I entered the marine aquarium hobby a long time ago. So long in fact, thinking back about it makes me feel old. Not that I am old, it just seems like a really long time ago. I was a kid when I got into marine aquariums, and I moved into the realm of marine tanks after keeping freshwater aquariums for most of my life. When I was very young, I biked through a snow storm to save a betta fish. The fish had a fungal infection during a blizzard, which had closed our driveway with a drift of snow. The only way I could imagine getting to the pet store was with my Trek mountain bike, and needless to say, I pulled it off. My parents were scared to death; my mom had called the police and my Dad left work to come looking for me. My point is; you can’t doubt my commitment to keeping aquatic life healthy. Years ago finding coral was rare. A handful of people kept marine aquariums, but they were primarily fish only tanks. A few select folks kept reefs, but from my home in rural Maryland, they seemed worlds away. When coral propagation started, it was vital to the hobby to share corals. It wasn’t uncommon to walk into a fish shop, swap a few frags with the owner and get a few new coral colonies for free. This little stroll down memory lane brings me to the topic of this post, learning how to bring reef keeping into the future, by reflecting on lessons from the past. Stage 1: Access to accurate information: Sharing information today is on overload. Forums are crammed with aquarists, all throwing their two cents together about how to properly keep marine animals. You can have TOO much information, if the information you have isn’t accurate. Simply type in treating marine ich, and you get a conflicting group of posts all pointing in different directions. Which one is right? Which one is wrong? How could a wary marine aquarist ever tell? Before the internet exploded knowledge about marine aquariums was hard to come by, but when you found it, often it was based off real world experience or research by marine scientists. Bob Fenner pioneered accurate information online with Wet Web Media, and still today puts aquarists in touch with the experts. 
My point is; we need to tighten the reigns a little bit.… More:
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