barnfrog
New Member
Hi All,
I thought I'd share with you the reason why I'm on your forum. First off let me share a bit about myself and my experience in the hobby/industry.
I've been in the hobby for over 20 years. I've had reef tanks from 12 gallons all the way up to 400 gallons. I've also been featured in a few magazines and a few websites as "tank of the month". Currently I have a 350 gallon mixed reef system, a couple of nanos and a 40 gal frag tank. Also, I've set up a wholesale company that imports coral and fish from Indonesia. We also aqua-culture in our San Jose CA location. In addition, I've professionally set up 2000+ tanks in hotels, restaurants and offices all around the bay area. Sufficed to say, I've been around this hobby/industry for quite a while and seen a lot. I knew of this forums existence via facebook for quite a while now but I didn't really come here much until now.
Like most people, I was reefcentral.com quite a bit... Mostly surfing and not posting much. I hate to bad mouth companies and/or businesses but I have to speak out against these people. A couple of weeks ago I ordered some coral from one of their sponsors for one of my nanos. It was a piece that originates from Fiji so I couldn't get it through one of my own sources. When the coral arrived, I notice that the water was cloudy and had an odor to it.. Obviously the coral had died. I sent an email with a picture of the unopened bag to this online store and they basically told me that it was a fake picture. They said they were not responsible for a coral that did not come from their store. I was pretty mad but the coral was only like $20 so I just wrote it off as a lesson learned. I then proceeded to post on reefcentral.com about my negative experience with this store. I felt the need to warn other hobbyists to be wary of this store. Not 10 minutes later, I received a message from one of their moderators noting that "spamming" was not allowed on their site and that my post was removed. I responded with a question. "How is this spamming?" After that, they gave me an "infraction" on my account. Basically, it's them saying that no one can bad mouth their sponsors no matter if it was made up or the truth. Now, on a business level, I guess I can understand that. However, a forum is a place where people can gather and share their experiences for the betterment of the special interest. So I guess I crossed their imaginary fine line with my post. I just chalked it up as one moderator being overzealous and moved on. The next day, I was checking out this guys build and it was pretty nice. I was impressed with us wood working and plumbing so i replied to his post "nice build. impressive". The next thing I knew, I received a message from the same moderator saying that I had received another infraction. This time it was for "padding my post numbers". I responded back and said "so i can't even tell another hobbyist that he has a nice build?". The moderator responded with a very rude message basically saying "don't push it". I responded back to him saying "I was not trying to pad my posts. I was merely telling this guy he had a nice build and that I was impressed". The next thing I knew, my account was removed and my ip was blocked. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? I'm done with reefcentral. Those guys are *****.
Anyhow, I have now come to this forum in the hopes that this is still being run as a community and not a regime. People here seem nice and helpful so far. I'm going to try to post a lot more and share my experience in aqua-culture, diving, dyi filtration, plumbing etc. I'm hoping that this site can become my "home".
I thought I'd share with you the reason why I'm on your forum. First off let me share a bit about myself and my experience in the hobby/industry.
I've been in the hobby for over 20 years. I've had reef tanks from 12 gallons all the way up to 400 gallons. I've also been featured in a few magazines and a few websites as "tank of the month". Currently I have a 350 gallon mixed reef system, a couple of nanos and a 40 gal frag tank. Also, I've set up a wholesale company that imports coral and fish from Indonesia. We also aqua-culture in our San Jose CA location. In addition, I've professionally set up 2000+ tanks in hotels, restaurants and offices all around the bay area. Sufficed to say, I've been around this hobby/industry for quite a while and seen a lot. I knew of this forums existence via facebook for quite a while now but I didn't really come here much until now.
Like most people, I was reefcentral.com quite a bit... Mostly surfing and not posting much. I hate to bad mouth companies and/or businesses but I have to speak out against these people. A couple of weeks ago I ordered some coral from one of their sponsors for one of my nanos. It was a piece that originates from Fiji so I couldn't get it through one of my own sources. When the coral arrived, I notice that the water was cloudy and had an odor to it.. Obviously the coral had died. I sent an email with a picture of the unopened bag to this online store and they basically told me that it was a fake picture. They said they were not responsible for a coral that did not come from their store. I was pretty mad but the coral was only like $20 so I just wrote it off as a lesson learned. I then proceeded to post on reefcentral.com about my negative experience with this store. I felt the need to warn other hobbyists to be wary of this store. Not 10 minutes later, I received a message from one of their moderators noting that "spamming" was not allowed on their site and that my post was removed. I responded with a question. "How is this spamming?" After that, they gave me an "infraction" on my account. Basically, it's them saying that no one can bad mouth their sponsors no matter if it was made up or the truth. Now, on a business level, I guess I can understand that. However, a forum is a place where people can gather and share their experiences for the betterment of the special interest. So I guess I crossed their imaginary fine line with my post. I just chalked it up as one moderator being overzealous and moved on. The next day, I was checking out this guys build and it was pretty nice. I was impressed with us wood working and plumbing so i replied to his post "nice build. impressive". The next thing I knew, I received a message from the same moderator saying that I had received another infraction. This time it was for "padding my post numbers". I responded back and said "so i can't even tell another hobbyist that he has a nice build?". The moderator responded with a very rude message basically saying "don't push it". I responded back to him saying "I was not trying to pad my posts. I was merely telling this guy he had a nice build and that I was impressed". The next thing I knew, my account was removed and my ip was blocked. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? I'm done with reefcentral. Those guys are *****.
Anyhow, I have now come to this forum in the hopes that this is still being run as a community and not a regime. People here seem nice and helpful so far. I'm going to try to post a lot more and share my experience in aqua-culture, diving, dyi filtration, plumbing etc. I'm hoping that this site can become my "home".
