America's look on the environment has been ever prevalent for quite sometime and it continues to grow. As an American and an inhabitant of the earth, we all should think about our environment as it applies to every aspect of our lives. The important point to keep in mind though is that you must have a strong grasp on all the facts. For instance, is global warming a problem that we are causing or is not a problem at all? There is no real answer to this question, only various theories of different thought. I am referring to last month's column dealing with live rock and the construction of your own from Portland cement and Aragonite sand. While I still stand behind this, I seemed to have given out wrong information because I was misinformed.

Live rock is farmed as well as collected from the ocean but it mainly is retrieved in the form of rumble collection. The rock is not blasted then collected. Divers collect the rubble then sell it to a reseller who then sells it to us. Please understand. This is a very simplistic explanation. There is actually more to it but I think we get the point. I felt it important to know this because maybe others will be fooled as I was. It will not hurt the existing reefs if we purchase live rock from our favorite dealer. This whole environmental thing has gotten to the point where it even invades our most treasured hobby. This is because if you engage in this hobby it is not only your most treasured but also the most expensive. But, these people who chose to tell us about how damaging our hobby is to the ocean reefs usually do not like to give the entire facts. You might remember a post on the rec.aquaria.marine.reefs news group about just this topic. The writer felt that the reef keeping hobby should be banned. As you can imagine, this post received many responses and eventually the writer gave in but later posted commentary to responses. His commentary was not as biting as his original post was but that usually is the case of those how are schooled on that news group. The entire facts should be stated before a point is argued against.

It's funny how certain facts can be skewed and misrepresented to prove another point. The best one I think that somewhat applies to this hobby is the fact that trees and forests are disappearing so fast that one day soon the carbon dioxide levels will choke off the humans on the planet. It is not mentioned that there are more acres of forest today than when Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. It is also never mentioned that our oceans absorb more carbon dioxide than the earth's forest could ever hope to. This would stand to reason since the Pacific ocean alone takes up 1/3 of the earth's surface. This is not a pollutant to the ocean but rather part of the biological process. We use carbon reactors for our kalk reators and we also inject carbon into our reefs. It readily dissolves into water combining with hydrogen and oxygen atoms to form bicarbonate, carbonate, and carbonic acid. Plants absorb carbon during photosynthesis as well as the corals. They do not seem to be choking so I think we are all safe.

A successful reef demands a high level of intelligence on the part of the reef keeper. Our level of intelligence grows by way of reading, implementing, as well as talking. It is just unfortunate that certain points of stupidity find their way into this delicate hobby. I still stand behind all I have said in my past pieces. I think you should buy farm raised as must as you can and build your own rock. The appreciation of building your own rock can only be understood after you have aquascaped numerous times trying to perfect your reef and eliminate unstable rock. The cost savings alone are reason enough to build your own rock but it is the control of the form of the rock that is the most enticing which can lead to a more successful reef.

This piece this month is a bit political but as you know politics seem to permeate its way into all facets of our lives. It is just unfortunate that our treasured hobby is not immune to this but I am sure we will survive as well as home reef keeping proves to cause no real threat to the oceans reefs. I will not be adding a construction update to this piece because I have not begun my kalkreator which is the only project I have on tap. I will maybe write about this next month when I get it finished. As always, email me with any questions or comments.