How did we manage back then.

[ancientaquarist]

Hi, All- My grandfather bred Eqyptian mouthbreeders in the 20's and 30's. I bred other cichlids in the 40's and 50's. My largest tank was one 50 gallon. I used natural multi-earth-toned gravel as a substrate and grew all kinds of plants. Honest to God, I never changed any of the water in my tanks-had 16 eventually-I never heard of R/O-Filters were in or out and had "charcoal" and "glass-wool."

Heaters weren't submersable. The live foods available were tubifex and daphnea. You raised your own brine shrimp. There were noisy pumps of all kinds available. I used incandescent bulbs. My plants and fish thrived.

Now I have a 150 community tank with the top Eheim, an outside filter with activated carbon, twp 250 watt submersed heaters-8 flourescent tubes-2 air stones and I am changing water and polishing it constantly.

Is it because I have become enamoured of discus and dwarf cichlids that this hobby suddenly seems made for technomaniacs! Has the water gotten worse, the fish weaker? I can't understand how my fish survived for years, reproduced and entertained the dickens out of me and I never tested pH, gH, kH, hardness, softness. Yes I cleaned my filter regularly
and I topped off the tank every day or two with fresh tap water-didn't even worry about chlorine except when setting up a new tank.

I avoided undergravel filters because they seemed like alot of work a few times each year. Now my fish room looks like Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. Fish die for no discernable reason and I spend my life changing water.

How did we do it in the 20's, 40's, 50's and 60's? Why has it become so complicated and high tech? My LFS swore the Eheim alone would need to be cleaned once a year. I can't believe I'm adding CO2! I can't believe I'm fertilizing my plants and I can't believe the prices on everything. Am I
allowing my brain to be brainwashed along with the water and the fish. I'm surprised we aren't brushing their teeth and potty training them. What
gives? Is this really a fun hobby? I used to watch my fish hours every day-now I syphon water and refill it from the R/O.

Someone in early TV or late radio used to say "Gad zooks!" I'm ready to say it now--'Gad zooks!"

 

[tjudy]

:lol: 8O

You are right... I have no idea what the answer is. All I know is that I used sponge filters twenty years ago and still use them for almost every application. I ran a 5000 gallon store on sponge filters and boxc filters with carbon. I have always been a water changer because it made sense to me. I have only recently started with RO because I am trying species that scoff at anything harder than 50 ppm TDS, but I use to breed and raise angels and discus in the liquid rock of southern Indiana in the days before affordable RO. Go figure....

 

[fishgeek]

i'm not as experienced as many on this list and it is my impression that some of the things we do are in an attempt to fully control the systems we run
some is just toys for boy's so to speak

ie filter everything from the water with r/o, and then add the bits we want back with fertilizer
maybe water treatment plants have changed more aswell
perhaps with faster transport links weaker fish can make it round the world before they die

my lfs has water that reads exceedingly high on my tds, it is mainly the tap water fom here and then has all kinds of meds/formalin etc constantly added- the discus look greater , the neons glow brightly
i think most fish will adapt to differing water parameters given time

andrew

 

[Fogelhund]

I think that there are a number of reasons for all the techno wizardry.

First, I think you could easily keep and breed many fish/plants..., with the old fashion methods, including many soft water fish. However, it is more time consuming, and these days people want to find ways to add more convenience to their fish keeping. It might not be so for the hardcore fish hobbyist, but is certainly the case for others.

 

[ancientaquarist]

I think its boys and toys!

Fogelhund- Having observed several meetings now of AAA-Aquarists' Association of Arizona in Tucson the men greatly outnumber the women. Having visited several at home I have been aghast at the amount they are spending on this hobby. I can't believe that every tank needs a CO2 device measuring bubles per second. I can't believe the hobby has moved away from the living things, fish, invertebrates and plants toward
water chemistry. The waste of precious water and electricity is mind boggling.

Certainly water changes make excellent sense and I will do it now forever.
But the gimicry-sand columns, 50 kinds of filters, under gravel warmer cables, usw. just send me up the chimney. If the fish weren't so charming I would have run for my life!