Conflicting Advice

[ColR1948]

Have you ever noticed on these forums no matter what subject there is always conflicting advice?

Some say do this, some say do that, or say don't do this or do that and so on.

I read a thread on another forum where someone new to fish keeping asked advice, he got that many conflicting pieces of advice he didn't know which was right.
I have seen it many times where someone asks a question and the people commenting with the answer have actually disagreed and it has turned in to an argument.

I got told not long ago to NOT have the heater upright as it gives false readings to the thermostat but have it sloping sideways, then only yesterday I watched a video clip where the guy who was a so called expert advised to have the heater upright, so again who is right?

I am fairly new to this hobby, I did it years ago but I admit I was doing a lot of things wrong, there was no internet then and the only advice I got was from the fish shop but now advice is at my fingertips but as stated in the title a lot of it is conflicting but where else do I/we turn?

 

[dannybgoode]

A lot depends on the question as to how subjective the answer is. Questions on stocking for example will often attract a variety of answers.

Questions on tank maintenance etc will also lead to a mass debate as everyone has their own rituals and routines.

Some things are more set in stone. Should i fishless cycle? Yes!

Bear in mind as well on the internet just because someone has written 1000 posts doesn't mean they're an expert nor an infrequent commentator not worth listening to.

In the case of this forum, if it is a matter of the well being of fish, there will usually be a fairly clear consensus as to the right thing to do.

Cheers

Danny B

 

[max1e]

well i am not 100% sure of the proper way, but mine has always been 100% straight up

 

[Tizer]

Advice will depend on other factors, like the amount of flow in a tank and the volume of water. Common sense normally prevails if you think about it long enough. i.e. if you got a filter outlet right near the top of the heater, then its going to move the warmer water away from it, thus, having it upright, wont make a blind bit of difference.

 

[ColR1948]

The heater thing was just one example.

Some of the things that tickle are the threads that say something like: I have a XXXLitre tank what should I stock?

I was thinking of getting XXXFilter are they any good?

Again just examples but the amount of different answers you will get is amazing.

 

[DreamertK]

I dont think there is ever a correct answer. Some things just work with some people and never work at all with others due to a lot reasons like species/amount of fish, tank size, whats in the tank, brand of things in the tank, how often theres WC, whats in the tap water, how much time you have to take care of the tank, how old the fish are, and even (with the most variety out of everything) the personalities of the fish themselves.

I have my heater upright and it matches exactly a second reader I have in the tank on the other side. I'm doing a fish cycle and nobody is dead or looks stressed because I'm doing a lot of water changes (because I personally have enough time in my life to do so). I feed my gourami multiple times a day because they seriously will eat every last flake in there or else they'll destroy every plant I have if I don't feed them 2-3x a day (yesterday they destroyed one of my largest amazon leaves because I left the house for 24 hours and fed them right before I left). Sure somebody in this forum is going to reply to me saying everything I'm doing is wrong and why because in their own experience it hasn't worked for them. I may not be an expert but everything is thriving in my tank, even plants I didn't expect to do so well are growing new leaves and branches. Don't fix what isn't broken, right? ((That totally doesn't count for what is dangerous to the fish/plants.))

 

[Mikey1]

I read a thread on another forum where someone new to fish keeping asked advice, he got that many conflicting pieces of advice he didn't know which was right.

because chances are none of the advice was right or wrong,

not alot of things with fish keeping are set in stone, and people have their own ways of doing things, part of the learning process is to find out what works for you and your tanks, people here can only give you general guidelines or suggestions,

every single tank is different, no two are the same,

a perfect example is the question "how often should i do water changes"?....well that depends on many different factors, type of fish, if the tank is understocked or overstocked, filteration, type of food, how much food your feeding, etc etc

i have many tanks, on one tank i might change 50% every 3 days, on another tank i may change 50% every 2 weeks