Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
View BadgesStaff member
Super Moderator
Reef Squad
Partner Member 2024
Excellence Award
Photo of the Month
Article Contributor
Hospitality Award
Article Administrator
Reef Pumpkin Carver
R2R Secret Santa 2023
My Tank Thread
Ok. I've seen a couple of posts recently that indicate that in this hobby we are obviously trying to recreate or mimic natural seawater conditions for our reef inhabitants. The argument then follows that water should be clean (undetectable nitrates and phosphates). The other side then usually posts examples of systems or vendors which intentionally keep water a little dirtier for better color, etc.
My question is: What is our goal?
Should we assume the ocean is the best possible condition for corals? Is this the logical conclusion? Why? This is not an OBVIOUS thing to me since it would mean that by the same logic, I should probably abandon my air conditioned home and go live in a cave somewhere since that would be man's "natural" environment. I'm NOT saying that NSW is should not be the target...only that this doesn't seem to be an obvious conclusion.
On the other hand, if our goal is not to mimic nature, then we'd better have a pretty good reason for NOT doing so. What would be our goal for our reef inhabitants? How do we qualify whether or not a fish or invert (corals, nems, etc) are "happy"? It doesn't seem like a good qualifier to say "I do it because my tank inhabitants are 'happy.'" ...since I haven't seen my corals smiling, I should probably find a way to determine what would be "better" for them and know when I have achieved optimal conditions.
Thoughts?
My question is: What is our goal?
Should we assume the ocean is the best possible condition for corals? Is this the logical conclusion? Why? This is not an OBVIOUS thing to me since it would mean that by the same logic, I should probably abandon my air conditioned home and go live in a cave somewhere since that would be man's "natural" environment. I'm NOT saying that NSW is should not be the target...only that this doesn't seem to be an obvious conclusion.
On the other hand, if our goal is not to mimic nature, then we'd better have a pretty good reason for NOT doing so. What would be our goal for our reef inhabitants? How do we qualify whether or not a fish or invert (corals, nems, etc) are "happy"? It doesn't seem like a good qualifier to say "I do it because my tank inhabitants are 'happy.'" ...since I haven't seen my corals smiling, I should probably find a way to determine what would be "better" for them and know when I have achieved optimal conditions.
Thoughts?