Coral ID please...

[messiah023]

Kmc,

Nobody, including me, is making any mention of what you are doing, water changes or not. To each, his own. I am just condemning your statement :
" What can I say..I am a rebel... (who's willing to lose everything for the sake of the experiment)"

I believe sentiments like this strike nerves in everyone who is NOT so frivolous to just be a rebel and care less if our fish die in the process.
This statement was absurd and vicious. I think I heard resemblances to another rebel who was willing to lose everything for the sake of experiment....Adolf something rather.

Most everyone on this site is in the hobby for the love of the animal and to try and reproduce a healthy environment for them. We each share information and mourn our losses together, hence the community atmosphere.

Statements like yours will never be tolerated by me personally and I take tremendous offense to it.

I'm sorry if you don't agree or see my point, but I let comments like that go unchallenged.

Good luck to you. I hope your next 5 months of reefkeeping are as healthy as your first 5 months.

[kmckienz]

Messiah,

Well the statement was not meant the way you took it. I was just anticipating everyone saying that my system will crash and all my animals will die. Obviously if I thought that (that they all will surely die) was a statement of fact and not opinion I would not "experiment" at all. There would be no need for experiment. I think a tank running smoothly for 5 months is not a bad start.

We experiment everytime we add a fish to our tank, with every water change, with every new coral, with every chemical you add etc. You are taking calculated risks. Many people turn out horses (the real kind) all together in a large herd in an open pasture. If it works for them great..they know the increased injury risks etc and if it works better in their environment and routine thats good for them. I would not attack them for managing their horses differently than myself. I keep my horses in individual pastures where they can socialize over the fence. I do this to reduce (to almost nothing) their chance of hurting each other rendering horses that are kept for riding into pasture ornaments. Mine could get injured too, but the risk is lower. The horses that are already pasture ornaments can go out together. It's all about choices..what's good for them, what's good for me and let's meet in the middle.

We make choices everyday in all aspects of life about how much risk we are willing to take. I am in far more jeoprady than the fish in my tank everytime I get on the back of an unbroke 3 year old horse or hide in a rubble pile for K-9 Search and Rescue training. It's a choice. If someone said, if you get on that horse I gaurantee you he will stand up and flip over on you I would certainly think twice....but I might just still get on him (probably not now, but 10 yrs ago I did all the time) because it might just be his last chance to be "fixed" before being euthanized.

It's about choices, risk assessment, and the related rewards. Everyone has free will to make their own decisions for themselves and their animals. I don't condemn those who choose differently than myself. I only expect them to own up to the responsibilities of whatever the results are of those choices...good and bad.

[Bifferwine]

It's true that pretty much everything in this hobby is a generalization, and that there are always exceptions to the rules. But some things are tried and true and will increase your chances of success. Everyone follows their own path when deciding which direction to take with their tanks, and we all hear different pieces of advice. It's up to us to listen to the advice we're given, and make a decision about what we're going to do based upon the different opinions we hear. We learn through experience, and one person's failures can serve to educate and help another person down the road.

That being said, 5 months is a very young tank. You wouldn't believe how many people say something like, "I've had this anemone for 3 months and it's doing just fine." Then it croaks. It can take corals and inverts several months to deteriorate, and by that time it's too late. I do believe that 5 months is too young to judge the success of a tank, but if yours is doing well with your routine, good for you, and keep it up. Your approach would not work for many people, but if it works for you, congratulations.

I know that of the pictures you have posted, your animals look healthy and in good condition, so I for one, believe that (so far) you are bucking the trend and having success with your practices, and that is to be applauded. But that doesn't mean that your approach would work for anyone else out there who would try it. Like I said, there are always exceptions.

I tried not doing frequent water changes with my tank, and I failed. Miserably. That approach did not work for me, and it won't work for 99% of the reefers out there. But I have seen tanks online whose owners claimed they haven't done a water change in a year, and they look fantastic. They're in the minority, but apparently it can work for some, and perhaps you are one of those people. If so, good for you, and keep us posted on how your tank progresses.

I guess my point is, enough with the criticisms. When she was setting up this tank, she asked our advice, and we gave it to her. She weighed the advice she was given and chose her own direction. This is what we all do, and this is the point of this forum. For example, Doc runs his tank without any sort of skimmer. That is risky, but for him it pays off. It wouldn't work for most people, but in his situation it does.

Back on topic please, and enough of the back-and-forth and name calling.

[Mtrueblood]

well said Biff!!!

I also believe that people should heed the advice of others but when it comes down to it you have to make your own decisions on what you are going to do. If something works for you then keep doing it..you will change it when that way does not work for you that is just human nature..everyone wants to succeed or they wouldnt have started this hobby.

[RyanG]

Can I be the voice of reason-for once-lets end the flame war here. This isnt reefcentral(WHICH IS WHY I LOVE IT HERE) lets not act like it is. KMC is making some decision that some of us wouldnt make BUT we ALL do stuff that isnt by the "rules".

[reeffreak]

Originally Posted by kmckienz

Messiah, nothing has died yet in my tank (knocks on wood). Eventually something is going to die...that's life. In the Ocean these species survive without some human coming up with a turkey baster to feed them. If the were NOT thriving then of course I would suppliment their diet, but they are currently doing well

So your motto is ''if it works,why fix it'' is all fine and dandy.Like I mention earlier,people seem to measure success over a month or two when It usually takes some corals six months before they starve,by then it maybe to late.My argument was never about your maintenance schedule(or lack of)but the total dismisal that if it lives....great!If it don't ....all well.

Just to let you know,gonioporas live in the most nutrient rich reefs.The ocean currents brings them thrillions of zooplankton and copepods.This is something that can't be replicated without direct feeding.