I guess it just depends on what you think is right. IMO, the way I do it is jus as good as any other way. In your opinion, your way is right. In the end, it's a matter of opinion. We all have our own way of doing things.
I would argue that it is not a "matter of opinion". Instead, I would argue that what Telek is advocating (precondition the water before adding it to the tank) and what I am warning (rinse filter in conditioned water, not tap water) are "best practices", while your methods (using a Python and rinsing filters in tap water) are "good enough"...
for your situation!
In otherwords, following "best practices" will put the least stress on the fish and are safe practices for all users (everything from newbies cycling tanks to seasoned fish keepers with tanks that have been set up for years).
But "good enough" means that it's a safe practice
depending upon the situation.
Once again, case in point of rinsing the filter in tap water. In
your opinion, it is a perfectly safe thing to do. After all, it doesn't appear to put any stress on
your fish and
your tank doesn't go through a mini-cycle when
you rinse
your filter in
your tap water. But when
I did the exact same thing to
my filters in
my tap water, it was
NOT perfectly safe.
My tank went through a mini-cycle rinsing
my filter
your way.
And I would further argue that this is exactly why we all participate in these forums. So that we can learn from each other and share our knowledge.
Hopefully because of this discusion, someone new to fish keeping will read what happens to each of us and will decide that at first, they should follow "best practices". Once they get some experience at fish keeping, they can begin to ease off of "best practices" and slowly transition to "good enough" because "good enough" is a lot simpler than "best practices".
Not only that, but in the long run "good enough" might be better for the fish than "best practices". The reason? "Good enough" is easier to do and therefore a fish keeper is more likely to mantain their tank with "good enough", while the fish keeper that continues to do "best practices" doesn't do them as often as they should and their fish suffer because of it.
So for me, the bottom line to Fishyfanatic is that I do not think you need to change your ways. It works good enough for your tank. But newbies need to better understand the dynamics of fish keeping as well as the potential negative side effects of your practices when they are just STARTING.
