best thing to hit the hobby?

[tablesalt]

I put reefkeeping down 10 years ago and quit my job at the aquarium store when I joined the military, and am picking it back up as we speak so I believe I am uniquely qualified to answer this question.

1. Wider selection of captive bred fish! 10 years ago the only captive bred fish we regularly saw at the store were plain clownfish and damsels. Now there are so many more and in such greater quantities. Captive bred fish are generally much hardier, drive the costs down, and minimize impact on nature.

2. Man made live/dry rock. 10 years ago this wasn't a thing. Today it is. Simply having the option of starting a tank with man made live/dry rock is huge. The pieces are beautiful, it (can be) cheaper, and it allows for a reefscape.

3. Reefscape aesthetics. 10 years ago most large aquariums were simply a wall of live rock. The minimalist idea of open shapes and open space did exist 10 years ago, but is much more common now.

4. Coral selection. There is simply more coral out there today than 10 years ago.

5. Knowledge/interest in the hobby. I think the Nano cubes, which had just come out about 10 years ago got a lot of people into the hobby. Yes they are flawed and are not ideal for beginners, but their adoption and spread has been a stepping stone for people in the hobby.

6. Finding Nemo/Dory. I know this also may sound silly but there was a definite spike in traffic at the aquarium store when Nemo came out. I'm assuming the same was true with Dory. Getting a younger generation (and their parents) into the hobby has been a boon to the hobby.

7. Online selection of everything and live shipping. It was a thing 10 years ago, but there is soooo much more available now.

8. LED lights. I can't say how much better these are than the Power Compacts I had 10 years ago. The difference in heat and durability of the bulbs is amazing.

Just my thoughts. My Max E 170 shows up Thursday

 

[Brian W]

modern lighting, T5, LEDs
If you watch one of Mike Paletta's videos, he talks about the lightning they had back then.
They made most of their other gadjets themselves, but they could not make lights.

 

[Vivid Creative Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

Random flow generators and not the kind with moving parts that soon don't move - 3D printing kind and I hope we'll find many more applications for 3D printing in near future

Thanks @Mikedawg for including us in this thread

I would have to say the Tank Controller - I prefer the Apex but I think this goes for any/all of the various controllers out there. Automation and control, In my opinion, is the most important and impactful development over the past 10 years and there's still lots of room for growth this space.

Of course, The Tank Controller is followed at a close second by Random Flow Generator Nozzle ;-)

 

[themcnertney]

Amazon Prime.

 

[siggy]

I have a 2 1/2 gallon slate bottom tank...it was my wifes grandfathers. nfs Still don't know what to do with it. might throw a betta in it.

Add a wet/dry and become a .......RETRO REEFER

 

[Midrats]

Peter Wilkens. RIP sir.

 

[hubble]

ATO ! Hands down. No way would I keep another tank and have to add water every day. After that would be a dosing pump, no more hand dosing every day (almost as bad as adding makeup water every day). These two things (there are others) have made keeping a tank a pleasure.

 

[Ferrell]

I would rate them as follows:
1 the online forums/information. I started web browsing for aquarium info when I was 10 or so in the late 90's, before photo bucket when people would do whole pages of text to "draw" something like with a cell phone back before emoji .
2 DC pumps for sump return, in tank flow(gyre, vectra, and so on) and skimmers
3 LED lights, while I dont think they are the best lighting option on the market the power and heat advantage they provide makes them beneficial by eliminating other equipment or fluctuations in temp. I have however yet to see an led fixture pay for itself in electrical savings and I have been through hundreds of thousands in LEDs so maybe I know what I'm talking about.
4 controllers, its nice to have everything in one place and able to access it over the web but most of the functions can be duplicated with lots of little components. Also many reef aquariums have been functional for decades without them so these are more for simplicity or a toy than necessary. hopefully that makes sense. Also I have kept tanks without any automation that do fine or better than those with automation.

Most everything from there ties back into #1. Without info you can overdose GFO and kill everything, run your LED too high and bleach it all, or chase numbers on the controller and fight yourself every day. Experience / trial and error and access to it is definitely far above any piece of equipment.

^^^^^^what he said^^^^^
This is my first reef attempt but I remember back in the 90s and read extensively on “the new” ability to keep corals but didn’t have the $$ back then to invest in all the “needed” equipment and the livestock itself. But I did have the latest and greatest bio ball sump, & pump driven skimmer that ran my 300 successfully for many years. Just didn’t have the cash for the corals and extra. Fast forward to today and can’t imagine what the tech of ten years from now will be.
With that said, the knowledge from R2R outweighs any “tech” solution out there. Knowledge is Power

 

[sil40sx]

Aquarium controllers/monitor, hybrid lighting, ATO and dosing pumps makes the hobby more enjoyable (less headache) and convenient.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Wood air stone skimmer where better as you could control the flow of the water thru the skimmer separate from the production of foam. When everyone when to the Venturi added to the water pump they lost a major function the air stone skimmers had. Klase skimmers had separate foam aspirator but the hobby went cheap and manufactures just use the Venturi today.

The best skimmer I ever used. Wish I had a shop full of them.