals (ie selling someone a PBT for a 20 gallon tank)

[JennM]

Not every LFS gives bad advice.

Not every internet poster gives good advice.

*My* advice is to gather information from a variety of sources, consider it all, consider what answers are consistent from all those sources, and then add a good dose of common sense.

When gathering info on the Internet, also be aware that a lot of "sources" of information are on sites that do sell stuff. In another thread this morning, I saw somebody post info on a coral that they copied from an online etailer. That info suggested that keepers of this particular coral need to supplement iodine and strontium for the coral to survive... IMO that's hogwash.

Furthermore - individuals posting on the Internet don't always speak from experience. IMO there is a ton of wisdom to be gained from people who have been there, done that... experienced people will post what has worked for them, as well as what hasn't. These are the people to listen to.

The others are what I call "parrots"... they heard it, read it, and repeat it, and often that becomes like a game of "telephone"... by the time 5 people have repeated the information, it has changed to the point where the initial bit of advice is lost. Avoid parrotted information, unless you can verify it with someone who has direct experience.

There are also a lot of different ways to achieve the same goal in this hobby - not every answer is hard and fast. There are some absolutes - water quality etc. but even then there are different opinions. I like specific gravity at 1.023, some like 1.026... neither is wrong.

Just because something isn't the *best* way to do something (in someone's opinion) it doesn't mean that any other way is wrong.

Like I said - gather information from a variety of sources, keeping in mind the origins of the info, and the experience of those providing the info, add a good dose of common sense, and you'll do just fine

Jenn

[zxcv123]

Originally Posted by JennM

Not every LFS gives bad advice.

Not every internet poster gives good advice.

*My* advice is to gather information from a variety of sources, consider it all, consider what answers are consistent from all those sources, and then add a good dose of common sense.

When gathering info on the Internet, also be aware that a lot of "sources" of information are on sites that do sell stuff. In another thread this morning, I saw somebody post info on a coral that they copied from an online etailer. That info suggested that keepers of this particular coral need to supplement iodine and strontium for the coral to survive... IMO that's hogwash.

Furthermore - individuals posting on the Internet don't always speak from experience. IMO there is a ton of wisdom to be gained from people who have been there, done that... experienced people will post what has worked for them, as well as what hasn't. These are the people to listen to.

The others are what I call "parrots"... they heard it, read it, and repeat it, and often that becomes like a game of "telephone"... by the time 5 people have repeated the information, it has changed to the point where the initial bit of advice is lost. Avoid parrotted information, unless you can verify it with someone who has direct experience.

There are also a lot of different ways to achieve the same goal in this hobby - not every answer is hard and fast. There are some absolutes - water quality etc. but even then there are different opinions. I like specific gravity at 1.023, some like 1.026... neither is wrong.

Just because something isn't the *best* way to do something (in someone's opinion) it doesn't mean that any other way is wrong.

Like I said - gather information from a variety of sources, keeping in mind the origins of the info, and the experience of those providing the info, add a good dose of common sense, and you'll do just fine

Jenn

Well excuse Me

[JennM]

Originally Posted by zxcv123

Well excuse Me

I don't think that was called for. I was simply adding my own input to the thread - and I don't think I mis-stated anything. Frankly, it's the exact same advice I give my customers. No single person is an authority, and it's better to get information from various sources. Sharing information is what we do here.

Jenn

[JennM]

Originally Posted by zxcv123

I dont trust LFS. Most want to sell you stuff and make money even if it means giving false info to you, selling yoyu stuff you dont need, or endangering the welfair of the animals (ie selling someone a PBT for a 20 gallon tank)

Now I understand the hostility of your answer to my post.

Do you not go to work every day to make money? That's usually the purpose of any business. I do understand that given your experiences, you've relegated LFS types to someplace lower on the food chain than the proverbial used car salesman - but then again not all used car salesmen are bad either - but clearly in both examples the bad ones ruin it for everybody.

It is regretful that your LFS experiences have been negative. I was lucky in my early years in the hobby, to deal with great LFS. There was no Internet back in the dark ages when I began, and there were few books that weren't science manuals - not exactly entertaining reading. There are plenty of great resources out there now. In fact, to my earlier reply I'd like to add that several good reference books should be a must - even before purchasing equipment, let alone livestock. In my post I simply implied that not all LFS reflect your experience, and not all Internet posters are the most educated. Hence the caveat for common sense.

Respectfully,

Jenn