Anthony Calfo's Wake-up Call

[Dispar_Anthias]

maybe next is leather craze?

ask weileong macro a few leathers super super swee and soon leathers will start to sell at sps prices ................now that we mention it...

WHAT ARE YOU WAITINGGGGGGGG FOR!!!!

faster go buy the leathers

dispar, bo bian hor...if i use the green and earth-friendly skimmers that the author advocate, i would have long given up on this hobby...because all my fishes would have died

ya loh so now all fo us go DIY.. DIY skimmer, denitrator, sump, tank, cal reactor, fludised reactor, DIY lighting and DIY water woops is DI water

ya as long as no brand no worry.. guess alot of our DIY sponsor damn happy liao.. more busniess rolling in after anthony calfro posting

Gotta choa... go T9* buy leather liao

[RAV-65]

DA, dun 4get u r driving the zoos craze now... at least in me!!

[Dispar_Anthias]

dispar

and remember after buy liao, dun post....if not everyone's tank will start looking like each other's

remember you told me how come some reefers tanks look so similar to each other?

ya loh.... i remember be* tank look like x-gla**.... someone tank look like someone tank ... oh ya also the very obvious idea of wall of blastos.. original creator- Deepblue but he sian after everyone copy this idea

[Dispar_Anthias]

DA, dun 4get u r driving the zoos craze now... at least in me!!

okok my fault... Sorry for showing you somthing like this

[roidan]

that's why i feel that his article holds some truth although he is abit extreme on some comments...

u never know if behind his environmental persona in the article, he is actually burning gasoline happily behind his 8litre dodge viper

double standards....u see how americans treat middle east affairs and african affairs u know liao... (paiseh, just came home after watching HOTEL RWANDA )

[Dispar_Anthias]

that's why i feel that his article holds some truth although he is abit extreme on some comments...

u never know if behind his environmental persona in the article, he is actually burning gasoline happily behind his 8litre dodge viper

double standards....u see how americans treat middle east affairs and african affairs u know liao... (paiseh, just came home after watching HOTEL RWANDA )

ya loh.. one thing i notice is that the poor ppl like me always get affected.... Buy something den suddenly become craze den price inflated.. cannot buy anymore

[Achilles Tang]

Look everyone... I have this in my tank now!!

Isn't she beautiful? She's very rare too!

[Dispar_Anthias]

Look everyone... I have this in my tank now!!

Isn't she beautiful? She's very rare too!

wah i must have one too, where to get, where to get?... culture algae on her body den feed to my angels

[RAV-65]

okok my fault... Sorry for showing you somthing like this

Yeah!! that's the one!!

[RAV-65]

Look everyone... I have this in my tank now!!

Isn't she beautiful? She's very rare too!

Yeah... let's start a bulk order!!

[Dispar_Anthias]

Yeah!! that's the one!!

hahah sorry i wun do that again.. really sorry

[Achilles Tang]

Okie okie.. let's get serious before Rumor censors us!

My 2 cents... if we hobbyists can inspire trends by sharing what our tank looks like... it's not a crime nor wrong in any way.

It's probably when people start clamouring the LFS to bring them in then there may be an artificial price inflation due to demand overwhelming supply. It's completely natural... anyone remember those who profited greatly from the sale of thermometers during the SARS scare?

I think we should only frown on those who intentionally mislead others into buying things that are not really worth its value, like bleached corals.

If we hobbyists are so easily influenced to wanting to play catchup with our neighbours like buying the largest aircon chillers or the largest or most expensive branded pumps or skimmers without evaluating why and what for, then that itself is also an indication of either too much money and too little self-control or no resistance to the herd-mentality.

This has to be self-evaluated as everyone has their own priorities and budget.

Envy is one of the seven deadliest sins and one has to be rational when it comes to this hobby.... its just a hobby after all.

[Dispar_Anthias]

Okie okie.. let's get serious before Rumor censors us!

My 2 cents... if we hobbyists can inspire trends by sharing what our tank looks like... it's not a crime nor wrong in any way.

It's probably when people start clamouring the LFS to bring them in then there may be an artificial price inflation due to demand overwhelming supply. It's completely natural... anyone remember those who profited greatly from the sale of thermometers during the SARS scare?

I think we should only frown on those who intentionally mislead others into buying things that are not really worth its value, like bleached corals.

If we hobbyists are so easily influenced to wanting to play catchup with our neighbours like buying the largest aircon chillers or the largest or most expensive branded pumps or skimmers without evaluating why and what for, then that itself is also an indication of either too much money and too little self-control or no resistance to the herd-mentality.

This has to be self-evaluated as everyone has their own priorities and budget.

Envy is one of the seven deadliest sins and one has to be rational when it comes to this hobby.... its just a hobby after all.

ya agree... I can't wait to get a D70 right now whose fault/? not bro wl but me lack of self control

[RAV-65]

Actually, there are pros along the way, seeing scarab's beautiful SPS inspires me to try to keep my tank water even more pristine!! Dat in a way makes me work harder to create a better environment for both my corals and LS!!

[weileong]

ya agree... I can't wait to get a D70 right now whose fault/? not bro wl but me lack of self control

Pengz... my D70 is bought primary for my other hobby and just happens to work well for the reef tank too

[Gouldian]

Finally, a noted dignitary in the hobby and industry outlines the grotesque trend of this hobby, and how the industry toys with misguided hobbyist. In his words:

"This article is about unoriginal thinking, nefarious merchant practices and misguided consumer habits."

It is a very enlightening article, some points noted is well in the heart of a minority in the marine hobby community. Please find some time to read it at:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-02/ac/index.htm

Thanks for sharing bro Rumor.

Time to time we just need someone to bring us back to reality.

[DeepBlue]

Rumour is right.....looking at the development of the thread......its interesting....

instead of targeting at reefers with big skimmer, expensive skimmer, cool corals...nice fishes.... we should reflect a bit and see whether things have been done with moderate....

Nevertheless...........I am sure we are not extremists who go crazy over our water parameters (coming fr one who seldom test my tank parameter)...

Sure...we get excited and are at times guilty of digging deeper into our wallet for a special coral.....hey...thats not going to ruin our family or the society...

Chill..this is a hobby. It is prob the only time we really get to do what we like

I can still remember those days when I was collecting those NBA players' card...despite paying a lot for a M.Jordan jersy card(A CARD) ......end of the day...I have never regretted...its all about satisfaction.

So folks..... do also remember this is a hobby....enjoy the satisfaction it brings you

[KingFish]

and i think he cannot expect a large home aquarium or public aquarium to run on tiny skimmers can he? seriously comes down to what one needs to keep what he is keeping. 

given such an environmental tone he is portraying in his article, shouldn't he be lobbying against performance cars that burn tons of gasoline and adding more to pollution than our cleaner-in-comparison skimmers? 

it's akin to saying everyone should just drive small cars, or rather, dun drive at all and ride bicycles 

Think you missed the point entirely Roidan, you have to read context instead of sentences.

What AC is trying to bring across is the 'manifestation for the mantra that bigger must be better'. And bearing that mentality, proceeds to spend on equipment beyond their means.

Means as in not only the initial capital outlay, but also the cost of running it. While the rest of the world are trying to use our resources sparingly; power-efficiency, or simple, economic sense, has been mindlessly discarded for the sake of attaining nirvana.

Of course, there are at least 2 distinct category of hobbyist, namely the ones who have money to burn and lead the other category of mindless, opinionless yoyos. Then of course, there is the other group of always entertaining bunch, who can't tell his/her a-hole from a hole in the ground.

I refrain from using the word 'reefing' or 'reefer' since how many of us can claim to have a reef at home?

[roidan]

quite true when you think of how much energy we use in illuminating our living rooms with a 32W/40W FL circular tube in comparison to our tanks.... 250W or even 400W MHs....

but sometimes like i said, no choice lah, if we really need to go such lengths to keep what we keep happy, there are few alternatives. can't expect one to use an energy saving FL for keeping sps.

if one wants to use 400W MHs or even 1kW MHs, is he a responsible sps keeper who wants his specimens to enjoy as close an illumination as in nature or is he just an irresponsible earthling who is burning fossil fuels at a faster rate?

but i would agree for the greater good, we all should just give up reefing

[KingFish]

We can go into endless debate about the impact of our hobby, but if we keep to topic at hand, unless I read it wrongly, the message is simple:

Stop the trendy livestock keeping, and the exploitation of merchants by driving up the prices.

Of course, since assumingly most of us are educated, or opinionated, with at least average mental capacity, we should evaluate if we will allow ourselves to be so easily manipulated?

Are we that unoriginal? A typical Singaporean?

Have I lost your train of thought, or are they still boarding at the station?

[AlfaRomeo]

Some trains have left the station with their luggage onboard but not them.

[roidan]

Which was why I mentioned earlier there was some truth in what he was trying to say in the article until he started to sound abit environmental and getting abit extreme in his comments....he said he would be hard pressed to find a reason to use or recommend those USD$600 skimmers or those so called expensive or power hungry skimmers and so on....

Of coz if he had meant that, to use such expensive or power hungry equipment on tanks that do not deserve such an extent, then he is right. Probably to the extent of using equipment that costs and incurs operating costs way beyond the tank proper itself or even using high wattage photon blasting lights to fry the living daylights out of a FOWLR tank...such are the extremes that seem to be his intention. But he phrased in a way that it seemed to broadly trashed expensive things and also high consumption things with no mention of the context under which these equipment are used.

Does he mean that everyone, irregardless of whatever circumstances, should not buy a skimmer more than USD600? Does he mean that no one is allowed to run 2 pumps for their skimmers and systems? Does it also imply that he disapproves running high wattage MHs and so on?

I think application context was what he missed out although from what bro Rumour has helped me to re-focus, i do understand the overall tone and purpose was to tell people not to get overwelmed by the trendy as well as gadgety part of the hobby and scrimp on other essential things in life that makes up a larger part of life itself other than this hobby.

But for those who can afford it, like deepblue feels, this is just an avenue for them to feel good about spending the money to get what they want. Just don't overspend and deprive the more important parts of your life, the money they deserve. (as mentioned in the article)

But anyway talking about trends...we can also see trends in skimmers...used to be air stone....then moved on to this...to that....to beckett a while recently....then to needlewheels....u see the shift of discussion even in RC, u know that indeed there is a trend and it is always shifting.

[roidan]

Some trains have left the station with their luggage onboard but not them.

better to leave a station without ones luggage (knowing where to go next, what to do next)...than one wondering how come he has followed the crowd onto the platform, into the train, and then got off without knowing why he came to the destination. never mind the luggage

[AlfaRomeo]

Roidan, shifts in equipment cannot be really called a trend. Like your example, shifting from the old airstone to the current needlewheels is like evolution. Only just recently, the US has access to Needlewheels on a wider scale and thus they are abandoning the power hungry becketts that they were using for more efficient needlewheels.

Trends in particular are related to LS. The moving from blasto to rics to favias to 'ang kong kong' corals to etc etc. those are purely trends which are started by a few prominent reefers and the rest of the mindless ppl just follows the lead and the LFS just capitalize on the demand which is outstripping supply. Just like the fashion industry.

This is especially so in a 'closed-minded' society of an asian country like Singapore. KSism will override whatever remmants of logic anyone has when it comes to trends. Dunt believe me? Just get a few prominent reefers to start showing lots of photos of colorful hammers and its a safe bet that hammers will be sold out almost immediately even if the price is 4x what its worth. Cool eh?

[roidan]

just like there was a time when there were little access to corals like blastos, pratas, red stuff......that created a vacuum of demand that when the supply emerged, many got sucked in irregardless whether if they really like them or just responding to the herd instinct.

Just like the states as you have mentioned had very little access to needlewheels and some started to create more publicity and championing the cause of needlewheels and this created the same vacuum that shifted the weighing scale again.

I think it comes down to knowing what you want and stand by it and try not to be moved by herd instinct. Although it's tough i must agree.