AquariumScience.Org - What a Curiously Crazy Site

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ChefAlex

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I donā€™t often start a thread on any aquaria related forum Iā€™ve used over the years. I am starting this thread to discuss a rather bizarre aquarium website. I hope everyone will skim through its contents (link below) and provide their feedback here. Truly a one of a kind, not in a good way.

I stumbled upon a website, aquariumscience.org,
that claims to provide scientifically proven facts pertaining to nearly all facets of the freshwater hobby. Eschewing parroted information on forums or anecdotal data, everything the author claims to write about is based on ā€œfactsā€ with no commercial incentive to lead you to believe otherwise. 17 different chapters and over 300 articles ranging from nutrition, diseases, filter medias, commercial additives and everything in between. As somebody who really believes in using the scientific method to better understand reef aquaria, as many are doing nowadays, somebody applying the same methodology to freshwater aquaria would be totally refreshing. Sounds great, right? A little closer inspection into it and it clear this is a whole mess of a website disguised as ā€œfactsā€. I concede it could be wildly easy for even an advanced hobbyist to fall smitten with this website. It surely has all the lingo, ā€œmyth bustingā€ qualities and relatively intelligent discussion that could lead one to believe itā€™s content. There are even some examples that are in fact, true, but these are very few and far between and kinda keep you on your toes. In a nutshell, itā€™s VERY well disguised.

Firstly, the author claims to be a chemist and expert of data analysis with many great accolades but doesnā€™t provide a C.V. for personal reasons. Unusual, but not fully discreditable. With very few seemingly legitimate exceptions, there are almost zero sources cited for the ā€œdataā€ he claims to use. The very basis of scientific writing is to cite appropriately, for an author claiming to only use ā€œfactsā€ this is diametrically opposite to what is considered ā€œfactsā€ based on the scientific method. He frequently lists ā€œstudies or testsā€ with no citations, but has plenty of graphs, literature and ā€œdataā€ that donā€™t hold an ounce of credibility. He literally made the graphs on his own and claims they come from a study. Many points he claims to prove, I, or many other hobbyists, could disprove with a fair amount of research. I could go on and on and I wonā€™t for the sake of reading this post. Again, I encourage everyone to skim through the website and form their own opinions.

AquariumScience is really bizarre and I strongly get the suspicion that the author might be a disgruntled SeaChem employee, or rather, former employee. There was an awful lot of time and work that went into this website, making it all the stranger.
 
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Thanks for sharing!
 
What????!!!! Cloudy water? Brown stuff on the gravel? Ignore it? No wonder the author doesn't want to share details because he knows he would be bombarded with fish people from everywhere
 
In some of the articles, he even employs tactics where he references psychological effects that would explain why doubters of his articleā€™s methods exist.
 
In some of the articles, he even employs tactics where he references psychological effects that would explain why doubters of articleā€™s methods exist.
Oof that's brainwashing for ya
 
Holy cow I just read some of it. This is a joke! :oops:
 
I love how many times he says it's the mostest factual and the bestest website ever and you dont need to do hardly any research :rofl:
 
Oh. My. Gosh. Look at the top 100 myths. This is a hoot!
 
I find the whole website an interesting case study. It obviously was made by a bright individual, with a lot of free time, an unusual modus operandi and a vendetta against something in the aquarium hobby.

I think he should take a close look at his own psychology before trying to diagnose psychological effects on those who donā€™t believe his articles. Did he ever think that anyone with a scientific background could stumble upon his website and call B.S. on his methodology particularly when he claims its based on the scientific method? Crazy thought process.
 
Myth #59 fish have gills.... not really one of them but a few made me feel that way
 
The comments that people have made on the website are thanking him????
I believe many of those comments to be likely fake. If a single person put as much time into that website as they did, writing the short(ish) comments wouldnā€™t be much of a bother to them.
 
And what's with the calling people idiots who say his info is wrong?
 
There isnā€™t a single one person in the aquarium hobby who has all of the answers nor can ā€œscientifically prove with factsā€ every facet of the hobby. There are dozens and dozens of legitimate scientists studying the reef hobby and publishing their findings all the time in publications, none of these people claim to have figured it all out. Anyone with some humility would know that you simply cannot be an expert in chemistry, botany, icthyology, microbiology, biochemistry and all other branches of study that could pertain to a freshwater aquarium. This guy seems to have read a few legitimate articles in aquaculture and waste water treatments facilities and ran wild with the thought process that he has the ability to process and collect data and therefore is THE expert on all things aquaria.
 
Quoted from the link above under the cycling section.

Beneficial bacteria thrive best at a pH of 7.4 to 7.8 and in water with lots of carbon dioxide. So, adding one teaspoon of baking soda per 25 gallons speeds up the cycling a little bit.

Lots of aeration will both speed up the cycling process and keep the smells down (cycling can be smelly!).

The optimum level of nutrients for beneficial bacteria growth is 400 to 600 ppm of ammonia and 200 to 400 ppm of nitrite (per no less than 8 papers and two books). So high levels of either ammonia or nitrite do not stall the cycle.

----------------
Beneficial filter bacteria are aerobic and require oxygen rich water. Having lots of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the tank will inhibit the filter bacteria. The next sentence contradicts the first paragraph by saying aeration helps speed up the cycling process. This is true, aeration helps to drive CO2 out of the water and helps keeps the oxygen levels high. This can help the filter cycle faster.

re: Having 400-600ppm of ammonia in the tank while it was cycling. That much ammonia would burn your nose and eyes any time you went near the tank.

Sorry, I couldn't read any more. Just too hard to read anything these days (that includes stuff online or in books). :(
 

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