December 02, 2021

Welcome to my mind...

Today's little tale is something which many of you may relate to. Perhaps some of you can't relate to it. Others might simply gain value by remaining comfortably at a distance and watching how this unfolds.

It's all good.

I'm now in the final weeks before setting up some new tanks in my home office in my newly remodeled home for the first time in 18 MONTHS! I'm brimming over with new and old ideas, and at least two or three tanks will be going up in a fairly short period of time...

(Yeah, I'm charging my MacBook from the power strip inside that stand...I mean, I'm not running the tank yet, so why waste the outlet? 😆)

It's really exciting for me.

In fact, it's probably the most excited I've been in the hobby in years. Doing without my usual tanks has been agonizing. Like with many of you, aquariums are a huge part of my life and my sanity! I'm stoked to be getting underway again!

Among other things, the intention is to create a new variation of my brackish water mangrove habitat... A long awaited, smaller, shallow version of the highly successful botanical-style brackish tank I created a few years ago.

And of course, whenever there is salt in the equation, my mind begins to wander...

Even though I'm set up to do a full-blown, high-end coral tank early next year, for some reason I simply can't hold back against the idea of just "going all the way" and creating a mangrove-centric marine tank instead of brackish...

I mean, I've been steadily nudging up the specific gravity to 1.010 in my temporary mangrove tank from 1.005.. It IS getting closer all the time to 1.025...full strength marine water...And I never did a "mangrove-first" saltwater tank before...It's something I've been craving to do for years, rather than having them sort of hanging in the background as "supporting players" to the corals...

Of course, the idea was that this time, I'd make them the stars, with perhaps a few sand-dwelling corals like Goniopora, or maybe Catalaphyllia or Cynarina. Or-maybe a small Sarcophyon or some other soft corals... Fishes would likely be some Pajama Cardinal Fish and/or captive-bred Mandarin Dragonets or something small, like gobies...And some seagrasses! Not just a "reef tank with a mangrove in it", which has been done- or at least, contemplated by pretty much every reefer who's ever lived, lol.

Nope, this is a true mangrove-focused marine aquarium.

Urghhh..!

It's too tempting to not do this. Right?

So, it would be an incredibly biologically rich, diverse, nitrate-loving saltwater tank...a bit different than the way I'll do my coral focused tank, so there is some fun freedom here!

I've got a great little all-in-one tank to play with- an Innovative Marine "Fusion Lagoon 25", with integrated overflow, a wide foot print, and a DC pump ready to go. And I can swap out my Kessil A80 "Tuna Sun" for that cool Kessil A80 "Tuna Blue" with a spectral controller that has just been staring at me from the box for over a year...Yeah, gear... That thing that reefers love...playing with cool gear...I mean, just having a simple, coral-growth-capable little light for this idea is motivation enough for the hardcore reefer in me.

Can't...resist... I just can't stay away...Must execute...

Or, can I?

I mean, I should do another brackish tank.Yeah, I should, right? Or, maybe not... I dunno...

It would be so easy to ease back into my saltwater roots a bit with a significantly different approach to saltwater than I've done in a decade. Bring the whole Tannin philosophy in. Hell, I've been imagining doing a muddy, mangrove and coral estuary-type tank for years, but my coral-focused mindset wouldn't allow it. I never took the time to execute on this idea, being so busy with them as co-owner of a successful coral propagation/import business.

But, that was then.

And now, with this empty tank, what seems like the right situation, and the idea bubbling up once again, it's becoming irresistible. Time to "scratch the itch", right? And yeah, my reefing friends are teasing me a bit with that "peer pressure" sort of thing to do it that only friends can do.

So the idea I had is ridiculously simple:

A deep substrate of NatureBase "Mangal", perhaps topped or mixed with some fine aragonite sand...Modest water flow, perhaps not even supplementing the return flow from the system pump. Modest LED lighting in the 10,000K range for the corals. The aquarium is situated in a locale which receives more than enough ambient natural light to grow the mangroves...in fact, all they've received for almost 3 years is natural room-filtered sunlight and they have grown from small propagules to beautiful seedlings!

I think the biggest challenge in this tank would be restraint...because it's small (only 25 US gallons- squarely in the "nano" category for a "reef" tank), I simply can't keep a whole bunch of coral and fishes in it. And the bioload in a modest sized tank would reflect that. The ecological diversity, however, is where I'm focusing with this one.

Coral-wise, I think I'd be focusing on one two that I really love- Goniopora or Catalaphyllia.

Wow, the familiar alluring glow of "Windex blue" LED light and that "reef smell" are seared into my psyche - it would be so nice to experience them again, right?

Ahh, then there is the thing that gets me. Stops the whole fantasy in it's tracks. Brings me back from my warm, ignorant bliss into the cold light of reality.

I mean, a small aquarium with relatively aggressive corals like the two mentioned above is basically a self-limiting system. OR should I say, it requires the hobbyist to "cool his or her jets", as the expression goes. Unless I want to go "monospecific", the tank runs the risk of turning into a chemical warfare zone, with the super-aggressive Catalaphyllia or Goniopora essentially chemically beating the living shit out of anything else I'd put in there into submission.

That means, little in the way of coral diversity if I want to be responsible. And I do, of course. And really, when you take into account the displacement for substrate, this "25 gallons" really becomes like, I dunno- maybe 18-19 gallons. Squarely in the "nano"marine tank zone- the idea of which has always turned me off. Why?

Not because they're bad. They're not.

It's because I'd be too limited to execute the plan the way I want to. The way it should be executed in an aquarium.

And dealing with a heavy set of ecological factors in a tiny, well-illuminated, not fully-equipped "reef" tank is a recipe for algal blooms and all of the stuff which takes away from the fun of having a unique system, in my mind. I mean, sure, I can handle that stuff- I have many times. Yet, what I can't handle is being soooo limited and size-restricted. Going in knowingly limited in both scope and equipment is a bad handicap for an enjoyable reef experience, IMHO. Yeah, it's against my mindset with reefs to go this route. I suppose that it can be argued that it shouldn't be- tons of successful hobbyists run gorgeous "nano reefs" and derive great pleasure from them.

But they're not me. I'm not them. And I don't feel like outfitting the crap out of a 25-gallon tank to get the system the way I want it.

Ahh, a "champagne problem" for this little aquarium brat, huh? 😂

There is a lesson here:

The enormous power and value which self-awareness brings to us as hobbyists.

I simply couldn't enjoy this tank in that format because it goes against everything that I've previously believed in. I couldn't take this "vanity detour" simply because I didn't want to wait until Spring, as I've planned, to "get my reefing on."

I mean, that's totally against my "patience first" philosophy, isn't' it?

Yeah, seriously. Just super-lame, IMHO. Lowkey STUPID. A surefire recipe for not having fun. And a deviation from patience. Hell, I waited a year and half to have "real" tanks again- what's another few months to have the "crown jewel" of my home aquarium collection properly in place?

I'm going to have my full-blown coral tank soon enough.

And the "Mangrove-centric" marine tank? Maybe some other time. It'd still a really good idea. Every one of my reefing friends wanted me to do it. And me, Scott Fellman- the "Once and Future Reefer"- 7-time MACNA speaker, coral vendor, reef world "A-lister"... What do I want? That's what really matters. And all of that other nonsense..Will I ever get back to that?

Of course.

Well, at least, the practicing "reefer" part. Who the fuck cares about the "celebrity" bit? It was fun, but never the motivation. "Check the ego part, Fellman."

Just being a "practicing reefer" is a lot of fun...

But this isn't the time for it. I have a different journey to take. Back to the mangal for me.

The brackish execution is something that is super important to me...and, according to feedback I've received from our community- to many of YOU as well. More hobbyists want to learn about this. Brackish is one of those hobby segments that has simply not gotten the attention it has deserved for many years, and to NOT proceed with my "V2.0" brackish tank would be doing the hobby a bit of a...disservice. Yeah, I need to show others how cool and fun this niche segment of the hobby can be when executed a bit differently.

Really!

That's how I think!

I mean, it sounds a bit arrogant, I suppose- but the reality is that most brackish tanks I've seen for decades are, well- shitty. And boring. And as you know- we don't do "shitty and boring" around here.

(Not that I haven't ever done "shitty and boring", mind you- but I have no intentions of ever doing that again- if I can avoid it!).

Tannin was founded on the very idea of doing stuff a bit differently than it has been in the past. About pushing boundaries, poking the metaphorical beehive, and just generally approaching things in unique ways. To not do this is a violation of my own ethos, and the founding principles of our company!

Our mission statement in our business plan is, literally, "Do cool shit."

I'm totally serious.

And we WILL do cool shit.

And what about the "mental detour" I took- multiple days of scheming, researching, even talking to my fellow reef geeks...? It was a good exercise. A great exercise, really. One which pushed me to do that "imagineering" as Disney used to call it- to think about ways to execute ideas that formerly were just..ideas. It wasn't a waste of time at all.

I enjoyed all of it.

And I came really, really close to doing it...

I mean, sure, I know that I could have pulled it off.

But in the end, it wasn't right.

It would be abandoning my ideals and principles while engaging in what at best would be a journey into an area that wouldn't have really fulfilled me. Now, there is a lot to be said about the occasional "mental detour"...I mean, always indulge yourself, scheme, think through, research, talk about it with friends...But in the end, you HAVE to listen to yourself; to do what makes your heart really sing.

To do anything less is to deny yourself- and maybe even others- the beauty, joy, and inspiration that can only come when intention, ideas, philosophy, and execution synch up.

Sure, sometimes you actually will have to take the detour. You may and up loving it and creating something brilliant. Or you may be disheartened by it. You never know until you push right to the edge- or further sometimes. Ask anyone who's been there before.

Yet, in this instance, for the reasons we just talked about, and many more that I haven't even begun to articulate here, I'm staying "on plan." I know that this is where I really want to go with this tank at this time. I know that's where I need- and want- to be.

I hope that this little journey into my personal mindset has touched you somehow. I hope that it brought you value. Maybe, perhaps- it gave you the courage to move forward on that little detour, Or, perhaps it made you rethink- and yanked you back from the ledge. Perhaps it simply made you laugh and be thankful that you're not me! 😆

Regardless of how this little discussion touched you today- I hope that it taught you the value of listening to yourself in the hobby. Always.

Yeah, it's time for the cliched Steve Jobs quote- 'cause it's damn applicable in this instance, isn't it?

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

So, yeah. Stay on task. Stay brave. Stay thoughtful. Stay diligent. Stay creative. Stay patient...

And Stay Wet.

Scott Fellman

Tannin Aquatics