I must say, on one hand, I was very flattered that Reef Threads felt it necessary to dissect my 11 hard truths about reef aquariums. Though on the other hand, it made me a bit queasy. Why, you ask? It reminded me, all too well, of the greedy aquarium store owner convincing some new customer that keeping a captive reef is easy. As Gary and Christine chatted up about how simple having a RODI unit was, they contradicted themselves by talking about all the fittings and adapters required to make it work. Heck, just listening to them describe it was confusing and frustrating. In fact, Christine even said, “My plumbing system doesn’t make it easy.” During a few moments, as they tried to prove that my 11 hard truths were nothing but foobar, I thought perhaps I was standing in the saltwater fish section of Petco, not listening to a podcast dedicated to the reef aquarium hobby. Gary kept saying, “If you just talk to Marc Levenson.” Folks, Marc Levenson is a reef genius, the average Joe staring at saltwater fish from the LFS shop window doesn’t have a clue who Marc Levenson even is. Marc has been a pioneer in trying new things, and many hardcore reefers have learned a lesson or two from Marc’s trials. The people the 11 hard truths are aimed at, are trying to decide whether or not a marine aquarium is for them, not how to feed a mandarinfish NLS pellets by using a jar as a feeding station. Though, Reef Threads is right, this is just a hobby. Though, unlike so many hobbies, it has an original sin. The original sin is that something has been taken from the natural environment, stolen from our very life support system, the ocean. Once marine life lands in a collector’s net, it will be marketed and something that belonged to the Earth as a whole now has a definite price. Many, many aquariums are sold to people who simply have no understanding of natural reef ecosystems, and simply no clue what it takes to maintain captive ones. The reef aquarium world is buzzing. Millions of people around the world are enjoying reef aquariums. Home aquarists are cracking the code, learning how to spawn captive corals, and breed marine fish species. Once tiny start-ups like Ecotech Marine are evolving into major players. Things are good, so we don’t need to conjure a fantasy to recruit people into a hobby, unless they understand fully what it takes to keep marine life healthy.… More:
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