Just a thought on giving advice...

[All_talk]

I'm going to put this idea out there...

Many of us come here for advice on reefing, and there seems to be no end to the diversity in responses, this in itself is fine. But how is one to filter this mass of input? I'm not talking about weeding the good from the bad (there seems to be plenty of both), I'm looking for a way to sort out what could apply to mine (or your) particular situation. Most of us would agree there is more than one way to successfully run a reef tank, there has to be, there is more than one type of reef tank, right?

I suggest the idea that any advice to others comes with a recent picture of your reef tank.

If the tank looks like something I am striving for I can weight the advice appropriately. If the tank does not look like what I'm going for then I can weigh that advice appropriately. I believe all advice should be taken with a grain of salt, but how big is the grain?


Note: This is not my original idea... Thank You Richard Ross for being a voice of experience and reason in this hobby. Reef Beef!

 

[All_talk]

So, it is a great thread. Thanks OP. I did not read every post.

In my experience, shorter posts generally have more credibility. People who admit their limitations are generally more trustworthy. Attempting to validate people's ability to correctly provide accurate information (other than staff members) is a bad idea.

The internet is a huge landscape that we must all navigate at our own discretion. Enter at your own risk.

Required tank pic...

I love the shimmer, what lights are you running?

 

[jabberwock]

I love the shimmer, what lights are you running?

2 Kessil Tuna Blue A 80s. Not very good penetration, but great for my shallow lagoon.

 

[Sump Crab]

My favorite is seeing someone’s advice and then clicking on their build thread and seeing they’ve only had a tank for a couple of months.

In all seriousness it’s on the person taking the advice to verify it and I believe one of the best ways to do that is by looking for pics of the tank the advice is coming from.

 

[All_talk]

2 Kessil Tuna Blue A 80s. Not very good penetration, but great for my shallow lagoon.

I'm running A360X's on mine. Not as much shimmer as I got with the old MH, but still pretty good.

 

[RichReef]

I think there is more than one problem here.

First problem is there are many answers to a particular problem. Such as ..

Why is my phosphate so high? Could be 20 reasons. You are going to get them all.
There could be 20 answers to any particular problem that isn't technical. Hopefully everyone can pay attention and read every reply to narrow down a solution through questions and answers from the OP.

People tend to answer these on their own experiences. This should not be a problem or an issue as long as they are reading the entire thread. I have skipped this part myself in the past but have learned to read each and every reply. It may get to a point where it goes beyond my experience.

Second there are technical questions that even technical people may ask. Such as ...

Why can't I get my parms balanced? Or how do I approach a certain disease? Chemistry or bacterial bloom questions.

These are the type of questions only the technical experts who have dealt with these problems should be answering. I don't pretend to even guess on questions like this. Even if I have dealt with it. If I think I really know I will answer.

Then there are a lot of threads I can respond to but someone else already replied with my suggestion or answer. So I don't reply. Too many times you see the same answers over and over.

I am going to be blunt here but when I have questions and I am looking for credentials I go right to your build thread. It will tell me what I need to know about your experience, involvement in this site, your mistakes (If you post them), and the amount of detail and effort you put into your own system.

Of course I always listen to the team. Except for Randy sometimes =). No offense buddy.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I'm going to put this idea out there...

Many of us come here for advice on reefing, and there seems to be no end to the diversity in responses, this in itself is fine. But how is one to filter this mass of input? I'm not talking about weeding the good from the bad (there seems to be plenty of both), I'm looking for a way to sort out what could apply to mine (or your) particular situation. Most of us would agree there is more than one way to successfully run a reef tank, there has to be, there is more than one type of reef tank, right?

I suggest the idea that any advice to others comes with a recent picture of your reef tank.

If the tank looks like something I am striving for I can weight the advice appropriately. If the tank does not look like what I'm going for then I can weigh that advice appropriately. I believe all advice should be taken with a grain of salt, but how big is the grain?


Note: This is not my original idea... Thank You Richard Ross for being a voice of experience and reason in this hobby. Reef Beef!

For me pictures are the 'key' Im no expert in alot of these areas however where I can provide supporting evidence of me successfully keeping/ maintaining a fish crab etc I always provide a recent photo.
Reef2reef members have taught me so much over the last 4 years and it's crazy the amount of knowledge I have learnt and still learning.