Salty, glad to see another Razorback fan on here. I grew up in Greenbrier, graduated from the UofA, but now live outside Denver. Do you go to Little Rock for for your LFS? I didn't think Conway had any saltwater fish stores.
LOL
Chief revhtree, moderators, fellow reefers, and people of the fish keeping world: Thank you.
We, the reefers of the world, are now joined in a great global effort to rebuild our reef tanks and to restore its promise for all of our fish, corals and invertebrates.
Together, we will determine the course of reefing and the world for years to come.
We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.
Every day, we gather on this forum to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of knowledge, and we are grateful to revhtree and moderators for their gracious aid throughout this transfer.
They are magnificent.
Today's post, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring knowledge from one person to another, or from one forum to another -- but we are transferring knowledge from the internet and giving it back to you, the reef keeping People.
For too long, a small group in our reefing community has reaped the rewards of knowledge while the noobies have borne the cost. Fish stores flourished -- but our tanks did not share in its health. Fish stores prospered -- but the fish left, and the tanks closed.
The additive suppliers protected itself, but not the fish of our tanks. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in MACNA, there was little to celebrate for struggling reefers all across our land.
That all changes -- starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.
It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across the internet. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the Reef2Reef forum, is your forum!
What truly matters is not which Aquarium controller controls our tanks, but whether our tank is controlled by the reefers. January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the reefers became the rulers of this hobby again. The forgotten fish and corals of our tanks will be forgotten no longer.
Everyone is listening to you now.
You came by the million post views a month to become part of a historic movement the likes of which the internet has never seen before. At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a reefer exists to serve its fish tanks.
Fish want to swim in great schools, safe rock structures for their families, and good food for themselves. These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous reefer.
But for too many of our reefers, a different reality exists: Fish and corals trapped in quarantine tanks; rusted-out equipment scattered like tombstones across the sumps of our homes; an education system flush with browsers, but which leaves our young and beautiful reefers deprived of knowledge; and the ammonia and nitrates and phosphates that have stolen too many fish a and coral lives and robbed our tanks of so much unrealized potential.
This lack of knowledge carnage stops right here and stops right now.
We are one reefing nation -- and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.
The oath of office we take today is an oath of allegiance to all reefers.
For many decades, we've enriched foods at the expense of basic reef care; subsidized the armies of other forums while allowing for the very sad depletion of our personal knowledge; we've defended other reefers tanks while refusing to defend our own; and spent thousands of dollars on products we don't need, while our tanks infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.
We've made additive suppliers rich while the health, strength, and confidence of our fellow reefers tanks has disappeared over the horizon. One by one, the tanks drained and left our living rooms, with not even a thought about the millions upon millions of invertebrates left behind.
The health of our reefs has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed across the entire world.
But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future. We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every post, in every forum, and in every blogsite.
From this day forward, a new vision will govern our tanks.
From this moment on, it's going to be our tanks first.
Every decision on equipment, on additives, on parameters, on reef salt, will be made to benefit our fish and our corals. We must protect our aquariums from the ravages of poor maintenance, buying un-needed products, parasites, and algae destroying our coral colonies. Protection will lead to great prosperity by fragging and super glue strength.
We will fight for you with every breath in our bodies -- and we will never, ever let you down.
Our tanks will start winning again, winning like never before.
We will bring back our maintenance jobs. We will bring back our controls. We will bring back our health. And we will bring back our dreams.
We will build new aquariums, and sumps, and rock structures, and frag tanks, and auto top off systems, and water changes all across our wonderful reefing nation.
We will get our snails and hermits off of welfare and back to work -- rebuilding our reefs with our hands and our labor.
We will follow two simple rules: Buy what works and do what's needed.
We will seek friendship and goodwill with the members of this forum -- but we do so with the understanding that it is the duty of all members to help others.
We do not seek to impose our way of reefing on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.
We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones -- and unite the reefing world against bryopsis, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.
At the bedrock of our work will be a total allegiance to the reefing community, and through our loyalty to our Reef2Reef forum, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.
When you open your heart to clownfish, there is no room for prejudice. The Aquarists manual tells us, "How good and pleasant it is when clownfish and anemones live together in unity."
We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.
When reefers are united, Reefing is totally unstoppable.
There should be no fear -- we are protected by aquarium controllers, and we will always be protected.
We will be protected by the great men and women of our forums and moderators and, most importantly, we are protected by revhtree.
Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger.
In reefing, we understand that a tank is only living as long as it is striving.
We will no longer accept small frags who are all stalk and no colour-- constantly closed but never doing anything about it.
The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action.
Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of reefing.
We will not fail. Our tanks will thrive and prosper again.
We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of ion exchange, to free our waters from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.
A new reefing pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.
It is time to remember that old wisdom, our fish will never forget: that whether we are black or brown or white tangs, we all bleed the same red blood of parrot fish, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great barrier reef.
And whether a fry is born in the urban sprawl of fully loaded tank or the windswept plains of a minimalist tank, they look up at the same moon lights, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.
So to all reefers, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words:
You will never ignore your your tanks again.
Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define our reefing destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.
Together, We will make our tanks strong again.
We will make them healthy again.
We will make our tanks proud again.
We will make our tanks safe again.
And yes, together, we will make reefing great again.
Thank you.
God bless you.
And God bless Reefing.
[ Please note, that I may have borrowed a few of the above words from a certain D.J. Trump off the TV today
No political statements or intentions are intended here whatsoever!]
