Can you build a 1000 gallon fantastic reef tank with only Aqua cultured Animals

[reef_shadow]

I've just completed a build of a unique 670 gallon (1000 total volume) tank. To show how far the hobby has come in the last few years I would like to fill it with all aqua cultured animals and make it look fantastic. Is this possible? Particularly with fish and inverts?

[nvdiz]

I don't see why not

[Paco]

It's going to be hard with the fish, and I'm not aware of many inverts that breed successfully in captivity, either (hermits). There's quite a few fish species that are not bred in captivity. I don't see why you can't do it with corals.

[ChadTheSpike]

When you say aquacultured, where exaclty is your line drawn? There are a lot of tank raised animals (a handful of angels, tangs, butteryflyfish, etc.), pen-raised animals, and other methods that are used to get the animals closer to captivity, but not actually breed them in captivity. If you included these types of animals, I would say yes, you can do it.

Inland Aquatics has a large number of captive and tank raised animals.

[Jason S]

If you change the scope to Maricultured, and Captive Raised, then easily... Companies like Sustainable Aquatics have many different species of captive raised fish like Regal Tangs, Rabbitfish, Etc.

[RB Chagoi]

I've just completed a build of a unique 670 gallon (1000 total volume) tank. To show how far the hobby has come in the last few years I would like to fill it with all aqua cultured animals and make it look fantastic. Is this possible? Particularly with fish and inverts?

Enough has been said about the ability to fully "Aquaculture" your tank. I just want to say I am so jealous! 670 gal DT? Sweet!! :fish1:

[cdeboard]

Yeah.. pics of this 670? Build thread so we can see what you end up choosing as livestock?

[reef_shadow]

Great discussion. Thanks

My objective is to shine a light on the positive aspects of our hobby in a visable demonstrative way. What better way to do that than creating a beautiful tank that showcases how the how the hobby is helping promote the care and propogation of reef animals.

I think the comments on definitions are very important. If I proceed with this type of tank I want it to stand the test of critisim. For example, do rescue animals count?

I would like to hear members opinions of what is acceptable to meet the goal of a "eco-friendly" tank (only term i could come up with at the moment). I'm not looking to be "PC" I just think this could in a small way help positively promote the hobby.

Or should I just dump this idea and pack it with all the cool stuff I can find?

[noahm]

I think it is certainly possible, but you will have to just say no to certain critters unless you encounter some special breeding facility. As above, I don't think hermits are commercially bred. There are plenty of fish to choose from, and aquacultured or dry rock is easy to come by, plus anything that breeds in someone else's tank is aquacultured, so bristles, baby snails etc. are all fair game. It just won't be full of tangs and fancy anthias. There are some specialized hobbyist-breeders around though, where you can get on a waiting list for some pretty neat fish as well as scientific research breedings where you may be able to get some fry or larvae of odd fish or inverts.

[ChadTheSpike]

Great discussion. Thanks

My objective is to shine a light on the positive aspects of our hobby in a visable demonstrative way. What better way to do that than creating a beautiful tank that showcases how the how the hobby is helping promote the care and propogation of reef animals.

I think the comments on definitions are very important. If I proceed with this type of tank I want it to stand the test of critisim. For example, do rescue animals count?

I would like to hear members opinions of what is acceptable to meet the goal of a "eco-friendly" tank (only term i could come up with at the moment). I'm not looking to be "PC" I just think this could in a small way help positively promote the hobby.

Or should I just dump this idea and pack it with all the cool stuff I can find?

I think your objective is a good and honorable one... So I don't think you should dump the idea and pack it with stuff :)

I have a thought on where to draw the line for you. How about featuring sustainable livestock? This would include cultured rock (like some of the florida operations that put rock into the water, wait a few years for it to become 'live' and then harvest and sell it), all the tank bred stuff (check out moifba for a pulse on what is being worked on), and sustainably harvested stuff (look at programs like seasmart).

I think that would be awesome.

[newtank]

I am interested in this as well. I see the "professionals" that setup and maintain tanks in Doctors offices, etc. People see these and make half hearted attempts to setup a saltwater tank at home without the proper investment in equipment and knowledge and end up killing way too many organisms with no idea where they come from or the impact. If only more public display tanks (not just public aquariums, zoos, etc) would adopt the sustainability model, and provide educational collaterials on site to help educate prospective hobbyists. I'm also looking into photovolalic cells to reduce my carbon foot print on my next DD cube build. Guilt is a powerful thing!

[Briney Dave]

Very good thought: and as example of how far we have come. ..

I am about to put a 412 together and the thought never occured to me to use anything but captive propigated corals. The health and likelyhood that they will make it in your tank is much better than getting wild ones (and the big plus is that you know; for the most part they will all be disease free) Especially true if you know each coral's farmer.

as for the fish that would be more of a challenge. I will not beat a dead horse on the issue, just leave it at its still to difficult to find every fish you want from a captive breeder. sad but never the less true.

The place to check for other captive inverts is reefstewardship foundation. There are guys who not only get eggs from their snails, shrimp, and crabs (as many of us do) but actually get them to adulthood and not fish food as is the fate of most all my captive invert species breeding.

hope I helped at least a little here
David

[dogstar74]

If this will be in a public place then I have some suggestions.

If you have a space off to the right or left side, appx 50" off the floor, could you mount a digital picture frame that runs through several slides that show some explainations of the tank.

Show a picture of Florida cultured rock.
Show a picture with explaination that whole large coral colonies don't need to be taken from the wild, only small cuttings that can be grown into full size colonies.
Show pics from ORA's website about clown and other types of marine fishes being cultivated.
You could show pics of how the rocks started as dry base rock recovered from a terrestrial source and through the addtion of a little LR became re-vitalized.
Solar tubes can be used to reduce the carbon foot print.
Low voltage external pumps like the vortecs reduce total wattage of the tanks and increase controllability of the flow.
LEDs reduce heat and the need for a chiller.
Time lapse pictures of coral growth playing on a laptop next to the display would look very professional and interesting to people.
Give a cost estimate of the tank people are looking at so they can decide whether to invest in this project or not.

All of these could be slides made in a power point presentation and set to either loop play, or copied as jpg files and shown on a digital picture frame.

Just a couple of ideas.

Aaron

[reef_shadow]

Yeah.. pics of this 670? Build thread so we can see what you end up choosing as livestock?

I started a build thread under large tanks.. 1000 gallon rimless. Fist pic is of the frame

[reef_shadow]

I think your objective is a good and honorable one... So I don't think you should dump the idea and pack it with stuff :)

I have a thought on where to draw the line for you. How about featuring sustainable livestock? This would include cultured rock (like some of the florida operations that put rock into the water, wait a few years for it to become 'live' and then harvest and sell it), all the tank bred stuff (check out moifba for a pulse on what is being worked on), and sustainably harvested stuff (look at programs like seasmart).

I think that would be awesome.

Yes, I am looking at the cultured rock in Fl. Nice stuff. I want to imitate ChangChi's type of rock work in his Thailand DSPS build. Don't know if i can find cultured rock that will work.

The other option is the Eco Rock type of rock like Bulk Reef Suppy sells

[reef_shadow]

Yeah.. pics of this 670? Build thread so we can see what you end up choosing as livestock?

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1854516

Heres the build thread link

[gooyferret]

Maybe you could pay some mad scientist to clone you some fish! That would be the next step for our hobby.... lol

[Briney Dave]

I have some Florida cultured rock. It came in a bucket of water from the ocean having never been exposed to dry air. Its nice stuff but dense as most claim. Plus the shapes and pieces were not as pleasing to the eye or workable as good Fiji would be.

Having read about 140 some odd pages of Ching's thread, I really don't think you could match what he has done with his rock work but you can make a decent display and have the good feelings of not taking anything from the oceans

maybe you could custom order: ie ask for the flates plates etc to build some of the shelving that Ching did.

Also keep in mind that I only got one shipment from one supplier. Its not fair to judge all by that small of a sampling. I say call or better yet go down (double duty vacation) and see for yourself. Be sure to check that the company guys are really there though. I know some only go to Flordia for a harvest then back to home

[noahm]

Yes, I am looking at the cultured rock in Fl. Nice stuff. I want to imitate ChangChi's type of rock work in his Thailand DSPS build. Don't know if i can find cultured rock that will work.

The other option is the Eco Rock type of rock like Bulk Reef Suppy sells

Check out the new dry rock at TBS. It is a new source just from last year (may be a similar source to some other dry rock sellers). Not dense at all and awesome shapes. The stuff he put in the gulf last year took only a couple of months to look like the stuff thats been down there forever. There is a vid in the TBS sponsor forum showing the new rock just over a month in.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1632368

[reef_shadow]

When you say aquacultured, where exaclty is your line drawn? There are a lot of tank raised animals (a handful of angels, tangs, butteryflyfish, etc.), pen-raised animals, and other methods that are used to get the animals closer to captivity, but not actually breed them in captivity. If you included these types of animals, I would say yes, you can do it.

Inland Aquatics has a large number of captive and tank raised animals.

Anyone have addition information along these lines. This could be a nice story line as well.

I may need to make a few compromises to get a nice fish mix in the tank.