I run most of my tanks with sponge or UG filters. Some are barely running
since I keep the air down to almost no flow. However, these tanks all have
lots of plants and other surface area and are all well established. To be
fair, when I do get to setting a couple of new tanks I have had sitting
waiting for a several years, they will have increased flow ( but probably UG
filters or foam, or both) and I take chunks of plants from established tank,
along with seed gravel from those tanks to get the system going. On top of
that , fish are not added till the tank looks right, I rarely test. And the
first fish are low stock rate - for example, a pair of two to three inch
fish in a 55 gallon tank.
What I think is happening at these stores is they stretch what can work to
make a sale. It is too bad they do not realize that they can actually
increase sales in the long run with correct instruction, and sometimes
telling customers something they might not want to here. But, in two years
later when all the fish they bought are still alive, the water is clear of
dirt with minimal effort, and possibly some fish have spawned- that customer
will tell people and go back to that store again and again, foregoing even
cheaper competitors that deal in junk and bunk.
Ray
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