I was thinking that when he mentioned depth of the substrate and that every 3 month or years water change. I'd hate to even budge a pebble on that substrate.
Rethinking standard practice: 8 years, no testing, no disease.
- Thread starter vain
- Start date
Sorry, my lights sit over my tanks, not under the lids. All of my heaters have heater controls on them to prevent any issues such as shock or over heating and none of my filters have ever shocked or caused a hazard inside of a tank!
Also, my lights definitely don't weigh 80-90 pounds! So idk where what light you have that weighs that much!
Hello; When I first started the tanks were all metal framed. The light fixtures were all metal and without the third ground prong. One of the first powered HOB had a good sized electric motor running on 120 volts. The newer stuff is still a risk to be sure but much safer than before. But do not change the set up.
Big difference in a light sitting on top of a glass lids versus a dinky little light that's zip tied over water! With water evaporatiin and condensation, I'm sure his light is drenched in water droplets!
Hello; That confused me also. I think maybe that is a money reference. pound = money. A theme in the thread is we all are wealthy and flawed because we throw lots of money at our hobby. I understand it is easy to buy expensive stuff. I am old school and DIY my stuff. Over the years I have rebuilt my hoods to go from incandescent to fluorescent to now LED. At little cost.
I get some do have the ability to spend big. I see the prices in the stores. As in every hobby the stores will offer high priced options. There are lower priced ways to run tanks.
EDIT- I was a public-school teacher in SE KY. i found ways to save money.
Last edited:
Hello; yes. evaporation-condensation, splashes. Back some where in the 70's I learned to keep a barrier between my water and the lights. Usually a sheet of thick glass. I became fair at cutting such glass eventually. Still have some of those sheets of glass in use.
I'm gonna go out in a limb, his light is just free hanging with a zip tie. I can definitely understand the method you've used in the earlier days to make things work.
But with everything that's out nowadays, he shouldn't need a zip tie to hang a light inside a lid and keep water levels low just so it doesn't "zap" anything.
His setup just sounds lazy and I'll be the one to point it out!
Now if he came here and that tank was beyond heavily planted, ok then I could understand the water change schedule. But trying to preach that father fish cult gimmick with no actual results, I don't buy it all! Can't even afford a test kit. Those fish are in a for a ride awakening one day!
Just incase anyone is worried about the lighting I do swap them out annually and use the exact same method to attach the lighting to my tank
If you read the actual topic of the conversation I didn't even know who father fish was until he was mentioned in this topic.
This same lazy approach you say I'm taking is the same approach many people in the UK use for outdoor ponds , they dig the hole , they line it with a waterproof membrane , fill it,cycle it once and let nature takes its course.
The setup isn't lazy the setup was on a budget as a single parent , my priorities with money are elsewhere
If you read the actual topic of the conversation I didn't even know who father fish was until he was mentioned in this topic.
This same lazy approach you say I'm taking is the same approach many people in the UK use for outdoor ponds , they dig the hole , they line it with a waterproof membrane , fill it,cycle it once and let nature takes its course.
The setup isn't lazy the setup was on a budget as a single parent , my priorities with money are elsewhere
