What Is Something That Is Overrated In The Hobby?

[Aquariumaddictuk]

BRS Videos and articles, anything printed on the bottle of a supplement or product, ICP testing and chemicals rebranded for reef use. Most folks with YouTube channels. Build threads where people show me boxes, unboxing and routing cords and stuff.

Agree on vast majority of YouTubers.
It's usually just an attempt to shill products from manufacturers that endorse them.
Melevs reef & parkers reef are only guys I find informative & normally great content

 

[afrokobe]

If you want biodiversity, then IPSF.com has mud and critters for sale. This stuff has a long track record of happy customers.

second this option. Gerald is great

 

[Hot2na]

Rock flower anemones.

 

[MaxTremors]

$75 test kit, $30 additives, and a dosing pump of $260 before you start adding in my time or replenishing the additives or the test kit. My water bill is minimal as I am on septic with no sewage charges. House of 4, two tanks, a pool, irrigation, and 1000g a week pond changes and my bill averages $50/m. For the cost of adding another 20g water change biweekly, it would be roughly 40 extra water changes spanning across almost a 2 year period before I hit the initial costs of the dosing.

You don’t need the dosing pump, the test kits are closer to $50, and the additives are more like $20 (less if you make them yourself). If you’re keeping stony corals you will eventually hit a point where water changes won’t be adequate, if there is any growth whatsoever, even with frequent water changes, your alk will slowly become lower and lower. Water changes are great, but they aren’t a good method of maintaining alkalinity.

 

[Pyrogens]

LEDs or you fail mentality really bugs me along with other hobbyists criticizing another person's success because they use unconvential methods. Also, alot of "supplements/cure alls" that have no real science behind the actual claimed benefit(s). I feel like I'm rambling at this point lol!

 

[brandon429]

surface area and bacteria.

reef tank displays don't ever run low on either. believing opposite is the biggest fleecing of buyers in reefing. there's an entire sales industry backed by podium speakers designed to make us think reef displays, specifically, run low on either bacteria or surface area and they just don't. nearly all the work threads I do plays up on this truth. we can remove whatever bacteria and surface area you have beyond your live rock and nothing is going to crash (any rip clean thread, any tank transfer thread, any removal of canister filter or bioballs searchable thread)

heck, we could then remove 70% of your live rock specifically in the display and it still wouldn't crash (unable to control it's ammonia bioload on a calibrated seneye machine) even if you added three new fish on that date. I can't possibly state effectively enough reef displays don't run low on bacteria nor surface area, so the sales flossin' against the masses who buy reinforcements to things that don't need reinforcement will continue.

if you have a cycled display reef and you're thinking on expending money on something that has the trigger word 'bacteria' or 'surface area' expect to get taken for that cash/

of course reefs will tolerate the extras you want to install and pay for, no prob there. they're resilient. if I added four new tires to my truck in addition to the four it already has/an all-around dually, the truck would still roll down the road

the price would be less mileage and more wear

the price for all the redundant unneeded bacteria in reefing we buy and install is more o2 competition against your fish, more waste production, more alk usage etc but things adapt.

 

[The Roaming Reefer]

I think its more of a "the mark ups are unreal". Noted a few pages back that I wanted to buy some Caribsea LifeRock. At the LFS it was $175 with me carrying it out the door. Online I got it for $120 with free shipping to my door. If UPS charges about $36 to ship a 20lb box, assume mass shipping discount, probably $20-25 to ship. The vendor I got it from is netting about $100 from the sale and still making a profit worth their time and effort to literally move rocks. The mark up at the LFS shop then looks insane. Now with multiple vendors merging product lines, single companies are controlling the pricing a lot more and setting their own standards for pricing. When Product X and Product Y are similar priced you don't think its expensive until you realize Company Z owns both.

Things like rock typically carry a volume discount. Your local store may move one box for every 20 that the online vendor moves. They may only make $50-80 off that box. Online vendors usually operate out of warehouse space which runs around half the cost per sq foot when compared to a retail LFS.
I’m more speaking with regard to MAP priced equipment (eco tech, Neptune, Red Sea, etc)

 

[jimfish98]

Things like rock typically carry a volume discount. Your local store may move one box for every 20 that the online vendor moves. They may only make $50-80 off that box. Online vendors usually operate out of warehouse space which runs around half the cost per sq foot when compared to a retail LFS.
I’m more speaking with regard to MAP priced equipment (eco tech, Neptune, Red Sea, etc)

Even with MAP pricing. BRS, Neptune, Ecotech, AI.....all the same company. The company that owns Brightwell owns Reef Octopus, Klir, Coralvue, and about 20 other companies. Who is to say what is fair and good pricing when so much of the hobby is controlled by two CEO's. Your LED light could cost $20 out of the factory but sell to you for $400 and it seem fair as every light is $400. In the koi hobby we saw this with RDF drums, two vendors controlled it and prices were massive. A business man in CA went to the makers in China, got a variation and sold it at half the price while turning a giant profit, everyone else dropped prices. Free market gives us a fair price and I am not sure we have that in the hobby, just an illusion of choices.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Having MS, fleece rollers are great, but that is my situation.

Something I did not consider from my fully mobile perspective. This is a great point. If they make it easy for you, that's definitely not overrated.

 

[MnFish1]

In this hobby there isn't just one way to success, though some people will try to tell you that. There are many opinions and methods to try, many species to keep and many brands and products to use. And while most of them work well or are nice to keep, some of them aren't as good as people give them credit to be. That being said, what do you think are some of the most overrated aspects of the reefkeeping hobby?


I'll go first


#1: Ecotech vortechs, while they are definitely a quality product, $800 is alot to pay for what is simply a wireless powerhead.

#2: Acans, controversial but favias are arguably much better

#3: Chromis, that school won't last for long.


What's your list?

Controllers.

EDIT - Over-relying on controllers. One still needs to watch/double check the parameters, etc.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Personally cant stand zoanthids, look terrible as a frag and don't get much better as they grow also "high end" can take a leap off a cliff

lol !!!!

 

[bvanfish]

Gonna get roasted. Torches

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Controllers.

EDIT - Over-relying on controllers. One still needs to watch/double check the parameters, etc.

Agreed, there is always a chance for error.

 

[zheka757]

Gonna get roasted. Torches

Wife hates them, couse they remind her of worms. I personally don't get torches ether, for the price, they are not that great of a coral to me, I prefer hammer coral over torch.

 

[FrugalReefer]

Activated carbon. Yes it does wonders making water crystal clear but it takes out a lot of good stuff also.

 

[douglasbnyhof]

Those crazy expensive “holy grail”corals-
Under normal lights they don’t look that different from cheaper options and the average non-hobbyist probably finds pulsing Xenia better looking.

Rimless tanks-
They look cool in photos but allow fish to jump, things to fall into the tank, and are more expensive in general.

Tbf I love Xenia

 

[yanni]

Tbf I love Xenia

Haha same here man. I absolutely love my xenia colony, has a beautiful light pink colour, clowns love it and their nems, good for nutrient removal, easy to prune, and just great movement

I’m a softie diehard, absolutely love soft corals and any sort of nems

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Wife hates them, couse they remind her of worms. I personally don't get torches ether, for the price, they are not that great of a coral to me, I prefer hammer coral over torch.

Frogspawn. The best euphyllia by far. Torches are a close second, though hammers aren't my favorite, beautiful, yes. Will I stock my tank with them, yes. But I prefer Torches and frogspawn

 

[doubleshot00]

Torches and fleece rollers.

Torches either grow like weeds or die within 2 weeks. Then they kill everything around them.

Fleece rollers strip so much out so quickly that most beginners have zero nutrients and wonder why they have dinos. IMO they have done more harm than good.

 

[Slocke]

Me!
I’ve been tagged in coral issue threads recently. I suck at growing corals. People need to stop rating me. My tank is a mess!