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BRS, subbar advice packaged in professional setting

ofzakaria

ofzakaria

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love these videos BRS where they casually mention failures of methods they have advocated for in other videos, yet the videos in question stay on their channel.
Check min 17, they basically admit that their 5min guide to treat Dino did not work.
Now for someone who is searching Dino and end up watching their 5min dino solution. Its tough luck..
These BRS videos can be so dangerous for someone who just trust the BRS brand and treat it as anything but retailer trying to push products...
 
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If reefing was as simple as do whatever some person or company says and it will absolutely work every time then there would be a lot more successful reefers around...
 
I have the personal experience of directly telling them about mistakes in their advice in videos. Not even subjective things necessarily, like for example one time recommending a 10-fold incorrect high amount of phosphate levels to new reefers multiple times in a video due to a simple math/typo type of error. But they don‘t fix the mistake or even add a warning. Why should a king deign to listen to one of his subjects?

Example I referred to:
Ep9 in their BRS/WWC series on Nitrate/Phosphate, in their summary chart they recommend new tanks shoot for 0.5 ppm phosphate at numerous points in the video (rather than the 0.05 ppm I’m sure they meant based on context and everything they otherwise said). I pointed this out to them right away and got crickets in response. I wonder how many new Reefers have been battling algae in their new tanks as they try to keep their phosphate at 0.5 ppm over the past 2 years?

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JVU said:
I have the personal experience of directly telling them about mistakes in their advice in videos. Not even subjective things necessarily, like for example one time recommending a 10-fold incorrect high amount of phosphate levels to new reefers multiple times in a video due to a simple math/typo type of error. But they don‘t fix the mistake or even add a warning. Why should a king deign to listen to one of his subjects?

Example I referred to:
Ep9 in their BRS/WWC series on Nitrate/Phosphate, in their summary chart they recommend new tanks shoot for 0.5 ppm phosphate at numerous points in the video (rather than the 0.05 ppm I’m sure they meant based on context and everything they otherwise said). I pointed this out to them right away and got crickets in response. I wonder how many new Reefers have been battling algae in their new tanks as they try to keep their phosphate at 0.5 ppm over the past 2 years?

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Well said, I have many other examples similar to you. They are putting some bad openions and advices only to later say it was wrong, again casually, yet theor videos stay without correction.
This focus on video volume to monetize of their channel views and to push products is one of the bad trends that have happened to this industry..
I only feel sorry for new commers and less experienced reefers. It took me 13 years to start identifying the nonsens in the hobby, I cannot imagine someone who started recently being able to navigate the mountains of garbage talking points in R2R and other industry celebrities like BRS...
 
ofzakaria said:
Well said, I have many other examples similar to you. They are putting some bad openions and advices only to later say it was wrong, again casually, yet theor videos stay without correction.
This focus on video volume to monetize of their channel views and to push products is one of the bad trends that have happened to this industry..
I only feel sorry for new commers and less experienced reefers. It took me 13 years to start identifying the nonsens in the hobby, I cannot imagine someone who started recently being able to navigate the mountains of garbage talking points in R2R and other industry celebrities like BRS...
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Your last comment is exactly why I tell people to take everything they hear, including whatever I may recommend/any advice I offer, with a big grain of salt. Information can change, and just because someone is popular/knowledgeable in one area, doesn't mean they don't make mistakes.
 
I was out of the hobby and out of touch for a while so I watched a ton of their videos trying to catch up to everything that had changed. I tried to compare their suggestions with the methods that proven successful reefers follow but I'll admit I made at least one impulse buy because they suggested it. I got really skeptical though when I saw that Ryan isn't following his own advice on his 360g tank. I can only think of one example - he's been pushing external skimmers and decided against it for himself - but I'm sure there are more places where this occurred.

I will say the one piece of advice that I really like from them is the 4 month cycle. I wish I could have done it because I'm in the middle of the ugliest ugly phase I've ever gone through and it's hard to even look at my tank.
 
It's the internet, take with it what you will, and they are in the business of selling solutions. There are definitely times when what they put out is very useful information, often lights with PAR readings, but other times not so much like "this is what WWC does on their tanks, and it could help you have a better tank" yeah no shit what works is having a constant crew keeping up with tank maintenance translate to tanks that look fantastic (also why I don't really put a huge amount of stock in what Neptune does with their display tanks).

I think the only bad thing about what they do is that they have enough followers that they very often get viewed as an authority on the subject, but at the end of the day they're just reefers like the rest of us and may not have nearly the experience we do, I mean that dude setting up his 360g tank at home (that was so nicely sponsored by a lot of high end companies) was doing stuff in his work room that would make building inspectors flip their lid "lets turn the electrical outlets straight down, then we can put the wall covering directly over it!" and yeah they corrected themselves in a later video but I'm pretty sure that original one is still there.
 
BPro32 said:
I got really skeptical though when I saw that Ryan isn't following his own advice on his 360g tank. I can only think of one example - he's been pushing external skimmers and decided against it for himself - but I'm sure there are more places where this occurred.
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Pretty sure that Royal Exclusiv Dream box setup was a manufacturer donation in some fashion, and that does come with a skimmer :D.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Pretty sure that Royal Exclusiv Dream box setup was a manufacturer donation in some fashion, and that does come with a skimmer :D.
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No doubt about it. I also thought it was interesting that they became a dealer of Royal Exclusive at the same time he announced he is using the dream box setup. That wasn't very subtle.
 
sfsuphysics said:
It's the internet, take with it what you will, and they are in the business of selling solutions. There are definitely times when what they put out is very useful information, often lights with PAR readings, but other times not so much like "this is what WWC does on their tanks, and it could help you have a better tank" yeah no shit what works is having a constant crew keeping up with tank maintenance translate to tanks that look fantastic (also why I don't really put a huge amount of stock in what Neptune does with their display tanks).

I think the only bad thing about what they do is that they have enough followers that they very often get viewed as an authority on the subject, but at the end of the day they're just reefers like the rest of us and may not have nearly the experience we do, I mean that dude setting up his 360g tank at home (that was so nicely sponsored by a lot of high end companies) was doing stuff in his work room that would make building inspectors flip their lid "lets turn the electrical outlets straight down, then we can put the wall covering directly over it!" and yeah they corrected themselves in a later video but I'm pretty sure that original one is still there.
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Agreed but its our job to correct when applicable, at least we do it for the benifit of people we care about (like this clube). That was my goal when I shared this thread.
 
BRS used to insist that they sell only the best equipment and supplies, and the reason you don’t see everything on their site is because they weed through the low quality stuff for you. Ryan said many times in his videos over the years something like "the business guys are gonna kill me for saying this... " then give some advice that wasn’t the most profitable for BRS. I liked this attitude of honestly trying to help out reefers a lot and made me want to buy from them to support this; it created a sense of loyalty in me I don’t usually have with internet companies. I spent thousands at BRS a few years ago when I was buying for my current tank because of this, even though their shipping time sucks and their prices are just ok.

But lately I feel like they have just gotten too popular and less customer-focused, and I’ve seen too many examples where they are just so obviously carrying/promoting certain brands and not others due purely to business decisions (like everyone else does). So now I just think of them as another good online business (among many). So while I still buy from them, I don’t think twice buying elsewhere if someone else has a better deal or better shipping.
 
IMHO, I think they’re just a bit lazy in correcting their own videos. But, yeah, as @sfsuphysics states, it is the internet. Just look at the crap that’s out there...it gets sooo bead that even Twitter, Facebook, Amazon have to pull content off.
 
Wlachnit said:
IMHO, I think they’re just a bit lazy in correcting their own videos. But, yeah, as @sfsuphysics states, it is the internet. Just look at the crap that’s out there...it gets sooo bead that even Twitter, Facebook, Amazon have to pull content off.
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That’s a good point, good to keep perspective. At least the BRS-TV team aren’t telling everyone they can cure COVID by drinking reef tank water.
 
My tow cents. There's never been a better reference site for this hobby than the BRS videos. I have a hard time complaining about a site that has put a huge amount of resources into bettering the hobby. When I started my first aquarium in the 1970's there were about a half-dozen books that were worthwhile. Advice came from store owners and other hobbyists that often, at best, were more interested in grooming dogs in their pet shop than dispensing fish advice, or blustering about how well they did with their stagnant tanks full of peat moss.

So now we have an incredibly rich knowledge base, and we're complaining about it? The sheer amount of knowledge they have disseminated to thousands of reefers worldwide is staggering, and has undoubtedly raised the level of success of most of them.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
My tow cents. There's never been a better reference site for this hobby than the BRS videos. I have a hard time complaining about a site that has put a huge amount of resources into bettering the hobby. When I started my first aquarium in the 1970's there were about a half-dozen books that were worthwhile. Advice came from store owners and other hobbyists that often, at best, were more interested in grooming dogs in their pet shop than dispensing fish advice, or blustering about how well they did with their stagnant tanks full of peat moss.

So now we have an incredibly rich knowledge base, and we're complaining about it? The sheer amount of knowledge they have disseminated to thousands of reefers worldwide is staggering, and has undoubtedly raised the level of success of most of them.
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Just because something or someone was good before, shouldnot be an excuse to let the bad slide.
When someone deal of issues based on their advice of 0.5ppm po4 ad an example, i doubt they will find comfort that they used to be good..if you use your platform to spread information, you are accountable for the accuracy and quality of your informations..
Thats my 2 cents
 
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I also like to follow up on my threads that are experiments and say if it worked or not. I wish they would just update the from of every video that was wrong with the corrections!
 
I think BRS videos are a mixed bag.
They are not experts, nor are they scientists.
They're sorta like fake scientists. They have very poor scientific methods and little to no controls. Then make some statements leading the viewer to think what they say is probably true.
They make it sound like they are experts and they know what's right. They make statements as if they are true, but have not been proven by any real science.
It's really annoying.
What makes them experts? Do they even have a science degree at from a university? Do they have a masters or Phd in anything?
 
No, but they do try. And let’s be honest. 90% of what they say is what’s currently co differed good advice.

I always tell new people to watch the Brs videos and remind themselves that they are trying to sell you something as well.
 
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