braids

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I was only confused about the guidelines because they were written in a confusing way. Which is why I asked for clarification. Clearly I was not the only one who was confused. I repeatedly mentioned my desire to follow guidelines. I'm deducing, since not outright mentioned, that they have since been edited. I have spent plenty of money with Co-op myself - somewhere in the neighborhood of $400-$500 in the last 3 orders, and shared link upon link upon link to videos and Co-op products, and sung praises elsewhere. Like Hobbit mentioned, I too, was seeing other people posting links, and it made me question if this was okay or not. Which is why I asked. But as so often is the case, the messenger is shot. Cory's suggestion that I am not a good fit for this forum was not lost on me. It actually broke my heart a little. I hope that this will benefit future people that join this forum. There certainly are other communities and other businesses I can support. The revised guidelines: Care stands for Community Aquarists Respect Each Other. First and foremost, be kind and helpful to one another on the forum. Use language that is suitable for a young hobbyist. Profanity is prohibited. We don't discuss Race, Religion, or Politics. We don't discuss other aquarium related companies both positively or negatively. Don't self promote your Social media sites, brand or business. Links to competitors are prohibited. Amazon.com, Ebay.com, Aquabid.com, and Aquahuna.com are approved. No selling or giving away aquarium related supplies or animals. Don't "bump" a post to the top of the forum. Write meaningful replies, instead of writing "cool" or "lol" write something that contributes to the thread. You can always thank someone by giving them reputation. If you have a problem with an order from Aquarium Co-Op, contact customer service. The forum isn't the avenue for order help. Moderators will be forced to make judgement calls. Prior actions on the forum will be taken into account. This will allow someone to slip up and use profanity, without getting banned. However a pattern of slipping up while advertising, more than once is a track record that would result in a Ban.

@Cory We need help Batman. We don't know what is allowable and what isn't. Following is kind of a summary of the questions people are posing: The guidelines are confusing. From the guidlines: "Links to competitors are not prohibited. Amazon, Ebay, and Aquabid are approved, as long as they aren't intentionally advertising." Is it supposed to say: Links to competitors are prohibited. ? As in links to competitors are prohibited except Amazon, eBay, and Aquabid. (Which I personally find confusing given the small business gobbling machine that Amazon is, and how contrary they are in their business practices to the values that AC represents) From your comment above: That's a direct conflict of what the guidelines say. The guidelines read "links to competitors are not prohibted". The reason I link to a specific product is so there is no confusion as to what product and features it has. I abhor having my time, and other peoples time wasted because of assumptions, misunderstandings, confusion or labeling differences. Similar to providing a citation. @Patrick M. Bodega Aquatics asked about things AC doesn't carry. At first I thought well that would be okay because its on eBay. But you'd have to site a specific seller because lots of people sell that product. But then I would site what you said previously about the heaters - because we don't know what you're working on in the Batcave - so to speak. So we could be unknowingly be referencing a product or resource in development. Keeping in mind we don't know what you have going on behind the scenes or because it gets mentioned in one social media form, does not mean we all know about it. I have the same question as @Hobbit about referencing educational works, documents, comments of other youtubers, vloggers, etc. For instance: I found a fantastic plant deficiencies chart - I can't remember if I ended up posting it or not. Because not crediting the source is like stealing. I post links to your videos all over the internet whenever I say "Cory from Aquarium Co-op says..." If we can't site data then anyone can say anything without having to or being able to back it up. If we can't reference other ideas, concepts, etc people have to operate in an echo chamber of sorts. And there will be debates and back and forths (which can be carried out in a respectful way), but people are certainly going to have a difference of opinion. I know raising questions like this is not comfortable for everyone, but neither is being unsure of what is allowed and not allowed. And conversely seeing people posting links to competitors and siting other vlogs and sites/data that may cause debate among folks is probably unpleasant as well. We need to flesh this out. We just need to know what the rules are so we can play by them. 🥚I feel like I'm typing on eggshells. This makes me sad.

You are not. I can guarentee you that! Heaters are a major frustration and exactly why I went to thre Co-op site first. Because I trust Cory in product design and choice. Because he sciences! 😁 I begrudgingly looked elsewhere.

@Cory I hope I can express this in a way to be understood as not trying to be argumentative because that is totally not my intention. I just don't know how you can have an open forum and not end up with discussions with a larger scope. This is a world wide platform. Unless you take back to only locals can join and it's private. Here's an example of a situation I am in - I do go first to Aqarium Coops site, but I can't always find what I need or what fits for my situation. I'm prepping setting up my 125. I check AC - no heaters available. I search forum - no discussion. I see the what's available on the afore mentioned sites. Not familiar with what's there, and not crazy about the selection I'm looking for some direction. So I come back here hoping to have conversation, share what I've seen, get feedback, learn what more experienced aquariusts experience has been - what they used, the draw backs, the success, the failures in a respectful environment (that's a huge caveat!). How do we do that without discussing products that are not in the scope of what AC carries? I'm trying to tread lightly here and do my best to explain - I don't want to get booted, because I have a HUGE appreciation for what Cory and Candi have built - and the WAY they've built the business, and the VALUES behind those decisions and choices. The healthcare benefit being provided for the employees+ is huge to me. That's the stuff that makes me choose to buy from a small, growing, independent owned shop and sing its praises every chance I get. I value the videos, the product testing, the educating, everything that embodies Aquarium Co-op. Thanks for reading my novel 🙂 *you could literally track my history and find that scenario. **I don't shop ⅔ of the approved links.

Lol - I'm sure he would - just didn't want to tag him for my petty confusion! Busy man!

I wish someone would make a heater that is more like a stock tank deicer - all metal - plastic encased if need be. And one that had a +/- of a couple degrees. Fish, like people, don't naturally live in a constant exact temp. That would avoid the constant on/off cycling. Cut our electric bills a little, ease off on the wear and tear of the heaters, and in my opinion provide a more natural temperature fluctuation. Cory spoke about a lot of this in a video about heaters. I 100% agree with what he was saying. Sounds like the preset heaters are dependent on an average room temp to maintain the preset? @Maggie what do you usually keep your space at?

I find products at various places - usually Petco, Petsmart, and Chewy, and want to reference them in conversation specifically because of information contained within the listing, but I don't want to be in violation of the rules. Or in another case I found a website that provides information on native fish that also sells them for aquarists and pond stocking - can I post that kind of link? From the guidlines: "Links to competitors are not prohibited. Amazon, Ebay, and Aquabid are approved, as long as they aren't intentionally advertising." The way this is written leaves me a bit confused because it says they aren't prohibited and the following are approved. I'm confused by that. If links of competitors aren't prohibited why would those three be approved? It almost sounds that those are exclusively approved but others aren't. I think it's the usage of language that is confusing. This would clear it up [to me] if it is the intention: "Links to competitors are allowed including Amazon, eBay, and Aquabid as long as they aren't intentionally posted for the purpose of advertising." I would be interested in learning about other resources (of course I always shop the Co-op first lol!) that are perhaps a bit more obscure, geared to aquarists or regional. I hope an admin/mod type will respond to this post! Thanks in Advance! braids

Thank you for posing this question. I was just searching through the forum for this same info as I am in the same boat - prepping for my 125. I've been looking at heaters and I was wondering about the preset 78 degree heaters. Wondering if they would be a better option? Specifically I was looking at the Aqueon preset - 200 watt for 75 gallon - 2 would only cost about $35 for the pair. BUT that would preclude you from being able to raise the temp for illness treatment. Unless you kept a 3rd on hand for the need. Has anyone tried these preset heaters?

I've been seeing black and blue angels in my area - there's an active breeder not far from me - and I'm not usually and angel fish person either - but these have me seriously reconsidering it. But I'd kind of like to do an angel only tank - and find a tank just for that purpose. Not sure what would make them happiest.

I've been wondering how people get clear shots. I'll give this a try. Would like to hear other tips!

I have previously but your lid lifters look nicer than what I found. I'll search some more,

Would you share your source for hinges and lid lifters? 🤞 its not AMZN as I can't Jeff Bazos. I won't feed his greed. But that's my thing and I don't expect others to be as bullheaded as I am.😆

Have you water tested the slate bottom yet? I picked one up at a garage sale this year - but not a 55! What is the trim like? My tar like seal is in amazing condition and it had a bunch of rain water in the bottom. so I'm confident it will hold water at least in the lower part lol! haven't fully tested it yet. I might do a shrimp tank. not sure yet.

Is it making your MTS seem less crazy or scaring him for what the future might bring? 😂🤣