Misinformation in books

[waterwatereverywhere]

Browsing through the books at a lfs, I was looking at the Interpet Question and Answer Guide to FW aquaria. I noticed it had a section on maturing the tank and wondered what it had to say.

Well, it did sort of talk about fishless cycling. Except... apparently, you set the tank up, put your plants in after five days, then, wait for it, the tank will take exactly 36 days to cycle. No mention of anything you have to do to cycle it, it just happens on its own, and always takes this magic number of days to finish.

How do they get away with writing this stuff??!!

(PS Mods please delete this if it's libellous! )

 

[Mesome]

I believe that technically it would work, but I never believe any magic numbers when it comes to cycling. The plants will produce waste (amonia) as leaves die and what not. Eventually the amonia eating bateria will find it's way to your tank, and so on and so on. You would still have to stock your tank slow since the bacteria present will be enough to take care of the plant waste until the fish start producing waste, there fore increasing the food supply and growth potential for the bacteria colonies. However, it would be much longer then other methods.

 

[guppygirl]

he he he... not so magic AFTER all!
Personally, I don't believe much out of fish books and ppl unless I get like 3 other verifications!

 

[Mesome]

he he he... not so magic AFTER all!
Personally, I don't believe much out of fish books and ppl unless I get like 3 other verifications!

I agree. I read and ask and read and ask before I make any decisions. Usually if you put together what you learn, you can weed out the garbage and be on the right track!

Alacazam!

 

[Sorrell]

That's funny that you mention this topic...I have a fish book that has maintanace charts for marine and salt tanks. Next to water parameters testing, on marine tanks it says as needed, and on freshwater is says N/A. WHAT?! I was blown away!

 

[fishdudein]

Yeah, any Joe Schmo can write a book about any topic they choose. Buy books by people whose opinion you can trust, read aquarium magazines to find out who those people are. Oftentimes, there is more than one way to do a thing, and the end result will be the same, it's just that I have a preference for my own well traveled route to get there...

 

[Sky042]

that would aggravate people. I'm sorry miss. You've purchased that tank and such but according to my book you'll need to wait 39 days exactly before you purchase fish.

 

[freshmike]

Hypothesis......it's all dependant on circumstances. As far as I am concerned, if it does not deal with meds and cures (which is still questionable) then it is all depenedant on the situation.....36 days? I cycled my 180 gallon in 9 days.....no spikes....just got it as dirty as I could, as fast as I could (cleaned all filters into it)


Facts are facts....sometimes ........ideas are ideas......all the time....what works for you may not work for others, what works for others may not work for you.....but you will learn as you go and develope your own FACTS.


The idea that nothing is a fact, works for me. Everything changes, and the definite is never definite. Narrow thinking will almost always cause disaster.

Just think about the medical profession in general.....is it ever defifite?

 

[mrV]

I think that most of those books are just copied from other books - writer hasn't probably done any examination, just read other books and copied.. Same errors have been copied from books to another book. That's why most of aquarium books are just rubbish.