HotTuna, I appreciate your contribution, and in no way mean to provoke you, but here might be something to chew on.
From my AP Chemistry class, I understand that experiments must often be done in mostly sterile environments, right? What Mr. Hoaster has done, has been to create an ecosystem by making a non-sterile system.
At the same time, and out of sheer curiousity, what experiments has your friend done with seagrasses and enclosed marine ecosystems? One cannot just simply have an ecosystem in a box, as seagrass ecosystems often have transient herbivores like manatees, sea turtles, and other grazers, come and both give fertilizer, and cull the plants, everything in the ocean is never stable, but everchanging. I'm not an expert, even though I want to be, but there's one thing I've learned from this hobby. Never tell us that we can't. People tell us we can't keep saltwater fish longer than 10 years, we do it. People tell us we can't propogate acropora, we do it. People tell us we can't successfully breed and raise saltwater fish, we do it. People tell us that we can't ____, and y'know what? We do it
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Have your friend read this, and tell you what he/she thinks. For all we know, this could be the start of a wonderful collaboration, mixing the marine planted hobby with science!
I'd also personally be interested in the credentials of your friend. As you probably know, there's a big difference between making a reef system, and maintaining it.
umm...oops? Maybe I'm still in college application mode, sorry for the rant/thought-provoking post.
