moment of clarity

[kydsexy]

So as my signature reads, 6 yrs saltwater, 13 years freshwater (5SW+12FW+1SW+1FW) but i had a few concerns/comments/questions.

the reason i got into this hobby is that i wanted to clarify the complexity of the saltwater aquarium hobby. so when i started (11) i had an empty 55 gallon. After reading some old SW books I soon inherited a 6 mm summer flounder fry. Once my tanks temp and salinity was up to standards, I introduced the flounder to a tank with nothing except live sand, a HOB filter, and a sponge filter. This guy lived for 6 years with just this simple setup and a basic flourescent light. He was on a diet of brine shrimp and blood worms, and grew to 9 inches total. He was give n to the Hammonassett State Park Nature Center after my first year of HS. So my question to everyone is why in the world does everyone use fancy expensive equipment when you can keep an aquarium very simple and get similar results. (in some circumstances of course) I've never used a skimmer for a FO tank but some say that it's "necessary" please give me your input. I've raised several flounder, rainbow smelt, black sea bass, and a 2 inch striper using simplified practices. Any of the old school reefers, what did you do before the age of technology hit us?

[kau_cinta_ku]

most of the equipment isn't for the fish, it is more for the corals, and inverts that need better water quality.

of course you can keep a succecful FO tank with the things you describe but fish can tolarate alot more then corals and inverts

[Aadler]

My guess would be they spent way less money :c). I think keeping aquariums is like gardening, some people have a green thumb.

[flipteg]

most of the so called reefer experts are not just interested in keeping stuff alive... most want to replicate as close as possible the chemistry of natural sea water regardless if they are keeping the most sensitive corals, or the most tolerant... part of the reef keeping hobby is doing just that... most of the equipment just makes the maintenance easier...

[Playa-1]

mmmm Flounder :)

[Avi]

Well, I did keep a marine aquarium many years ago. In that time, which was the '70's...modern reef keeping equipment...even protein skimmers...weren't anything much more than something you'd read about in an aquarium magazine. There were some out there, but they weren't at all even so much as available to the average aquarium-keeper. UV-sterilization was beginning to show itself but there was then, as there is now, a limit to their utility. Live rock was unknown to almost anyone.

Anyway...if you wanted to keep marine fish...virtually the same gear that you'd use on a freshwater tank was the kind of equipment that you'd use. The difference in keeping a marine tank and a freshwater tank really manifested itself if you wanted to add anemones or crabs, etc. (By the way...coral was largely not available at all and anemones were...No one really understood or seemingly cared about the lighting needs of the anemones.) But, I digress....if you wanted to keep inverts along with fish...and keep the nitrates down to address the needs of the inverts...the common way to do that back then was to foster an very strong growth of green algae all over the tank, except, of course, the front glass. Everything was a brightish-green inside most tanks. It was more or less of a tank/refugium. Coraline algae was not even on our minds because there was no coral and so calcium levels weren't maintained at all.