Mr *** contacted me by email last fall about his proposed saltwater reef tank setupHe apparently had done some research and had a tank and some other
items on order from a different vendorHe then asked me about specific filtration items he was looking for to complete his setupI gave him price quotes and also emailed some recommendations that I thought may be a better choice on a few thingsThus while he was looking online to purchase those items, he could make informed choicesThis is just part of the service I try to give all of our customers as well as those that may have been referred to us or heard about us elsewhereThat appears to be the case with Mr Wantz, as of that time, I did not know who he wasWe had multiple email correspondence and I answered his questions as they came inUltimately he came in and purchased some of the discussed items from us as wellHe had very definite ideas leading me to believe that he had previous experience or at least had been researching online about this hobby
At some point a few months back, Mr*** came in and purchased "live rock" from usLive rock is what hobbyists use to both seed their tank with bacteria and as tank décorIt has a lot of crevices, etc and its common to get hitchhikers on the rockThese can include hundreds, if not thousands of possible species. In addition, its actually likely to have things show up months later after placing in the aquarium. That’s very common knowledge and with very minimal research that info is all over the webThere is a split among hobbyists over the use of live rock, the majority use it but a growing number of hobbyists use dry rock with the hope of not introducing nuisance pestsThe flaw in that thinking is that those same nuisance pests will come into the tank on all livestock purchased. But we do offer dry rock for sale for those who prefer not to use liveMr*** chose live rock
Our rock is displayed in a large vat and the customer points to the pieces they want, so he would have chosen the rocks for his tankI am not sure if he purchased more rock from other sources or notIt seems that he may have but not certainRecently, about weeks ago, months after his rock purchase, I received a rather angry letter from Mr*** saying that I was at least partially responsible for Aiptasia overtaking his tank and wanted compensation for the thousands of dollars he invested so far as he was thinking of tearing it down because of the aiptasiaHe included a picture of a rock and it had hundreds of aiptasia on them, suggesting this is what we sold him and misidentified as button polypsThere are a number of inaccuracies in this statementButton polyps and aiptasia look nothing alikeIts very basic knowledge that in no way could have been misidentified by any employee hereSo if in fact those words were spoken, they would not have been said while looking at aiptasiaNone of our employees have any recollection of any conversation with Mr***, which is not surprising as it would have been just a typical saleFurther, we are on the constant lookout for aiptasia and there is never a rock in here covered the way his was in the pictureIt would be extremely foolish of us to have that in our storeIt would hurt salesHowever, Aiptasia can be present on rock, corals, and shellsI can go look thru the store and find it if I look hard enough. That’s the reality of the hobby and livestock purchasesBut we simply keep up with it by a number of different meansA few aiptasia does not cause an issue, the issue begins when it gets out of controlSo we as well as hobbyists use a number of measures to keep it in check. A quick look at forums relating to reef tanks will show this is extremely common and shows the multitude of ways to eradicate
In Mr*** letter, he listed a number of things he tried so apparently he was researching the topic and to my knowledge he did not contact our storeI know I did not talk to him about it and he did not email meThe listed methods he tried and said they were too time consumingUnfortunately some methods require that some effort be madeThis hobby is very time demanding and is not something you set up and sit back and look atThere are constant demands when dealing with livestockSo for the months his problem was getting worse, I was never contacted for advice and was even aware of him having an issueWe can not possibly know if the aiptasia even originated from that "rock" but that’s almost irrelevant as it will come into a tank thru another source at some point If his rock is to the point where he just doesn’t feel he has the time to deal with it, he could simply remove it, cure it and reuse itBasically starting fresh with no expenseAlternatively, if he wants to take the time to remedy his problem, there are ways that can be done as well(That is what most people do that are in the hobby)The tone of his letter never asked for help, rather was looking for financial reimbursementWe always are willing to give advice and help but the hobbyist needs to do their part
When I opened his letter, (a few days after it arrived at the store as I was out of town), I immediately called his number and left a voicemail trying to clarify any misinformation and request that he call/email for further conversationHe then stopped at the store a few days later and we had a very brief conversation as the store was packed with customersI told him that his latest remedy attempt takes time to workHe added a natural predator of aiptasia that reproduces and the offspring eat itIts typically extremely effective(He apparently researched that as well as he did not get those from us) But it takes timeMy suggestion to him was do nothing at this point as he needs to give those nudibranches timeFurther he stated he saw that they laid eggs, exactly what you want to happenHe was in on March 9th and then I see on March 11th he submitted this complaint to youBoth his initial letter to me and this complaint caught me completely off guardWe have never had a complaint presented to the Revdex.com in our over years in business and we have an outstanding reputation in the industryService is what we are known for
In summary, we can not be responsible for what happens in Mr*** tank, rather he needs to spend the needed time it takes to have a successful aquariumWe gladly provide advice but we were not even made aware of the problem yet its obvious that he knew he had an issue since he states he purchased many items to eradicate the aiptasia. If we were made aware earlier, we could have simply recommended some inhabitants that eat the aiptasia and help him create a better environmentThis is just the start of things that he will experience that will need much attention if he decides to continue in this hobbyThere are multitudes of pests and algaes that quickly get out of controlIn turn, there are cleanup crews and other fish or inverts that can be added to hopefully create a balanced environmentSo when these things pop up over the upcoming months, will he lay the blame with us or other stores as well?
Mr*** appears to not understand the time these things take to develop as shown by our conversation on the 9th where I explained he needed to give his remedy time to workTwo days later, he decides the wait is over. I can only assume that wherever he purchased those aiptasia eating nudibranches from had that same info available to him as well. We go above and beyond in service and have developed great friendships and a loyal customer baseBut it goes both ways and its rather disappointing and frustrating that there was not any communication at an earlier point
We certainly would be glad to again go over more thoroughly his remedy choices, but his request for financial reimbursement is quite frankly rather astonishingPerhaps it comes simply from not understanding what it takes to be successful in this hobby and providing the care for live animals
Respectfully
*** ***
Mr *** contacted me by email last fall about his proposed saltwater reef tank setupHe apparently had done some research and had a tank and some other
items on order from a different vendorHe then asked me about specific filtration items he was looking for to complete his setupI gave him price quotes and also emailed some recommendations that I thought may be a better choice on a few thingsThus while he was looking online to purchase those items, he could make informed choicesThis is just part of the service I try to give all of our customers as well as those that may have been referred to us or heard about us elsewhereThat appears to be the case with Mr Wantz, as of that time, I did not know who he wasWe had multiple email correspondence and I answered his questions as they came inUltimately he came in and purchased some of the discussed items from us as wellHe had very definite ideas leading me to believe that he had previous experience or at least had been researching online about this hobby
At some point a few months back, Mr*** came in and purchased "live rock" from usLive rock is what hobbyists use to both seed their tank with bacteria and as tank décorIt has a lot of crevices, etc and its common to get hitchhikers on the rockThese can include hundreds, if not thousands of possible species. In addition, its actually likely to have things show up months later after placing in the aquarium. That’s very common knowledge and with very minimal research that info is all over the webThere is a split among hobbyists over the use of live rock, the majority use it but a growing number of hobbyists use dry rock with the hope of not introducing nuisance pestsThe flaw in that thinking is that those same nuisance pests will come into the tank on all livestock purchased. But we do offer dry rock for sale for those who prefer not to use liveMr*** chose live rock
Our rock is displayed in a large vat and the customer points to the pieces they want, so he would have chosen the rocks for his tankI am not sure if he purchased more rock from other sources or notIt seems that he may have but not certainRecently, about weeks ago, months after his rock purchase, I received a rather angry letter from Mr*** saying that I was at least partially responsible for Aiptasia overtaking his tank and wanted compensation for the thousands of dollars he invested so far as he was thinking of tearing it down because of the aiptasiaHe included a picture of a rock and it had hundreds of aiptasia on them, suggesting this is what we sold him and misidentified as button polypsThere are a number of inaccuracies in this statementButton polyps and aiptasia look nothing alikeIts very basic knowledge that in no way could have been misidentified by any employee hereSo if in fact those words were spoken, they would not have been said while looking at aiptasiaNone of our employees have any recollection of any conversation with Mr***, which is not surprising as it would have been just a typical saleFurther, we are on the constant lookout for aiptasia and there is never a rock in here covered the way his was in the pictureIt would be extremely foolish of us to have that in our storeIt would hurt salesHowever, Aiptasia can be present on rock, corals, and shellsI can go look thru the store and find it if I look hard enough. That’s the reality of the hobby and livestock purchasesBut we simply keep up with it by a number of different meansA few aiptasia does not cause an issue, the issue begins when it gets out of controlSo we as well as hobbyists use a number of measures to keep it in check. A quick look at forums relating to reef tanks will show this is extremely common and shows the multitude of ways to eradicate
In Mr*** letter, he listed a number of things he tried so apparently he was researching the topic and to my knowledge he did not contact our storeI know I did not talk to him about it and he did not email meThe listed methods he tried and said they were too time consumingUnfortunately some methods require that some effort be madeThis hobby is very time demanding and is not something you set up and sit back and look atThere are constant demands when dealing with livestockSo for the months his problem was getting worse, I was never contacted for advice and was even aware of him having an issueWe can not possibly know if the aiptasia even originated from that "rock" but that’s almost irrelevant as it will come into a tank thru another source at some point If his rock is to the point where he just doesn’t feel he has the time to deal with it, he could simply remove it, cure it and reuse itBasically starting fresh with no expenseAlternatively, if he wants to take the time to remedy his problem, there are ways that can be done as well(That is what most people do that are in the hobby)The tone of his letter never asked for help, rather was looking for financial reimbursementWe always are willing to give advice and help but the hobbyist needs to do their part
When I opened his letter, (a few days after it arrived at the store as I was out of town), I immediately called his number and left a voicemail trying to clarify any misinformation and request that he call/email for further conversationHe then stopped at the store a few days later and we had a very brief conversation as the store was packed with customersI told him that his latest remedy attempt takes time to workHe added a natural predator of aiptasia that reproduces and the offspring eat itIts typically extremely effective(He apparently researched that as well as he did not get those from us) But it takes timeMy suggestion to him was do nothing at this point as he needs to give those nudibranches timeFurther he stated he saw that they laid eggs, exactly what you want to happenHe was in on March 9th and then I see on March 11th he submitted this complaint to youBoth his initial letter to me and this complaint caught me completely off guardWe have never had a complaint presented to the Revdex.com in our over years in business and we have an outstanding reputation in the industryService is what we are known for
In summary, we can not be responsible for what happens in Mr*** tank, rather he needs to spend the needed time it takes to have a successful aquariumWe gladly provide advice but we were not even made aware of the problem yet its obvious that he knew he had an issue since he states he purchased many items to eradicate the aiptasia. If we were made aware earlier, we could have simply recommended some inhabitants that eat the aiptasia and help him create a better environmentThis is just the start of things that he will experience that will need much attention if he decides to continue in this hobbyThere are multitudes of pests and algaes that quickly get out of controlIn turn, there are cleanup crews and other fish or inverts that can be added to hopefully create a balanced environmentSo when these things pop up over the upcoming months, will he lay the blame with us or other stores as well?
Mr*** appears to not understand the time these things take to develop as shown by our conversation on the 9th where I explained he needed to give his remedy time to workTwo days later, he decides the wait is over. I can only assume that wherever he purchased those aiptasia eating nudibranches from had that same info available to him as well. We go above and beyond in service and have developed great friendships and a loyal customer baseBut it goes both ways and its rather disappointing and frustrating that there was not any communication at an earlier point
We certainly would be glad to again go over more thoroughly his remedy choices, but his request for financial reimbursement is quite frankly rather astonishingPerhaps it comes simply from not understanding what it takes to be successful in this hobby and providing the care for live animals
Respectfully
*** ***