It’s the year 2040.
Yeah, really…Sounds like a nice even number…Far enough away to be “in the future”, but not so far away as to lost in the realm of intergalactic science fiction, ya know? You’re a reefer…Yeah, the hobby still exists. The hacks in D.C. and the hapless "pseudo-environmentalist" tools finally realized, thanks to the efforts of Ret Talbot, Julian Sprung, Kevin Kohen, and Dustin Dorton back in 2018, that captive propagated corals are viable alternatives to collecting wild specimens from the “watch lists” of years earlier, deserving special consideration and separation from the restrictions of their wild brethren. We have a well-established, viable and sustainable trade. The marine aquarium trade has collaborated and cooperated with governments around the world to create guidelines for long-term stewardship of wild reefs, and collection is managed and tempered with a slightly higher percentage of propagated corals coming into the trade than being collected from the reefs of the world.
Fantasy? Perhaps. But it’s MY vision of the future, so indulge me for a bit, okay?
The typical hobbyist is not wearing a jet pack, driving a "Jetson's-style" gravity-modulating vehicle, or walking around with a microchip imbedded in his head. Not that kind of Hollywood-esque, dark future. Unfortunately, the USS Enterprise is still 300 years away, and “getting away” still means climbing on a noisy, high-carbon-footprint subsonic jet to Tahiti.
Not quite there yet...
What else is happening in the hobby in 2040? Let’s take a look at some of my hoped-for predictions. You can give me a wedgie or something in 2040 if they don’t come to pass, but the way I see it, I have like 25 years before you get to call bull@#$% on my predictions!
Here are a few:
Captive bred fishes are the norm, rather than the oddity. Collection pressures on many wild populations has forced the hobby/industry to embrace captive bred fishes once and for all. The “new norm” for reef aquariums is not big, Ocean going Tangs and such- it’s small, colorful Gobies, Dartfishes, Clownfishes, Assessors, Dwarf Angelfishes, Blennies and Wrasses, the majority of which were bred in captivity by boutique breeders and larger commercial operations. Big fishes have fallen out of favor, with hobbyists finally realizing that they are just not practical for most tanks…Keeping a Naso Tang in a 200 gallon tank is now viewed the same way as if you or I chose to live in our living room for the rest of our lives…I mean, you have a couch and Netflix, but you’ll go nuts after a few months, right? The new mantra is “Small Fish- Big Tank.”
Water movement in reef tanks is via ridiculously small, low-power consumption, ultra high-tech internal pumps. It is now possible to generate widely dispersed flow rates of thousands of gallons per hour with electrical consumption in the single digits of watts. Don’t think this will happen? It already is, to some extent. Joe and I were in Hanover, Germany last month visiting Panta Rei (the guys who make Hydro Wizard pumps), and saw some prototypes of pumps that were ridiculously advanced, super-efficient, and really small, made in a high-tech facility that had us convinced that some kind of deal must have been struck with extraterrestrials to get this technology. We even saw a pump that was the size of an eraser, which put out like 80 GPH..Sheer craziness..and it’s all coming very soon. Woosh!
...And this is just the beginning.
We’re all trying to give our corals and fishes the best possible environment; a replication of nature. To that end, the industry and hobby have spent decades of energy, millions of R & D dollars, and lots of brain power trying to develop additives, salt mixes, and other elixirs to try to help accomplish just that. In the very near future, it will be completely possible to replicate natural reef water chemistry in the aquarium from locations worldwide with relative ease. Thanks to the work of Triton Labs, a database is being developed of super-detailed ICP-OES water analysis from reefs around the world. This will enable a hobbyists to mimic the exact chemical/trace element composition of water from a specific locality. Picture this: You’re on vacation in The Maldives. You see an epic coral reef that you’d love to mimic in your home. you have the tank, you have the lights. You have the water movement. Now, you know EXACTLY what the trace element levels are in that fabulous ecosystem, and have a means to replicate them in your home aquarium. Crazy. Further. imagine if collectors, wholesalers, then coral retailers had this information all along the chain of custody from reef to retail, being able to provide corals with the exact water conditions they enjoyed in the wild- and then providing that to you! Welcome to “Eco-labeling, v.2.0!”
Anything is possible with science, as Triton has proven.
Since replicating the natural environment is a key to successful husbandry, it only makes sense that linking technology and biology together will propel the hobby/art of reef keeping forward. In 2040, I have no doubt that we will see real-time connectivity between ethnology as diverse as satellites and aquarium controllers. Huh? For example, a storm is a-brewing down in Fiji…Your aquarium is set up to mimic a reef down in “those parts”..Your controller is set to monitor the conditions down there via subscription service (Much like DirecTV or Dish Network) to link satellite weather reports and NOAA buoy information from that region to your controller monitoring service (either third party or from the manufacturer- whoa- can you say “niche market opportunity?”).
Through an algorithm (or whatever you computer-type geeks call it), a set of conditions is developed at the monitoring service, and your water pumps, LED lights, and yeah- even trace element dosing, feeding and whatever other functions are tied to your controller- are adjusted accordingly. To some extent, we have these kinds of things now…However, in the future, you’ll see pumps adjusted to produce crazy water currents, LED-generated “lightning”, “cloud patterns”, and perhaps even temperature swings that coincide with real time ocean data- occurring right in your aquarium. Of course, these changes would be “stepped down” to not create ridiculous, deadly environmental swings- but there would be changes! If it’s a bit too “Big Brother”-ish for you, I suppose that you’d receive ample warning from a forecast feature on your mobile device, so you could “opt out” of the encroaching storm if it interferes with your next house party..LOL
From "Dish Network" to...uhh- "Fish Network?" Sorry. couldn't resist.
How many times have you had this argument with a reef keeping buddy at the frag swap, LFS, or even a friend’s reef? “Dude, that’s an Acropora exquisita.” “No, it’s a Granulosa.” “Nah, I think it’s a “Gomezi…” Okay, whatever. Wouldn’t it be nice to know, once and for all if the “LE Tricolor Juicy Fruit Swirl Valida” really IS the “LE Tricolor Juicy Fruit Swirl Valida”, and what species it REALLY is? Well, think about this: We have the Human Genome Project, and DNA sequencing is used for all kinds of crazy stuff. It’s only a matter of time before someone applies the DNA analysis techniques used in coral-specific research to practical coral ID for the industry and hobby- kind of like what Triton is doing with ICP-OES for water analysis (listening, Ehsan?). The impact would be dramatic and revolutionary. ID would forever be accurate, and we could develop a body of knowledge on the husbandry of various coral species the likes of which has never been done before- simply because we’d know EXACTLY what species we’re dealing with. The “LE” garbage would be put to rest once and for all, and true “lineage” could be established for all sorts of corals. Vendors would be better informed, right along with hobbyists. This ID would be great for enforcing trade restrictions, proving that a coral is from captive-propagated stock, etc. It’s not at all far-fetched- and really has amazing practical implications!
"I KNEW it! That frag WAS the 'LE Blue Blaster Sour Twist Acro.' Knew it."
As the technology impacting the hobby continues to evolve, I’d like to think that hobbyist will, too. We’ve already seen it- thanks to the internet, and forums such as this one. Communication on a global scale is immediate and far reaching. Ideas that pop up to a reefer in Battle Creek, Michigan can immediately be relayed to a reefer in Glasgow, Hokkaido, or Burkina Faso, for that matter…Collaboration, kinship, and the perpetuation of reefing “culture” will always be possible, thanks to this advanced technology- and even more because of the sprit of the reefer…unshakable, grounded in science, yet tempered with passion. A formidable combination for the present, and into the future.
Well- those are a few of my predictions of the future of the hobby…Some are already coming to fruition- others are still a ways off- but they WILL come to pass…along with hundreds of ideas not even postulated here. What sorts of visions do you have for the future of the hobby? Share your insights, theories, and feelings…
As always, keep an eye on your reef, another one on the future…
And stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
Yeah, really…Sounds like a nice even number…Far enough away to be “in the future”, but not so far away as to lost in the realm of intergalactic science fiction, ya know? You’re a reefer…Yeah, the hobby still exists. The hacks in D.C. and the hapless "pseudo-environmentalist" tools finally realized, thanks to the efforts of Ret Talbot, Julian Sprung, Kevin Kohen, and Dustin Dorton back in 2018, that captive propagated corals are viable alternatives to collecting wild specimens from the “watch lists” of years earlier, deserving special consideration and separation from the restrictions of their wild brethren. We have a well-established, viable and sustainable trade. The marine aquarium trade has collaborated and cooperated with governments around the world to create guidelines for long-term stewardship of wild reefs, and collection is managed and tempered with a slightly higher percentage of propagated corals coming into the trade than being collected from the reefs of the world.
Fantasy? Perhaps. But it’s MY vision of the future, so indulge me for a bit, okay?
The typical hobbyist is not wearing a jet pack, driving a "Jetson's-style" gravity-modulating vehicle, or walking around with a microchip imbedded in his head. Not that kind of Hollywood-esque, dark future. Unfortunately, the USS Enterprise is still 300 years away, and “getting away” still means climbing on a noisy, high-carbon-footprint subsonic jet to Tahiti.
Not quite there yet...
What else is happening in the hobby in 2040? Let’s take a look at some of my hoped-for predictions. You can give me a wedgie or something in 2040 if they don’t come to pass, but the way I see it, I have like 25 years before you get to call bull@#$% on my predictions!
Here are a few:
Captive bred fishes are the norm, rather than the oddity. Collection pressures on many wild populations has forced the hobby/industry to embrace captive bred fishes once and for all. The “new norm” for reef aquariums is not big, Ocean going Tangs and such- it’s small, colorful Gobies, Dartfishes, Clownfishes, Assessors, Dwarf Angelfishes, Blennies and Wrasses, the majority of which were bred in captivity by boutique breeders and larger commercial operations. Big fishes have fallen out of favor, with hobbyists finally realizing that they are just not practical for most tanks…Keeping a Naso Tang in a 200 gallon tank is now viewed the same way as if you or I chose to live in our living room for the rest of our lives…I mean, you have a couch and Netflix, but you’ll go nuts after a few months, right? The new mantra is “Small Fish- Big Tank.”
Water movement in reef tanks is via ridiculously small, low-power consumption, ultra high-tech internal pumps. It is now possible to generate widely dispersed flow rates of thousands of gallons per hour with electrical consumption in the single digits of watts. Don’t think this will happen? It already is, to some extent. Joe and I were in Hanover, Germany last month visiting Panta Rei (the guys who make Hydro Wizard pumps), and saw some prototypes of pumps that were ridiculously advanced, super-efficient, and really small, made in a high-tech facility that had us convinced that some kind of deal must have been struck with extraterrestrials to get this technology. We even saw a pump that was the size of an eraser, which put out like 80 GPH..Sheer craziness..and it’s all coming very soon. Woosh!
...And this is just the beginning.
We’re all trying to give our corals and fishes the best possible environment; a replication of nature. To that end, the industry and hobby have spent decades of energy, millions of R & D dollars, and lots of brain power trying to develop additives, salt mixes, and other elixirs to try to help accomplish just that. In the very near future, it will be completely possible to replicate natural reef water chemistry in the aquarium from locations worldwide with relative ease. Thanks to the work of Triton Labs, a database is being developed of super-detailed ICP-OES water analysis from reefs around the world. This will enable a hobbyists to mimic the exact chemical/trace element composition of water from a specific locality. Picture this: You’re on vacation in The Maldives. You see an epic coral reef that you’d love to mimic in your home. you have the tank, you have the lights. You have the water movement. Now, you know EXACTLY what the trace element levels are in that fabulous ecosystem, and have a means to replicate them in your home aquarium. Crazy. Further. imagine if collectors, wholesalers, then coral retailers had this information all along the chain of custody from reef to retail, being able to provide corals with the exact water conditions they enjoyed in the wild- and then providing that to you! Welcome to “Eco-labeling, v.2.0!”
Anything is possible with science, as Triton has proven.
Since replicating the natural environment is a key to successful husbandry, it only makes sense that linking technology and biology together will propel the hobby/art of reef keeping forward. In 2040, I have no doubt that we will see real-time connectivity between ethnology as diverse as satellites and aquarium controllers. Huh? For example, a storm is a-brewing down in Fiji…Your aquarium is set up to mimic a reef down in “those parts”..Your controller is set to monitor the conditions down there via subscription service (Much like DirecTV or Dish Network) to link satellite weather reports and NOAA buoy information from that region to your controller monitoring service (either third party or from the manufacturer- whoa- can you say “niche market opportunity?”).
Through an algorithm (or whatever you computer-type geeks call it), a set of conditions is developed at the monitoring service, and your water pumps, LED lights, and yeah- even trace element dosing, feeding and whatever other functions are tied to your controller- are adjusted accordingly. To some extent, we have these kinds of things now…However, in the future, you’ll see pumps adjusted to produce crazy water currents, LED-generated “lightning”, “cloud patterns”, and perhaps even temperature swings that coincide with real time ocean data- occurring right in your aquarium. Of course, these changes would be “stepped down” to not create ridiculous, deadly environmental swings- but there would be changes! If it’s a bit too “Big Brother”-ish for you, I suppose that you’d receive ample warning from a forecast feature on your mobile device, so you could “opt out” of the encroaching storm if it interferes with your next house party..LOL
From "Dish Network" to...uhh- "Fish Network?" Sorry. couldn't resist.
How many times have you had this argument with a reef keeping buddy at the frag swap, LFS, or even a friend’s reef? “Dude, that’s an Acropora exquisita.” “No, it’s a Granulosa.” “Nah, I think it’s a “Gomezi…” Okay, whatever. Wouldn’t it be nice to know, once and for all if the “LE Tricolor Juicy Fruit Swirl Valida” really IS the “LE Tricolor Juicy Fruit Swirl Valida”, and what species it REALLY is? Well, think about this: We have the Human Genome Project, and DNA sequencing is used for all kinds of crazy stuff. It’s only a matter of time before someone applies the DNA analysis techniques used in coral-specific research to practical coral ID for the industry and hobby- kind of like what Triton is doing with ICP-OES for water analysis (listening, Ehsan?). The impact would be dramatic and revolutionary. ID would forever be accurate, and we could develop a body of knowledge on the husbandry of various coral species the likes of which has never been done before- simply because we’d know EXACTLY what species we’re dealing with. The “LE” garbage would be put to rest once and for all, and true “lineage” could be established for all sorts of corals. Vendors would be better informed, right along with hobbyists. This ID would be great for enforcing trade restrictions, proving that a coral is from captive-propagated stock, etc. It’s not at all far-fetched- and really has amazing practical implications!
"I KNEW it! That frag WAS the 'LE Blue Blaster Sour Twist Acro.' Knew it."
As the technology impacting the hobby continues to evolve, I’d like to think that hobbyist will, too. We’ve already seen it- thanks to the internet, and forums such as this one. Communication on a global scale is immediate and far reaching. Ideas that pop up to a reefer in Battle Creek, Michigan can immediately be relayed to a reefer in Glasgow, Hokkaido, or Burkina Faso, for that matter…Collaboration, kinship, and the perpetuation of reefing “culture” will always be possible, thanks to this advanced technology- and even more because of the sprit of the reefer…unshakable, grounded in science, yet tempered with passion. A formidable combination for the present, and into the future.
Well- those are a few of my predictions of the future of the hobby…Some are already coming to fruition- others are still a ways off- but they WILL come to pass…along with hundreds of ideas not even postulated here. What sorts of visions do you have for the future of the hobby? Share your insights, theories, and feelings…
As always, keep an eye on your reef, another one on the future…
And stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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