# Dustin fishtank guy?



## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

Does he frequent this forum?
I took in a webinar last night. first one I have ever done. It was pretty cool. A bit frantic for my tuesday night psyche!

He seems to be a pretty straight forward down to earth fellow and I wondered about other folks opinion of him?

maybe I am not supposed to talk about his here?


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## TheSnipe (Nov 23, 2015)

Well you asked.. I seriously can't stand him. Aquarium keeping for morons. 

I guess he's enthusiastic, but he needs to do more research and less videotaping of himself if he wants to be respected.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

He is hawking product more than providing information that is for sure.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

He came to Colorado and I ran into him at the last AGA Conference. He is becoming a real force in the hobby. I've come to like him. He provides a lot of information to a lot of people. Fish room tours, how to stuff and plants. The fact that he is in business to make money bothers some people but that is just what he does. People can learn a lot from him.


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## TheSnipe (Nov 23, 2015)

My favourite moment was when he reached into one of his outdoor grow out tanks and picked up a dead squirrel by mistake. Bahahahaha serves him right.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

I have been doing this hobby for 20-30 years...and I learned something last night about lighting.....

He has his "schtick" and it seems to work for him.

Bump: As a teacher- I have no problem with the sale of information. (or goods)


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## Dropline (Dec 30, 2014)

I have been on a few of them, yes he does push his products a little heavy but I am sure he is not doing the "Free Webinars" for the fun of it, it IS a marketing strategy. Most of what he says seems pretty good. I actually like his old videos better before he was doing it as a "Job", more mistakes but less sales pitch. 

Do not get me wrong, I do understand he IS selling himself, but the thing I did not like about the webinars is when someone would ask "What type of red clay should I use?" and he would just say "The stuff I sell". Once again, I know it is marketing and that is what he is there for but would be nice if he was more focused on the webinar topic instead of sales. 

To be honest I think more people would buy his stuff if he pushed it a little less, all the pop-up thingies on his videos "Buy this"... "Buy that"... "I sell this"... gets a little annoying. The way I see it, provide a good product with good service and people will buy. Over hyping just turns some away, I almost ordered from him 3 times but each time I ended up someplace else and to be honest all 3 ended up being deals from HERE.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

Dropline- that was my take as well.

He seemed a bit like a new teacher. Fast delivery, limited followup, toss it out...see! there I taught it. Maybe when his biz grows enough he can hire enough folks so he can settle in and "be" the image that he has already successfully created??

I have purchased plants from him in the past and you do get a very fair amount of product for the price. I am debating a driftwood purchase at the moment.


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## Dropline (Dec 30, 2014)

bsherwood said:


> Dropline- that was my take as well.
> 
> He seemed a bit like a new teacher. Fast delivery, limited followup, toss it out...see! there I taught it. Maybe when his biz grows enough he can hire enough folks so he can settle in and "be" the image that he has already successfully created??
> 
> I have purchased plants from him in the past and you do get a very fair amount of product for the price. I am debating a driftwood purchase at the moment.


I am also debating some of that "TB" driftwood he has and from what I hear his plants are really nice. Last time it was hard to pay $12.95 for a Tiger Lotus that was on the forum here for $4 and also picked up a Madagascar lace for about the same and his is like $20. Time before that I almost bought his co2 regulator, but then grabbed a full co2 system from a "Inventory Reduction" thread on here. 

I do actually check his site before I buy plants, I do want to support him some being I DID get some useful information from the webinars I have been on.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

I think the biggest thing I learned was "affirmation". I struggle with those that analyze and measure to the nth degree. I want to do it all by "feel"....I know that comes from past experience in the BandW darkroom....I learned very little from the books and a whole ton by spending all night in the darkroom trying to create the best image.


bottom line? I have been overlighting my tanks and need to cut back until I find my balance. that alone was worth sitting through his frantic-ness.


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## jboone82590 (Jul 4, 2015)

I am a member of his website and I watch his videos every week. 
I think he is a good guy just trying to make a living off of what he loves and you all are telling me that you wouldn't do the same thing if you could cuz I know I would in a heart beat. 

To be honest I have never bought anything from him or his website I just like to watch his videos and learn that's why I'm on this forum and I have learned a lot from both places 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk


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## Dropline (Dec 30, 2014)

bsherwood said:


> bottom line? I have been overlighting my tanks and need to cut back until I find my balance.


Overlighting or under co2 and ferting?  
High light from what I read should be fine IF you have what the plants need to use it (co2 and nuits). As you said "Balance", so either your lights are too high or something else is too low.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

Hey- I am envious of him making a living from this insanity! it can't be that easy. The shipping alone would get old really really fast....I have only bought one time so I can't speak for his customer service. I would think you need to be way on top of service or we will all go to where the service is.

Obviously he is on his game. We are talking about him


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## Dropline (Dec 30, 2014)

bsherwood said:


> Hey- I am envious of him making a living from this insanity! it can't be that easy. The shipping alone would get old really really fast....I have only bought one time so I can't speak for his customer service. I would think you need to be way on top of service or we will all go to where the service is.
> 
> Obviously he is on his game. We are talking about him


Yes, but I think he mentioned there are others working for him. So not like he is there packing each and every order, maybe he is but I do recall him saying something about others working for him.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

I am sure he does- but he has grown it from doing it all...... I photograph and record all-state music festivals (and other festivals) I ship photo's and CD's. Doing the gig is a piece of cake. The shipping is horrible. tedious. expensive...thankless......hats off to him for enduring until he was big enough to hire someone.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Yes he has has people working for him.


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## bsherwood (Nov 22, 2007)

I had people working for me. Then they graduated from high school and I had to send them to college!


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## TheSnipe (Nov 23, 2015)

His plants are over priced. He preys on noobs who don't know how much they should be paying. That's his customer base.


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## miogpsrocks (Sep 3, 2015)

That guy is a complete idiot!! He is the shamwow guy for plants. He said let water rest for a couple days to get rid of chlorimines when they would take weeks for them to dissipate without chemicals. He has no idea what he is talking about and following his advice will end you up with dead fish.His whole thing is to yell until you buying his junk with flea market taticts. Compete snake oil salesman

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk


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## TheSnipe (Nov 23, 2015)

I love this from his plant combos for sale area:

"I like the Silver Aquarium Plant Packages the most because the individuals really rely on me to figure it out. These customers are typically middle aged, have a budget and just want to get a sweet setup from someone who knows what they are doing. Often times they will have the attitude of, ?Whatever you think is good for my 75, go for it. ? Obviously a guy like me likes this kind of open slate to get rolling". 

http://dustinsfishtanks.com/aquarium-plants-for-sale/aquarium-plant-packages-sale-half-sell/

Careful everyone, Dustin may stereotype you next. You are merely money ready for extraction.


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

I have watched almost a his videos. Some are better than others and often he has some outright wrong information. But he is a good guy and I don't think he is a snake oil salesman like many seems to think. 

Either way, many of us have come across wrong info in the past and through proper research it will be discarded very quickly. I always urge all newcomers to learn as much as possible from all different sources.


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## TheSnipe (Nov 23, 2015)

philipraposo1982 said:


> I have watched almost a his videos. Some are better than others and often he has some outright wrong information. But he is a good guy and I don't think he is a snake oil salesman like many seems to think.
> 
> Either way, many of us have come across wrong info in the past and through proper research it will be discarded very quickly. I always urge all newcomers to learn as much as possible from all different sources.


Are all the people supporting Dustin in this thread middle aged with unlimited budgets? Dustin knows you're out there waiting to be brain washed, then profited from. He has identified you with his profiling.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Each of you, particularly new members, need to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the guidelines you agreed to upon signing up to become a member.

Vendor reviews aren't permitted.


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