Thoughts About the Current State of the Reef Hobby

[BigDave]

I've recently started working on getting back into a reef and have gone through a similar thought process.

I don't go back nearly as far as you, but I took my last reef down prior to 2005 (which is apparently when things started changing).

Lucky for me, I was running a DSB with Liverock and heavy skimming back then. I also had a modest sized refugium, which was still quite new even at that time, so most of the setup I used then looks to still work now.

My biggest surprise was with lighting technology. I had a MH w/ NO florescents over a 30 gallon show tank and now it looks like I can get away with just T5's on the new tank.

There does appear to be some new knowledge on the chemistry of the tank, which I'm having to absorb.

The biggest shocker for me has been the coral pricing. When I left the hobby, $40 would get you a decent sized coral of just about anything and now it looks like it'll barely get you 1-inch. I hope to buy from other local reefers to help offset this, though. There seems to be a few local that have reasonable prices on their frags.

 

[CStrickland]

I'm pretty excited about captive raised fish. Between that, aquacultured live rock, and coral propagation, the hobby is doing a pretty good job of minimizing our impact on the environment.

 

[bobbravo2]

Thoughts About the Current State of the Reef Hobby

I'm also old"ish" salt - got out in 2004, back in 2013.

Biggest change for me hands down is LED lighting. Being able to replace (nearly) a 400w MH, with a fixture that consumes ~125w. Priceless. Plus, there's no annual bulb changes, and we have fine grained control over spectrum & intensity.

Next up - DC variable speed pumps. Lower power consumption, and programmability: I can have my return drop back to minimum flow (vs off) when I put my apex in feed mode. Plus, I can operate it quietly at 70% 99% of the time, and bump it up to 100% the one day a month I run a filter sock/blow off rock work.

Other than that, BioPellets. I've been running them for about a year now, jury's still out for me as to whether I'll run them long term. Nitrates are consistently 0, even with VERY heavy feeding.

GFO reactors - running GFO helps keep GHA away. (Sorry, couldn't resist the acronyms.) it's a delicate balance - enough to keep GHA at bay, but not too much too fast to shock corals, or affect alkalinity.

Additives & test kits. Almost forgot that one. I love the fine-grained additives we have available. My reef keeping practice is to only dose single elements that I can test for. Plus, I run a calcium reactor, which gives some trace elements.

 

[mussel and hate]

Sorry, who thinks that? In and of itself, all a high post frequency means is that people spend too much time on the computer. Equally, just because somebody is new to RC doesn't necessarily mean they aren't an experienced reefer. I think you work out pretty quickly whom to take advice from and whom not to. If unsure, ask for a picture of their tank - quickly 'separates the wheat from the chaff'.

Except of course for those of us who prefer not to post pictures. What you claim is akin to asking your financial manager to show you his bank statement as proof of expertise.

 

[Paul B]

Hello Scott, Nice to see you. I am also an old salt and have been in this since before they invented water. We used to keep fish in damp sawdust. :worried: My reef was started in 1971 and is still running with the undergravel filter although it runs in reverse now. I find the internet kind of annoying as there are just to many opinions and no opinion checkers. I used to try to give a little advice to Noobs but now if you say something, there are 73 people who will jump in and give 87 differing opinions so I stopped going on a variety of threads any more as they always lead to arguments. I also get the feeling that many people view this hobby as a contest to see how many SPS corals you can have. I personally don't even like SPS corals as I find them boring so my tank is evolving through attrition to be more sponges and gorgonians just because I find them more interesting and I like the movement. That being said, there are plenty of extreamly beautiful tanks on some of these forums and a lot of talent out there. :beer:

 

[Sounds Fishy]

I think the hobby really evolved since the seventies,when I first was hooked.One really nice thing about forums is that there is a wealth of opinions and information,that did not exist in the old days.Now there are some excellent manufacturers and the technology base has really evolved...There are many opinions ,on the Internet,but I think most readers can identify who consistently gives good advice...R/C has been very helpful to me,staying on top of things.

 

[Cancun]

I'm not an old salt yet but I've been reefing and on these boards for about 10 years. The only thing that I haven't like was the way it sometimes feels like high school with all the cliques. If you're not in the "group" then you're sometimes almost shunned or treated less kindly then the clique members. I stopped posting on these boards for a while because of all the nasty things that were said to me and how mean people were to a 16 year old kid. I was called a spoiled brat and told I shouldn't have the rare fish I did because I didn't deserve them just for the fact I didn't work for them. My grandfather funded my hobby and was in the position to do so. It was something we both enjoyed and bonded over for many years now. I never understood why I was attacked and picked on for that by guys twice my age. I got over it though and started to post on this board again and I still feel like I'm seen as that "spoiled undeserving kid" in certain sections of these forums but who cares? I love this hobby and even with all the criticism I encountered early on I'm still keeping reefs and fish and love it more and more every day. Happy reefing and remember its just a forum and you can always just ignore it and turn the computer off![/QUOTE

Hi! I am a way baby salt....I never had a freshwater tank...and jumped straight into saltwater 3 years ago. I totally agree with the above statement....I feel that this forum as well as others are very cliqish. Not everyone. ..but it seems like if you are new to this forum it is hard to get your questions answered. ..and if you do people will be rude and off topic instead of answering your actual question. I have noticed this with many newbies.....if you are new you ask a question and you might have a few people respond....if you belong to the clique you ask a question or make a comment and you get 50 responses. Too me that is a shame...when all people are trying to do is to learn....because in this hobby you learn every day....there are no real experts.....just my 2 cents! LOL!

 

[Navyblue]

Personally I am not so sure if it's a good thing if I get lots of reply, sometimes I'd rather the loud noobs or people who can't read don't reply to me.

I find that some very specific stuffs that requires actual experience or knowledge, I tend to get very few response. But I don't need that many replies, just one that contains real information. On the other hand more generic question gets lots of response, though I suspect they are more parroting than based on real experience.

When newbies ask question, it tends to be the later kind. The loud noobs would flock to it, and those with lots of experience would stay away from it. May be because the topic don't interest them, or because they don't want to get into poo slinging match with the loud noob. And hence we are where we are today.

However this isn't unique to this forum, it's actually better here than some other forum that is more youth oriented.

 

[karimwassef]

Every community has these elements - online or otherwise. Offline, there are hierarchies of expertise and accreditation that determine social structure. So you know who you can trust and who's making it up. It's why you don't go to the mall for a surgery (yet).

The difference online is the inclusion (or lack of inclusion) of credibility as a differentiation. This is why social networks added the thumbs up/thumbs down flags. It's still based on community feedback, but if someone receives bad advice, they won't provide positive feedback to that source again. That's the idea at least.

The number of posts is a poor proxy of credibility, but I expect that the reef forums will follow other social forums (like Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn) and selling sites (like Amazon and eBay) in adopting a measure of "confidence".

 

[SPasse]

I really appreciate all of the comments.

TrojanScott wrote "“ "œRemember when we all thought our reefs had to be 75C?"
I especially remember all of the heated debates over the "œideal water temperature" topic.

Of course the most of the "œ1st generation" SW livestock came from the Florida Keys where 75F wasn't particularly inappropriate'

The warmer temperatures that most people keep their tanks at today, 1st started getting "œexposure" when the articles written by Dr. Ron Shimek and Dr. Rob Toonen.

One thing I do see today is the more universal practice of larger volume water changes.

I was always particularly interested in DSBs and remote macro-algae bed/refugiums systems and balancing these methods with very efficient skimmers was an ongoing debate.

The picture of one of my macro-algae bed/refugiums systems was in this article. (Figure 5) http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.htm

I think that my next tank will use a variation of this method.