Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster
I rather like to think of myself as a naturalist. Naturalist: a person who studies nature and especially plants and animals as they live in nature. I want to study plants and animals, and how they work together in ecosystems. I want to learn about Nature by letting it teach me, using my aquarium. This naturalist approach is my prime directive.
I want to find out if it is possible to bring in a diverse array of players, and assist Mother Nature in building a functioning ecosystem, in a big plastic box, with a minimum of gadgets. And rather than trying to keep the most challenging creatures in the sea, I'll be keeping plants, which will be doing the filtering. In fact, every living thing will be selected for it's contribution to the ecosystem.
This is not a reef tank. It will not be a showcase of technological marvels. It will be a display of Nature, maintained by Nature. An ecosystem-in-a-box. Ecosystems are pretty freakin' amazing. All these disparate natural processes somehow combine to form a working system! I supply the raw materials, Nature makes them work together.
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I am approaching my build the same way. At first, my goal was to keep a big tank of striped blennies in a fish only oyster reef imitation. Since then, it's become a biotope and is evolving into an ecosystem as the tank ages and I add new critters and plants. The blennies are what fascinate me most, and my goal has always been to give them the most ultimate comfortable environment that they can live and breed in. Since then, that part of it hasn't changed, but my interest in all of the other (not harmful) life forms has greatly expanded. When I began this project, I never envisioned spending hours looking at stuff in the tank with a magnifying glass along with the hours watching my fish. Also, my interest in other harmonious fish species adds to the biotope, and my continued fascination with the biotope. I learn something just about every day, hopefully, for their benefit as much as mine given that they are housed in my tanks. Anyway, good stuff Michael, and as always, I look forward to following your progress!