The useless junk they try to sell you

cymrufem said:
Karl , yes I am of Welsh heritage, good eyes!
I understand what you are saying with the unnatural looks of many ornaments.......I just bought a much larger tank. I plan to decorate this in a more naturalistic way, focussing on driftwood and plants. But since Winky is so attached to "his" castle, it will go into the new tank until he outgrows it. Shouldn't be long, as the boy is growing like mad crazy!
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Cymru is Welsh for Wales, so it's not hard. Most English people know that, but most don't know how to pronounce it. ;). I wonder how many people pronounce your screen name "Simroofem"? ;)
 
KarlTh said:
Cymru is Welsh for Wales, so it's not hard. Most English people know that, but most don't know how to pronounce it. ;). I wonder how many people pronounce your screen name "Simroofem"? ;)
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I would guess about as many folks think it is pronounced Kimroofem:grinyes:
FYI for anyone curious, Cymru is pronounced "come-ree".
 
echoofformless said:
I have had plenty of fish heal from scrapes without adding anything at all. I heal from scrapes without anything either. In fact pretty much all living things will heal from minor scrapes and abrasions because cells reproduce and repair. That's just life.



My additions to this thread are:

Ammonia removing filter media. You shouldn't be worrying about ammonia in a tank because your tank should be cycled before you have anyone living in there who might get hurt by the ammonia!

Ammonia alert. An established aquarium will never, ever have an ammonia problem unless you've done some massive mistakes - and you would be well aware of those mistakes and hopefully be testing for the ammonia anyway!
Blackwater extract. A bag of aquarium peat will last you for the better part of a year and cost only about eight dollars; all the while doing a far more natural and effective job. Or you could buy blackwater extract that does little more than tint your water and pay a dollar per water change so that the annual cost is like sixty dollars.

Snail killer. Stop committing genocide on these harmless little creatures! And especially don't do it by filling your aquarium with noxious garbage. Do you think the other inhabitants would appreciate that stuff in their water? Deal with snails by not overfeeding, and by accepting them as part of a natural and well functioning aquatic habitat.

Many different foods are useless junk. Especially the supposedly high end ones like Hikari. They often have the same crappy ingredients and fillers than lower prices brands contain. And the foods often meant for certain types of fish (discus, oscars etc) are usually no different than the general staple flakes or pellets anyway with maybe just a few added things that those fish like. Best to have a well rounded selection of various foods than to depend on one thing.


Wet/dry filters for all but the most seriously huge and overstocked systems. The massive amounts of ammonia that require ridiculously massive bacterial colonies would only come from having your tank ludicrously overstocked.
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Wth is wrong with Ammonia Alert? It has two main purposes; Something dies and gets sucked into a filter e.g. a feeder guppy or something and that CAN cause a chain reaction if the tank is cycled, but not possessing a full algae coat. The more practical use is a fishy cycle or cycling in general. When I started my first tank I wasn't about to fork out $40 for a master FW test kit. Are you nuts? I put an Ammonia alert in it and if you know what the Nitrites and ates are supposed to do according to the Ammonia, you will know when it is cycled. It reads ammonia and helps to cycle + do you want to get out all the crap and test the exact params every time you add a few extra flakes of food or a feeder dies? Absolutely not. It gives approximate values to someone who isn't completely aware of what one miscalculation can do without testing your water for rabies and alien diseases as well. Wasn't the whole point of this thread to bash things that don't do what they are supposed to? If you think I am going to return my Ammonia alert that lasts a whole year for ten bucks vs. a master test kit for everyday use, you can go eat an Ammonia alert refill.

I'm done ranting.
 
Me, I don't trust it. Too much like an inaccurate test stips. And me personally, I would fork out the $30+ for the kit. For one, Ammonia Alert only lets you know about ammonia, just one part of the cycle, it does not show you nitrites, another very important part of the cycle.

Second, approximate values are useless IMO, I'd much rather know the exact measurement than some wild guess.

Third, I need that PH and Nitrate test so I can see if my tank is running out of nitrates or what the CO2 level of my tank is.

Fourth, You only need to test everyday to make sure your cycle is going, after that, once a week or once a month. I never test NH3 (or NH4) or N02, but I do have it in case I suspect something.

Fifth, Take that attitude to the reefers and I'm sure you would get flamed, or at least laughed at. For Reefers, at Master Test Kit is an absolute MUST, One dead fish could kill off a couple hundred dollars worth of corals. lemme see here, am I gonna trust $300 worth of coral to a 5 buck product that may or may not work, or am I gonna invest in a $30 kit that I can trust. Meh, pretty obvious to me.

Skimping on test equipment is like skimping on a PSU for a computer, if trust a $10 Power Supply on $500 worth of parts, your crazy.
 
I'm addicted to this thread. Look how many posts are added on a regular basis. It's funny but what some of us see as useless, another sees as useful. That's why there are so many aquarium products out there - we approach this hobby from so many different angles.

Speaking of "useless" - I am one for a natural looking aquarium. My husband on the other hand just had to have a sunken ship in his 29 gallon, and I thought "How tacky". Well I'm in the process of setting up a 20 gallon long for snails only, and I bought a little statue of a mermaid holding a snail! My husband is betting me that when I take pics once the tank is set up that I remove the statue so you won't see it.
 
haha Z...

I would add almost any chemical to be considered 'useless', at least in my estimation, that claims to get rid of algae or change water conditions or whatever "without any ill effects"

strip tests are BY FAR the worst...totally inaccurate (found out through experience)

fert tablets are a waste IME, I never saw any benefits of adding them

the "CO2 kits" are useless as DIY are EXACTLY the same and a lot cheaper (found that out as well)

any product that contains the word "betta" in it is most likely a flop.

the bar-magnet algae scrapers always seemed to fail for me...not sure if others have had the same experience.

products like cycle, ect. are complete junk...

I can't think specifically of any more but I'm sure I could.
 
KarlTh said:
Cymrufem (you of Welsh extraction?) - it's not that the fish don't interact with things like castles, just that they look wrong in what many aquarists feel should be a natural looking environment.
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You threw natural out the window when you decided to keep fish in a glass box
 
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