July Issue was Right on!

[ReeferMac]

I gotta say Eric, I just got done reading the July Article you wrote about food and have to say I think you are Dead-on!

I've only been at this for about 5 years now, but spent a lot of time early on reading stuff on the internet (much of it yours ;-). As you know, those discussion tend to be towards emerging technique's, and consequently, those are the things I experimented with and learned about. It's only now these past few years I've gone back and have started reading some of the "bible's" of the hobby.

I've been making my own food for 2 years now, based on recipie's from all over the internet. A large portion of the ingredients comes off the Brine Shrimp Direct List, and is damn near every "micro" thing they make. I also dose live Phytoplankton daily.

And for the entire time, I've always had the crappiest of skimmers, horribly undersized, undercleaned, and generally only good for aeration!

In our club up here I'm known to have the 'thickest water' around.

I'm also the only guy with 'bugs' scampering all over his tank in broad daylight! As my tank(s) have matured (have moved twice in those 5 years), I've noticed the system stabilize and have thought I was seeing "plankton", but couldn't imagine having it in a closed system. It's so bad, people who have only seen pic's think my glass is horribly scratched up! There's streaks in damn near every close-up picture I have, and it ain't from the glass ;-)
I get polyp's out on everything that goes in my tank. I've almost become the 'litmus test' for a few of the guy's on coral's they're struggling with.

Thanks for reminding me why I never listened to any of those people, and kept on doing my own thing. Great Article.

- Kevin McDonald

[EricHugo]

Kevin, thanks!! I love to see tanks like this! Keep it up, Mr. Litmus.

[cvye]

I interpreted Eric's article to say that he preferred lagoons to outer reefs. The overskimmed sps gallery being the model of the outer reef (spurned!), and the overfed diverse invert community tank being the lagoon model (praised!). So be it, each camp has its proponents.

I'd just like to find specific methodologies that actually work for either! Don't make your outer reef into a lagoon, and by the same token, don't make your lagoon into an outer reef!

[barryb2]

Just adding my comments to an excellent article.

I've read your own book, and several others, and have come to the conclusion that most of the techno-clutter is just that, or junk if you want to be more specific.

My system is being set up from the start to be bio-diverse and as self-sustaining as possible. The only reason I started at all was that Phyto, Rotifers and the like were easily available (No more seaweed in bottles left on a window sill).

My sump/DSB/refugium has been running for nearly 4 months, and I don't even have my tank yet. I have a spare tank in which I am conditioning so-called live rock, until it really is just that. It is seething with Gammarus, tiny snails and pods of all kinds, the water is full of 'bits', many of which swim against the flow.

When the tank is set up all this bio diverse life will go in to it to condition the tank, before being plumbed into the sump, so that it will support all life that I add. 'Corals' will be added slowly, at weekly intervals if I'm in a hurry, but monthly preferably, to allow conditions to develop to suit the occupants, not me.

I am delighted to read your article, because it fits perfectly with what I had planned.

Keep preaching the new gospel, maybe some of those techno-junkie heathens will be converted. ;)

[EricHugo]

Cvye:

I don't know why you would have gotten the impression at all from the article that I prefer one thing or another. The article was about food on reefs and correlating back to food in aquariums. I haven't really discussed corals at all yet, and I don't prefer either. It really doesn't matter if you prefer either because in either case there isn't anywhere near the amount of food in tansk that there is on reefs - outer or lagoon.

I think people in the hobby have a somewhat stereotyped view of what lagoons and outer reefs are/look like. In many cases, you wouldn't be able to tell a difference in appearance, water parameters (including flow/light), or in species composition. In other cases, the difference is dramatic.

Lagoons are not necessarily these mucky or turbid environments, and outer reefs aren't always clear. Some outer reefs are a hundred meters offshore and there is no lagoon.

Most of the references used in the article, in fact, were from what would bbe considered "outer" or oceanic reefs, and not lagoons at all. Because water is clear and well flushed does not mean there is not abundant plankton - and the primary difference may be where the plankton's origins are - or the composition. The point here is that with outer or oceanic type reefs, there is a very fast flow through or turnover time, or residence time, of the reef water. Lagoons have longer residence times, and so the wtaer doesn;t appear always as clear (although often it does).

I am quite amazed that anyone would have taken home the message that I spurn outer reefs and praise lagoons! Where was that written exactly? My favorites dive sites, for the most part, are outer reefs, and my own tanks have often been "outer reef-like." Also, where had I separated reefkeepers into camps? I think I have a long history of embracing and using various methodologies, schools of thought, and set-ups.

If you took the fact that reefs need food and so do tanks as an endoresement of aquarists modelling lagoonal reef settings, or the fact that I love seeing tanks like Mr. Litmus's, you read me all wrong and I'm sorry my words led your astray.