buddythelion
New member
Hello fellow reefers,
Someone started a discussion on another forum about how the art of reef keeping has somewhat vanished and reefers tanks have become a garden of nubs rather than a full blown tank. We choose pieces based upon how they look as one item rather than use them as a form of color and structure in our tank. It was an interesting talk so I thought I'd bring the discussion to bay area reefers as well. This is my 2c on the topic...
Reef keeping (at least in the US) is more so of collecting rather than an art form. When you first start the hobby, you see a general idea of what your tank should look like. A zoanthid garden here in bright green, some frogspawn for movement in the corner, some SPS to add structure, and a clownfish with an anemone to provide something fascinating to look at. You wanted to start a reef tank so you could look at something. And the cool thing is that you put it all together, the way you like it. It's basically living art.
From far away, who cares what coral is named what. This reef as a whole is art, and that's all you cared about as your goal when you first started reefing.
When you first start buying corals you don't know the "value" of what certain pieces go for. You only buy pieces based on if you like it and if the price is something you were willing to pay for (you liked it enough to pay for it). But after being in the hobby for some time, you start getting exposed to different corals and the prices that correlate with them (pretty much impossible not to be exposed to it if you're a social reefer). The expensive prices on certain pieces tell us that they're worth more. And if they're worth more, it must mean that they're more desirable. So naturally we want to have more desirable pieces, much like we want brand name material items. "I don't want the green torch, everyone has that. Now a gold torch, that's different, more sought after, and therefore much nicer!" Soon, your vision of a reef tank is much different than when you first started and becomes a collection. Your tank is now filled with named pieces like how a sneakerhead has countless shoes or a flower collector has a backyard full of just pots of rare plants rather than a beautiful garden.
I mean, all I wanted was shoes to play basketball with. But then I found these supposedly rare sneakers and four years later...
This isn't necessarily bad though in my opinion. Reefers just appreciate the hobby in a different way than when they first started. The excitement and joy from collecting different pieces becomes more fun than creating a reef tank. And if I think about it, I think it's far easier to spend money on expensive pieces and get the proud feeling of owning a sought after item than it is to care and nurture a tank into a piece of art, which is a long time commitment and work (you're looking at least 2-3 years for large tanks). Or if it's not about rarity, people are just drawn to so many different corals that they find beautiful that they want to collect them all, even if there is no place for that coral in their planned layout. So many corals you love, but alas you only have one tank. It's also not an easy hobby. It takes a lot of patience, diligence, and understanding of reef keeping to maintain a reef tank to maturity. You have to understand the care requirements of your animals. I've only seen one established reef in my life. And by established I mean full blown colonies. Most of the people in this hobby are new, so to know someone who's been in it long enough to have an established reef is a rare treat. It's far easier and quicker to spend money, get a cool new coral, and take a photo to share with all your friends than to wait years with careful planning. And because buying collector corals is a quicker road to happiness (or at least a more exciting road), the art form of reefing has declined. It's evolved into collecting. It also helps that there's always new pieces coming into the hobby almost every other week, so you'll never truly "catch them all."
This is all just my opinion... An opinion on where I see this hobby is at the moment. Which isn't a bad thing, just a different way to appreciate the hobby. I guess that's why I'm so blown away when I see all of these other tanks overseas filled with colonies. Over there, I would imagine the name game isn't as important. It's more "I like this color and structure" and pieces go for general prices and they fill their tanks up that way. So it becomes more so of scaping, than it is collecting here. Just gotta know that you can't be the best artist you can be with one tank and still collect. Gotta dedicate one tank for your artsy side, and one tank to just fill up for the collector side in you.
What do you guys think, and maybe this discussion will help spark back the "artist" in you.
Cheers,
Darwin
Someone started a discussion on another forum about how the art of reef keeping has somewhat vanished and reefers tanks have become a garden of nubs rather than a full blown tank. We choose pieces based upon how they look as one item rather than use them as a form of color and structure in our tank. It was an interesting talk so I thought I'd bring the discussion to bay area reefers as well. This is my 2c on the topic...
Reef keeping (at least in the US) is more so of collecting rather than an art form. When you first start the hobby, you see a general idea of what your tank should look like. A zoanthid garden here in bright green, some frogspawn for movement in the corner, some SPS to add structure, and a clownfish with an anemone to provide something fascinating to look at. You wanted to start a reef tank so you could look at something. And the cool thing is that you put it all together, the way you like it. It's basically living art.
From far away, who cares what coral is named what. This reef as a whole is art, and that's all you cared about as your goal when you first started reefing.
When you first start buying corals you don't know the "value" of what certain pieces go for. You only buy pieces based on if you like it and if the price is something you were willing to pay for (you liked it enough to pay for it). But after being in the hobby for some time, you start getting exposed to different corals and the prices that correlate with them (pretty much impossible not to be exposed to it if you're a social reefer). The expensive prices on certain pieces tell us that they're worth more. And if they're worth more, it must mean that they're more desirable. So naturally we want to have more desirable pieces, much like we want brand name material items. "I don't want the green torch, everyone has that. Now a gold torch, that's different, more sought after, and therefore much nicer!" Soon, your vision of a reef tank is much different than when you first started and becomes a collection. Your tank is now filled with named pieces like how a sneakerhead has countless shoes or a flower collector has a backyard full of just pots of rare plants rather than a beautiful garden.
I mean, all I wanted was shoes to play basketball with. But then I found these supposedly rare sneakers and four years later...
This isn't necessarily bad though in my opinion. Reefers just appreciate the hobby in a different way than when they first started. The excitement and joy from collecting different pieces becomes more fun than creating a reef tank. And if I think about it, I think it's far easier to spend money on expensive pieces and get the proud feeling of owning a sought after item than it is to care and nurture a tank into a piece of art, which is a long time commitment and work (you're looking at least 2-3 years for large tanks). Or if it's not about rarity, people are just drawn to so many different corals that they find beautiful that they want to collect them all, even if there is no place for that coral in their planned layout. So many corals you love, but alas you only have one tank. It's also not an easy hobby. It takes a lot of patience, diligence, and understanding of reef keeping to maintain a reef tank to maturity. You have to understand the care requirements of your animals. I've only seen one established reef in my life. And by established I mean full blown colonies. Most of the people in this hobby are new, so to know someone who's been in it long enough to have an established reef is a rare treat. It's far easier and quicker to spend money, get a cool new coral, and take a photo to share with all your friends than to wait years with careful planning. And because buying collector corals is a quicker road to happiness (or at least a more exciting road), the art form of reefing has declined. It's evolved into collecting. It also helps that there's always new pieces coming into the hobby almost every other week, so you'll never truly "catch them all."
This is all just my opinion... An opinion on where I see this hobby is at the moment. Which isn't a bad thing, just a different way to appreciate the hobby. I guess that's why I'm so blown away when I see all of these other tanks overseas filled with colonies. Over there, I would imagine the name game isn't as important. It's more "I like this color and structure" and pieces go for general prices and they fill their tanks up that way. So it becomes more so of scaping, than it is collecting here. Just gotta know that you can't be the best artist you can be with one tank and still collect. Gotta dedicate one tank for your artsy side, and one tank to just fill up for the collector side in you.
What do you guys think, and maybe this discussion will help spark back the "artist" in you.
Cheers,
Darwin
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