Green Reefing
- Thread starter hatfielj
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Reefski's
Active member
thank you
we just finished the house last august. the tank is supposed to have accordion type doors with the reflective material on the tank side. the Mylar is temporary. i am still looking for the right person to make them for me.
i have someone coming tomorrow to look at it. no one wants the job. i think they don't know how to do something so different from what they have done before.
the coffee table is from the old house. why do you not like it? is it because it's wood? what would you suggest?
we need more girls in this hobby.
Carl
we just finished the house last august. the tank is supposed to have accordion type doors with the reflective material on the tank side. the Mylar is temporary. i am still looking for the right person to make them for me.
i have someone coming tomorrow to look at it. no one wants the job. i think they don't know how to do something so different from what they have done before.
the coffee table is from the old house. why do you not like it? is it because it's wood? what would you suggest?
we need more girls in this hobby.
Carl
ludnix
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14532047#post14532047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thales
And don't forget the environmental impact of shipping, packing and disposing of the old pump. It seems that most often the downgraded pump is also sold and put right back into use.
That's a good point as well. If someone were solely concerned with environmental impact and cost wasn't an issue, then a red dragon pump from the start would be a good choice, but as you pointed out, needlessly upgrading to save energy is both not very economical, and not necessarily good for then environment.
here's one of a number of recent threads on folks using solatubes to light their reef. this is something you could reasonably retrofit into an existing house.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1457056
if you can ditch your metal halides you're obviously winning a lot. a couple or four T5's actintics running for 2 hours less a day will not make much of a difference on your carbon footprint.
i hate to say it, but this is not a green hobby. think about the energy costs associated with hauling live rock alone from fiji to a strip mall in new jersey. manufacturing and distributing instant ocean. the most basic things we need are not easily provided.
if your living room reef makes someone actually think about the real costs of what we're doing to our environment, IMO that's the biggest green impact it'll have. i'd focus on using it as an educational tool, not on reducing your energy footprint. it'll still be massive when you've done all you can.
i was watching bill nye the science guy's new show on the new discovery green channel, "stuff happens" or something like that. in any case, he had an episode on the impact of household pets on the environment, check it out... dogs and cats in america have a much larger impact than all our reefs combined. of course, there are maybe a hundred million dogs and cats versus our thousands of reefs, but it will make you feel a little better about what our hobby is doing to the environment.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1457056
if you can ditch your metal halides you're obviously winning a lot. a couple or four T5's actintics running for 2 hours less a day will not make much of a difference on your carbon footprint.
i hate to say it, but this is not a green hobby. think about the energy costs associated with hauling live rock alone from fiji to a strip mall in new jersey. manufacturing and distributing instant ocean. the most basic things we need are not easily provided.
if your living room reef makes someone actually think about the real costs of what we're doing to our environment, IMO that's the biggest green impact it'll have. i'd focus on using it as an educational tool, not on reducing your energy footprint. it'll still be massive when you've done all you can.
i was watching bill nye the science guy's new show on the new discovery green channel, "stuff happens" or something like that. in any case, he had an episode on the impact of household pets on the environment, check it out... dogs and cats in america have a much larger impact than all our reefs combined. of course, there are maybe a hundred million dogs and cats versus our thousands of reefs, but it will make you feel a little better about what our hobby is doing to the environment.
Thales
Active member
I don't think you should feel better about what our hobby is doing to the environment. Impact is impact, and just because someone is worse doesn't mean you can feel good about your impact.
Now, in no way do I think we should necessarily feel bad about our impact either. Just aware and conscious of it so that when people bring it up - because our hobby is very very visible - we can show that we have thought about it and made the choice to do it.
Now, in no way do I think we should necessarily feel bad about our impact either. Just aware and conscious of it so that when people bring it up - because our hobby is very very visible - we can show that we have thought about it and made the choice to do it.
Our hobby is very visible? Before you got into it, how many people did you know with a reef?
Our hobby is an insane thing to participate in, requires you to learn biology, chemistry, become a plumber, electrician, carpenter, metal worker, plastics fabricator... come on, this is not ever going to be a mainstream thing. You can't go buy a reef like you can go buy a springer spaniel in the mall.
yes, we choose to do what we do and we need to justify it somehow to ourselves and our family. in terms of our environmental impact, there's no argument you are going to win with you wife that has anything to do with energy consumption. do not buy a kill-a-watt. ever.
on the other hand, you can make an argument beyond the pure aesthetic of it that what we do is educate people about a beautiful and special environment they'd never experience otherwise. this is the "green" path i urge you to pursue.
i've had a lot of thought lately about our environmental impact, by that i mean our living not our hobbies. what i do every day to feed my babies, keep my house warm, take a shower, drive to work... these things far outweigh anything you're going to accomplish managing the power consumption of your return pump.
stop buying bottled water at work. set an example and lead other people to do the same thing. stop worrying about your metal halides.
Our hobby is an insane thing to participate in, requires you to learn biology, chemistry, become a plumber, electrician, carpenter, metal worker, plastics fabricator... come on, this is not ever going to be a mainstream thing. You can't go buy a reef like you can go buy a springer spaniel in the mall.
yes, we choose to do what we do and we need to justify it somehow to ourselves and our family. in terms of our environmental impact, there's no argument you are going to win with you wife that has anything to do with energy consumption. do not buy a kill-a-watt. ever.
on the other hand, you can make an argument beyond the pure aesthetic of it that what we do is educate people about a beautiful and special environment they'd never experience otherwise. this is the "green" path i urge you to pursue.
i've had a lot of thought lately about our environmental impact, by that i mean our living not our hobbies. what i do every day to feed my babies, keep my house warm, take a shower, drive to work... these things far outweigh anything you're going to accomplish managing the power consumption of your return pump.
stop buying bottled water at work. set an example and lead other people to do the same thing. stop worrying about your metal halides.
Thales
Active member
Visible in the way the impacts that grinding up coral for cement on an island in the south pacific or keeping a dog aren't visible - it is very easy for people to point to our extravagant hobby as having impacts. It has nothing at all to do with the hobby being mainstream even though the advent of all in one mini reefs, already fully stocked and plug and play, has tried to make that so.
Estimates are between 800,000-1,000,000 people in the US with a reef in their house.
I have never bought the argument that 'education' is any kind of justification for the hobby because we simply don't reach that many people and the idea most come away with is that they too can have a reef in their living room. We have a reef in our house because for various reasons and for various reasons we get pleasure out of it. There are much better institutions and programs suited to education than a home reef will ever be.
Estimates are between 800,000-1,000,000 people in the US with a reef in their house.
I have never bought the argument that 'education' is any kind of justification for the hobby because we simply don't reach that many people and the idea most come away with is that they too can have a reef in their living room. We have a reef in our house because for various reasons and for various reasons we get pleasure out of it. There are much better institutions and programs suited to education than a home reef will ever be.
the immediate response for someone seeing my tank for the first time is almost always a string of questions, whether the visitor is a ten year old kid or a 40 year old engineer. i do feel that people walk away from their first experience with a sense that they've seen something extraordinary, learned something unexpected, and have a new awareness about what they could accomplish themselves if they were to put the time, brains and sweat into it.
if my kids were to have that experience in school, i'd shake the teacher's hand.
that would be the educational value i am talking about. and i do feel the fact that the scale is your living room not a public aquarium or scientific institution has a lot to do with it.
are there really that many reef systems in america? that's incredible to me. i know a handful of people within a 100 mile radius with a reef tank, and estimate maybe a couple hundred perhaps a thousand in that area may have a system running. and i don't exactly live in the middle of nowhere. am i that wrong, or does everyone in california have a reef tank?
if my kids were to have that experience in school, i'd shake the teacher's hand.
that would be the educational value i am talking about. and i do feel the fact that the scale is your living room not a public aquarium or scientific institution has a lot to do with it.
are there really that many reef systems in america? that's incredible to me. i know a handful of people within a 100 mile radius with a reef tank, and estimate maybe a couple hundred perhaps a thousand in that area may have a system running. and i don't exactly live in the middle of nowhere. am i that wrong, or does everyone in california have a reef tank?
robert bell
New member
+1 that...my understanding that it is like 1% of 1% of all aquarium products sold are for reef tanks. what is the true percentage of owners? I thought I would never entertain the idea of starting a "reef" buisness because of such small market.
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
Have you considered getting a controller? All three of my tanks have controllers (( RK1 and RK2 )) that controls both the heater and the fans, and they are never on at the same time. My only turns on when the temp is below 78.5 and the fans only turn on if the temp gets above 83.
tbar
New member
Not really right now. Like I stated having the heater on a separate timer that operates when the lights are off has been working well now. I'm not running the fan with the lights right now either. When it warms up here in a month or so I will unplug the heater till fall and plug the fan back into the timer with the lights.
couple things; i'm considering lumenbright reflectors, since they hang a good foot higher above the water.
and have you read the 3 days without lights once a month works wonders thread? 3 days without lights each month will take 10% off your lighting bill right there. and has (arguable) benefit to your system.
and have you read the 3 days without lights once a month works wonders thread? 3 days without lights each month will take 10% off your lighting bill right there. and has (arguable) benefit to your system.
the gist of the thread is that three days in a row dark (third day with actintics maybe) provide the benefit; nuisance algae die off, water clarity improves. it's one of those experiment and see what happens things, but one day doesn't seem to be sufficient to accomplish the goals of the practice.
i've done it once, it helped fight a hair algae bloom. i'm considering doing it more often, melev has jumped on the boat and i respect his reefkeeping.
but, back to "green", it does reduce energy usage if you do it routinely.
i've done it once, it helped fight a hair algae bloom. i'm considering doing it more often, melev has jumped on the boat and i respect his reefkeeping.
but, back to "green", it does reduce energy usage if you do it routinely.
That coffee table has a real bulky country look.
You need something with clean lines to go with that furniture and look of the new living room.
Personally Id go with something low profile and basic. Glass top, or a clean sleek all wood table. With the furniture, I would have said a tile top table, but with the tile on the floor, you wont be able to get away with that.
Thought Id just chime in! Everything else looks fantastic.
Figured Id come harass you on this thread so I wasnt hijacking the other solar thread! =P
Reefski's
Active member
thanks, i agree now that you said that and i looked at the picture again. however, it will probably stay until i win the lottery. i never buy a ticket though so that is unlikely.
part of being green is not wasting things right. i don't know what i would do with the old one. i suppose i could give it to the thrift store next to my wife's office.
that would be green.
i appreciate the feedback. you could harass me in my thread.
part of being green is not wasting things right. i don't know what i would do with the old one. i suppose i could give it to the thrift store next to my wife's office.
that would be green.
i appreciate the feedback. you could harass me in my thread.
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