Technology in Reefing: Helpful or Hurtful?

[AlyciaMarie]

It feels like our world is becoming more techy by the day. This includes our reefing world: Reef tank automation, AI, and even social media and online influence. But can over-saturation and over-reliance on technology begin to produce negative results? At what point do technological advances begin to hurt reefing, if at all?

Do you think technological advancements are more helpful or hurtful to reefing?

Let's discuss!

 

[thebookshark]

I have been in the hobby for 20 years, both reefs and freshwater planted tanks. I should perhaps add that the largest tank I’ve had was a 32G so always a nano reefer. I think that new tech (dosers, controllers, probes with apps etc etc) might be more helpful in larger systems which is why I included that caveat. HOWEVER… in the last 20 years I have noticed that people put what I believe is too much faith/reliance on technology. We all deal with tech issues and failures on a daily basis in our work and home lives, whether it’s something basic like a power outage or the usual tech bugs that come with apps and programs. If you place too much trust in your automation tech in a reef tank and get complacent (not doing manual water tests, not visually inspecting your tank inhabitants closely on a daily basis for stress or issues, not calibrating your instruments, and so on) you WILL have a disaster on your hands sooner or later.

And don’t even start me on AI-generated reefing advice- good lord. If I followed the advice Gemini barfed out at me whenever I Google something I’d have killed everything in my tank many times over. There’s no substitute for good old fashioned research, even if it’s time-consuming. And there’s absolutely no substitute for your eyeballs on your tank! You should know what’s going on with each and every coral, fish, and invert in your system every day- what their typical/healthy behavior and appearance is, if they are eating, if they are stressed, etc.

Call me a Luddite if you want but even your regular idiot off the street is still a million times smarter than any AI or computer because that idiot has senses they can use to collect, integrate, and respond to live data. TL;DR look with your eyes!

 

[HHH_starting_reefer]

I have been in the hobby for 20 years, both reefs and freshwater planted tanks. I should perhaps add that the largest tank I’ve had was a 32G so always a nano reefer. I think that new tech (dosers, controllers, probes with apps etc etc) might be more helpful in larger systems which is why I included that caveat. HOWEVER… in the last 20 years I have noticed that people put what I believe is too much faith/reliance on technology. We all deal with tech issues and failures on a daily basis in our work and home lives, whether it’s something basic like a power outage or the usual tech bugs that come with apps and programs. If you place too much trust in your automation tech in a reef tank and get complacent (not doing manual water tests, not visually inspecting your tank inhabitants closely on a daily basis for stress or issues, not calibrating your instruments, and so on) you WILL have a disaster on your hands sooner or later.

And don’t even start me on AI-generated reefing advice- good lord. If I followed the advice Gemini barfed out at me whenever I Google something I’d have killed everything in my tank many times over. There’s no substitute for good old fashioned research, even if it’s time-consuming. And there’s absolutely no substitute for your eyeballs on your tank! You should know what’s going on with each and every coral, fish, and invert in your system every day- what their typical/healthy behavior and appearance is, if they are eating, if they are stressed, etc.

Call me a Luddite if you want but even your regular idiot off the street is still a million times smarter than any AI or computer because that idiot has senses they can use to collect, integrate, and respond to live data. TL;DR look with your eyes!

im new here like TODAY new here and the ai part was what i was going to comment on theres not only ai generated advice that can kill a whole tank but also people using the ai for profile pictures advertising and more and to me it looks just a shoddy as using all stock images(or those poorly photoshoped aliexpress listing images) please at least take your own photos so i can know you atleast took the effort to do that. this applys to a lot of things even outside of aquariums companys small llc's flea markets and more.

as for gear? i love looking at the new things that come out some good some not so much. leds have been around for ages there just now viable for use in aquariums. alot of the tech used in the aquarium landscape has been around since the 90s ish but its only been used relativly recently due to the mass production of them if i had to guess .

the most new thing that i can find is computers and micro controlers for automation that are cheap enough to deploy in reef tanks and more which if not designed properly will NOT withstand saltwater or even fresh water. if properly protected AND PROGRAMED (if its a poorly programmed monitor / ato / light it can cause CATASTROPHIC issues.) can last years and be a reliable tool to use that you CAN rely on but you should still monitor it manually look out for reviews on your systems and have a back up plan for since even if they last for a few years they can just die due to a power surge or corrosion and for power outages please get a ups or some kinda power back up if your fish are more valuble then a car .

now i am new to saltwater so sorry if i got a few things wrong and my spelling isnt perfect since im on a trip and i cant be bothered to fix it but im loving this forum so far

(tldr: most tech has been around for ages exept for ai and automation which for equipment are fragile in certain situation so please prepare for them and please dont use ai image generation for adverts)

 

[steveschuerger]

I’ve been involved in reefing for not quite 5 yrs, so I consider myself still pretty new. I’ve had freshwater set ups as well going back to my early teens, so a fair while there. While I’m appreciative of technology in general, I tend to be rather simple in terms of what I use in the hobby. I use very little automation beyond heater controllers and of course light schedulers. A goodly amount of the reason is for better or worse I like do be hands on about it. As far as relying on internet/AI queries , I definitely will research multiple sources, especially checking to see if the subject has been discussed here on R2R.

 

[exnisstech]

I like my reefdose but I still manually dose 3 other tanks. I think there are some nice lights available. Heat controllers are nice and I have 4 inkbirds.
I couldn't care less about auto testing or actual controllers like apex or hydros etc. I see controllers as a single point of failure that can shut down almost everything. The extent my AI use I'm aware of is limited to a Google search and I ignore the AI summary it's so kind to provide at the top.
I've only been reefing 10 years so I haven't seen the tech advances as those that have been doing it much longer.

 

[me & my baby]

I’m old school like late 80s in the saltwater hobby . Some of the tech is helpful but some of it is getting to be a pain . It seem like how you have to have an app for almost every piece of equipment . Light , power heads , heaters it’s just a pain in the butt . I read and search about the equipment I buy to make sure there is no app involved.

 

[mattgsa]

I'm building an industrial PLC-based controller for my 315-gallon reef, but my goal has never been to remove the human from the equation. Every feature I add is designed around one question: "Does this reduce risk without reducing understanding?"


Automation should catch a failing heater, detect a skimmer overflow, or alert you to a problem before it becomes a disaster. It shouldn't replace learning how your reef works.


A great reefer with simple equipment will usually outperform someone with $10,000 worth of automation who doesn't understand the biology behind the glass.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I've been doing this for a long time... since the time when a calcium reactor was a sketch in a book by Moe or Sprung and skimmers had wood airstones in them. I've tried most everything. Some worked well. Some didn't. Some simply provided an expensive complicated option for things where cheap, simple options worked well already.

BUT... I think the value of new technology is directly proportional to the reefer's understanding of what it is intended to do and how it works. There are things I've tried and rejected just because I didn't fully understand them.