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Re: Wild Goose Chase, II
Dwight wrote:
"I think we are all qualifiying our own personal findings as anecdotal
unless we are citing actual findings from formal pond Barley straw
experiments. "
That's good - please continue to qualify your posts as anecdotal unless you
have conducted properly monitored experiments. Anecdotal reports are
valuable, but no substitute for real science, and it IS possible for
hobbyists and amateurs to conduct REAL science (Diana Walstad is a perfect
example. Both her book and the many articles she has published in TAG over
the years have demonstrated that the careful and thoughtful amateur can make
a real contribution to our understanding of what is happening in our tanks).
"Exactly. There IS something there and the "risk" is worth it! Which is
why we should never stop experimenting on our own and/or sharing our
thoughts w/ others in careful speculation as to what is the basic mechanism
of Dupla, Amano, Dernnele's pending products b/c these companies have no
intention of selling them to us!"
I am not advocating STOPPING experimentation - I am PROMOTING it. I am
trying to tone down speculation and suggesting that some energy be placed in
real research. I find it just slightly hypocritical for anyone to on the one
hand use ADA, Dupla and/or Dennerle products as justification for a position
yet on the other to thunder at them due to their cost.
"If they Dupla,
Amano & Dernnele (DAD) are so afraid of our tendency to dissect the essence
of science behind their products, they should sell 'em to us at a resonable
price then we would'nt care how it works, as long as it works!"
If ONLY you were willing/capable of truly DOING that (dissect the essence of
science behind their products). I'm all for reverse engineering a successful
product where the true mechanism for its work is shrouded in advertising
hyperbole. If barley straw or H2O2 is able to help people combat outbreaks
of undesirable algae, GREAT. But please base your enthusiasm on valid
scientific reasoning and repeatable experimental results.
James Purchase
Toronto
P.S. - Dwight, this is an aside, and incidental - I don't know how Dave
Gomberg feels about being referred to as "Gombo", but I prefer to be called
"James". Thanks ;-)