Waxing a bit philiospohical about nano-ing....

[swordfish]

I dropped by the house this afternoon of someone who is a member of a local marine aquarists group who I met online and was willing to give me some nice frags from his 180 to get my REEF nano underway finally.

 

For some of us this is a hobby. For others such as him it is a bona-fide lifestyle. I salute that, I mean, there are less whoelsome things to put money into and his tank was very nice looking, but for me the "spend time enjoying it/spend time screwing with it" ratio is just way too out of proportion. I want a tank, not a second job. He had it all......custom built cabinet with automatic everything under it, wet/dry filter, dosers, his own R/O, drilled 10 G 'fuge, zillions of additives and so much light in the custom built hood that I was seeing spots when he opened it, and christ I wasn't even looking right at it when he did so. It took about three fans to keep the whole thing cool. I couldn't afford the bill to keep those lights on let alone the set-up itself. I mean if the little spinning thingy in his electrical meter ever came flying out and hit someone at that speed it'd frigging cut them in half. He also mentioned something in there about previously having had a "tank room" in a past house he lived in once. His coffee table was laden with tomes having titles such as Reefkeeping for Dummies and The Propagation of Aquarium Corals.

 

He now lived in a manufactured home so I naturally asked about the floor reinforcements which I knew he had to have to keep this thing from falling through to China. He said the floor had indeed been reinforced with added wood supports and two 2000 pound truck jacks right under the tank. I noted that the new tile on his floor went up to and and around the tank but not under it.

 

He was very nice to cut me some pom-poms, leathers, pulsing xenias, etc. They may be small but I got what it will take to get a decent start at a real reef tank now. Got to grow your own, that's the way it's done. No one is going to hand you a fully grown coral unless you want to sell your kids into medical experimentation and hit the pet shop to buy the pitiful excuses for corals they sell these days. I will emphasize again that the tank was stunning, nicely done certainly. And he, as I hope to do one day, was passing the goodness on to someone (me) for free.

 

But it just got me to thinking that I am happy to be a nano-reefer. I know some of us have smaller tanks due to how we're young and may not have settled into houses where we'll be staying a while, we want a tank at work, we may not have the money for a tank bigger than 30 gallons and we may not have the time for a larger tank. But we can be proud to be nano-reefers, we don't ever need to think of ourselves as plying our hobby in the shadow of those who have larger tanks. We have proudly blazed a trail on our own by undertaking a hobby which was previously thought of as impossible just ten years ago, and we've done well at it, proving most of the skeptics wrong about the viability of our small tanks and the health of their inhabitants. How else could one really put so much natural beauty into such a small spot? You can't. So let's give ourselves a toast and realize that the hobby is advanced with every one of us who carries this out and who welcomes others to try.

 

Jeff

[el_dante]

I'll toast to that...Cheers! I feel like waving a flag or something after that. Well said.

[jdsabin1]

Nice post Jeff although I will comment on a few of your observations....

 

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For some of us this is a hobby. For others such as him it is a bona-fide lifestyle.

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I think this is the way a lot of people get with any hobby isn't it? I have been involved (seriously I think) in paintball, RC cars/trucks (electric and gas), 1/32 scale slot cars, the list goes on and on. In any of these you will find the people who live it, eat it, breathe it and sleep it. With that in mind, in a lot of ways I go overboard with my hobbies too. Right now I consider my nano a lifestyle also rather than just a hobby even if it IS just a 20 gallon tank. I knew I had gone way overboard when I spent several hundred dollars on metal halide lights for the tank. Whether it's my passion for the hobby or my OCD acting up, I am one of those who take a hobby and move into the 'lifestyle' category pretty quickly.

 

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but for me the "spend time enjoying it/spend time screwing with it" ratio is just way too out of proportion. I want a tank, not a second job.

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I found out the hard way (this was my first aquarium of any sort) that saltwater and freshwater tanks are DRAMATICALLY different regardless of what the lfs says. All of my 'screwing with it, aquascaping, testing, etc' has grown on me really. With this hobby I really feel like I am learning something that is cool and fascinating all at the same time. I do enjoy my nano, but I spend an equal amount of time screwing with it. In many ways a nano is more work to maintain than a big tank. *shrug*

 

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Got to grow your own, that's the way it's done. No one is going to hand you a fully grown coral unless you want to sell your kids into medical experimentation and hit the pet shop to buy the pitiful excuses for corals they sell these days.

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Hmmm, well we all grow our own don't we? Aside from the few corals I have received for free or really cheap from fellow reef'ers, the majority of my corals have come from the lfs or online and they aren't pitiful excuses in any way, shape or form IMO. You get what you pay for most generally. A lot of corals I have stocked I couldn't get from my reef buds anyway.

 

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But it just got me to thinking that I am happy to be a nano-reefer. I know some of us have smaller tanks due to how we're young and may not have settled into houses where we'll be staying a while, we want a tank at work, we may not have the money for a tank bigger than 30 gallons and we may not have the time for a larger tank.

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I don't fit into any of these categories . I was a rookie aquarist who wanted a saltwater tank that would fit in my study and I assumed that a smaller tank would be easier to care for (again which is not necessarily true with the calcium reactors, skimmers, etc that you can put on the big tanks). I am now working toward a 200 gallon reef tank that will be an in-wall installation in my basement.

 

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How else could one really put so much natural beauty into such a small spot? You can't. So let's give ourselves a toast and realize that the hobby is advanced with every one of us who carries this out and who welcomes others to try.

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Amen to that. Amen to that.