I snorted coffee at the rainbow barf comment, will be using that in future! So cool to see Tanner, I’m a freshwater girl just starting on the reef tank journey and Tanner has been an inspiration for years. Watching his reef tank build helped convince me to have a go. And blackwater tanks are amazing, iridescent fish like neons and glowlights shine so bright when given their natural water conditions:
I love SerpaDesign! So cool to get this crossover between worlds. I think there's so much for each community to learn from each other. Also rainbow barf YES. I came from freshwater (nature aquarium style) and was really taken aback at the rainbow barf but then also how hard it is to resist. So. Many. Colors.
It's interesting to see you engage with someone in freshwater (and terrariums). I know many people feel as if fresh/salt are unrelated hobbies. But my suspicion is they share some principles, which I hope we understand better some day. Ecology and chemistry have underlying concepts that show up everywhere, so these hobbies can't be that unrelated.
A lot of it has to do with the youtube algorithm too. Channels that venture to the other side get punished pretty badly so you see less crossover between fresh and salt.
Cool ! I've been a subscriber to his channel awhile. Top Shelf aquatics has been taking aquascaping to the next level . Would be Cool To see this guy & others do something new & exciting & different rather than the color barf or whatever you called it . You guys got me thinking more . Thank you 😊 . Love you show Than !
I feel in love with the because of me reef hobby. Now, 2 decades later, I dive I the Florida Keys and have been trying to aquascape based on how I see things in the wild. Patch reefs are fascinating environment.
I tried doing a “Mexican pacific” tank at some point, but getting the fish and corals became difficult, so in came the Bali slimer and the usual corals!
One of the reasons I think most reef tanks end up looking very similar is that generally speaking, they are all trying to look like a single type of environment: a (usually stony coral) reef. Whereas freshwater tanks are looking at a LOT of very different types of environments: lakes, rivers, ponds, swamps, blackwater, clearwater... And all of those environments have very different material compositions, in terms of what rocks and woods and botanicals there are. In the ocean, on the other hand, no matter where you go in the world, the coral species may vary but almost all of the rock will be limestone. And the saltwater itself creates a practical limitation on what type of materials would be safe to use because it is so much more corrosive than freshwater. Not to mention the many types of reefs that we simply can't recreate yet, because we either can't acquire corals from that depth, or can't yet meet the needs of those corals to let them survive and grow in an artificial environment. On the subject of taking inspiration from nature, scale is also a limiting factor for saltwater aquarists in this respect. For freshwater, there are lots of small-scale ecosystems to take inspiration from. But the size to which coral colonies grow in the ocean is so immense that it's hard to imitate even a little bit on the much smaller scales aquarists are working with. When you are working with small plants, you can play with scale to create illusions, but coral colonies are too large for that. I think the Reefbuilders videos of diving in the Solomon Islands illustrate my point very well. For example, in one of them there's a big leather/tree coral that has a stalk so large it is actually acting as a structure for other corals to grow on! It would be extremely cool to have an aquarium inspired by that, but for the base coral to have a stalk large and sturdy enough to host any other corals, you'd need a tank at least 4 ft deep!
Your discussion about ponds has me wondering about the swimming ponds that are really popular in UK gardening magazines and a few that have been showcased on some of their TV home improvement shows. What are your opinions of them, and how would you and Tanner approach building one to balance the cycles and make it look nice?
This is awesome! The guy that got me into terrariums and fresh water talking with the guy that got me into saltwater! ❤
I snorted coffee at the rainbow barf comment, will be using that in future! So cool to see Tanner, I’m a freshwater girl just starting on the reef tank journey and Tanner has been an inspiration for years. Watching his reef tank build helped convince me to have a go. And blackwater tanks are amazing, iridescent fish like neons and glowlights shine so bright when given their natural water conditions:
Awesome video. Two legendary aquarium/terrarium mates having a chat ❤
I love SerpaDesign! So cool to get this crossover between worlds. I think there's so much for each community to learn from each other.
Also rainbow barf YES. I came from freshwater (nature aquarium style) and was really taken aback at the rainbow barf but then also how hard it is to resist. So. Many. Colors.
Tanner seems like a very nice person. Super creative. I definitely hope to meet him in person one day.
It's interesting to see you engage with someone in freshwater (and terrariums). I know many people feel as if fresh/salt are unrelated hobbies. But my suspicion is they share some principles, which I hope we understand better some day. Ecology and chemistry have underlying concepts that show up everywhere, so these hobbies can't be that unrelated.
A lot of it has to do with the youtube algorithm too. Channels that venture to the other side get punished pretty badly so you see less crossover between fresh and salt.
Cool ! I've been a subscriber to his channel awhile. Top Shelf aquatics has been taking aquascaping to the next level . Would be Cool To see this guy & others do something new & exciting & different rather than the color barf or whatever you called it . You guys got me thinking more . Thank you 😊 . Love you show Than !
I love the juxtaposition of your two styles. Da Vinchi meets Bob Ross.
I feel in love with the because of me reef hobby. Now, 2 decades later, I dive I the Florida Keys and have been trying to aquascape based on how I see things in the wild. Patch reefs are fascinating environment.
Super interesting!
great talk!
I tried doing a “Mexican pacific” tank at some point, but getting the fish and corals became difficult, so in came the Bali slimer and the usual corals!
Yeah I agree I tried doing a carribean style tank but all the hard coral and Lps are illegal to buy , there’s not much variety in terms of oceans
A sea fan dominated Caribbean tank could look very cool.
Make it happen!
Another amazing video
One of the reasons I think most reef tanks end up looking very similar is that generally speaking, they are all trying to look like a single type of environment: a (usually stony coral) reef. Whereas freshwater tanks are looking at a LOT of very different types of environments: lakes, rivers, ponds, swamps, blackwater, clearwater... And all of those environments have very different material compositions, in terms of what rocks and woods and botanicals there are. In the ocean, on the other hand, no matter where you go in the world, the coral species may vary but almost all of the rock will be limestone. And the saltwater itself creates a practical limitation on what type of materials would be safe to use because it is so much more corrosive than freshwater. Not to mention the many types of reefs that we simply can't recreate yet, because we either can't acquire corals from that depth, or can't yet meet the needs of those corals to let them survive and grow in an artificial environment.
On the subject of taking inspiration from nature, scale is also a limiting factor for saltwater aquarists in this respect. For freshwater, there are lots of small-scale ecosystems to take inspiration from. But the size to which coral colonies grow in the ocean is so immense that it's hard to imitate even a little bit on the much smaller scales aquarists are working with. When you are working with small plants, you can play with scale to create illusions, but coral colonies are too large for that. I think the Reefbuilders videos of diving in the Solomon Islands illustrate my point very well. For example, in one of them there's a big leather/tree coral that has a stalk so large it is actually acting as a structure for other corals to grow on! It would be extremely cool to have an aquarium inspired by that, but for the base coral to have a stalk large and sturdy enough to host any other corals, you'd need a tank at least 4 ft deep!
I love both black water tanks and regular 😁
Mangroves and different macro algae are amazing if done correctly.
I've seen some macro algae tanks but wow that is a lot of pruning and maintenance.
Your discussion about ponds has me wondering about the swimming ponds that are really popular in UK gardening magazines and a few that have been showcased on some of their TV home improvement shows. What are your opinions of them, and how would you and Tanner approach building one to balance the cycles and make it look nice?
I have never kept a pond but that is the style of pond I would go for. I like the idea of a massive wetland filter keeping a main body of water clean.
RAINBOW BARF
Thats like Joey on the king of DYI he has 1.65 Million members