- Location
- Upper West Side
Marrone, you are entitled to your opinion... I am in the hobby because I enjoy studying the animals in my care. I dont particularly care for water changes and the other mundane things that come with keeping a reeftank. Kinda like an oil change. I know how to do it, but I am not about to try to change my cars oil on a city street when I can get it done for $25 bucks in 10 minutes. (Oil, disposal of old oil and labor!)
Aside from health issues, I just dont have the time (or desire) to spend one day a month changing 40 gallons of water and fussing with the plumbing... Not to mention that I don't have room for the rubber maid containers I would need to change 40 gallons at one shot! (I live in a two bedroom apartment) It is great that I can count on someone (in this case Tim) to come by once a month with 40 gallons of water in buckets and a rubbermaid container to change water. It is also great that if I have a leak, go away for a weekend, get a migraine or have a tank emergency I can call on him and he will make it in a day or so.
Last week I had surgery- they removed my wisdom teeth and had to cut into my jaw, not pleasant. I was stupid and was under the influence of percocet and accepted my fathers invite to Aquarium Warehouse in NJ. (I paid for it later, it took a lot out of me!) Well... Found a fish I really wanted (Regal angel) that was eating like a pig and bought it. Figured he could give the large damsel a fair fight. Boy was I wrong (must have been the percocet- I should have known better) In my condition there was NO WAY I was going to be able to get the damsels out. A buddy came by to try and help, but I had no large plastic containers for rock, no buckets for water, and he tried, in vain, to catch the fish with a net.
Long story short, Tim was scheduled to perform some maintenance. He ended up spending several hours catching both damsels and rearranging my rockwork. If I would have done it I would have passed out from the stress and would have popped my stitches... ;-) Well worth the small fee I paid him to do it for me, dont you say?
Could I have asked for help here on MR? Probably, but while I contribute to the discussions quite a bit (lately) I have never gone to a frag swap and have only met a handful of you guys. Based on what I have seen, I am sure that I would have eventually gotten some help, but probably too late for my regal. (Hey, most of us work)
I spend about 15 minutes a day observing my tank, feeding the fish, fussing with the little things (like the poll about wet hands). But the little time I have free is precious and I would rather not spend two days to change my water when someone is set up for it and can do it in 20 minutes.
-Alfred
Aside from health issues, I just dont have the time (or desire) to spend one day a month changing 40 gallons of water and fussing with the plumbing... Not to mention that I don't have room for the rubber maid containers I would need to change 40 gallons at one shot! (I live in a two bedroom apartment) It is great that I can count on someone (in this case Tim) to come by once a month with 40 gallons of water in buckets and a rubbermaid container to change water. It is also great that if I have a leak, go away for a weekend, get a migraine or have a tank emergency I can call on him and he will make it in a day or so.
Last week I had surgery- they removed my wisdom teeth and had to cut into my jaw, not pleasant. I was stupid and was under the influence of percocet and accepted my fathers invite to Aquarium Warehouse in NJ. (I paid for it later, it took a lot out of me!) Well... Found a fish I really wanted (Regal angel) that was eating like a pig and bought it. Figured he could give the large damsel a fair fight. Boy was I wrong (must have been the percocet- I should have known better) In my condition there was NO WAY I was going to be able to get the damsels out. A buddy came by to try and help, but I had no large plastic containers for rock, no buckets for water, and he tried, in vain, to catch the fish with a net.
Long story short, Tim was scheduled to perform some maintenance. He ended up spending several hours catching both damsels and rearranging my rockwork. If I would have done it I would have passed out from the stress and would have popped my stitches... ;-) Well worth the small fee I paid him to do it for me, dont you say?
Could I have asked for help here on MR? Probably, but while I contribute to the discussions quite a bit (lately) I have never gone to a frag swap and have only met a handful of you guys. Based on what I have seen, I am sure that I would have eventually gotten some help, but probably too late for my regal. (Hey, most of us work)
I spend about 15 minutes a day observing my tank, feeding the fish, fussing with the little things (like the poll about wet hands). But the little time I have free is precious and I would rather not spend two days to change my water when someone is set up for it and can do it in 20 minutes.
-Alfred