Newb's helping us out

[Tokis-Phoenix]

This thread is not to have a go at newb's at all in anyway at all but to simply make things a little easier for us all, i thought i'd do a little list of things that can realy help you when you join the forum and us too ;

a. Fill out your profile as soon as posible with your tank size(preferably in gallons or litres), fish species and their numbers and sizes- if you ever have any issues in your tank or want to discuss tank stocking or similar stuff it helps if you have filled your profile out with this sort of info so you don't have to type it all out every time you do a thread on this sort of thing but can simply direct people to your profile info .

b. For emergency or worry threads about your tank or fish, writing down your recent stats of ammonia, nitrates and nitrites is very useful as people will usualy ask you for these stats at some point and most fish/tank problems are related to water quality issues or need them taken into consideration.

c. When you are describing an issue in fish whatever it is, it helps alot if you can type it down in as much detail and info as you can about your situation- even if the things don't seem important they may actually play a big part in solving your fish issue and creating a more accurate picture of it .

d. Read the pinned articles whenever you can, especially about cycling tanks if you don't know what its all about or how to go about it as cycling your tank correctly and understanding the basic water chemistry in your tank and how it all works is a very important part of fish keeping and can save you many fish lives if gone about in the right way .

e. Don't feel scared or shy to do threads about an issues you may have in fish keeping, no question is too stupid, one of the main aspects of this forum is to share knolege about fish keeping and to help people and their fish out and be happy them and to also make friends with other fish keepers if you want. If you feel you are being picked on by any members just tell a Mod via the PM system in your control panel and they'll sort it out for you .

If anyone has anything else to add to this thread or wants to comment on anything, feel free too

 

[fish_keeper2]

thanks, this is gonna hel p a lot. hope a mod pins this

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Um, yeah i just thought i should bump this thread as there seems alot of newb's here who'd benifet from reading it, heh

 

[ncjharris]

Good post Tokis.

Think this should be pinned or incorporated into the FAQ's/T&C's

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks , also i forgot to add that its also useful when you join the forum and have a fish issue that you say how long your tank has been set up for and wether its cycled as i often find myself explaining the cycle process to people and half the time they then say their tank is fully matured .

 

[Tolak]

It's also good to have your location, many meds available in the U.S. are not available in the U.K. You folks overseas really get shafted on the availability of fish meds.

Tolak

 

[rdd1952]

Good stuff. Here is a list of items that someone posted in another forum that I used to visit. Unfortunately that forum doesn't have the capability to do pinned topics. People tried to keep it up by bumping it but it finally died. Unfortunately not enough people read the pinned topics so even if this get pinned, it might not help. It would be nice if you went to this pinned (hopefully) topic every time you clicked "New Topic" in the Emergency Section. At least people would see it before they actually started their thread. Anyway, here's the list. Some you have already covered.

Size of Tank
Stock inside the tank
Planted/Unplanted
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH Readings
KH/GH Readings (if you have them)
Percentage and Recency of water changes
Proximity to sunlight
Amount of time lights are on
Any Chemical Usage such as:
Dechlorinators
pH increasers/decreasers
Medications of any kind
Fertilizers
As well as anything other product being added

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Good list you have there, im gonna save it for future use heh heh