while i agree that the removal of livestock from our coral reefs for our personal pleasure is far from ok, i think we tend to overlook the other aspects of our hobby that are much more detrimental to the ecosystem as a whole.
the death and bleaching of international reefs is not caused by the removal of individual specimens from the natural habitat. It is caused by the removal of a viable habitat from those creatures. Each year the oceans grow more acidic, get warmer and warmer, and are filled with pollutions ranging from toxic compounds to detrimental food sources such as phosphate, nitrates, and iron, ect.
Ever watched what happens in your reef tank when your temperature skyrockets? What about when your ph drops? How about when you pour some po4 in for fun? It's the environment that is the major issue concerning natural coral reefs.
So then it must be ok to have a reef tank then huh?
well no, we must take a look at the other aspects of reef keeping, and realize their impact, both terrestrial and under-water.
First that comes to mind for me is the amount of garbage produced by the transport of our favorite water loving friends. I worked at an LFS some time ago. The thing that always stood out to me was how we were the only business in the entire little strip mall that could produce an entire trash dumpster full of garbage in a day. All it took was one single order to arrive and we would fill it to overflowing, while the other businesses combined over the course of a week filled it maybe halfway.
When a new order of livestock comes in, the creature is stored in water, wrapped in 3 bags, clipped with a metal clip, these bags are all put into a larger bag with disposable heat packs, then put into a Styrofoam box, then into another bag, finally to be wrapped up in a cardboard box covered in plastic tape. That only gets the fish between the whosaler and the retailer, that process is repeated when someone mail orders the livestock from the store. On top of that is the amount of carbon and pollution produced by the transport of or friends(usually in a plane, one of the highest polluting methods of travel) to the store and ultimately our homes.
By buying domestically raised fish and locally propagated corals, we cut down both on the amount of plastic and packaging used, the amount of fuel used in transport, as well as reduce the demand for wild caught livestock.
But what about that other stuff, have you ever considered how much energy was wasted and how much carbon released to make that glass tank of yours? trucking silica sand to factories to heat it to thousands of degrees. How about the amount of fuel required to transport that heavy, large box of glass to your house?
What about reef salt? the enviromental impact of mining and processing/purifying the different compounds such as magnesium, strontium, ect. Plus the emissions of transporting the heavy, thick plastic buckets full of the stuff across the country to our homes, only to pour it down the drain.
How about the hundreds of additives we are sold, produced in polluting factories, transported to our houses, and in the end, poured down the drain in our frequent water changes.
Then there is the issues with the electrical consumption of hundreds of watts of metal halides with thousands of watts in pumps, skimmers and assessories running 24/7. The thousands of gallons of waste water from our ro units. The waste produced by changing those filters every 6 months and throwing out the old ones.
Or calcium reactors. ever wonder how they make the co2 in your canisters? and no, they don't take it out of the atmosphere like you would expect, it's made through chemical processes which result in the net quantity of carbon in the atmosphere to increase.
I myself keep a reef tank, though a small one, and have no misconceptions about the impact i am having. I believe the important thing i to be aware of exactly what we are doing, minimize our impact where possible, and trying to educate others on the actual impacts. Too often i hear people who just don't have a clue about the impact of their actions.
@reefbuddha:
i agree wholeheartedly with you. For the most part, the LFS if a bigger part of the problem than the solution. when i worked at the LFS (considered one of the more environmentally friendly in the area) i was shocked at some of the advice that they give and the practices they promote. One customer would come in and buy the largest, rarest, and most expensive fish every week - copperbands, moorish idols, rare angels, ect, and every week he would come back, telling the tale of what had died and wondering what interesting thing was available for him this week. Never once did i hear someone tell him to slow down, sort out the problem first. Try smaller, hardier fish, no, they just sold him more and more and more and more. With other customers they would push the hermit crab/snail CUC packages, when the customer comes back a couple weeks later looking to replace the snails that had mysteriously died, they are just sold another batch of new ones. most are never made aware that their hermit crabs are predators of snails, and when you keep 10 hermits in a 10 gallon, buying snails is essentially a waste of money and living creatures.
So am i going to give up my reef tank and become a hippy after all this doom and gloom? No, i love my hobby and also realize the solution to our environmental problem is going to come from new, creative solutions, not from reducing our consumption or buying and selling carbon credits.
In the meantime, us reefers do have many options to lessen our individual impacts on our dying, and disappearing natural environment. I myself choose to buy only locally fragged corals, and aquacultured fishes. i use my ro runoff to water my many houseplants. I keep my tank understocked to reduce the number of water changes i do. I choose to not use chemical buffers and additives and am moving away from the energy intense style of reef keeping, to a more natural style with RDSB's, fuges, and algeal nutrient export. Plus, i live in BC which gives me the peace of mind knowing that most of the power used in my tank if produced via hydro-dams.
