Dumb things the LFS has told you

Just John

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I have heard so many stories about the dumb advice people have been given by their LFS that I am interested in hearing a few good examples. Do you have any?
 
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Just John

Just John

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This thread was prompted by the following. The salinity of my LFS water seemed high when I tested it out the the bag with a coral I bought. Yesterday I asked and the LFS told me that they always use their tank water to calibrate their refractometers to make sure they are completely accurate.
 

dvgyfresh

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Lol I’ve learned that the majority of the time they will agree with what you are saying in order to further a sale not mad about it just good to know, for example I asked about an eel it was a baby (Tessa eel) for a 40b currently stocked with fish / inverts , lfs owner said it would be fine and encouraged me to purchase , I already knew the eel would need Atleast 180 gallons and would probly decimate my entire tank lol
 

New&no clue

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RODI systems are a waste of money. Just use tap

But the best they have said to date is when I first walked in there to start my reefing journey and they said. "Saltwater systems are fairly inexpensive to run and light on maintenance work."
 

Townes_Van_Camp

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1. Vermetid snails were tiny feather dusters.

2. If you can keep nitrates < 1pmm you can’t fail.

I’m not even going to pontificate upon the stupidity espoused in those two statements. New to the hobby me believed lie no. 1. Seasoned hobbyist me had to look into no. 2.
 
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MnFish1

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After buying a used 210 gallon tank, had it delivered by the LFS set up on the used stand - I noticed parts missing and basically - if you pushed on the side of the tank - it would sway (somewhat). The LFS owner said 'That will correct itself when you fill it with water'.

Well - it did fix 'that problem' - but over weeks the stand sagged more and more and more. I just ordered a new tank (from a different store) - never went back to the old one. The other store took the bad tank/stand back
 

Pntbll687

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"hang on the back overflows work just fine"

"we don't check alkalinity, just calcium" - more context, I asked about what level alk the coral systems were at. Turns out they don't test alkalinity because they are doing auto water changes to keep it stable. Now, they didn't lie because they do not test, but still couldn't say what the alkalinity was at.

"reef safe ich meds, this way"

Now, I pretty much go to the lfs if I need to special order something, or just check out what brown corals came in that I want to try and color up.

I've gotten to know the owner pretty well through my job (distribution sales rep), and he is WAY better than some of the help he has hired. He'll always ask about system/inhabitants/lights before selling something. He says he'll give the person two "no's" before he just sells them what they want.
Cust -"can this hippo tank go in my 40 breeder?"
Owner -"no, it needs more room."
Cust - "What if I plan to rehome it, when it gets larger?"
Owner -"it should go in at least a 4ft tank even if it's small."
Cust -"I think it will work.'
Owner -"Sure, I'll bag it up for ya"

I can't blame the LFS for selling people what they want, especially if they try to get them out of a bad idea.
 

ying yang

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National lfs: maidenhead aquatics at speke liverpool,i said i see a an aiptasia in that tank over there,it is aiptasia correct?
Reply by manager was " which tank lets have a look" as im walking over to the tank i notice another in another tank and say thats another right ? She says " yeah there aiptasia: i say dont you even pull them out when see them,as one was on the sand bed of remember right,so then we got talking about aiptasia and she says you can try all you want but you will always get aiptasia in the end so no point trying to stop them getting in your dt and sign of a healthy tank lol.then mentioned to her so on that basis theres no point even quarantining anything including fish and she says " quarantining fish causes more harm than good and more fish die off qt than not,and again fish diesese will get into main dt even if quarantine fish.
I say im new and only just set up my tank but seen lots threads on forums and articles about aiptasia and it made alot of reefers shut their tanks down,she then says well if you that bothered about them we have some aiptasia x to kill them .so i think ummm they dont even remove aiptasia on sandbed when would be so easy to remove and she wasnt new as i bought my tank from a another store she worked 5 years previous so least 5 years experience.
So with her talking like this to me and the price off livestock so much more expensive ( 1 example another family run lfs cleaner shrimp £ 15 but £ 35 at maidenhead aquatics ,even though closest to me i have not been back to this lfs,maybe if needed a dry bottled product in emergency is only way i go back to them.
 

Townes_Van_Camp

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Now, I pretty much go to the lfs if I need to special order something, or just check out what brown corals came in that I want to try and color up.

There is no amount of anything that will make me pay LFS prices for anything other than those brown corals. I’ve done that bit. I cannot imagine what the LFS can get special order that I cannot get for less money, faster, online.
 

Little c big D

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I watched a short lived LFS use the U shaped overflow tubes for HOB overflows to connect about 20 fish tanks. they didn't use boxes. They said it should work fine. they won't flow and more than the pump could handle. Pump popped a GFI one night ‍♂️
 

Pntbll687

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There is no amount of anything that will make me pay LFS prices for anything other than those brown corals. I’ve done that bit. I cannot imagine what the LFS can get special order that I cannot get for less money, faster, online.
I ordered some lighting. All map priced stuff. I'd rather give them that business if I'm going to wait for it to ship from somewhere anyway
 

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