How we learned about reefing
Right now, most of the coral growing happens in the 125 gallon display, pictured below. In this post we are going to share how we approached learning about reefing and share some very helpful resources and topics!
Our philosophy on learning to be reefers.
This 125 gallon tank was our first foray into having a large saltwater tank. Previous to this, we had a bit of live rock, a pair of clown fish in a 15 gallon tank, a general understanding of saltwater water aquariums, and keen interest in learning more. We are ‘experiential learners’ which is a fancy way of saying we learn best by doing. Learning by doing, doesn’t mean you have to learn things from scratch. Rather, it’s an approach where you ideate projects and learn about how to execute them through various resources. With a clear concept of the goal and the action steps to get there, you start implementing. This is in contrast to becoming the expert before taking your first steps. In the learn-as-you-go method, you’ll run into challenges as-you-go. That’s when you go back to the research and find the best-for-you approach to tackle the challenge. We have found despite deep research, there are always “unknown unknowns” where you won’t know to research until you are in the thick of some novel challenge. This can be a new algae taking over the tank, a sick fish, equipment challenges, corals not thriving or many more… the challenges are endless and unique. We think the reward of overcoming a challenge helps motivate more learning and research. Some folks are more ‘planners’ and want to learn everything on a topic before taking their first steps. There are many different learning styles and none are better than others in our view. It’s just for us, we want to see our learnings in action.
A word to the wise on this approach. Set achievable goals and realistic projects. You might have an ultimate goal of a really ambitious project. For example: keeping a Small Polyp Stony (sps) dominant tank, or keeping some advanced and objectively beautiful fish like mandarin gobies, copperbanded butterfly or moorish idols. These are admirable goals and we encourage you to pursue them, however, these shouldn’t be short-term goals for a beginner. Instead, keep them as long term aspirations and grow towards them. There is nothing as discouraging as investing into livestock and failing miserably. It is also hard to learn from if nothing seems to help. We have found along the journey you find aspects of the hobby you like more than you knew you would that might shift those goals.
To keep this short. I will share a few resources I have used in my research that I have found to be very useful and continue to refer back to often:
Video:
Bulk Reef Supply BRS (youtube)
A great series to get you started with no to moderate knowledge is 52 weeks of reefing video series.
Youtube is a bit of a mixed bag. Lots of content, some very ‘promotion heavy’ others lack polish and production value.
A nice balance from the hobbyist side is ReefDork. Good quality and informative videos.
https://www.youtube.com/@ReefDork
Blogs:
Reef2Reef is an excellent and very active community in the reef world. There are many threads on corals, livestock and equipment to help you track down your specific question. It’s important to remember it is a blog, not a scientific journal. There are many great threads and passionate posters, but remember it is mostly folks posting on their experiences not an authorative source!
See below, first salt water tank with my trusty clownfish to help me learn the ropes
