Reef Forum threads
- Big List 'O Questions
- Hello Everyone - Glad I Found This Place!
- Hello fellow DIY reefers
- Can someone upload my Avatar pls.
- Call of Duty Lovers!
- Site update, great coral and great pricing
- Should i take the class cover on my fish tank
- Newbie looking for advice
- Fab Friday
- Ventura Frag Swap ,Ventura ,CA on Dec 5th -09
This earth day we won’t barage you with any more gloomy stories or dire predictions for our planet’s or ocean’s future but we will instead simply invite you to be introspective about the state of our greater environment. We all have an ecological footprint which affects our environment and as aquarists we place additional pressures on the ocean environment for the sake of our hobby. There are plenty of obvious things we can do to make our tanks eco-friendly and StonyReef has a good write up detailing the myriad ways we can all reduce our aquarium’s energy footprint. In addition to resources and energy that go in to making the physical aquarium environment, we’d like to urge all of our readers to reflect on their livestock purchasing habits and how they affect the Ocean and the Earth. If you are an SPS fan do you buy locally made frags which have not been shipped halfway around the world or do you buy wild pieces? If you are buying wild do you tend to purchase maricultured colonies which provide sustainable source of full time income for island nations or do you opt for the wild harvested pieces which still provide income but perhaps have more impact on the reef environment? If you are an LPS lover are you targeting rapidly growing species such as Acans and Faviids which are easily propagated or are the slow growing, solitary corals more your thing? The corals you buy and how you aquire them has a great impact on the local and far away environment. The same principles apply to purchasing inverts, rock and fish. This Earth Day (Ocean Day) we hope you will all take a moment to look at your tank and think about all that was involved with getting the livestock to it’s final destination. We all care a great deal for our planet and our oceans and by applying just a little bit of critical decision making to our livestocking habits, we can all speak with our actions and our wallets. Photo from ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
Other items you might enjoy:
One Comment
So well stated. One of the best ways that we can appreciate the environments that our corals and inverts come from is to make a conscious effort to duplicate a specific environmental niche, or biotope, in our home aquariums. You will be surprised how much you can learn about an animal by dedicating a system to it’s specific needs. Rather than creating a so-called “reef garden”, how about assembling a biotope aquarium replicating a specific environmental niche, such as a seagrass bed, rubble zone, mangrove swamp,etc. Not only will such an aquarium be unique and inspiring to fellow hobbyists, it will foster a greater understanding of the environments from which our animals come. A simple concept, yes-but one with many positive and broad reaching benefits for the hobby, the industry, and the marine environment that we love so much. Think about it when you ponder your next system.