Q:I’ve been battling hair algae in my tank for months, and I can’t seem to beat it no matter how much of the stuff I pull out, what herbivores I add, or how often I change water to lower the nutrient levels. So, I’m considering dosing [a proprietary additive for eliminating algae] to help bring the problem under control.
To find out what other hobbyists are saying about the effectiveness of this product, I’ve been reading comments both on the manufacturer’s website and hobby forums. However, this research has been of little help because the comments range anywhere from“这是奇迹产品”to“This product is snake oil.”另外，有些人声称它对他们的牲畜没有影响，而另一些人则声称它杀死了某些动物，甚至造成了完全的消灭。人们如何在同一产品中拥有如此不同的经历？
-Bethany Young
A: Thanks for your question, Bethany! Your experience in researching this product highlights how unreliable hobbyist anecdotes can be. There are several reasons hobbyists can have very different experiences with the same product (or claim to) and, thus, write such divergent comments on websites and forums. Examples, in no particular order, include the following. (Note that these can be applied to many different aquarium products or additives, not just the one you mention in your question. Also note that I have no firsthand experience with the product you’re researching, so I won’t attempt to review it or rate its efficacy here.)
Vested interest
When reading comments about any aquarium product, it’s often helpful to disregard the most glowing compliments and the harshest critiques. The reason being, there’s always a possibility that the former are posted by an individual with a vested interest in the product’s success (e.g. the manufacturer, a friend or family member, or someone otherwise affiliated with the company), and that the latter are posted by a competitor or someone with an axe to grind. Focus instead on the bulk of comments that fall somewhere between these two extremes.
Varying problem severity
两名斗争同一问题的业余爱好者可能会根据产品的严重性而获得非常不同的结果。您可能不会从一个普遍被忽视的系统中研究的产品类型中看到太大的好处，该系统被藻类cho住并且具有高高的硝酸盐和磷酸盐水平。另一方面，假设该产品实际上是有效的，您可能会在一个普遍维护良好的系统中看到一些好处，该系统只需要一点推动即可创造一个对藻类增长不利的环境。
Varying product quality
结果也可能有所不同，因为产品在离开制造工厂的时间与实际添加到水族馆系统的时间之间可能会受到非常不同的处理或条件。例如，当适当处理时具有有效性的产品在暴露于极端温度时，可以使其无用，储存不可接受的长时间，或者以其他方式暴露于降解其质量的条件。
不当/剂量
The effectiveness of any given aquarium additive depends on proper use and dosing as specified by the manufacturer. Hobbyists who are careless when it comes to measurement conversions, or are of the mindset that “If a little is good, more is better,” will likely over- or underdose the product and get subpar results as a consequence.
事后Ergo Propter HOCfallacy
This well-known logical fallacy assumes that because an event occurred first, it must be the cause of an event that occurred later.Post hoc当我们得出关于水族馆添加剂有效性的结论时，通常会发挥作用。新万博登录网址例如，业余爱好者可能会添加最新，最大的专有藻类控制产品，请参阅随后的几周或几个月中的藻类消散，然后将产品归功于藻类，而实际上，藻类Bloom可能已经消除了藻类在没有水族馆的帮助的情况下，它本身就是因为燃料的养分变得筋疲力尽。另一方面，业余爱好者可能会指责增添添加剂，因为当真正的罪魁祸首是其他因素时，例如给药后发生新万博登录网址的牲畜损失，例如氨尖峰，而时机只是偶然的。
