Thanks For The Praise And We Don’t Mind Criticism!
January 20, 2009
This website aquaristsonline.com has been running for something over a year. In that time it has expanded and evolved considerably.
We, meaning Peter and I, like to think that the information on the website is useful to all aquarists and particularly beginners. Starting out in the hobby can be confusing with all the various equipment and livestock. Questions on a forum could also be the same as responders have their own opinions which are often different. The basics of running a fish only or reef aquarium are straightforward; it is afterwards when some experience has accumulated that the aquarist could vary procedures a little.
Anyway, we have tried hard to provide an A to Z service to simplify an aquarist’s progress. Articles, Forum, Blog, Social Area – we thought they’d all help. There’s even an electronic book to download to make life even easier. There’s AquaCompare so that equipment can be checked out once a choice has been made following research. Peter uses his technical abilities and writes and I write and assist otherwise when able (but not with computer gobblygook!).
Anyway, we thought it was reasonably good – but that is what we thought. The fact is, even if we feel reasonably satisfied it isn’t our opinions that are most important. We could be too close and not see faults.
We certainly don’t mind constructive criticism and we’ve had some. For example, we were advised that it was a pain and time consuming to have to sign on every time a video, for example, was to be watched. The criticism was correct and so the requirement was removed.
We’ve had more praise than criticism, everything from a simple ‘Thank you’ to ‘This is just what I needed’ to ‘What a wonderful site. Well done’. In addition to that, there have been Emails from well known sources who have stated that the site is doing a great job for the marine hobby and we should maintain our efforts. Some of these were from advanced aquarists who, because of experience leading to depth of knowledge, are no doubt more critical.
Criticism and praise, plus ‘hits’ on the website (currently in thousands a day) are indicators that are used to help us keep on track.
This may all appear to be us simply ‘patting our own backs’. It isn’t meant to be, but a thank you to those who have contacted us in any way. A big thank you is given to those who have criticized and to those who have praised. All of these contacts enable us to judge if we are providing the needed content.
It may have been noticed that we have had guest authors writing for the Article section, and they are very welcome. Anyone who feels the urge, go ahead.
If anyone thinks the site can be improved in any way, with content or design, let us know. We’ll always listen and thank you for your time.
Honoured To Write For The Reef Tank
January 19, 2009
A short while ago we were contacted by The Reef Tank (TRT) and asked if we would consider writing an article for the blog section of their site. This is only something that we do if the website in question is a qualtiy website which provides a lot of value to it’s visitors.
I am proud to say that The Reef Tank is one of those sites.
The Reef Tank is a very good site providing a photo gallery, a busy forum, a price comparison area as well as a blog section which is growing rapidly. The site provides a lot of value for it’s visitors and sa said we were honoured to provide an article for their use.
I would heartily recommend checking the site out – there is a load of information available.
If you would like to see the article provided then follow the link below:
While you’re there why not sign up to their RSS feed as well so you don’t miss out on any updates.
I’ve Read It All, But…
December 13, 2008
…I need a very basic list of needs for the basic marine system.
There are a lot of individual items about setting up a marine aquarium in the blog and article areas on this website, but nevertheless flicking around locating topics for a beginner who has little idea of the basics could be confusing. So an ‘in a nutshell’ list could be of help. We’re told it will be anyway, so here goes!
Remember this is basic. At the end I’ve put article locations which could be of use.
What could be at the top of the list? I suppose the logical start is the aquarium, the glass or acrylic box that will hold the captive marine world. Personally I would always go for glass as it is less likely to scratch, but it is an individual choice. Most aquariums are purchased ready made, but there is a check to be done before this. Once the ideal size for the space available has been decided, check the running costs. Buying the biggest aquarium that will fit could end in disappointment if the running costs are prohibitive. Note the difference between running costs and setting up costs. Even if the cost of setting everything up can be met, the ongoing cost of electricity may be heavy, depending on lights, heaters etc used.
Once the aquarium has been decided, is a sump required? A sump is recommended as it increases the net gallonage of the system and gives an area for additional filtration that could be useful once the aquarist has experience, or before. Equipment such as heaters could be placed in there keeping them out of view. A sump usually sits below the aquarium, either directly or to one side. There isn’t a necessity to have a sump and it isn’t part of a basic set-up, but it is arguably better to have one from the start than fit one later. If a sump is to be used, ensure the aquarium is drilled for the overflow (usually by the retailer) before the aquarium and sump are taken home. Also, a pump to return seawater to the aquarium is required, and the pump should be able to move around three times the system net gallonage per hour.
It could be that the aquarium is supplied with a cabinet. If so, great, but make sure the sump will fit into the lower cupboard if that is the intention, and that there is sufficient room above the sump for maneuver. If a cabinet is not supplied, there are cabinets available for standard size aquariums. If the aquarist is a good DIY’er, perhaps this could be another project (remember that an aquarium full of seawater and rocks is very heavy).
So the aquarium (and sump) is decided and the cabinet style and colour have been approved. Essential basic equipment needs consideration now.
The first will be required by nearly every system, and that is the aquarium heating. The livestock that are going to be kept are most likely tropical, so a temperature of between 75 deg F and 80 deg F is required. This is easily achieved by using combined thermostat/heaters. These are generally available in various wattages. The thermostat is on the top of the tube shaped equipment and the heater at the bottom. They are submerged and when the thermostat detects the required temperature the heater is turned off. It is best to have two units, each rated at one half the wattage required to heat the whole system. This is to help guard against the danger of one heater failing, giving time for the aquarist to notice and protecting the livestock to an extent. The guideline wattage requirement is to allow 2 watts per gallon for the whole system (so it includes any sump). This is for a normally heated room – if the room is unheated and gets cold then double the wattage. So the normal wattage requirement for 50 gallons in a normally heated room will be 100 – in a cold unheated room 200. Divide the requirement by two and purchase two heaters of that wattage, that is in the example given two at 50 watts each or two at 100 watts each.
There is a piece of equipment that should not be overlooked by any beginner aquarist, and is used by the majority of experienced ones. This is the protein skimmer. It removes dissolved organic matter and is of great benefit in the maintenance of high quality seawater, which is a very high requirement for a successful system. These units can be obtained as hang-on or stand alone types so one can be chosen to suit circumstances. The hang-on ones are normally placed on the side or back of the aquarium. Stand alone types could sit alongside the aquarium (not so easy sometimes) or next to or in a sump, if one is to be used. Manufacturers are better at describing their products ability nowadays and the gallonage that can be serviced is more believable. When obtaining the skimmer, ensure that it can deal with the total system gallonage. If there isn’t one to match the system gallonage purchase the next larger size (not a bad idea anyway).
The next requirement for the basic system is a bio-filter. ‘Bio’ stands for ‘biological’ and it is an absolute essential. Without an adequate bio-filter then the system will fail. The filter, or life support system, can be supplied in two ways. The best way is to use live rock, which is not only decorative but comes with pre-loaded (by Mother Nature) bacteria. However, a basic system could use a canister filter; there is a drawback concerning seawater quality (this is easily and routinely overcome and will not be gone into here). The canister filter should be capable of servicing the total net gallonage of the system, so a check needs to be made of the manufacturer’s recommendations. The canister filter media will not come with bacteria, this will need a kick start, but again is easily achieved.
The requirement next on the list is lighting. Marine system lighting is a subject in itself, but suffice it to state that two fluorescent tubes will be fine for a fish only system, and for a reef system a bank of fluorescent tubes or metal halide bulbs (often plus fluorescent tubes) will be needed, dependant on the types of corals being kept and also on the depth of the aquarium.
Seawater movement is important for the health of the livestock. Two powerheads are basically sufficient, one outlet set against the other to create chaotic or random seawater currents. The basic guidelines for the strength of the circulation are: for a fish only or soft coral reef, ten times the display aquarium (exclude any sump) gallonage per hour, and for an SPS (small poly stony) system twenty times the display aquarium gallonage (exclude any sump).
Finally, something that is quite important – salt! There is clearly a need for this and dry salt in various quantities is available. It has already been stated that high quality seawater is very important, so along with the dry salt test kits should be obtained. Basically, they should test for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The seawater should have a stable ‘saltiness’, so a hydrometer is also needed.
We could go on but will stop there. It is meant to be basic and the above will provide a basic system. In time additions will be made by the aquarist and also changes in procedure as experience grows.
Article Locations.
‘Beginners’ :
‘Which To Choose, A Small Or Large Aquarium.’
‘A New Seawater Aquarium – It’s Exciting But Check Running Costs!’
‘Guideline Basic Seawater Parameters For The Reef Aquarium.’
‘General’ :
‘Locating A Marine Aquarium.’
‘Aquarium Equipment’ :
‘The Aquarium Hydrometer.’
‘The Canister Filter – Any Use In The Marine Aquarium?’
‘Is A Protein Skimmer Actually Required?’
‘Sumps, Should I Use One?’
‘Which Is Better, An Acrylic Or Glass Aquarium?’
‘Lighting’ :
‘Aquarium Lighting – What Are Your Options?’
Here’s A List Of Active Aquarium Forums
November 19, 2008
Having a marine aquarium of whatever type is a wonderful individual hobby. It’s also really good to have someone to talk to about it, exchanging ideas, opinions and stories.
The very best way is to have local friends who are aquarists. They ideally are marine enthusiasts, but could be keepers of brackish or fresh water systems.
If there aren’t any friends about who are also aquarists, there’s sometimes a club or society where sitting and gossiping over a coffee or something a little stronger can take place.
Then of course there’s the communication channel available to very nearly everyone, the internet. There’s a wealth of information available. However, searching for specifics can sometimes be quite long winded so there’s an alternative, and that is the forum where questions can be asked. There’s one on this website.
There are plenty of forums available and finding one that is suitable and liked is great. One or two deal in advanced subjects, but the majority have specific discussion areas for various topics.
Here are some forums listed, with thanks to ‘Muzzy’s Reef’.
http://www.muzzys-reef.co.uk/reef-forums.htm
Introducing – Aquarists Online Articles
October 27, 2008
Both John and I are exceptionally pleased to announce the introduction of a new service to Aquarists Online, a service called Aquarists Online Articles.
We have recently been asked on a number of occasions if any of our articles could be used on other sites, newsletters etc. Something which we either agreed/disagreed on a request by request basis.
This did get the two of us thinking though so John and I sat down a short while ago and tried to work out what we believe people are looking for when it comes to the marine aquarium hobby. Below is what we believe this to be:
- Information
- New Equipment
- Used Equipment
Quite a simple list but believe it not it actually took us some time to come up with such a simple list especially for the information aspect as we felt this could be advice, reviews, questions etc etc.
We feel that these are now all dealt with via Aquarists Online. We feel that new equipment is covered by our sister site Aqua Compare which is effectively a price comparison site purely for the aquarium hobby. Used equipment again we believe is covered by the Aquarists Online Store which is a feed into EBay which has to be the ultimate place to purchase second hand items from.
Information is a different beast altogether and it is a term which covers such a broad area. We have the forum on aquarists online where people can ask/answer questions, the social area where a community can be built using information based upon pictures, videos etc. We have two aquarium guides that we have written – one for people interested in starting a reef tank and another for people who are interested in starting a fish only aquarium. These guides are stuffed with information – basically myseld and John dumped our brains, experiences etc down into these guides and then finally we have the blog.
The blog is where we post our thoughts, advice etc for others to read and hopefully enjoy and find beneficial. The blog is where we are the most active and we attempt to post on a daily basis. John does post more than I do as I take more of an active role behind the scenes making sure that everything is working as it should do, looking for enhancements, attemping to promote Aquarists Online etc.
One of the things we also both appreciate is that there is a lot of information available in this hobby and whilst we had a simple articles section on the site which linked to some of our articles which we felt would be beneficial we did not think this was enough. There is a lot of information available the internet is a very valued place when it comes to information. This is an area which we had not covered – we only dealt with our own articles. What was needed was a resource where all of this information could be gathered so it could be read by anyone interested and also important was the ability for this information to be shared. On top of this neither John or myself wanted the responsibility to be able to find this information ourselves. We wanted a solution where other authors could submit the information themselves.
Hence Aquarists Online Articles was born…..
Aquarists Online Articles is basically an area where important articles, reference material etc can be stored in a categorised format.
This area can be used in three ways:
1. For the hobbyist searching for information
All hobbyists have a passion for learning more and sharing information about the hobby they are involved in and the aquarium hobby is no exception. As an aquarists I am sure that there are areas which you would like to learn more about.
With Aquarists Online Articles this will over time become a resource where lots of information is held. The good thing about this is that all this information will not be from the same people – in Aquarists Online’s case John and I. There are many ways to do things in this hobby and each method may work dependent upon the configuration of the aquarium. No information, other than the ridiculous is useless information. Every little bit you learn will help you as you move along with your aquarium.
Reading information from various people in my opinion is important as you can then make up your own mind as to what is best for yourself and your aquarium based upon the information you have learnt.
Basically we believe that this area will become an area which has an abundance of information in which will be beneficial to lots of people.
2. For the author
Perhaps you own a website, are a passionate hobbyist or just want to share what you want with others. For the author of aquarium articles Aquarists Online Articles is a fantastic resource for you to use.
What you can do is sign up (free of charge of course) and submit your article to Aquarists Online Articles. You can select which category you would like your article to appear in add some text about yourself, your website etc and click submit.
What this does is submit it to our article review area where either myself or John will review to make sure that it is acceptable to be listed. Once reviewed it will become active and others can read it and benefit from it. The reason we have chosen to review all submitted articles is two-fold. Firstly for spam which I personally believe is getting worse and something needs to be done about it and secondly to ensure that the content is actually aquarium related – it would be pointless not to review them and suddenly this area gets flooded with articles which have no relation to aquarium. This would then make this a useless resource.
So, how does this benefit you as an author?
Basically it can help you in many ways. Firstly and in my opinion the most important is that you can feel very good about yourself for helping others. You never know your article could either get someone started in this hobby or prevent them from giving up.
Secondly it can do a great deal for yourself. All posted articles are assigned to yourself and you can have a photo of yourself if you so wish. If you post quality articles to this area then you will build both credibility and trust in yourself. If you own an aquarium related business then this could mean ultimately more sales. The software behind the scenes allows for both articles and authors to be rated, therefore the more quality articles you submit the higher rating you should hopefully get.
If you have a website then this is where the good bit begins. Articles can be a huge source of very important traffic. No matter what type of website you have getting traffic is one of the hardest things to get. With Aquarists Online Articles when you submit an article you can also submit what is called an Author Bio. This area is where you can say a bit about yourself, your website, your business etc. Plus a link can be provided back to your website using either keywords to increase your search engine positions or a standard hyperlink.
Anyone who has a website has the ability to be able to copy your article from Aquarists Online Articles and display it on their website, however they must take the article as it is written and also display the author bio as well. What could happen here is that one quality article which is submitted could be displayed on hundreds of websites perhaps thousands all of which have your author bio on it. With this having a link back to your website more traffic could come as well as a hopefully increase in the search engines.
With the author bio also detailing information about yourself, the author this also helps to build your name, your brand as you are gaining more exposure to a lot more people.
As said the article cannot be modified in anyway be this the title, the content or the author bio therefore you should always be given full credit for the article – something which I believe is very important.
3. For the website owner
An amount of what can be done for the website owner has been covered in the above section in relation to increasing your brand name, exposure by submitting articles to Aquarists Online Articles, submitting an author bio and allowing others to use the article on their site.
A very useful tactic to increase both exposure and traffic.
But what about the website owner who does not want to write articles but wants to display some useful quality content on their site.
Again Aquarists Online Articles can help.
Any articles can be re-printed from this section and displayed on your website. It is very important to note that none of article can be modified in any way. The copyright of the article belongs to the author plus the author must always be credited with the creation of the article.
If there is an article or more that you would like to display then simply copy and paste it from this area to your website ensuring that nothing is changed and the authors bio is shown.
This allows for more content to be made available for your visitors as well as the search engines seeing more content on your site when they visit. The more content you have the better the search engines should see you and your rankings over time should increase.
It does not need to be actually on a website however. Perhaps you have a newsletter which you distribute. Content can be used from this area in your newsletter as long as the article is not modified and the authors bio is also displayed.
It is a win-win situation. Your readers get more information to read and you get more content to use.
So there we go – Aquarists Online Articles.
We both hope that you will find this new area beneficial and hopefully you will submit some of your articles into this area. We have loaded some of our articles up and will continue to do so over time. You never know this time next year there may be thousands of articles in there – what a huge resource of useful information that would be!
Why Not Use Our Articles!
October 10, 2008
Recently we have received quite a few email asking for our permission to use some of our content on their websites. We are very pleased in these circumstances as the website owners are actually asking permission first. We are sure that there are a lot of websites who use other peoples content without asking. I am not sure if this is illegal or not but I know that it is definately rude.
We have decided that we would like to formally state on the record here at Aquarists Online that we do not mind our articles being used on other peoples websites as long as we are credited with the creation of the article and a link back to Aquarists Online would also be greatly appreciated.
The use of our articles does not need to just be on websites though. We are more than happy for them to be used in other areas – printed material for example. The same rule applies though – if any of our site content is used then we would expect to be credited with the creation of the article.
It is of course very hard for us to police this and as said I am not even sure if it is illegal to use other peoples content without either asking their permission first or crediting them as the creators.
I will put an authors block in the aquarium articles area of this site which will detail the sort of credit we would like however you do not need to use this format if you do not wish to do so. You could always just put something along the lines of ‘Written By John Cunningham – Aquarists Online’ of course replacing John for Peter if it is one of my articles.
On another note we have also decided that we may open up Aquarists Online for guest articles. Up until now we have not really done this as we cannot guarantee the quality of the format however what we are thinking of doing is allowing this on Aquarists Online as long as the article(s) in question are in relation to the marine aquarium hobby and are beneficial to the beginner as well as not being confusing in any way.
We will also follow the same rule that we expect others to follow. We will always ensure that the author of the article is credited with creation and will provide a link back to their website if one exists. This is beneficial in a number of ways. To our valued readers of Aquarists Online it provides new content for them to read and for the author of the article it will assist in raising their profile as well as possibly gaining some extra traffic.
So there you go you now have permission to use our content as long as we are credited and we may also accept content from other people to be displayed on Aquarists Online.
We Have Made Some Changes To Aquarists Online Social
July 28, 2008
We have made some changes have been made to the Social aspect of Aquarists Online.
Actually there is one change and two additions!
Prior to having Aquarists Online Social we had a community forum on the site and whilst it did well and was growing it felt cold (if you know what I mean). People came on asking and answering questions. Some people returned and others did not – yet it did not feel like a community. Aquarists Online Social was created so that we could build a community. An area where aquarists of all skill levels could come hang out, share pictures, movies, articles etc etc. We also wanted this to be an area which anyone could visit and read the content and view the other areas of the site. We chose to make uploads etc to the site for members only so that we could combat the various types of spam attacks which do appear to come out of nowhere.
The forum area is still available as we felt that there was some good content in there with some good discussions and we do appreciate that there are many people who will still prefer to use a community forum.
The one area that we wanted to accomodate was for people to have the ability to be able to do all of this and for it not be hard. We believe that our Social area does accomodate for the above but there was something missing – well two actually and that is why we have two new additions.
Before that though I will cover the small change made.
On the home page there is a members login box. This has been changed so that existing members can easily log in and new members can easily sign up. Only a small change but one that makes it easier for both new and existing members.
On to the additions.
The new additions to the site are an auction area and a news/article area.
Addition One
The first addition is the inclusion of an auction area. This area is basically like E-Bay but is designed specifically for the aquarium hobby. E-Bay is a huge site with thousands of items listed and for this reason it is sometimes hard to find the items you are looking for. One big difference is that E-Bay charges for items to be listed as well as pictures etc. We are not going to charge for items listed on this area of the site. The only time we may implement a charge to this area is if it becomes popular and we need help in funding the website hosting costs (we only have a certain amount of traffic our current hosting allows and as with anything if you need more you have to pay for it!) – if this happens it will not be a lot and nowhere like E-Bay charges.
Anyone can view this aspect of the website, however in order to sell an item, purchase an item, ask the seller a question you do need to be logged in as a member.
There is a huge amount of functionality available in this addition – to much to list here in this post so why not pop over to the auction area and have a look. For oobvious reasons it is quiet at the moment however over time we firmly believe that this will become a popular addition to the site. After all who does not like finding a bargain or making a bit of spare cash by selling unwanted/un-used items.
Addition Two
The second item is what is called ‘Dig News‘. A huge area of the site which we believed was missing was the ability for members to upload their own articles. Whilst there is the ability for blogs to be created this is not the same as an article. Of course we create articles for the blog area of Aquarists Online, however this is our opinion, our experiences etc. There are lots of other articles all over the internet. What if we could have an area where these articles could be all be retained in one area and people could peruse them at their pleasure. What if the readers could vote on these articles so that other people would know if there were good or now.
Now we can!
Basically what this area allows is for several things. It allows for the posting of a link to an article on another website, the posting of a link to a video on another website, the posting of a link to a picture on another website and also for the posting of an article which is hosted by us.
When a link is posted you also have the ability to be able to add some content so you can say what the article/video/picture is about and why you like it.
On top of all this people can vote for entries which they like and find useful. The entries are sorted by the amounts of votes they have therefore the most useful and informative entries are at the top of the page. Comments can also be left against any entry, therefore if you really like an entry you can vote for it and also leave a comment.
We have split this area into several categories so that it is easier to locate entries. We have also included a search function so that entries are easier to locate.
As with the auction area of the site we have made this area so that anyone can visit however in order to vote or leave a comment you need to be logged in as a member.
Over time we believe that this could be built into a really useful resource. As said there are loads and loads of useful articles, information videos, great pictures and more all over the internet but they can be hard to locate.
We will be actively posting entries into this news area and invite you to do the same.
So there we go – a couple of additions to the Social aspect of our site. I hope that you agree that these are useful additions and would welcome any feedback you may have about these areas.
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