Lfs Ideas...

[Squid]

Wouldnt it be good if LFS could do a few things to make my life easier.. like...


sell pre soaked / soaking bogwood - (they do it with the bogwood with plants on, but the rest is dry.. would save me soaking it for ages to reduce the tannins.

Put snail remover in their plant tanks - if i want snails, i'll buy snails.. any reason this couldnt be done.? Btw... has anyone used snail remover to pour over their plants before putting them in the tank?

Sell pre washed sand - people say even the proper aquatic stuff needs rinsing.

Sell pre-rinsed laterite

heres a good one - Pre-cycled filters and sponges - big tanks, tonnes of filters and someone adding loads of ammonia. Id pay good money for that!

Ive come to the conclusion that i am just a lazy bugger. Im impatient too, and just want a tank that can be up and running a little quicker.

Im sure you all have thought, "if they could just....." it would make it a whole lot easier..

Cheers
Squid the lazy bugger of Guildford.!

 

[annka5]

yeah, you're definitely daft, but the LFS ideas are out of character... I like 'em!!
1) I don't mind the yelloy browny colouration, but do worry for the tannic acid in my already-very-acidic-and-soft water.
2) Try dipping them in salt water bath for a few minutes instead, then rinse them. It's cheaper and quicker than snail-killer solution. I've used both methods, and find that the prob with snail solution is that you need to repeat it over a few days. Could be just the kind I bought.
3) Yep, except that it would be all wet and green and slimy by the time you bought it.
4) Pre-cylced filter media - good one. Impractical, but good idea....

PS - it's not laziness. You are proactively seeking more efficient uses of your time and energy.

 

[Squid]

yeah, you're definitely daft

good stuff... its not often im right..

PS - it's not laziness. You are proactively seeking more efficient uses of your time and energy.

I like your style..

 

[CFC]

sell pre soaked / soaking bogwood

seen this one, it was sold by weight, water is heavy, you get the idea.

Sell pre washed sand

seen this one too, sold in tiny 1kg bags for £3 each. I never wash sand, just dampen the sand first and take care not to disturb is too much when filling the tank (i place a dinner plate on the substrate and pour the water onto that) and you wont get cloudy water.

heres a good one - Pre-cycled filters and sponges

there was a shop featured in PFK a while ago doing this one, cant remember the name though.

 

[Torrean]

I've thought about that filter idea a good bit. It seems kind of cumbersome to install a refrigeration unit and transport the bacteria in a refrigerated truck just to get live bacteria into your tank. I'm talking about BIO-Spira btw. My solution would be for each LFS to set up a large 75-125 Gallon tank with several powerheads with no filters running in the tank then fill the tank with ornaments (like the one in my sig ) then sell the ornaments in buckets of tank water. Keep the tank full of snails to reduce the risk of transmitting diseases or like you said add ammonia daily. What do you guys think. I was planning on starting a thread about this today but since this one is here i'll just steal it.

 

[acetennis2002]

they all sound like good ideas especially the bogwood. no more tea like water. I recently bought some bog wood from my LFS but when i tried to soak it IT DIDNT SINK With pre soaked bog wood you wouldent have to worrie about that

 

[rdd1952]

My solution would be for each LFS to set up a large 75-125 Gallon tank with several powerheads with no filters running in the tank then fill the tank with ornaments (like the one in my sig ) then sell the ornaments in buckets of tank water. Keep the tank full of snails to reduce the risk of transmitting diseases or like you said add ammonia daily.

I don't know that the ornaments would provide enough bacteria to help jump start a tank much since you couldn't add it directly to your filter. Also, most people would end up with an ornament that they didn't really want. I only have one artificial ornament in any of my tanks and it's a piece my wife bought (and I'm not about to take it out...lol).

I had always wondered why a LFS wouldn't carry some type of cycled filters. It seems as though it would be a good business for them and wouldn't require a lot of effort, just a large tank with numerous filters running and someone to add ammonia everyday. But then again, if everyone had a cycled tank, they wouldn't lose as many fish and the LFS wouldn't get to sell as many.

 

[@ombomb]

(like the one in my sig

what is that in you sig...?

 

[ARXC08]

I bought my bogwood presoaked kinda expensive though. But would really help it they put snail remover in, right now i'm having a snail problem.

 

[Inchworm]

I'd be happy if the lfs would just keep their blackworms washed properly.

 

[_Cal_]

sell pre soaked / soaking bogwood - (they do it with the bogwood with plants on, but the rest is dry.. would save me soaking it for ages to reduce the tannins.

One of my lfs sells presoaked bigwood but its expensive, and not really worth it.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

But then again, if everyone had a cycled tank, they wouldn't lose as many fish and the LFS wouldn't get to sell as many

Lfs' don't really make money on fish, especially the more common fish in the hobby, most lfs' lose money on fish. The lfs I work at for instance has morons coming in by the dozens everyday with dead fish. Then I have to give them a refund because there is no way that they can admit that it is their faul the fish died. SO in fact your giving away money and fish.

This is why lfs' do not sell pre cycled filters. As with any retail endeavor, there will be certain people who will want to return the filters (most likely morons who do not understand how cycling works). Some will claim that all their fish died after they put the filter in. They will then make the assumption that since the fish died after adding the filter, it must have been the fault of the filter. This is the same ignorant logic americans use everday in every matter of their life. They will then tell their friends about the incident and their friends will tell others and soon people will think that a specific lfs is selling a product that kills your fish and therefore the lfs does not know what they're doing, when in reality its all the fault of one idiot who did not want to do their research.

There is constant information, true and untrue, passing by word of mouth about lfs' in a specific area, so there is too much at stake with precycled filters.

There are too many complications with selling something like precycled filters. Bogwood on the other hand is sold pre soaked. In the chicagoland area at least. I guess its different in the UK. Some might think that the same problems with precycled filters would occur with bogwood, but that doesn't happen I think because usually the people who are buying bogwood are those who have experience in the hobby and even beginners don't buy bogwood until later. Plus there are many people who do not understand the function of the filter and what occurs in the actualy components of the filter, so they are more likely to jump to moronic and uninformed conclusions about filters.

I'd like to make one side note, several times I've accomplished a completely cycled tank in 6 days or less using fish food and biozyme. Using a precycled filter probably would take just as long or longer, so I don't see any bennefit.

 

[Torrean]

what is that in you sig...?

It's an ornament I made for my 55, while taking a pottery class. I've now made many more and I'm trying to think of marketing ideas. The bacteria is just one idea I came up with. BTW one of the benefits of my particular ornaments is that they are pourous. With powerheads and no filter media all the bacteria in the tank would be on the gravel, glass and throughout my ornaments. Since oxygenated water passes through the piece bacteria will (theoretically) colonize the entire piece, inside and out. If anyone has any opinions about this please speak up. Another thought that I've had is to make slender pieces with small holes all around the bottom then I'd put a flexible air stone in the bottom and fill the piece up with gravel or other filter media. Then the customer could take the "filter" home and run it in there tank for a couple weeks to introduce the bacteria. If they like the bubble filter then they can keep it if not they could dry it out and bring it back to the lfs. Renting bacteria. By the way how can BIOZYME work if it is not refrigerated and has no shelf life. I'm not calling you a liar I just don't understand. I used it and got no results, my cycle took over a month.

 

[karlp]

I like it! Good ideas there!

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

By the way how can BIOZYME work if it is not refrigerated and has no shelf life. I'm not calling you a liar I just don't understand. I used it and got no results, my cycle took over a month.

I have no idea, and this is a part of a concern I've been grappling with the past couple of weeks, so I'd like people to chime in on this.

Personally I have had excellent success using, several times, the same package of biozyme that I purchased about a year ago. However, I recently helped a mother and her daughter start a goldfish tank using this biozyme. Under the circumstances, which is a long story that I don't want to get into, I was forced to advise them on the quickest and best way to assure a successfully cycled tank. I insisted they do a fishless cycle and laid out the process that I used and was successful with in my own tanks using the biozyme.

Unfortunately they returned about 1 1/2 weeks later and told me their fish died, I had them bring a water sample which I tested and found the tank had not even begun to cycle. They insisted that they followed my written directions, in which I even included direction for testing the water and provided them with free test strips. But, there is one extra step I added that I myself did not use with my tanks. Because I was really afraid they were going to hurt the fish I gave them amquel and instructed them to add the amquel on the morning of the day they were to add the fish.

So here is my question, was the problem with the biozyme, and it possibly not working, or was the problem with adding the amquel disrupting the cycle.

My personal belief is that amquel should only be used in emergencies, and I considered this situation an emergency. Since this is my beleif, I have yet to use amquel, however, according to the label amquel does not disrupt the cycle. I prefer not to depend solely on labels, but I have also read a couple times on this forum that amquel does not disrupt the cycle. I have not seen anything on this forum to suggest otherwise. So, is this true, or does amquel in actuality disrupt the cycle?

I have to get to the bottom of this and I would appreciate any help anyone can give me.

In response to torean's question, I don't know how biozyme can survive, but I do know that there are many organisms that can survive in a dormant state in a range of adverse conditions, and can revive when ideal conditions are met, so I'm thinking this may be how it works.