Old vs New Reefers (1 Viewer)

[Cody]

You know, I was on the phone with Holly yesterday (can't remember her username to tag her on here, those that have been in this community for a long time know exactly who I'm talking about) and we were talking about being in the hobby for a long time and how it effects how we engage online. In person, we both agreed that we are open books that will go out of our way to help out a fellow reefer. When it comes to a new random member online, it's harder to get in the mood to help/advise them. The conclusion we came to was that we've just had the same conversations so many times that it just become less fun to have. However, we were all new at some point, so it's important to support others when you can considering that other people helped us along as well.

Are we alone in this opinion? What do the older reefers think? Are you as enthusiastic about the hobby as you used to be?

Also, do people that are new to the hobby feel like they're getting the feedback that they want? Is the community welcoming and informative?

 

[BigRick]

It's like church.. you find the forum but to get more in depth you need small groups... u got to make friends.

A host can only do so much that its guests are willing to go participate in. Some people want more depth, some won't go past the basics.

I have friends who won't test their tanks, but they thrive, mainly time/money... but they've started watching the weekly/daily BRS episodes and that really helps a lot of beginners out.

I have a feeling the hobby is gonna thin out for a while cause of many factors.. high costs right now livestocks, spring break, tax season, and other geopolitical factors will hinder the hobby as most others will suffer too. I've gone thru it so many times in the aftermarket auto business. This time of the year people buy what they need not what they want.

 

[Erin]

For me, a lot comes down to whether a new reefer has done any research. This includes just doing a search on the forum to find their answers. I may be in the minority, but before I started my first saltwater tank, I did a lot of research and had a good understanding of what all was involved/important before going in. And I've done the same along the way with new livestock additions, equipment, etc.

We all run into emergencies, old or new, but when someone needs help and you can tell by the question that they have no idea about the basics, it makes me feel like someone wants to copy my homework (i.e. is too lazy to look up the information themselves).

 

[soymilk]

I have a feeling the hobby is gonna thin out for a while cause of many factors.. high costs right now livestocks, spring break, tax season, and other geopolitical factors will hinder the hobby as most others will suffer too. I've gone thru it so many times in the aftermarket auto business. This time of the year people buy what they need not what they want.

aka paying off that credit card debt from the holidays. This past holiday season has been the first that people started traveling again. It seemed like everyone went pretty hard this xmas season. stay at home hobbies seem to have started to stabilize.

10 years ago, I feel like marsh and the hobby itself was more tolerant of newbies making dumb mistakes. The stakes were low though. Everything was cheap, 20 dollar tangs, 15 dollar torches. I think in the past 10 years, the consensus has changed to be a bit more mindful about the lost of livestock due to "learning". With looming legislation overhead I think it makes total sense. We need to move towards a majority aquaculture mentality to help preserve our hobby. A bunch of newbies killing off a ton of stuff every year doesn't help that.

The lasting impact I feel is that grizzled veterans are less tolerant of newbies making dumb mistakes. Thus making the hobby a bit more standoffish. I've met a few new hobbyist and tried to guide them the best way I could, all of them have never heard of marsh and or show no willingness to join. Seems like they prefer facebook or instagram? I feel old lol

 

[nightster]

aka paying off that credit card debt from the holidays. This past holiday season has been the first that people started traveling again. It seemed like everyone went pretty hard this xmas season. stay at home hobbies seem to have started to stabilize.

10 years ago, I feel like marsh and the hobby itself was more tolerant of newbies making dumb mistakes. The stakes were low though. Everything was cheap, 20 dollar tangs, 15 dollar torches. I think in the past 10 years, the consensus has changed to be a bit more mindful about the lost of livestock due to "learning". With looming legislation overhead I think it makes total sense. We need to move towards a majority aquaculture mentality to help preserve our hobby. A bunch of newbies killing off a ton of stuff every year doesn't help that.

The lasting impact I feel is that grizzled veterans are less tolerant of newbies making dumb mistakes. Thus making the hobby a bit more standoffish. I've met a few new hobbyist and tried to guide them the best way I could, all of them have never heard of marsh and or show no willingness to join. Seems like they prefer facebook or instagram? I feel old lol

I feel like Facebook groups are replacing online forums. I think forums hold more knowledge if you are willing to look for it, but Facebook groups are more interactive.

 

[Erin]

I feel like Facebook groups are replacing online forums. I think forums hold more knowledge if you are willing to look for it, but Facebook groups are more interactive.

To a degree locally. But there are some excellent forums that have a lot of participation, members are from all over the country/world.

 

[soymilk]

prob with forums is its hard to navigate for a noob trying to find answers. As we know, reefing is constantly changing. What was "truth" 10 years ago might not be "truth" now. For example keeping nitrates and phosphates at 0. This was the mantra for years. Just recently the thought process has now been trying to keep it low yet high enough for corals to use to grow.

searching something like this on a forum will yield TONS of info, and a lot of it could be contradicting itself.

 

[TooMuchDog]

I feel like Facebook groups are replacing online forums. I think forums hold more knowledge if you are willing to look for it, but Facebook groups are more interactive.

As a relatively new reefer I prefer forums for the simple fact that I can search them. Facebook will have much more repeated convos because I can't just hit the search bar and see who's had and solved the same issue as me ten years ago.

 

[Erin]

prob with forums is its hard to navigate for a noob trying to find answers. As we know, reefing is constantly changing. What was "truth" 10 years ago might not be "truth" now. For example keeping nitrates and phosphates at 0. This was the mantra for years. Just recently the thought process has now been trying to keep it low yet high enough for corals to use to grow.

searching something like this on a forum will yield TONS of info, and a lot of it could be contradicting itself.

But, the sticky sections...

 

[RR-MAN]

I feel like Facebook groups are replacing online forums. I think forums hold more knowledge if you are willing to look for it, but Facebook groups are more interactive.

Scary thought...

I rather stick my pet fish in the freezer than take advice from FB groups regarding fish parasites.
The stuff I read is just horrifying. Even on some of the local FB reef groups...

I have a feeling the hobby is gonna thin out for a while cause of many factors.. high costs right now livestocks, spring break, tax season, and other geopolitical factors will hinder the hobby as most others will suffer too. I've gone thru it so many times in the aftermarket auto business. This time of the year people buy what they need not what they want.

Yeah prices are just outrageous...should I buy a $200 fish or frag this week.

 

[Cody]

Scary thought...

I rather stick my pet fish in the freezer than take advice from FB groups regarding fish parasites.
The stuff I read is just horrifying. Even on some of the local FB reef groups...




Yeah prices are just outrageous...should I buy a $200 fish or frag this week.

Be on the lookout for the upcoming Bingo night with HumbleFish as a guest speaker while giving away an Apex and other prizes! After that, an in-person DIY fish food/fragswap/bbq coming for marsh members in the next month or so.

 

[Tangs]

I do not like face book cus you give out too much personal info. Personal info in the wrong hands is not a good thing. If I find that I am repeating myself to newbees I just refer them to previous posts.

 

[Reefahholic]

I’m on Facebook for the 2nd time. I don’t care much for Facebook or really any social media platforms other than YouTube. I feel that they keep you too busy with complete nonsense constantly. That said, I do enjoy the interaction with my group of reefers, because the information shared is priceless. I block and turn off notifications for anything else other than reefing and I only tune into specific reefers or topics. I also follow a couple people on instagram because they don’t do Facebook.

 

[Cody]

I’m on Facebook for the 2nd time. I don’t care much for Facebook or really any social media platforms other than YouTube. I feel that they keep you too busy with complete nonsense constantly. That said, I do enjoy the interaction with my group of reefers, because the information shared is priceless. I block and turn off notifications for anything else other than reefing and I only tune into specific reefers or topics. I also follow a couple people on instagram because they don’t do Facebook.

Yeah what little social media presence I have is strictly reef related.

 

[BigRick]

Im must be getting old. I see the same games played over and over... forums/stores/vendors.

 

[Cody]

Im must be getting old. I see the same games played over and over... forums/stores/vendors.

What advice would you give to me if I were setting up a tank for the first time now?

 

[BigRick]

What advice would you give to me if I were setting up a tank for the first time now?

Not my gig. Plenty of advice out there if you research. Just like my job if I don't research i loose money.

 

[SCUBAFreaky]

What advice would you give to me if I were setting up a tank for the first time now?

Not sure if this was aimed just at BigRick or not, but whenever someone sees my tank for this time and says, I want to do that and what does it take, I point them to some BRS videos. The 5-Minute Guide - How to Setup a Saltwater Aquarium and Reef Tank Guide: 52 Weeks of Reefing are good places to start. Those videos usually filter out folks that are serious vs OOOH, shiny. Certainly the philosophies in the videos aren't perfect by any means, but it is an excellent education for someone to start learning what it really takes to have a chance at a successful reef tank. I think How To Videos are much easier to digest than searching through a forum when learning how to set up a reef tank for the first time. I had been out of the reefing game for while and I started with RC in 2012 to get back up to speed with all of the new technologies and latest philosophies before I discovered the BRS videos and my experience with RC was very negative. Folks could be real jerks and Know It Alls. That's why it took me so long to (re)join MARSH. That said, everyone on MARSH has been super awesome for sure! My $0.02.

 

[soymilk]

What advice would you give to me if I were setting up a tank for the first time now?

get out now while you still can

 

[BigRick]

Not sure if this was aimed just at BigRick or not, but whenever someone sees my tank for this time and says, I want to do that and what does it take, I point them to some BRS videos. The 5-Minute Guide - How to Setup a Saltwater Aquarium and Reef Tank Guide: 52 Weeks of Reefing are good places to start. Those videos usually filter out folks that are serious vs OOOH, shiny. Certainly the philosophies in the videos aren't perfect by any means, but it is an excellent education for someone to start learning what it really takes to have a chance at a successful reef tank. I think How To Videos are much easier to digest than searching through a forum when learning how to set up a reef tank for the first time. I had been out of the reefing game for while and I started with RC in 2012 to get back up to speed with all of the new technologies and latest philosophies before I discovered the BRS videos and my experience with RC was very negative. Folks could be real jerks and Know It Alls. That's why it took me so long to (re)join MARSH. That said, everyone on MARSH has been super awesome for sure! My $0.02.

+1 on BRS videos...