Whats the next trend in the hobby?

[Crustaceon]

I typically see a lot more “nasty” looking tanks with really high end gear than really nice looking tanks with basically nothing. IME, knowledge and experience is what generates success vs. buying the snazzy gear. While it does serve a purpose, i’ve seen time and time again that the advantages to “high end” equipment are minimal when it comes to actually keeping coral and tend to be more beneficial in remotely monitoring your system...which should have numerous redundancies on a basic level. We could probably keep coral in a 5g bucket with a single t5ho bulb, an air stone and a heater with a heater controller and that would be enough, but it wouldn’t be as flashy or impart a look of “complexity” like hanging snazzy leds and operating a feeder from a tablet while you stand six feet away from the tank during a frag trade.

 

[X-37B]

I typically see a lot more “nasty” looking tanks with really high end gear than really nice looking tanks with basically nothing. IME, knowledge and experience is what generates success vs. buying the snazzy gear. While it does serve a purpose, i’ve seen time and time again that the advantages to “high end” equipment are minimal when it comes to actually keeping coral and tend to be more beneficial in remotely monitoring your system...which should have numerous redundancies on a basic level. We could probably keep coral in a 5g bucket with a single t5ho bulb, an air stone and a heater with a heater controller and that would be enough, but it wouldn’t be as flashy or impart a look of “complexity” like hanging snazzy leds and operating a feeder from a tablet while you stand six feet away from the tank during a frag trade.

Agree! Locally, including lfs, I see more nasty high end tanks than nice ones.
Again, what I find thats similar in those tanks is lack of stability and the constant need to change or add things.
Most do not keep a log and could not even tell you what was going on in their system a month ago. A few friends have awesome fully automated systems and some are very basic too.

 

[ingchr1]

..But to keep fragging and never grow a colony is kinda against what the hobby is all about...

I would think that growing colonies out and fragging are both parts of what this hobby is all about.

Doesn't fragging contribute greatly to the sustainability of the hobby?

 

[sawdonkey]

I would think that growing colonies out and fragging are both parts of what this hobby is all about.

Doesn't fragging contribute greatly to the sustainability of the hobby?

Yeah, I said that poorly. You’re right. What I meant is that not having the ultimate goal of growing out your frags out into colonies just seems odd and like you’re treating the hobby like a business. It’s totally reasonable to cut frags along the way.

 

[Crustaceon]

Agree! Locally, including lfs, I see more nasty high end tanks than nice ones.
Again, what I find thats similar in those tanks is lack of stability and the constant need to change or add things.
Most do not keep a log and could not even tell you what was going on in their system a month ago. A few friends have awesome fully automated systems and some are very basic too.

That’s a lot of the problem. When you have so many things to adjust, you tend to adjust them. This hobby isn’t something where you push a button and things magically work and every noticeable change (increasing light intensity, upping dkh by .5 or more) should be viewed as a setback that’ll take weeks, if not months to correct. It’s actually better to let the tank settle and give it VERY slight adjustments. We’ve heard stories of tanks improving because the owner went on vacation. This is why. Corals absolutely hate our input.

 

[fish farmer]

I would think that growing colonies out and fragging are both parts of what this hobby is all about.

Doesn't fragging contribute greatly to the sustainability of the hobby?

I've always had smaller tanks and when I started reefing in 2000 I gravitated to easy growing and fraggable softies and LPS, Back then there wasn't a side hustle coral business coming out of reef tanks unless you were selling off your entire tank. I used my coral growth for store credit, trading for different corals from others or new tank coral setups for others.


I think automation will continue which truthfully has really been in the hobby at different levels. How many turn their lights on manually every day? I think smaller "self contained' systems could be a trend.....reef jars automated....affordable, space saving, designed to be stable but still simple.

 

[Paul B]

Doesn't fragging contribute greatly to the sustainability of the hobby?

I'm sure it does. But there are so many people getting out of this hobby after a few years I would imagine there is stuff available all over the place. A Large portion of threads are for someone getting out and they sell everything. Seems like a good way to get older livestock and equipment.

I think I once bought an ozonizer like that.
I myself never sold anything from my tank. If I don't need it, I give it away. But this is not a business for me. Just a hobby.

I have been at this for over 60 years and am getting old-er so I would imagine that soon, I will give away my entire tank. Or my wife will when I croak.

I hope whoever gets it won't quarantine or medicate anything or that will be the end of it.

 

[X-37B]

That’s a lot of the problem. When you have so many things to adjust, you tend to adjust them. This hobby isn’t something where you push a button and things magically work and every noticeable change (increasing light intensity, upping dkh by .5 or more) should be viewed as a setback that’ll take weeks, if not months to correct. It’s actually better to let the tank settle and give it VERY slight adjustments. We’ve heard stories of tanks improving because the owner went on vacation. This is why. Corals absolutely hate our input.

Very well said!
Adjusting everything all the time is not the answer.
Maintaining your set values from startup, if you have them, is paramount.

 

[58e970b2-3f88-4897-87ba-5]

I think part of the issue with automation is that it makes it too easy to make changes to your tank / routine.
For newer reefers there is not a lot of information about how a tank looks while going from a pile of fresh rock to a display packed full of colonies. There are tons of people sharing the best and worst days of their tank, so as soon as some algae pops up or a coral retracts its polyps, it's time to panic and change some settings to fix that. If you don't you might be the next guy posting that thread about how everything pretty died last night and all that is left is a pile of stringy green rocks.
If you just setup your tank a few weeks ago and packed a few thousand dollars worth of rainbow coloured corals into it... It would be hard not to panic if things are begining to look like they are going south.

 

[uhgster1]

I’m optimistic. The trend will be a hybrid of new and old. By now more and more reefers are realizing that regardless of the equipment used, stability is what makes or breaks a great reef. I’m proud of how I have progressed through this hobby and can proudly say that the most expensive piece of equipment I own is the tank itself. I’m sure that next year there’s going to be a lot of happy reefers finally able to get their hands on affordable Radion g4s and other used high end equipment. If you are “PATIENCE” challenged there is nothing that you can buy that will provide you with LONG TERM enjoyment of your reef.

 

[Kongar]

I wish the next trend is encouraging newbies like myself to start simple and old school. A pile of live rock, some carbon on hand, and ONE nutrient export method, preferably water changes and a test kit if your tank is small enough.

I went into the hobby thinking "I'm not going to start this unless I do it right" and bought all the gear. I ran such a clean tank, that I'm on like month 4 of battling dinos and frankly, I'm losing the battle.

I'm convinced if I had made mistakes in the other direction (letting the tank get too dirty), I'd be complaining about a GHA outbreak, and I could increase my nutrient export or decrease my nutrient supply accordingly and ride into a successful tank. Going sterile to start is the worst outcome that comes from the best intentions - and us newbies don't understand this until it's too late. Everything is "protein skimmer this, and water changes every week that, and throw a refugium on there, and god forbid don't feed more than 2 pellets of food"

Worst advice ever, I listened to it all, and now I'm paying the price (after paying the price for all that gear that I'm not using anymore). I should have bought some of that maricultured rock they grow in Florida, added a couple of fish, and just watched what happened.

 

[uhgster1]

I wish the next trend is encouraging newbies like myself to start simple and old school. A pile of live rock, some carbon on hand, and ONE nutrient export method, preferably water changes and a test kit if your tank is small enough.

I went into the hobby thinking "I'm not going to start this unless I do it right" and bought all the gear. I ran such a clean tank, that I'm on like month 4 of battling dinos and frankly, I'm losing the battle.

I'm convinced if I had made mistakes in the other direction (letting the tank get too dirty), I'd be complaining about a GHA outbreak, and I could increase my nutrient export or decrease my nutrient supply accordingly and ride into a successful tank. Going sterile to start is the worst outcome that comes from the best intentions - and us newbies don't understand this until it's too late. Everything is "protein skimmer this, and water changes every week that, and throw a refugium on there, and god forbid don't feed more than 2 pellets of food"

Worst advice ever, I listened to it all, and now I'm paying the price (after paying the price for all that gear that I'm not using anymore). I should have bought some of that maricultured rock they grow in Florida, added a couple of fish, and just watched what happened.

Don’t get discouraged, the only advice I’m going to give you is if you get advice ask to see the tank you’re getting it from or make sure it’s from one of the long timers on the forum.

 

[Kongar]

Don’t get discouraged, the only advice I’m going to give you is if you get advice ask to see the tank you’re getting it from or make sure it’s from one of the long timers on the forum.

Good advice - thanks for the wisdom and encouragement. Your tank looks epic - goals. I like that elegance coral - that's the coral that made me go "I have to have a reef tank"

 

[sp1187]

I am as old school as you can get, and I'm old. I don't get those threads where people try to remove everything they don't know what it is. I consider that stuff free life and have never tried to remove anything except maybe these.

that's dinner.

 

[X-37B]

I wish the next trend is encouraging newbies like myself to start simple and old school. A pile of live rock, some carbon on hand, and ONE nutrient export method, preferably water changes and a test kit if your tank is small enough.

I went into the hobby thinking "I'm not going to start this unless I do it right" and bought all the gear. I ran such a clean tank, that I'm on like month 4 of battling dinos and frankly, I'm losing the battle.

I'm convinced if I had made mistakes in the other direction (letting the tank get too dirty), I'd be complaining about a GHA outbreak, and I could increase my nutrient export or decrease my nutrient supply accordingly and ride into a successful tank. Going sterile to start is the worst outcome that comes from the best intentions - and us newbies don't understand this until it's too late. Everything is "protein skimmer this, and water changes every week that, and throw a refugium on there, and god forbid don't feed more than 2 pellets of food"

Worst advice ever, I listened to it all, and now I'm paying the price (after paying the price for all that gear that I'm not using anymore). I should have bought some of that maricultured rock they grow in Florida, added a couple of fish, and just watched what happened.

Well said! All the high end equipment in the hobby wont do what live rock, filter sock and a properly sized skimmer will do for your success.
Then dose by hand until you understand whats involved in reef keeping.
Patience and a mentor that knows what they are doing is key for new reefers.

 

[58e970b2-3f88-4897-87ba-5]

I think a trend we are going to see soon is an attempt to significantly simplify and increase automation for reefing.
I think we are seeing the start of it now with automated testing machines (like the Neptune
Trident) and companies like Red Sea pushing reef tank recipes. The next step is combining those into a system that tests, doses and tells you what to do (ex. water change, refill additives, clean equpiment, feed).
The simplification will come in the form of the interface being more along the lines of choose your tank recipe (click the max growth sps button or whatever) then plugging in the required equipment and tanks of additives. Next you will just need to tell it when you are doing things like feeding or cleaning something, so the required devices can switch to the right mode. Want to feed? The system will know to turn off the pumps. You won't need to program it. Water change? Click the button (on your phone?) Heater, pumps, and ATO are off. You will also get a reminder in a bit if the water level is wrong or if you don't tell it you are done.
It won't be for everyone, but for some it will be nice to just leave most work to the machine and focus on the parts of the tank you enjoy more. It will also appeal to people who don't want the complication of trying to program and design a system around a controller.
It may also make some equipment more affordable to start. Someone will likely take the Keurig / Nesspresso road and sell devices cheap and make up the cost by selling you marked up refills.
I think this all hinges on some company being able to make a "recipe" that frequently produces long term success. Or at least figures out a fairly surefire set of steps for success.
If the only way to make a long term successful reef tank is with real live rock this won't happen, but I bet there is someone in a lab right now trying to figure out some sort of probiotic additives to get you into that mature tank state quicker.
I know this is a fairly contraversial idea, but I think in the end it will be good for the hobby (if someone can do it well). It will likely bring many new members to the hobby since it has the potential to reduce the up front cost and may help break our imagine of being one of the hardest and most time consuming hobbies.
Also the added structure to getting up and running along with the benefits of potentially more stable parameters will help people stick with the hobby and keep their slice of the ocean alive.

 

[sp1187]

I'm a little of both, old & new.

old: manual water changes, top off, dosing, feeding.
heavy on the white light. reminds me of my shallow water snorkeling/scuba days. don't remember it being "alien blue".
I seeded the tank with bristle's and spaghetti's.
I don't mind a bit of algae here and there in the display tank.


new: led lights on a controller, dc return, gyre flow.
no live rock/dry rock. I fabbed the scape using pvc and 2 part putty.

as someone stated above, (sorry, not looking through 7 pages to give credit) unless you have back ups on all your hi-tech do it for you stuff, you're living with false security.

 

[Paul B]

that's dinner.

It was.

 

[dennis romano]

I am almost as old as Paul B. and have been in the marine side of the hobby since the 70's. Back in the Dark Ages, the way I knew that my water was okay was by looking at the blue damsel. If he was bright blue...good. If he went dark, do a water change. Gotta admit, today's technology is over my head. When I go to the LFS and they start talking about newer technology, I feel like a noob. I did buy a refractometer recently when I found my hydrometer was way off. I still just look at the fish and corals. Are the corals open? Are they corals growing? Are the fish eating? If no problems...cool. If there is a problem, solve it. Here is my Softie/NPS tank.

 

[Paul B]

LOL, someone gave me a refractometer a few years ago. I never took it out of the bag.