Anatomy of our hobby

[paul b]

Now I don't know where this is going but I went to a meeting of the Long Island Reefers Assn a couple of weeks ago which I am not a member of.

(I am not a member of anything, I would not want me as a member)

Anyway, the guy who owned the place (I forgot his name) had about 5 of the best looking, healthiest looking tanks I have ever seen in my life.

My tank has never, and will never look that nice, which got me thinking about the hobby and all the problems associated with it.

There are unlimited levels that we can aspire to if we like.

Some of us have tanks that rival the sea and some of us have a tank that would make a sewer treatment facility look like Tahiti

 

In my mind, it doesn't matter. It was never meant to be a contest, unless, of course you are into contests.

Many of us feel that we have to have the best looking tanks and will go to any lengths and expensive to get it and some of us just want to keep a few fish alive. Some of us name our fish and treat them like family almost going into a depression if one of them, God Forbid, passes away

 

When I was looking at those tanks two weeks ago, I was not thinking, Wow, I wish I could have a tank like that. I was thinking, Wow, what a beautiful tank, look at those fish, not a scale out of place. The owner must really know what he is doing.

 

Not, What a jerk I am for not having such a nice tank.

We should not beat ourselves up for not having TOTM.

We should be happy that we are even able to keep anything alive, miles from the sea and greatful that we have such a rewarding hobby.

 

We could after all mortgage our homes and buy a huge tank and fill it with thousands of dollars worth of corals and the latest gadgets, and it would probably look great But then our hobby would be "How much money we can spend" rather than, "what makes me happy and also lets me eat and pay my bills."

I have a fairly nice boat and could have a really nice boat where I could hire models to ride around with me and look really cool. I could do that, but then I would also be living in the street, so I may not be happy.

(I actually know someone who does that with the models)

 

It bothers me when I hear of someone getting so upset about trival things like algae or ich. These are the very things that make this hobby worthwhile. If nothing ever went wrong, it would be very boreing and anybody could do it.

This stuff is facinating, especially when we discover a starfish, worm or crab that we have no idea where it came from.

Or when people come to visit and they ask how we painted the clownfish to look like that. Or they ask if a goldfish could live in there, or why did you put a beer can in there?

 

Yes it is expensive, but it is only as expensive as we want it to be. It takes up a lot of time, but again, only as much time as we want to put into it.

I have had a tsank of some type for just about 60 years and I have not gotten bored yet. I am sure I will have a tank until I die. I don't regret one dime or one minute I have put into it. As soon as it becomes a choir, I throw the entire thing out.

 

Some of you people have some gorgeous tanks that you should be extreamly proud of. Not all TOTMs, but who cares?

 

 

 

 

__________________

[Boret]

Well said, now.... what type of equipment did the guy have on that spotless tank?? LOL

[Noobalicious]

ummm...why did you put a beer can in?

[Coral Hind]

Paul, That was a very nice post. Thanks for breaking it all down and making it real.

[paul b]

Thanks for breaking it all down and making it real.

 

As real as I can. It's just a hobby and by defination, not very important or needed. (Except to us of course)

 

what type of equipment did the guy have on that spotless tank?? LOL

 

I didn't speak to him so the only equipment I saw was LED lights.

 

 

ummm...why did you put a beer can in?

 

Because it was just too cool not to put in there and the fact that you asked about it proves that it is a conversation piece.

[blaze98]

Very cool post and pic....lol.

[lanman]

ummm...why did you put a beer can in?

 

Ummm... same reason the old bottles are in there???

 

bob

[davelin315]

Some of us have tanks that rival the sea and some of us have a tank that would make a sewer treatment facility look like Tahiti

Chiming in on this part! If you've ever been to Papeete, the capital city of Tahiti, it make sewers look like our reef tanks! Dirty, dirty, dirty place, water is brown, sand is brown, gross...

 

Bora Bora and Moorea, on the other hand, are beautiful!

 

Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. It's amazing what one person thinks of a tank versus another. The kids absolutely adore aiptasia at school while I spend time trying to kill it off... go figure! They're happy as a clam (ha ha) to have a tank with cyano all over it and an ugly old donated damsel!

 

I will disagree, though... I hate ich and tank issues! My last big issue killed off all of my corals and actually turned my tank into a sewer!

[lanman]

I'm not sure where you're going with this either - but if it is the different ways we look at the hobby, I can chime in. I have fish for decoration - I actually like some of them, too. My copper-banded butterflyfish is always 'right there' when I'm doing anything in the tank. The chromises and the hippo tang will eat flakes out of my fingers (though the hippo is so big now (over 6") that when he misses the flake, it hurts!). But - the fish are mostly there for decoration, and to supply fish poop for my corals. I have been a gardener since I was about 6 years old. And that is a LONG time now. Within a couple of months of entering the hobby - I fell in love with growing corals. Year-round gardening! So now I have a 240-gallon display. I have frag tanks of 33, 40, 50, and 50. I probably have over 100 different corals. I grow 'decorative' corals in the display tank - but always have frags of them growing. I have colonies specifically grown for fragging - separate from the display tank.

 

So for me - this hobby is more like collecting and propagating rare orchids in a greenhouse. My favorite part is collecting, growing, fragging and trading or selling corals.

 

bob

[treesprite]

Very nice post, thank you.

 

I would like to have a close-to-perfect tank because I am amazed by the colors in other people's tanks. My goal is to have a brilliant tank and enough nice frags to sell on an ongoing basis to help me support my addiction.

 

However, I let myself feel intimidated by the typical attitude regarding equipment. Should I feel intimidated that I don't or can't spend a fortune on equipment while people all around me spout expensive names, or should I applaud myself for being able to have SPS growing in my tank while spending less than half of what those people do?

[paul b]

Bora Bora and Moorea, on the other hand, are beautiful!

 

Those are my favorite dive sites, love to swim with the moorish Idols there.

 

I'm not sure where you're going with this either

 

I am going to have a discussion, nothing more.

It's just about our different perspectives. No one is wrong and no one is right we are just us.

[zygote2k]

Very nice post, thank you.

 

I would like to have a close-to-perfect tank because I am amazed by the colors in other people's tanks. My goal is to have a brilliant tank and enough nice frags to sell on an ongoing basis to help me support my addiction.

 

However, I let myself feel intimidated by the typical attitude regarding equipment. Should I feel intimidated that I don't or can't spend a fortune on equipment while people all around me spout expensive names, or should I applaud myself for being able to have SPS growing in my tank while spending less than half of what those people do?

 

This hobby has become very brand specific over the years. The marketers and lobbyists have done their jobs well to get their products into the hobbyists' eye. If you stay away from the flashy things and only buy what you actually need, your tank will show great improvements. You also need to let nature run its' course too.

[paul b]

This hobby has become very brand specific over the years. The marketers and lobbyists have done their jobs well to get their products into the hobbyists' eye.

 

Zyqote, That is true, different aspects of the hobby appeal to us at different levels. For me, I like to build things so I built my lights, skimmer, surface skimmer, an algae trough and an old ozonizer. I could buy these things but part of my hobby is designing and building. I also like to build my own rock. I collected all of my rock but the last decade or so I have liked the homemade rocks better than the ones I collected.

I know some people like gadgets and will buy all the new dosers and reactors put on the market and thats fine if thats what you like. There are new school and old school tanks all with healthy fish and corals.

I still run a reverse UG filter, I like it. It works for me and has worked for 39 years so I will not change but I amnot saying everyone should get one.

LED lights look great and maybe someday I will get them but for now I like my homemade MH lights.

I have other hobbies that cost more than this one so I can't spent all of my money on fish anyway.

We seem to be a happy bunch as this gives us something to talk and debate about.

As a hobby, it's all about interests, learning and exercizing our minds.

Of course we want our animals to be healthy, that is a prime concern but there are many ways to acomplish that.

[Coral Hind]

Should I feel intimidated that I don't or can't spend a fortune on equipment while people all around me spout expensive names, or should I applaud myself for being able to have SPS growing in my tank while spending less than half of what those people do?

 

Yes, you should applaud yourself! Simple low tech tanks can look good and become TOTM winners too. September '09 is a good example. Christina & Jason's (Mexicanjavafish & Jasonthefilterfreak) tank was very simple and low tech.

[paul b]

Should I feel intimidated that I don't or can't spend a fortune on equipment while people all around me spout expensive names, or should I applaud myself for being able to have SPS growing in my tank while spending less than half of what those people do?

 

Applaud yourself. There are all sorts of things I can't keep alive and then there are things in my tank for decades that I can't kill.

A big problem in this hobby is that a lot of us are under the impression that if something dies while under our care, it is our fault. It may be our fault that we managed to remove the animal from the sea but all of these animals we keep come from different seas and different areas of the different seas. There is a reason those animals only live in certain areas and sometimes that reason is that those animals can't easily live in other areas or with other animals.

There are many sps corals I just can't keep, after many years I know why but I killed a lot of animals experimenting.

In an enclosed tank like ours there is always a war going on. Corals have two types of defenses. One is that they can manually reach over to other corals and sting them, another defense of many corals is that exude chemicals that prevent corals of different species from living near them. That happens in the sea all the time and is the reason we usually see like corals in the same place but in our tanks, where these chemicals are confined, many corals have very little chance.

Water changes, carbon and skimming may help but these chemicals are always in our water in some quantity so no matter what we do, we are not able to keep everything at the same time.

I used to have mostly SPS corals and as I gradually started adding LPS, leathers and mushrooms the SPS corals would suffer while the leathers, mushrooms and LPS grew huge. A couple of times gorgonians would grow wild and quickly.

I know some people seem to be able to keep everything but I am talking about keeping them together for years and decades, not months. It seems that they can take this warfare for a while but eventually the corals with the most potent chemicals will prevail to the demise of the unfortunate losers.

[Sharkey18]

Awesome post. Thanks for sharing and giving something to think about. I have a small tank, simple equipment, the aquascaping has morphed into something atrocious and not every coral is exactly where it should be. Oh and and did i mention my lack luster colors and my complete lack of DIY skills? But everything is healthy and growing and I LOVE my tank and sit in front of it at least twice a day just looking at it. I am disappointed when i get home late and the lights are already off. I often get hung up on things not being perfect, and don't always do thing the way "I should" (i.e. I don't QT fish anymore) . So I really appreciate your post giving some perspective that not everything has to be so perfect and the same to be lovely and inspiring.

Thanks!

Laura

[paul b]

and I LOVE my tank

 

Laura, that is all that matters.

[Origami]

A hobby is supposed to be fun. For me, part of that fun is learning from reading, and from the experiences of others that goes back years and, in some cases, decades. As it is, this hobby continues to evolve. Many times, that evolution is advanced by hobbyist experiments and experiences. That's pretty cool in my opinion. I have to admit a fondness for the occasional gadget, but I'm an engineer. It's in my genes.

 

As a gear-head of sorts, I enjoy seeing how people adapt to experiences and conjure up designs to do something useful in their tank. It happens all around the world. Sometimes you'll see a post from some hobbyist somewhere in Eastern Europe, whose real-world budget would be broken by this hobby if they invested the money that we often do in our tanks, and there they are, using widely available materials to put together a system that they, like you and me, can enjoy. Even here we've seen some pretty good and cost-effective builds: Jason with his $100 charity reef tank and David (it was you, wasn't it CoralHind?) with his surface-skimming overflow made from a plastic outbox from Staples. I can't walk into a grocery store or a hardware store today without thinking about how I might use this-or-that in an unintended way for an aquarium.

 

The bottom is: Have fun. Part of that fun is learning what others are doing to be "successful" in their own right. It doesn't mean that you have to do that, it just means there are many ways to find success.

[paul b]

You also need to let nature run its' course too.

 

This is true, I am a big believer in letting nature help me instead of me fighting it. For instance, algae drives a lot of people crazy. But algae is an important feature on every healthy reef in the sea. If it were not for algae, what would tangs, urchins, seahares and slugs eat?

If you do any night diving you will see a completely different picture than in the day. You will see urchins covering many parts of a reef. You will also see large worms and numerous crabs that are totally absent during the day.

If you look at a tropical beach, especially a rocky beach you will notice Sally lightfoot crabs scurrying al over the rocks eating. Guess what they are eating?

Algae is supposed to be there and it is not a disease. I learned how to live with it because I do not want to eliminate it but I don't want it growing on my corals. I use an algae trough that has better growing conditions then my tank. "Problem" solved. I get the benefits of the algae while keeping it off my corals.

I also like to use bacteria from the sea. It is natural and it is the bacteria that keeps our tanks from crashing, not just our dosers, ozonizers, skimmers and reactors. We can live without all those things but we can not have a tank without bacteria.

I feel that our bacteria in a tank are overworked and in time they will dwindle down to just a few types, types that may not be of much benefit for our needs, so I collect it in the sea.

So far, which is almost 40 years, there has not been a problem. I believe this aspect of aquarium husbandry should be explored. Especially to inland aquarists. Bacteria can be transported just like live sand. I don't mean that stuff they sell in that little bottle, as I have my doubts about that, but I think bacteria in the form of mud could be collected fresh and shipped just like fish and corals are shipped.

I personally collect it in the Long island Sound and as I said, these offshoots, like collecting and SCUBA diving are all part of my hobby. But of course we can have a great tank without an algae trough, diving or added bacteria.

[paul b]

For me, part of that fun is learning from reading, and from the experiences of others that goes back years and, in some cases, decades. As it is, this hobby continues to evolve. Many times, that evolution is advanced by hobbyist experiments and experiences.

 

Tom, very true. I never had the opportunity to get help from others. In 1971 when I started my tank, there were no saltwater stores, books, internets or even computers. There was one store (In NY anyway) and the only fish for sale were blue devils. Everything was covered in ich and there was no liquid copper remedies. We used pennies. 20 pennies to the gallon to be exact.

We had to keep a few pennies in there almost continousely because there were no reefs or salt water fish food so our fish were never that healthy. There was also no live or even dead rock. We used dead corals as decoration and we would bleach those every few weeks as they got a little algae on the,.

We had to rely on Tetramin freshwater flake food.

There was no one to ask anything and no other tanks to compare yours to.

The lighting was a regular incandescent bulb. Eventually they sold flourescent fixtures but the salt creep would cause you to get a shock whenever you touched it. I had a stick next to the tank that I would use to push the switch on the light.

There was also no GFCIs so we got shocked a lot.

submersible powerheads were not invented. We had these aluminum powerheads that sat on the top edge of the tank to run the UG filter. You had to un plug these before you put your hand in the water, you learned that very fast the first time.

 

Eventually we overcame ich and algae and I managed to spawn those blue devils which lived for 7 years.

Now this hobby is much more complicated but also easier, safer and more rewarding.

Now I can talk to someone about an elysia Crispata or lettuce slug and I don't get wierd looks.

 

The top picture id that male blue devil from about 1973, he is hovering over his nest of eggs in that barnacle shell. Him and his six girlfriends lived about 7 years. The lower picture appeared in "Marine Fish Monthle in the eightees.

 

Edited December 16, 2009 by paul b

[Origami]

That's the neat thing about this hobby, Paul. It's grassroots start and hobbyist-driven advancement. In many ways, what we do in our systems today helps to drive the hobby forward. That, to me, is exciting.

 

We kept freshwater fish in the late 60's and early 70's. Saltwater was accepted as too hard. Our tank was not that big - a 10 gallon tank with stainless steel trim and a slate bottom. In my youth, as a Navy-brat, I often lived near the Pacific Ocean. In the early-70's, we were stationed in Okinawa. That's where I learned to snorkel over their beautiful coral reefs. Those memories have been with me since and were stirred up back in the 90's when I saw my first hobbyist reef aquarium. It was then that I knew there was going to be a reef somewhere in my future....

[paul b]

In the early-70's, we were stationed in Okinawa. That's where I learned to snorkel over their beautiful coral reefs.

 

Tom I had a similar experience about that same time. I went to Australia on R&R from Nam and did my first dive. I got certified when I came home and have been diving ever since.

[treesprite]

I was going to say in my last post who the two people in the club are that I admire the most for their attitudes about keeping tanks, but didn't because I thought someone would think it was weird. Will say it now anyway.... Holly and Rob. Holly's tanks seem "happy" and "comfy cozy" to me, so even though they look somewhat messy with loose macros in them due to no separate fuges, I find them very appealing and "friendly", and like watching her fish which all "look happy". Rob makes me wonder why the heck I can't replicate the perfection of my late 16g nano in my current tanks (nano had no filtration other than macros & DSB, and had only random infrequent water changes, yet zero nitrate) - I really admire that he is able to do it himself, and possibly a little envious of the ability rather than of other people's expensive equipment investments.

 

My 65's 100 gal system is not what I would consider simple, just has inexpensive stuff and takes a LOT more work than I feel like it should when I think about the nano, the ghost of which keeps taunting me.

[Coral Hind]

Tom I had a similar experience about that same time. I went to Australia on R&R from Nam and did my first dive. I got certified when I came home and have been diving ever since.

 

The same for me too. I was stationed at Guam for 15 months back in '92-'93. I learned to dive there and I set up my first salt water tank in my dorm room after I caught a red octopus. No skimmer or fancy equipment, just a powerhead and water collected right off the beach.

[zygote2k]

Thanks for the compliment Forrest.

I don't think how I achieved my success is anything special. In fact, anyone here can do it. I've read nearly all the saltwater books and really studied them and applied the principles in them to my various maintenance tanks. I've learned a great deal from listening to our resident sage ( posting in this topic..) and others that the books didn't deal with. The book that I strongly recommend to anyone is "Dynamic Aquaria", by Adey and Loveland. The principles stated in this book apply to anyones' reef tank. Like Mr. Paul B says, "algae is a part of the ocean" and your reef tank.