Hi all, in the next few weeks I am going to be starting up at least one little pico tank as well as my old 25 gallon all in one tank tank at home. I sort of left the hobby a few years ago for a variety of reasons including being not too comfortable with the practices of wild harvest of fish/corals/invertebrates. However, I am pleased to find more and more species of farm raised fish as well as a growing community of coral "fraggers" like this one. Because of this I think it will be possible (except for live rock) to set up a pretty environmentally friendly tank.

So anyway, with this purpose in mind, I wanted to poll this community to see if anyone had any advice as far as good fish/inverts/corals to get. I know of the company "ORA" that sells these products. Anyone particularly familiar with any of the fish species listed on the ORA website? It looks like it hasn't been updated since maybe 2007. Any new species available? Any other companies or resources I can use? Anyone else doing something similar with their tanks? Lots of questions!

I know LFS have their purpose but I just hate going in those stores knowing where those fish and coral come from and also knowing that most of them will be placed in some idiots tank and they'll be dead in a week. I'm not a total hippie environmentalist wierdo but it certainly seems much easier these days to have a more environmentally friendly tank so why not do it? Just my 2 cents. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated

P.S. Anyone want to ship me some frags!?

I agree completely with you, I started reefing after my first dive in hawaii with my dadd the corals and fish were amazing. And I would never want to harm those beautiful corals and fish of the ocean. Thats why i always buy farmed/aquacultured whatever you want to call it. Also you mention completly eco friendly beside the rock. I beg to differ sea life inc has some great rock and corals all aquacultured. Thats just my comments. I hope you enjoy your eco friendly pico.

CJ

I've heard that aquacultured live rock may not be as biologically efficient as regular rock for tank filtration/stability purposes? Anyone have any input on that issue? I was planning on getting regular rock for that reason but certainly would prefer aquacultured rock if it is as good as "real rock". Thanks

Its all real rock. You could DIY your own rock if you wanted. It's about a place to house the bacteria needed, not the actual rock. Most places carry aquacultured stuff. It's cheaper and can be pulled in bigger quantities.

Are you talking about non cured rock maybe?

Check out GARF

http://www.garf.org/index.shtml

Edit:

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php?cP...9711523c26660c8

and check this thread out, should be of interest to you.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=211049

No, my understanding is that there is a difference between the chemical properties of "coral rock" and "fake coral rock". For instance, I would imagine coral rock having better buffering capabilities for pH and to be better at maintaining a better calcium level since it is essentially old dead coral (calcium carbonate) that has been recolonized with other organisms. If you stick concrete mixes or limestone or lava rock whatever in an aquarium, it may grow stuff on it and serve as a suitable home for bacteria and other organisms but it wont have the same chemical properties as coral rock. Hope that makes sense and let me know if I'm crazy.

Actually when you buy aquacultured if the compant made the rock them selves then they probably mixed coral sand with their cement to make a concrete that has all the effect of dead coral but less harmful to their natural eco-system

the sealifeinc rock is mined from fossil aragonite quarries, its real rock, just a bit, umm, older than most of the other rock out there. They seed it for quite a while on the ocean floor before offering it for sale which essentially turns it into pretty darn good live-rock.

You could also get dry rock of your own and then seed it with some live rock from a friend or something. Afterwards, you can remove the original live rock and voila, you have homemade, aquacultured rock.

Ok cool, at least it looks like there are some interesting options out there for me to consider. I'll also do some more research. Although I want my tank to be environmentally friendly, there probably are worse things than taking 3 lbs of rock from the ocean. Thanks for everyones input.