Why no EI in reef?

[mort]

on a true reef, algae would easily grow, but a abundance of grazers keeps it in check, many of the reefs in poor health are that way because of removal of the grazers

Definitely this. We see the effect of nutrient runoff entering seas and causing algal blooms. Overfishing has also been shown to effect reef health.

Nature is a balancing act and man interfering causes problems. We see algae taking over when we strip parrotfish from the reefs and we see kelp destroyed by urchins when their population blooms because their predators were taken.

With us keeping such a high fish population in a tank we are effectively dosing n and p, which is the biggest reason we need such a robust nutrient export system.

 

[JoshP12]

Thanks to everyone for the contributions to this thread - I am loving reading about reef.

It makes me want to try it 😱.

Josh

 

[Nick potts]

Thanks to everyone for the contributions to this thread - I am loving reading about reef.

It makes me want to try it 😱.

Josh

It's a great hobby with some amazing animals available.

Be warned, it can be eye-wateringly expensive when compared to FW, think ADA and your getting close.

 

[not called Bob]

Thanks to everyone for the contributions to this thread - I am loving reading about reef.

It makes me want to try it 😱.

Josh

It's perfectly possible to do it for little investment and time, I spent way less time maintaining my salt tank, than I have done with a planted. But need low stocking of fish to do so.

 

[Nick potts]

It's perfectly possible to do it for little investment and time, I spent way less time maintaining my salt tank, than I have done with a planted. But need low stocking of fish to do so.

I wish my experience was the same lol.

The biggest killer is fish and coral prices (at least locally), £80 for 1 SW fish would buy me enough to fill a couple of FW tanks. Corals you can get coral frags from other reefers which helps. It's the main thing that keeps me going back.

 

[reefaddict]

It makes me want to try it 😱.

Josh, costs are higher, a good skimmer costs more than a canister, you need a few movement pumps, good lighting and this will boost your electricity bill.
Then you have to consider live rocks, the cost depends on air freight but it's always high. Additives for Ca, HCO3, Mg and trace elements are mandatory and difficult to DIY due to complex composition and mixing. And after the first week you'll probably feel the need for an osmoregulator and a dosing pump system.

Then there is the cost of livestock, farmed clownfishes start at around 12-18 Euro here, an imperator sells for 200 Euro at least
Frags are cheaper but I've never seen coral frags under 15 Euros each. Swaps help a lot but you need to start with something...

Last but not least there is the environmental problem that was the main reason I quit from reefkeeping after several years: most livestock is wild captured, not always in a safe way using cyanide, with % death I'm sure you don't want to know. Many corals and several fishes are farm-grown but still a low % of the market.

Both wild captures, death % during transport and emissions of CO2 (electricity bills) are far away from my idea of "low impact" hobby.

 

[JoshP12]

Thank you for your genuine insights @reefaddict.

 

[not called Bob]

Wow here you can get the bread and butter frags from £5 and chromis for the same or less. But if you want rare high risk stuff then your into the many thousands for a nice looking gem tang.

I flipped from sps to just soft and lps and it was run on the same return pump I'm using for the planted, there's actually more stuff 0lugged in now as I'm now using a heater. Filtration was via a algae bed in the sump, took the skimmer offline as the noise was annoying.