Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdcad!pyramid!csg From: csg@pyramid.pyramid.com (Carl S. Gutekunst) Newsgroups: alt.aquaria Subject: Re: Aquarium Design equipment -- rubbish? Message-ID: <21824@pyramid.pyramid.com> Date: 3 May 88 19:01:10 GMT References: <21623@pyramid.pyramid.com> <3765@gryphon.CTS.COM> Reply-To: csg@pyramid.UUCP (Carl S. Gutekunst) Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA Lines: 37 In article <3765@gryphon.CTS.COM> richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ! > >$70 for a 20 gal setup ? GAK. Please don't be so presumptuous. For all your bountifully helpful advice (which I greatly appreciate), you still seem to have lost touch with those of us who are still struggling to keep a few fish alive -- i.e., rank beginners. My time is worth something too, and it took a whole lot less time to work with people at the fish shop whose advice I trusted than to rummage about in yard sales for used equipment. (There ain't no used equipment in the stores around here.) Perhaps more importantly, I'm not buying several tanks -- just one. If it blows up and dumps the fish on the floor at 2am, it's a crisis very differ- ent from when you have three or a dozen tanks. And odds are that my new tank will hold up better than a used one of unknown origin. >Whats the heater for ? To keep the fish warm. :-) Newcomers need to reduce the number of variables. My books says that my cory- doras, swords, and danios want the water to be between 74 and 78F. And I can't maintain that without a heater. Now, maybe they'll do just fine at room temp- erature (66 to 74F throughout the day), but that's not what the "experts" have told me, and everyone I talk fish with uses a heater; so until I have enough experience to know better, I'll go the conservative route even if my out-of- pocket expenses are higher. I did get silly on a few aspects -- colored gravel, for instance. And it came with a tight-fitting glass cover, a 25W flourescent light, and a gratuitous sample of pellet food, presumably for koi or goldfish. Incidentally, several people have sent my E-mail wondering how I was able to put together a setup so *cheap.* I have seem the same setup at other shops in the $150 range. I you're a beginner, it's *tough* to find the bargains.