The importance of knowing you're a noob...

[ab420]

I am amazed at how often I meet people (not from this site, don't worry!) that are convinced they know everything, because they've had one tank be successful for like 6 months

I have spent about 2 years maintaining freshwater planted tanks, cichlids, bettas, brackish tanks, and livebearers, but just got into the "reefing" hobby about a year ago.

One thing I have noticed in this hobby: the people that seem to know the most, say they don't know anywhere near everything.

The people that say they know it all, seem to know very little.

Knowing a lot, but thinking you don't know enough, will only make you more successful in this hobby (and anything else) in the future.

Knowing very little, but thinking you know a lot, unfortunately negatively affects the livestock more than anything else, and is in effect, inhumane.

I don't know it all, in fact, I feel I know very little in comparison to the information that is currently available, but I am doing everything I can to find, read, listen and soak up all the valid information I possibly can, in the hopes that I can provide the best possible living conditions for my animals.

I am a reefaholicus noobicus, and I am proud of it!

Sorry if this is completely random and pointless... I just think that if this was nailed into my head earlier on, I may have been more careful about who I took advice from, and may have made a lot less mistakes along the way.

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Nobody knows everything and the hobby is always changing. It adds a level of difficulty

 

[ab420]

Nobody knows everything and the hobby is always changing. It adds a level of difficulty

Exactly, if I knew everything, I wouldn't know what to do with myself!

The joy is in the journey!

 

[stevenp]

Yes, nobody knows everything. I know I only know a fraction of what there is to know in this hobby, and I know that knowing everything is known to be impossible. One thing I do know, is I know many people who know quite a bit and don't know it, and I know that knowing them makes me know that I know that I'm learning from their knowledge.

At the end of the day that's good to know. And knowing is the half the battle.

Wait, what was the question again?

 

[Scott]

Yes, nobody knows everything. I know I only know a fraction of what there is to know in this hobby, and I know that knowing everything is known to be impossible. One thing I do know, is I know many people who know quite a bit and don't know it, and I know that knowing them makes me know that I know that I'm learning from their knowledge.

At the end of the day that's good to know. And knowing is the half the battle.

Wait, what was the question again?

I don't know about that.

 

[stingythingy45]

Like most hobbies,you learn from your mistakes.
I've leaned a lot by that method this first year.lol
But if you can survive through the emergency situations,it adds another feather to your cap.

 

[jrmx635]

know it alls

I love when people think they know everything because they read it online.
I love when people state things as "facts" but have minimal experience and others believe it.
I have been doing this for over 10 years and had like 10 tanks,I still don't know it all.
Yeah everybody does it their own way and if it works,good,
if not,try another way.
I love when people argue in threads because you do something they never read was possible.
that stuff makes me laugh

 

[Liam]

i see what you are saying but IMO you are wrong to discount the advice of people because they are new to the hobby.
Yes i agree there some offer bad advice but there are also those that learn quickly and have a lot of great things to add to this hobby.

 

[ab420]

i see what you are saying but IMO you are wrong to discount the advice of people because they are new to the hobby.
Yes i agree there some offer bad advice but there are also those that learn quickly and have a lot of great things to add to this hobby.

That's a very good point. It's just the new people that say they know everything I shy away from...

 

[Liam]

I love when people think they know everything because they read it online.
I love when people state things as "facts" but have minimal experience and others believe it.
I have been doing this for over 10 years and had like 10 tanks,I still don't know it all.
Yeah everybody does it their own way and if it works,good,
if not,try another way.
I love when people argue in threads because you do something they never read was possible.
that stuff makes me laugh

there are two types of knowledge you are talking about here

data and experience,both totally different and although helpful you do not need experience to research and provide useful data IMHO

 

[stingythingy45]

i see what you are saying but IMO you are wrong to discount the advice of people because they are new to the hobby.
Yes i agree there some offer bad advice but there are also those that learn quickly and have a lot of great things to add to this hobby.

It's helps to read the latest trends in the hobby.
Things change very fast.
It should also be mentioned how uninformed a lot of new hobbiest are when they start out.We've all seen the infamous"my fish are dying,tank is a week old"threads.What I find rather disturbing is when somebody ask for help and then waits for answers.The views of that thread keep adding up,yet no answer to the question.Sometimes I think just chiming in an saying"well,I don't know about your question,but I'm sure somebody will be along that does"is better than nothing.

 

[JayM]

It's helps to read the latest trends in the hobby.
Things change very fast.
It should also be mentioned how uninformed a lot of new hobbiest are when they start out.We've all seen the infamous"my fish are dying,tank is a week old"threads.What I find rather disturbing is when somebody ask for help and then waits for answers.The views of that thread keep adding up,yet no answer to the question.Sometimes I think just chiming in an saying"well,I don't know about your question,but I'm sure somebody will be along that does"is better than nothing.

As a reminder, views may be incrementing because bots are crawling the site, as opposed to actual people.......

 

[Cardiak]

As a reminder, views may be incrementing because bots are crawling the site, as opposed to actual people.......

Bots? Why would bots be visiting a message board?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That's how google and other search engines can be used to search message boards: bots have already crawled over it. Administrators can often see how many are on their board at a given time by looking at the IP address of "viewers". Many have addresses that include their home base, like google.

 

[stingythingy45]

^
Interesting,never knew that.

 

[maurod]

I wish we had an FAQ of stuff like
Q-Are my powerheads too powerful? I found my Yellow Tang stuck to it, dead....
A-Your fish was sick or dying....

 

[Liam]

I wish we had an FAQ of stuff like
Q-Are my powerheads too powerful? I found my Yellow Tang stuck to it, dead....
A-Your fish was sick or dying....

why would it be neccessary,there are plenty of folks on the board to answer such questions.

a question that seems simple to one may not be to others.
Varying levels of questions allows folks at all levels of the hobby to participate in this community