Changes in the hobby after a few years

[SeaMuskrat]

Once upon a time I was an avid reefkeeper. It was not only my hobby, but my job. Over the years, the job changed, life changed and I closed down my last reef system about 5 years ago. After a few moves, children a bit more respectful of water, electrical outlets and dangerous chemicals, I am prepping to set up an old 300 gallon acrylic tank.

In my brief survey of the information available today, I have noticed a few things very different from 'the day' when I was into reefs. So I have a few questions.

It seems wild live rock is passe and an environmental faux pas. Is this a general consensus or a vocal minority? Does the aquacultured and Human-made variety have the similar levels of diversity rock once did? I am not into raping and pillaging the Earth for a new tank, yet I am also a firm believer in the complete eco-aquarium. So I want/desire/need rock with a plentiful flora of microbes, plants and animals.

Corals themselves. Again I notice a (nice and welcome) trend towards all aqua-cultured corals and limited wild caught/imported specimens in the area LFS and online. Am I just lucky or has the hobby as a whole gone in this direction?

How about eco-pumps and lights? I once had a $2500+ monthly power bills. Lights and pumps were not designed for efficiency. Are there hobby focused vendors that cater to those of us with preserving the world for future generations and minimizing a carbon footprint? Specifically, I am seeking efficient pumps to drive the main water flow and my recirc systems for my tank and more efficient ballasts for my lighting (to be decided).

How about the fish? Sadly it does not seem as many of those come from farms. What is the newest trends with marine fish these days?

My goals are to build my reef in an eco-friendly fashion in both its design and stocking. I run mostly solar power at home, so I do hope to balance the need for watts in my lights and HP in my pumps with more efficient bang for my buck so to speak.

That about sums this up for now. I am sure to be back with more questions.

- Jonathan

 

[cindre2000]

If you are looking to save electricity:

Depending on the tank size, T5 is great for smaller aquariums, but a nice reflector on a metal halide w/ a nice bulb can be just as inexpensive.

For pumps, go with the propeller modded MJ or a powerhead w/ a propeller. I really like the Algae Free Maxijet Mod. You cannot beat 2000+ gph flow with only a handful of watts.

As the return pump, just look around. I use the Laguna Powerjet 5000 on a 120g and am not looking back.

Aquaculture is slowly gettting more affordable, but its hard to aquaculture most fish, clowns, dottybacks, and seahorses are your best bet.

As for live rock, aquacultured is not the standard, it is just a option, that hopefully will stick around. I like to stock 75% man made/dry with a couple of nice pieces to seed. Works great for me.

Finally, for filtration, a lot of people use the largest skimmer they can get, and those tend to be electricity hogs. The most eco-friendly route would be a large cheato refugium, an air driven skimmer, lots of coral, and a limited number of smaller fish.