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Re: THAT's IT!!! (CO2 systems)

I have subscribed to the APD for about two years and have followed the
thread re pressurized CO2 systems from a safe distance. On the one hand, the
APD is a source of useful information from people who know what they are
talking about. On the other hand, I perceive as an intolerance on the part
of some of the resident experts to views which conflict with their notions
of planted tank orthodoxy.

People with different interests and lifestyles all have a place and can make
a useful contribution to this hobby. I have seven tanks with a total of
about 200 gallons, housing several thousand dollars of hard-to-find catfish.
Most of my tanks are planted, but the plants are secondary to the fish. My
family and I have learned a lot and had a lot of fun keeping and breeding
fish. But this is my hobby, not my career. I have a busy job. Sometimes I am
too busy to pay much attention to my fish for weeks, even months at a time.
I travel a lot, and am occasionally gone from home for as long as six weeks.
In my absence, my two sons, ages 8 and 11, feed the fish and perform
bi-weekly water changes. They're just kids, though, and it would be neither
realistic nor fair for me to expect them to be scrupulously responsible
about fish tank maintenance.

What I've learned from all of this is the need to set up my fish tanks as
fault tolerant systems that can withstand occasional neglect. Pressurized
CO2 is not yet a fault tolerant system. More generally, I've learned that my
family and I can enjoy fish and planted tanks as part of our lives without
making them the center of our lives.

There was a time when I too was obsessed with fish, and I think that being
obsessed by a healthy hobby like fish-keeping is wonderful. But please don't
let your obsessions become an excuse for heaping condescension and abuse on
your fellow hobbyists.

Dinyar