So as some of you know, this past weekend my local club had the pleasure of bringing in some fantastic speakers in the US aquarium hobby. Dr Sanjay Joshi and Anthony Calfo were kind enough to grace us with their time and wisdom. For those of you who dont know, Sanjay pretty much wrote the book on metal halide bulbs and their PAR output for home aquariums. His research and experiences have greatly advanced our understanding of lighting in the home reef aquarium. Sanjay is also a professor of engineering at Penn State and a great source of knowledge when it comes to aquarium systems and hardware in general. Anthony Calfo is one of the hobby's longtime conservationists, activists, and coral farmers. He is the author of "Book of Coral Propagation Volume 1" and "Reef Invertebrates". Anthony travels frequently to visit organizations and clubs to provide advice and information on maintaining reefs. Both of the speakers have been in the hobby for well over a decade and helped its advancement tremendously. It was an honor to get to meet and learn from both of them and I'd love to share some of their wisdom and observations here.
Sanjay began the weekend talking about reef system and design and re-acquainted us all with Murphy's Law. In short, with complex systems, some component will fail causing the system to crash at the worst possible time. He illustrated many anecdotal stories involving pumps siezing just before vacations, skimmers going haywire after cleaning and draining entire 200 gallon sumps on the floor, to leaving a temperature probe out of the water causing the tank to overheat. He illustrated for us that we must first decide what value we place on our system, and then define levels of acceptable risk. After defining acceptable risk, examine each system for reliability and determine which systems' reliability is below that of your accepted risk. If for example, a heater is likely to fail too often and destroy your whole tank and that fact exceeds your level of risk, install redundant controllers or parallel heaters to prevent this from being a problem with your tank. He also really pushed the idea of prallel systems or backup systems in general, especially if finding hardware is difficult in your locale. What happens if your powerhead breaks and you can't get a replacement? What happens if your heater breaks and you can't get a replacement? Finally, Sanjay talkes about a concept near and dear to the hearts of many of us in Buffalo NY... What to do when power goes out, not just for hours at a time, but days or up to a week at a time? He mentioned that it is always a fantastic and bare-minimum idea to keep a sponge filter running somewhere (either on a quarantine tank, or in your sump) that is AIR operated with either a battery backup pump, or an air (SCUBA) tank ready to supply that sponge filter should power lapse. A simple sponge filter and its resulting aeration and water movement can save a reef without power, or at least prevent the total loss of the system.
Sanjay also gave us some of his thoughts on Metal Halide (MH) lighting. He was indicating to us that his preliminary research into halide bulbs is indicating that MOST bulbs will last for well over 10-12 months of "normal" aquarium operation before they need replacing (reaching only 70-80% of max PAR). He was telling us of one of his reefs where his 250watt halides (geismann 10k's on electronic ballasts) were over 2 years old and still outputting approximately 85% of the PAR they did straight out of the box. While Sanjay's theories regarding bulb life are still preliminary and un-proven by large sample sizes, there may very well be some merit to his arguments for longer bulb life than was/is previously thought by hobbiests.
Anthony Clafo offered some fantastic views into the coral retail and farming industry in the US. While these numbers won't correlate directly to the European markets, they will give you some idea of the size and scope of what we're dealing with. Anthony is heavily into conservation of our coral reefs and is a MAJOR advocate of coral farming. He illustrated to us that the farming that does go on in the states is so miniscule in comparison to the import of corals and livestock from natural reefs that it accounts for MAYBE 5% of gross sales of ornamental reef livestock. The other 95%+ of ornamentals are wild-caught/collected. That bieng said, the amount of sales of saltwater ornamentals make up less than 15% total of all aquarium ornamentals consumed in the US (the other 85% is freshwater livestock). And of that 15% fo the market share that the marine world DOES have, less than 5% is live corals or anemones, the rest is made up of fish consumption. While he says that things are different in Germany and other European nations, by in large, the US saltwater economy is DRIVEN by fish. And so, Anthony has come to the conclusion that even at current rates of increases in consumption of tropical saltwater ornamentals, it will be decades before our (the hobbiest's) collection of these creatures could even put a dent in reefs of the world compared to the dangers of pollution and other man-made impacts. Anthony's exact words were, "Our collection activity is like a drop in the ocean compared to the effects of global warming, agricultural runoff, fishing, and other man made factors and pollutants."
After illustrating both how little saltwater species are actually farmed, AND how little impact we really do have on the reefs (even without farming) Anthony went on to illuminate how much of an amazing market there is for coral, invertebrate, or fish farming in the aquarium trade. He illustrated many examples of people farming everything from Berghia Nudibranchs, to mushrooms, to Duncanopsamnia, to even the common Xenia and making thousands of dollars a year in Profit with less than 100 gallons of water at their disposal. He illustrated for us that how having a large enough brood stock could lead to selling hundreds to thousands of xenia monthly. While the setup crawling with Xenia may not look pretty, its economical impact and removal of the need for wild-caught specemins is both good for the farmer, the buyer, and the environment as a whole.
Anthony also provided for us a fantastic workshop on coral fragging. He riminded us all of the value of safety when fragging while discussing fragging Palythoa Grandis, as he put it, "The most toxic of the family." I was exceptionally interested in these stories as I have this very coral in my tank. Anthony was telling us how the toxin in Palythoa Grandis is phenomenally strong and virulent. He told us that he had been using a towel to clean up after a fragging session with palythoa grandis. 4 DAYS later he used the towel (which he had placed his hamper) for an emergency cleaning of his face. So after 4 days of being dry the toxin remaining on the towel was still able to blind him and remove his sense of taste for 24 hours! You heard that right, dry toxin on a towel blinded him and removed his sense of taste for 24 hours. Safety first folks. When fragging, wear gloves, eye protection, and clean all tools and wash all towels RELIGIOUSLY before next use. Anthony went on to demonstrate fragging a pagoda cup coral, a Favites brain, and a Fungia plate all using a common portable tile cutter. His exact words to the feint of heart were, "There is almoast not a single coral on the reef that we cannot run face first through the blade of this saw and have it come back out as a successful frag." He showed us how to prune buds off our Euhpyllia corals and the value of a scalpel when fragging soft bodied corals. Overall a fantastic workshop in coral fragging.
Finally, Anthony provided us with some insigt on where he sees the hobby going in the next 5-10 years. Shockingly, he claimed that he would not be surprised if after 10 years time legislation came down that would shut down the import of ALL wild-caught stony corals to the states. What happens then? Well prices go through the roof and all "non-hackers will be weeded out" and many coral farms will pop up to mee the demand. He says its been tried for years now, but legislation has yet to make it through to stop the import of stonys. Only a matter of time though, claimed Anthony.
Just thought I'd share some of that with you. Remember, those are just some anecdotes of some of the events this past weekend. I got to spend lots of time with Anthony and Sanjay and they covered some more topics than I listed here. I might be able to answer your questions if something wasn't clear or if perhaps you were wondering if either of the two of them covered another specific topic. Thats all for now, hope you guys enjoy tomorrow
Sanjay began the weekend talking about reef system and design and re-acquainted us all with Murphy's Law. In short, with complex systems, some component will fail causing the system to crash at the worst possible time. He illustrated many anecdotal stories involving pumps siezing just before vacations, skimmers going haywire after cleaning and draining entire 200 gallon sumps on the floor, to leaving a temperature probe out of the water causing the tank to overheat. He illustrated for us that we must first decide what value we place on our system, and then define levels of acceptable risk. After defining acceptable risk, examine each system for reliability and determine which systems' reliability is below that of your accepted risk. If for example, a heater is likely to fail too often and destroy your whole tank and that fact exceeds your level of risk, install redundant controllers or parallel heaters to prevent this from being a problem with your tank. He also really pushed the idea of prallel systems or backup systems in general, especially if finding hardware is difficult in your locale. What happens if your powerhead breaks and you can't get a replacement? What happens if your heater breaks and you can't get a replacement? Finally, Sanjay talkes about a concept near and dear to the hearts of many of us in Buffalo NY... What to do when power goes out, not just for hours at a time, but days or up to a week at a time? He mentioned that it is always a fantastic and bare-minimum idea to keep a sponge filter running somewhere (either on a quarantine tank, or in your sump) that is AIR operated with either a battery backup pump, or an air (SCUBA) tank ready to supply that sponge filter should power lapse. A simple sponge filter and its resulting aeration and water movement can save a reef without power, or at least prevent the total loss of the system.
Sanjay also gave us some of his thoughts on Metal Halide (MH) lighting. He was indicating to us that his preliminary research into halide bulbs is indicating that MOST bulbs will last for well over 10-12 months of "normal" aquarium operation before they need replacing (reaching only 70-80% of max PAR). He was telling us of one of his reefs where his 250watt halides (geismann 10k's on electronic ballasts) were over 2 years old and still outputting approximately 85% of the PAR they did straight out of the box. While Sanjay's theories regarding bulb life are still preliminary and un-proven by large sample sizes, there may very well be some merit to his arguments for longer bulb life than was/is previously thought by hobbiests.
Anthony Clafo offered some fantastic views into the coral retail and farming industry in the US. While these numbers won't correlate directly to the European markets, they will give you some idea of the size and scope of what we're dealing with. Anthony is heavily into conservation of our coral reefs and is a MAJOR advocate of coral farming. He illustrated to us that the farming that does go on in the states is so miniscule in comparison to the import of corals and livestock from natural reefs that it accounts for MAYBE 5% of gross sales of ornamental reef livestock. The other 95%+ of ornamentals are wild-caught/collected. That bieng said, the amount of sales of saltwater ornamentals make up less than 15% total of all aquarium ornamentals consumed in the US (the other 85% is freshwater livestock). And of that 15% fo the market share that the marine world DOES have, less than 5% is live corals or anemones, the rest is made up of fish consumption. While he says that things are different in Germany and other European nations, by in large, the US saltwater economy is DRIVEN by fish. And so, Anthony has come to the conclusion that even at current rates of increases in consumption of tropical saltwater ornamentals, it will be decades before our (the hobbiest's) collection of these creatures could even put a dent in reefs of the world compared to the dangers of pollution and other man-made impacts. Anthony's exact words were, "Our collection activity is like a drop in the ocean compared to the effects of global warming, agricultural runoff, fishing, and other man made factors and pollutants."
After illustrating both how little saltwater species are actually farmed, AND how little impact we really do have on the reefs (even without farming) Anthony went on to illuminate how much of an amazing market there is for coral, invertebrate, or fish farming in the aquarium trade. He illustrated many examples of people farming everything from Berghia Nudibranchs, to mushrooms, to Duncanopsamnia, to even the common Xenia and making thousands of dollars a year in Profit with less than 100 gallons of water at their disposal. He illustrated for us that how having a large enough brood stock could lead to selling hundreds to thousands of xenia monthly. While the setup crawling with Xenia may not look pretty, its economical impact and removal of the need for wild-caught specemins is both good for the farmer, the buyer, and the environment as a whole.
Anthony also provided for us a fantastic workshop on coral fragging. He riminded us all of the value of safety when fragging while discussing fragging Palythoa Grandis, as he put it, "The most toxic of the family." I was exceptionally interested in these stories as I have this very coral in my tank. Anthony was telling us how the toxin in Palythoa Grandis is phenomenally strong and virulent. He told us that he had been using a towel to clean up after a fragging session with palythoa grandis. 4 DAYS later he used the towel (which he had placed his hamper) for an emergency cleaning of his face. So after 4 days of being dry the toxin remaining on the towel was still able to blind him and remove his sense of taste for 24 hours! You heard that right, dry toxin on a towel blinded him and removed his sense of taste for 24 hours. Safety first folks. When fragging, wear gloves, eye protection, and clean all tools and wash all towels RELIGIOUSLY before next use. Anthony went on to demonstrate fragging a pagoda cup coral, a Favites brain, and a Fungia plate all using a common portable tile cutter. His exact words to the feint of heart were, "There is almoast not a single coral on the reef that we cannot run face first through the blade of this saw and have it come back out as a successful frag." He showed us how to prune buds off our Euhpyllia corals and the value of a scalpel when fragging soft bodied corals. Overall a fantastic workshop in coral fragging.
Finally, Anthony provided us with some insigt on where he sees the hobby going in the next 5-10 years. Shockingly, he claimed that he would not be surprised if after 10 years time legislation came down that would shut down the import of ALL wild-caught stony corals to the states. What happens then? Well prices go through the roof and all "non-hackers will be weeded out" and many coral farms will pop up to mee the demand. He says its been tried for years now, but legislation has yet to make it through to stop the import of stonys. Only a matter of time though, claimed Anthony.
Just thought I'd share some of that with you. Remember, those are just some anecdotes of some of the events this past weekend. I got to spend lots of time with Anthony and Sanjay and they covered some more topics than I listed here. I might be able to answer your questions if something wasn't clear or if perhaps you were wondering if either of the two of them covered another specific topic. Thats all for now, hope you guys enjoy tomorrow
That poor poor man. 
