-Hi, this blog is to teach a person how to learn for themselves about how to take care of fish by supplementing their learning with valid credible suggestions. I myself am noob and in no way professional. You should keep in mind a professional should never give advice they are not certain of. All my advice has come from people who breed fish and plants for commercial purposes and intend to be competitive in the industry.
-Never make a chemical change due to a person telling you to do so without having a chemical test done first (the person may be in UK telling you to do stuff to your tank and you're in Arizona). This applies to certainty. I personally had to explain what a controlled environment was on fishforums.net before I was run out by nasty comments and a subjective admin who didn't know how to read and was blind to the fact that most of the bloggers were giving bad advice on issues they could not possibly know about. A Controlled environment would all have to be done in the same room practically. Some people just don't even know what the scientific method is or anything about adaptive processes of evolution and they will flap their advice. Don't listen to blogs from someone who has never looked at a single test reading from your aquarium unless it is the most basic of basic advice (such as Ph levels). Test the water after every water change yourself or have an expert do it!
Give your readings, do your online research(Most is already there on multiple university or commercial products sites), send a clear picture or video, then get your advice.
AQUARIUM BASICS I have picked up
An aquarium needs to be biologically balanced. You won't know if the tank needs a supplement or a change without proper testing. Don't add the CO2 unless there is some deficiency you know about. Many bloggers will just tell you to make a change without knowing your aquarium conditions and may be majorly detrimental towards your personal controlled condition aquarium health. You will definitely need a master test kit for the water or someone to do it for you. Plants like fish require specific ph and CO2 levels as well as specific air mixtures (dont mix plants and fish with drastically different requirements). Overall perfect balance is key and trying to create a mix of conditions for plant species from multiple different environments is not a good thing. Knowing about evolutions and compromise is important when setting up controlled environmental experiments. If you have fish that like 7.0 Ph, mix with plants that like 7.0 Ph.
-CO2
95% of the time a CO2 pump is not necessary as CO2 is in the air naturally. Don't put a CO2 pump in without having an expert look at a picture and specs of your tank. CO2 readings may be drastically different in different parts in the world (especially from rural to urban environments). Too much CO2 your fish die, too little CO2, well your plants may just not do as well. I have also seen CO2 test kits. Keeping it simple, balanced, and using your head is your best bet.
To Summarize
Avoiding advice from people that don't know your current aquarium controlled environment state and chemical balance is key (They could literally kill your tank in a few key strokes or improper advice for your tank).
An expert who gives advice without truly knowing your conditions is not an expert no matter how much they think they know.
Your tank will always have a slightly different balance requirement than someone else from a different region, state, or city for that matter.
Remember, taking it step by step, day by day is key and use your head when reading blogs so you can mitigate blame in case of mistake.
A proper Mu of advice should be then carefully and lastly considered before making your changes to something already partially successful
-Never make a chemical change due to a person telling you to do so without having a chemical test done first (the person may be in UK telling you to do stuff to your tank and you're in Arizona). This applies to certainty. I personally had to explain what a controlled environment was on fishforums.net before I was run out by nasty comments and a subjective admin who didn't know how to read and was blind to the fact that most of the bloggers were giving bad advice on issues they could not possibly know about. A Controlled environment would all have to be done in the same room practically. Some people just don't even know what the scientific method is or anything about adaptive processes of evolution and they will flap their advice. Don't listen to blogs from someone who has never looked at a single test reading from your aquarium unless it is the most basic of basic advice (such as Ph levels). Test the water after every water change yourself or have an expert do it!
Give your readings, do your online research(Most is already there on multiple university or commercial products sites), send a clear picture or video, then get your advice.
AQUARIUM BASICS I have picked up
An aquarium needs to be biologically balanced. You won't know if the tank needs a supplement or a change without proper testing. Don't add the CO2 unless there is some deficiency you know about. Many bloggers will just tell you to make a change without knowing your aquarium conditions and may be majorly detrimental towards your personal controlled condition aquarium health. You will definitely need a master test kit for the water or someone to do it for you. Plants like fish require specific ph and CO2 levels as well as specific air mixtures (dont mix plants and fish with drastically different requirements). Overall perfect balance is key and trying to create a mix of conditions for plant species from multiple different environments is not a good thing. Knowing about evolutions and compromise is important when setting up controlled environmental experiments. If you have fish that like 7.0 Ph, mix with plants that like 7.0 Ph.
-CO2
95% of the time a CO2 pump is not necessary as CO2 is in the air naturally. Don't put a CO2 pump in without having an expert look at a picture and specs of your tank. CO2 readings may be drastically different in different parts in the world (especially from rural to urban environments). Too much CO2 your fish die, too little CO2, well your plants may just not do as well. I have also seen CO2 test kits. Keeping it simple, balanced, and using your head is your best bet.
To Summarize
Avoiding advice from people that don't know your current aquarium controlled environment state and chemical balance is key (They could literally kill your tank in a few key strokes or improper advice for your tank).
An expert who gives advice without truly knowing your conditions is not an expert no matter how much they think they know.
Your tank will always have a slightly different balance requirement than someone else from a different region, state, or city for that matter.
Remember, taking it step by step, day by day is key and use your head when reading blogs so you can mitigate blame in case of mistake.
A proper Mu of advice should be then carefully and lastly considered before making your changes to something already partially successful
