The dream, the goal, the debate...

Okay so as mentioned previously, I wanted to be a marine biologist and more specifically the dream was to work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and design self-sustaining ecosystems. Basically I wanted to work in a place where I could design a tank system (keep in mind my favorite exhibit there is the giant kelp forest which is 50' high and has sharks) that we wouldn't have to feed it's inhabitants. Ok I never got to that point, but when thinking about what hobby I'd like to start up this came to mind again. Also, Ed mentioned doing a saltwater tank since it's something I've always loved and admired.  This would also be a nice piece of home for me that I can come and enjoy after a stressful day at work, or can throw my mask on and pretend I was scuba diving.  In comes the primary questions...what size of tank, where do I put it, what kind of critters do I want to keep, etc etc

First step, get and read The Conscientious Marine Aquarist. I knew that I didn't want a typical fish only system (keep in mind the self-sustaining ecosystem thing) and would probably get bored with a fish and live rock only system. Everything I knew about freshwater told me that the bigger the system, the more easily parameters can be maintained and kept at constant levels. Well here's the rub, saltwater systems are expensive! I had no idea how much until we started to just price stuff out at the local store in Mankato. This happened to be PetCo or the other option is PetExpo which didn't have much for resources in Saltwater (PetExpo was much better though). We drove to the cities and checked out Ocean Devotion and Saltwater Empire as well. So the bigger the tank, the more stable it is, the more $$$ it takes to start up. That was one debate, the next was location which we'll get into later and the third was what critters did I want to keep.

After reading my book, I learned more about how cyanide is used on reefs as a collection method. The problem is that it kills the reef that they were collected from, and fish normally don't do well after being gassed. The other great thing about the hobby is that there is more and more captive breeding taking place as well as aqua cultured/fragging of corals (taking one piece and splitting it apart into many). That was very encouraging to me. So the goal for my new reef tank is to obtain species of fish, invertebrates and coral that have either been tank raised or collected by netting. Of course, eventually, I'd like to have this system be as self-sustaining as possible.

The debate is do I get critters that would only be found in one ecoregion (Hawaii or Florida Keys for example) or do I select critters that I enjoy and think would work well in my display tank. I know that I love the pacific sailfin tang, green chromis (these guys school), clownfish (who wouldn't love to have a nemo), neon gobies, etc. The problem is that they aren't all from the same ecoregion but they do get along well in a large community tank. The only problem with being a "purist," as Ed would call it, is that it is much more difficult to find items to stick in there but it would probably be the "best fit" for compatibility for everything in the tank.

And so the debate rolls on....