Tanked

[Gregcoyote]

Fish Tank Kings had a major blow out of one of their installations I heard. You got to give these guys some credit, it isn't easy gluing sheets of 2" acrylic together. That stuff gets heavy fast. It's the tanks in baseball backstops and their like that ruins it for me. I may be old fashioned (I am) but there are places aquariums should go and places they shouldn't go. These bad ideas come from people that could care less about the hobby, they are making a statement using their money.

 

[aadair22]

The new season of Fish Tank Kings comes back on June 1st and I heard that they are going to be taking a more 'educational' route this time.. I will turn it on and see exactly how educational it is.. Hoping for the best

 

[Taiken5968]

The new season of Fish Tank Kings comes back on June 1st and I heard that they are going to be taking a more 'educational' route this time.. I will turn it on and see exactly how educational it is.. Hoping for the best

I just hope they have less of the biologist and the artist arguing. I think it's childish and It reminds me of those shows like real house wives.

 

[aadair22]

I just hope they have less of the biologist and the artist arguing. I think it's childish and It reminds me of those shows like real house wives.

Agreed.. It's make these type of shows unwatchable for me

 

[Andy Sager]

LOL. I'm about half as old as you in the reef world. Undergravel filters weren't used when I got in

Geez you guys really make me feel old. lol
When I did my first saltwater tank, it was in the old slate bottom/ metal framing tanks. I lived on the NJ shore so I got water from the ocean but I only got fish to live about 6 months because, as I grew to understand, the water was just getting too contaminated by the metal and slate and a typical 10% monthly water change (the "norm" back then) just wasn't diluting the toxins enough to sustain life. But I know much better now
And Mr. X, I was around when the latest innovation to the under gravel filter was RIPPLES! If we only knew then what we know now, Right GregCoyote?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Geez you guys really make me feel old. lol
When I did my first saltwater tank, it was in the old slate bottom/ metal framing tanks. I lived on the NJ shore so I got water from the ocean but I only got fish to live about 6 months because, as I grew to understand, the water was just getting too contaminated by the metal and slate and a typical 10% monthly water change (the "norm" back then) just wasn't diluting the toxins enough to sustain life. But I know much better now
And Mr. X, I was around when the latest innovation to the under gravel filter was RIPPLES! If we only knew then what we know now, Right GregCoyote?

It's almost ridiculous looking back. But I would bet we look as ridiculous 20 years from now.

 

[Andy Sager]

It's almost ridiculous looking back. But I would bet we look as ridiculous 20 years from now.

Well Greg, that's when you and I will be sitting in our rocking chairs saying " Do you remember back in the day when we did........?"

 

[Gregcoyote]

But I'm already in a rocking chair...

 

[Andy Sager]

But I'm already in a rocking chair...

Well then just keep rocking until I get there please

 

[baron1282]

I never watch "Fish Tank Kings", but I have watched "Tanked" a lot and I must say I like it for the entertainment value. Some of the tanks I have seen them make are amazing.

Having said that, I can't believe how they stock them sometimes. It always seems over stocked. I will say while they do not show it in their show, on their website they do tell you how to look after your aquarium.

Acrylic Tank Manufacturing of Las Vegas, Nevada | Home of the Hit TV Show TANKED only on Animal Planet | Custom Acrylic Aquariums, Pool Panels, Water Features and Exhibits

Also their store does talk about cycling the tanks.

Aquarium Cycling | Acrylic Tank Manufacturing

So they do know what they are doing, but I do agree a lot of what they do on the show is for "Show".

It's a TV show, so a-lot of what goes on will be scripted to have fun, and to entertain us. Do you really think "Redneck"" slept the whole time they were pulling his trailer to the middle of the desert for a prank? Come on, that took days to set up. It was funny, and for entertaining TV it worked. So I have no disillusion that don't have a script they read. To me it's just a entertaining show, but you MUST dig deeper into their website to find the important information, that I feel is lacking in the show.

I heard that they prepare their water and everything else in advance before they set up the tank. They have all the filters seeded with bacteria already and all the water is basically their water ready to go. They than throw their bactira in a bottle in the tank.

Also lets not forget, this is a BIG company and they do thousands of tanks, so it's bound to have a bad tank here and there. It's no excuse, but a cooling unit going out is possible. My only gripe with the Gum Ball tank was there was nothing for the fish to hide out in if they wanted too, it was bare.

So while I am torn on the issue, I do think they know what they are doing and to be honest they are not going to show the acclimation process as it would be too long for TV. I do wish they would talk about it and just say that they HAD to do it first.

Overall I think the show is entertaining, but it's not informative. My only real problem is that it can give the wrong message to people that want to start a tank and not study. They just go and do what the ATM guys do, not realizing that the show is scripted or the massive amount of work that goes on behind the curtain to get the tanks up and running.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Well said. One of my best friends is a motorcycle expert and we use to gripe about American Choppers, over the same issues. They have to juice it up to make it entertaining, but not so funny, in some cases it has wrecked the companies. There are a lot of people that don't handle fame well. They start to ignore things that they learned years ago. Those guys have been keeping fish for a long time. My bet is they full well know the price they have paid for international marketing like a major cable show can bring. This week when they built their own tank they introduced their "contracted maintenance man" who handed the girls the fish. lead me to believe they maybe don't even maintain their own tanks.

Under no conditions I can imagine would I have all that fake junk in the tank, especially little wired gadgets. I have a fish cam, so I can't complain too loudly, but the fake coral and especially tennis shoes and fake human organs?

 

[Psychocircus91]

Well said. One of my best friends is a motorcycle expert and we use to gripe about American Choppers, over the same issues. They have to juice it up to make it entertaining, but not so funny, in some cases it has wrecked the companies. There are a lot of people that don't handle fame well. They start to ignore things that they learned years ago. Those guys have been keeping fish for a long time. My bet is they full well know the price they have paid for international marketing like a major cable show can bring. This week when they built their own tank they introduced their "contracted maintenance man" who handed the girls the fish. lead me to believe they maybe don't even maintain their own tanks.

Under no conditions I can imagine would I have all that fake junk in the tank, especially little wired gadgets. I have a fish cam, so I can't complain too loudly, but the fake coral and especially tennis shoes and fake human organs?

And the organs were just mixed in with the fake coral. Can that honestly be appealing to anyone? I honestly think the show could be just as entertaining If they built the tank, and then did everything responsibly (by people who actually are experts on fish) and just showed the tank several months later.

 

[Jev12]

Oh wow I love that show...I can't believe that they could be so careless and let the fish suffer like that

 

[Noturaveragereefer]

I'm not one that watches the show faithfully...but

 

[Noturaveragereefer]

If these ppl are sooo bad, and do so much harm to our fish, and set such bad examples why continue to watch them??? Every time someone tunes in they're getting they're ratings increased. The best way to get them off of television is to not watch, if they're that bad they won't get repeat business. Sooo I guess I'm just saying the best way to get them of tv is to not patronize them by watching. If you watch and complain you're just simply complaining...if you do not watch them you're not contributing to the shoes high ratings...so if you don't like it DON'T WATCH!

 

[Taiken5968]

If these ppl are sooo bad, and do so much harm to our fish, and set such bad examples why continue to watch them??? Every time someone tunes in they're getting they're ratings increased. The best way to get them off of television is to not watch, if they're that bad they won't get repeat business. Sooo I guess I'm just saying the best way to get them of tv is to not patronize them by watching. If you watch and complain you're just simply complaining...if you do not watch them you're not contributing to the shoes high ratings...so if you don't like it DON'T WATCH!

If all if the shows viewers were aquarium owners, then that may work. I am confident that the overwhelming majority of the shows viewers are not.

 

[Gregcoyote]

If these ppl are sooo bad, and do so much harm to our fish, and set such bad examples why continue to watch them??? Every time someone tunes in they're getting they're ratings increased. The best way to get them off of television is to not watch, if they're that bad they won't get repeat business. Sooo I guess I'm just saying the best way to get them of tv is to not patronize them by watching. If you watch and complain you're just simply complaining...if you do not watch them you're not contributing to the shoes high ratings...so if you don't like it DON'T WATCH!

I don't have anything against them, in fact they look like they would be cool to hang out with. I just wish the show went farther into actually keeping the live stock alive.

 

[GBHammbone]

I think you can tell that this season they are starting to talk more about acclimating the fish, and benificial bacteria and that, but the bottom line is the show there to make money and probably 95+% of viewers dont give a hoot about ph, salinity, nitrate levels, they just want to see a bad *** tank with bad *** fish so that is what animal planet gives them.

 

[baron1282]

I think you can tell that this season they are starting to talk more about acclimating the fish, and benificial bacteria and that, but the bottom line is the show there to make money and probably 95+% of viewers dont give a hoot about ph, salinity, nitrate levels, they just want to see a bad *** tank with bad *** fish so that is what animal planet gives them.

Agreed! They will only show the fun exciting stuff. They are not going to bore their audience to death with all the acclimation process, or how they set their tanks up with all the bactira already in the tank. It would be NICE if they just talked about it for a minute.

As for all the artificial coals they put into their tanks, to each their own. They look good but not great. I agree with them using their artificial corals help protect the environment as they don't have to take the coals off the reef systems out in the wild. We do Frag now, but like I said to each their own.

One episode with what they do behind the seasons to get the tanks ready to move and fill and stock would be cool.

 

[pankelephant]

Here's a hypothetical:

A TV show called "Dog Runs" is created in which they take a bunch of dogs of different ages, sizes, needs and temperaments, and threw them all together in a small, walled area big enough for maybe half of them. Imagine they dropped food in and forced the dogs to compete for it. Imagine they didn't clean the area. But the walls are painted with cool designs. There are neat windows. There are awesome plastic trees and shrubs to make it look more "real."

How long do you think that show would be on the air?

I was playing one of those guess-the-word games with my family once. You know - where you start with "Animal, mineral, vegetable?" I said "animal" in response when the word was "fish." I swear to god we had a full blown argument because half the people in the room didn't consider fish animals. Two of them are elementary school teachers. These are bright people, but this mindset is so ingrained - fish are not really pets, their needs do not need to be considered, they do not require any special care. They are decoration. They are disposable.

And THAT is what's wrong with shows like Tanked. It perpetuates that mindset.


Yeah, yeah, I know it's a dead horse. But it's not really about the show either. You think a pet store would remain in business if they told people they didn't have to clean the cat's litter box? That they don't have to walk their dogs? That animals don't ever need vaccinations or medical care?

But ... they're just fish.