The Minority

[riverman444]

After visiting practically every LFS in Omaha, Nebraska, which is a LARGE city, I've come to the realization that we are a small group of people.

The ONLY place I found that even came close to the kind of supplies and such that we need was a Hydroponics shop. They sell CO2 stuff and millions of different supplements and ferts. This guy knew his stuff, that's for sure. Sadly, he didn't have the diffuser I was looking for. I showed him a picture of one of my tanks that I took with my cell phone. Needless to say, he will be putting a tank in his shop

I went to one LFS and asked if they carry CO2 Diffusers. The look on the shopkeeps face was priceless. "Say, what?" "Adding CO2 to a fishtank will kill them all." "I've never heard of that and I've been in business for 20 years." "CO2? What's that, a new kind of food?"

Trust me.......those are a few of the replies I got when I brought up EI and CO2 on my journey yesterday.

The conclusion is simple. We are a very small group of aquarists on the big scale of things. The only way to really get what we need is by mail order or the internet. We are shackled by the costs of shipping.

Anyway, anyone have luck locally getting Planted Tanks needs met?

 

[oldwhitewood]

Well I live in the UK and I must say for the large part we're the same. It's hard to find a shop that stocks pressurised CO2 equipment for instance. I only know of 2 in my area. Getting a glass diffuser would simply be impossible. And also I haven't seen a decent planted tank in a shop for a long time. They're all in what I consider to be the dark ages

We are lucky here in that there are loads of places to buy stuff online that cater for the planted tank in particular, some of them offer free shipping if you spend over a certain amount too which is a good idea. It will be an online thing for a while but that is maybe the way things are going to start to happen in aquatic retail for a more specialist market. I have no trouble ordering things online, if the shops simply aren't stocking decent stuff then we have to go to smaller scale specialist online retailers which I would rather support than big established chains of retailers anyway, in that way our hobby can survive and develop.

 

[craynerd]

lol, priceless!

I`m a complete nooby (8 weeks old tank), don`t know if you have seen my tank i`m putting together in my journal, but after going around to about 10 LFS in the Manchester area, i have failed to find 1 good planted tank, failed to find not 1 person who can even talk to me about EI and talked to only 1 guy who actually knew a little about CO2 but was talkin rubbish with regards to fertilizing !!

lol, i have quickly come to realise that you guys are my only hope if i wish to have a succesfull planted tank....hence my numerous posts!!!

Cheers guys, keep up the good work! I am learning slowly!

Chris

 

[George Farmer]

We are a minority, but our passion more than makes up for it.

The wind of change is coming though. Watch this space.

 

[riverman444]

I don't blame the shop keepers for not stocking items such as diffusers, "specialty" lighting, CO2 accessories, and some of the other wears we need such as certain substrates etc. etc....The price versus the demand is just not there......YET. As time goes by, our niche of the fishkeeping hobby will spread and catch on. Hopefully, the prices will go down, too

Every time someone new sees my tanks they are always awed by the plants and fish. I am no gf or oldwhitewood, but it just amazes me when I meet someone who has been in the hobby a long time and has no idea about EI or CO2............or even plants, for that matter. There are some TRUE pros on this site that I've learned tons from. You guys got me started on this stuff. I should blame you guys when I can't decide whether to get groceries or a new diffuser

 

[shrimply]

I have had nothing but good experiances with my local shop. He doesn't actually stock the stuff but am pretty sure he would try his best to get hold of it.

When I first mentioned CO2 he asked if I was using a yeast based system or pressurised. And a while ago when I was looking for a diffuser for my DIY system he asked me what type I was looking and knew the different types when I asked him about them.

So really I can't complain. He doesn't have a nice planted tank and probably deosn't know that much about it. However at the same time he has the basic knoledge that make slife much easier. If every fish store had that basic knoledge I am sure you would be happy.

As I haven't got a tank up and running yet I haven't tested him on EI but we will see soon

 

[scott67892002]

my local sells alot of jbl stuff and some good substrates and has about three nice looking planted tanks in there all perling away nicely i haven't asked them about E.I!

 

[qwikimpss]

Well. Maybe I have it good up here in New Hampshire there are two shops within an hour of me (one is an hour north and one is an hour south) that actually stock some plant-specific stuff like Seachem ferts, good lighting, and one actually stocks Seachem Florite.

Only problem is that at both they know nothing about plants in general. I actually corrected an employee at one when he suggested a Clown Loach for a 29 gal tank.

 

[BigIan]

I wish some one round here knew something about a propper planted tank. all the pet shops are all about the fish, and nothing else,

Whats EI??

 

[Bloo]

Admittedly this is London, but my LFS stocks a fair amount of planted gear to sell, and has 3 huge planted high tech tanks (only for plants to sell). What they don't have in, they can order (just about anything) to have within 24-48 hours. But guess it's a big city and likely to be quite different in smaller towns etc.

 

[shrimply]

Yeah I feel really lucky having such a reliable source where i live. In fact we have the only specialist reptile shop and aquatis shops in the whole county and the only stockist of marine fish( even though it isn't that well stocked). I have never had problems getting plants or livestock which he wouldn't usually stock. Apart from moss which he in the past hadn't been able to sell as people did not know how to use it and he was not able to order only a small amout.

 

[Themuleous]

I wish some one round here knew something about a propper planted tank. all the pet shops are all about the fish, and nothing else,

Whats EI??

Estimative index, read this thread

 

[Bloo]

I wish some one round here knew something about a propper planted tank. all the pet shops are all about the fish, and nothing else,

Whats EI??

Estimative index, read this thread

Ps: Don't feel silly if you don't get it reading the first time round If you do (get it first time round), I'll be very impressed ! lol

It took me forever to understand it and really grasp it.

 

[lljdma06]

Yes, I've had the same experience in my LFS. The owner still thinks I'm making a mistake by dosing nitrates. I told him about EI, and he was like "what?"; and this is a good LFS. In Miami, it's all about big cichlids and Marine, not that that's bad, buto finding a place where they even sell plants is really hard. I buy my stuff online.

I agree with gf that the situation is going to change soon.

 

[Themuleous]

Ps: Don't feel silly if you don't get it reading the first time round If you do (get it first time round), I'll be very impressed ! lol

It took me forever to understand it and really grasp it.

Haha good point

As for the shops, you've probably read my recent thread re the Gold Fish Bowl, I guess all this 'lack of knowledge' just means there are plenty of people for us all to tell! I cant stop telling people! We're like fredom fighters for plants