Blog: The Art of Reef Keeping, A Thing of the Past?

[Legendary Corals]

Hello fellow reefers,

Someone started a discussion on another forum about how the art of reef keeping has somewhat vanished and reefers tanks have become a garden of nubs rather than a full blown tank. We choose pieces based upon how they look as one item rather than use them as a form of color and structure in our tank. It was an interesting talk so I thought I'd bring the discussion to Nano-Reefers as well, since it's a much more achievable goal with our little tanks.

Reef keeping (at least in the US) is more so of collecting rather than an art form. When you first start the hobby, you see a general idea of what your tank should look like. A zoanthid garden here in bright green, some frogspawn for movement in the corner, some SPS to add structure, and a clownfish with an anemone to provide something fascinating to look at. You wanted to start a reef tank so you could look at something. And the cool thing is that you put it all together, the way you like it. It's basically living art.

From far away, who cares what coral is named what. This reef as a whole is art, and that's all you cared about as your goal when you first started reefing.

When you first start buying corals you don't know the "value" of what certain pieces go for. You only buy pieces based on if you like it and if the price is something you were willing to pay for (you liked it enough to pay for it). But after being in the hobby for some time, you start getting exposed to different corals and the prices that correlate with them (pretty much impossible not to be exposed to it if you're a social reefer). The expensive prices on certain pieces tell us that they're worth more. And if they're worth more, it must mean that they're more desirable. So naturally we want to have more desirable pieces, much like we want brand name material items. "I don't want the green torch, everyone has that. Now a gold torch, that's different, more sought after, and therefore much nicer!" Soon, your vision of a reef tank is much different than when you first started and becomes a collection. Your tank is now filled with named pieces like how a sneakerhead has countless shoes or a flower collector has a backyard full of just pots of rare plants rather than a beautiful garden.

I mean, all I wanted was shoes to play basketball with. But then I found these supposedly rare sneakers and four years later...

This isn't necessarily bad though in my opinion. Reefers just appreciate the hobby in a different way than when they first started. The excitement and joy from collecting different pieces becomes more fun than creating a reef tank. And if I think about it, I think it's far easier to spend money on expensive pieces and get the proud feeling of owning a sought after item than it is to care and nurture a tank into a piece of art, which is a long time commitment and work (you're looking at least 2-3 years for large tanks). Or if it's not about rarity, people are just drawn to so many different corals that they find beautiful that they want to collect them all, even if there is no place for that coral in their planned layout. So many corals you love, but alas you only have one tank. It's also not an easy hobby. It takes a lot of patience, diligence, and understanding of reef keeping to maintain a reef tank to maturity. You have to understand the care requirements of your animals. I've only seen one established reef in my life. And by established I mean full blown colonies. Most of the people in this hobby are new, so to know someone who's been in it long enough to have an established reef is a rare treat. It's far easier and quicker to spend money, get a cool new coral, and take a photo to share with all your friends than to wait years with careful planning. And because buying collector corals is a quicker road to happiness (or at least a more exciting road), the art form of reefing has declined. It's evolved into collecting. It also helps that there's always new pieces coming into the hobby almost every other week, so you'll never truly "catch them all."

This is all just my opinion... An opinion on where I see this hobby is at the moment. Which isn't a bad thing, just a different way to appreciate the hobby. I guess that's why I'm so blown away when I see all of these other tanks overseas filled with colonies. Over there, I would imagine the name game isn't as important. It's more "I like this color and structure" and pieces go for general prices and they fill their tanks up that way. So it becomes more so of scaping, than it is collecting here. Just gotta know that you can't be the best artist you can be with one tank and still collect. Gotta dedicate one tank for your artsy side, and one tank to just fill up for the collector side in you.

What do you guys think, and maybe this discussion will help spark back the "artist" in you.

Cheers,

Darwin

[Mirya]

I know the thread on the other forum to which you are referring too. It's been a good discussion. I think the theme happens to dovetail nicely with the recent discussion in the Monthly Reef Profile Nomination thread on this very forum.

 

Honestly, I think this is how MTS starts! I've started a tank with a vision, then got into the "oh that is pretty -- I WANT!" even though I didn't have space... so then I started up another tank for the overflow. Then started to get another vision, and...

[Red_Blenny]

Great write up Darwin. I always beleived that since I have a nano-tank and space is limited, I should buy corals that makes me go "WOW" instead of buying random corals I first see at a LFS or online for the sake of filling up my tank.

 

Heck, it took me 2-3 years for me to collect my current florida collection... and another 2-3 years to collect other corallimorphs.

[Sunstar]

I can see where you are going with this.

 

I actually have a rather large collection of Starscreams. I keep only Starscreams - and occasionally another figure. But I have it arranged nicely, as opposed to other collectors in the fandom. I would love some of the rare figures... but all in all its a one character collection.

 

As for my reef tank, I have something in mind. I want my hammers growing off to the right hand side of my reef and I would like the montipora to go to the left hand side of the reef. I have not entirely decided what to do with the bottom left hand side of the structure - its three stones. But the right hand bottom is where i want my mushrooms, zoanthids and anemones to thrive. Behind the structure is a 4th stone that is simply my GSP, w hich has bright green colouration and sways. This adds movement. I watch it intently. I am pleased with its growth since I got the initial frag.

 

I dislike frag plugs. I mean, I have them, but I would rather have my coral on rocks on the plugs so I can remove the plugs an attach the corals with their natural rocks ot the structure. I did not go about picking and adhering my rock in such design only to give it plug-pox.

 

I have an ultra acan in my tank, but that acan contains the colours of greens and oranges that my zoas have. It my complement them nicely. It also is on one of those horrendous plugs, but that got buried under the sand. For me its a matter of colour and texture.

 

I am thinking of having riccordias on the left hand rock.

 

I also want a firefish and a goby for that interesting movement and personality. So the artistic side is not dead. But people will be attracted to bright colours and those colours will be given names and people will eat them up. I may trade off some of my corals. But for now, I hope to see my vision through.