Sometimes I wonder why I bother

Please, I get that everyone starts somewhere but when I see someone start a tank with NOTHING but treated tapwater and salt and then ask them about where their live rock is and their response is as follows:

" i don't think the hubby wants live rock... is it necessary?" It literally is a why bother or what can I possibly do to help these people out. Thankfully the post wasn't from here but from a Facebook Group. Unfortunately I see someone who is likely to throw a lot of money down the drain and then go around telling everyone how hard and difficult saltwater is when he is literally following the newbie's blueprint for failure (plans on dumping in the live sand and then letting a canister filter/media cycle the tank).

 

I haven’t done saltwater yet, I only do fresh, but I’m in fairly deep there with 10 tanks running. I’m going to start a small saltwater tank next year and I know I have lots more research and learning to do before that. I honestly don’t get why people throw money at things without understanding what they are doing. As a college student who lost their job due to Covid, every purchase I make has to be an important one, so I make sure I’m informed. Just really confused me how people are careless like that.

 

Note to self
In future when I get saltwater (after tons of research I haven’t begun yet) DONT FORGET I NEED LIVE ROCK! I’m serious. TY!!

 

People get bad 8nfo and didn't do their research. They think I have a freshwater I can do this. Rock is the single most important thing in a saltwater tank. I can imagine how stressful it is try to teach people that don't want to learn. You can run a saltwater tank with rock and wave makers not filter at all but what do they know

 

I haven’t done saltwater yet, I only do fresh, but I’m in fairly deep there with 10 tanks running. I’m going to start a small saltwater tank next year and I know I have lots more research and learning to do before that. I honestly don’t get why people throw money at things without understanding what they are doing. As a college student who lost their job due to Covid, every purchase I make has to be an important one, so I make sure I’m informed. Just really confused me how people are careless like that.

There are a lot of impatient and impulsive people out there. It's bad enough on the freshwater side of things, and downright disastrous on the saltwater side of things and as mentioned unfortunately they will do everything wrong and flush a bunch of money and time down the drain and then go around telling everyone never to do saltwater because it's so hard, etc. Bottom line this hobby is one of the worst for impatient and impulsive people.

 

People get bad 8nfo and didn't do their research. They think I have a freshwater I can do this. Rock is the single most important thing in a saltwater tank. I can imagine how stressful it is try to teach people that don't want to learn. You can run a saltwater tank with rock and wave makers not filter at all **** but what do they know

That is exactly why I am such a big opponent of the idea of Freshwater being a MANDATORY pre-requisite for saltwater that some spout. Seen so many bad habits that people don't shed before converting over PLUS what you mentioned with the false sense of security because of their freshwater keeping experience. I started my first tank of any kind about 3.5 years ago and it was salty, but I spent about 4 months doing research before I setup the tank. I made a couple of mistakes but I didn't make half the mistakes that I have seen from folks who had years or decades of prior freshwater keeping experience.

 

Note to self
In future when I get saltwater (after tons of research I haven’t begun yet) DONT FORGET I NEED LIVE ROCK! I’m serious. TY!!

Please don't get me wrong, I really do get that people have to start somewhere, but for someone to actually setup/start a saltwater tank and not be aware that Live Rock is, at the very least, necessary for a Saltwater Tank would be like you setting up a small freshwater tank and not knowing that you need to change the water at some point. Point is that it is literally one of the first things you learn with any preliminary research with a saltwater tank. Even a quick google search of "What do I need for a saltwater aquarium?" makes mention of it from multiple sources/links. When I started doing my research, I learned in about the first 30 minutes that I needed something called Live Rock and RODI Water (even though I didn't actually know what they were or the function of them at that point), so it means this guy did absolutely zero research into what was needed for a saltwater tank before setting it up. You have the correct attitude though: TONS OF RESEARCH.