Hello everyone! I recently came back from my honeymoon, we were in Mexico and I had the privilege to do some snorkeling in a real live reef! I wanted to share some pictures and video with you all that I took with my gopro! I do have some quick thoughts so here it goes.......
I don't consider myself to be an expert in anything reef related esp. when is comes down to some of the extremely knowledgeable folks on this board. What I believe is I have a solid understanding of this hobby and what we all strive for. Everyone wants the pristine clean, algae free, pest free tank as do I. What I saw in the underwater habitat was the exact opposite of what we look for in a reef tank. It was covered in grey/ brown unsightly algae, there was very little color and there was what looked like detritus everywhere! Now I will admit that I use the term reef lightly as corals where scarce, they once that i came across were of the soft coral variety, sea fans etc..... I did come across a beautiful huge brain coral and some spa scattered around. It begs the question do we try to hard to keep algae out of our systems? should we embrace small amounts of algae for the sole purpose of keeping our tank inhabitants happy?
I don't have the answers to that but I will tell you I've never seen so many healthy big fish in my life, I'm talking about tangs the size of my head, rainbow patriot fish half the size of me, all healthy and happily grazing on the stuff we cringe at..... I should also note that our tour guide told us this was considered brackish water as all the really beautiful fish were concentrated where the underground fresh water river emptied into the reef which I though was real interesting!
Some of the video and pictures might appear blurry, that was the salt and fresh water trying to mix almost like a oil and vinegar......so here are some pics and videos take a look and share with friends !
I don't consider myself to be an expert in anything reef related esp. when is comes down to some of the extremely knowledgeable folks on this board. What I believe is I have a solid understanding of this hobby and what we all strive for. Everyone wants the pristine clean, algae free, pest free tank as do I. What I saw in the underwater habitat was the exact opposite of what we look for in a reef tank. It was covered in grey/ brown unsightly algae, there was very little color and there was what looked like detritus everywhere! Now I will admit that I use the term reef lightly as corals where scarce, they once that i came across were of the soft coral variety, sea fans etc..... I did come across a beautiful huge brain coral and some spa scattered around. It begs the question do we try to hard to keep algae out of our systems? should we embrace small amounts of algae for the sole purpose of keeping our tank inhabitants happy?
I don't have the answers to that but I will tell you I've never seen so many healthy big fish in my life, I'm talking about tangs the size of my head, rainbow patriot fish half the size of me, all healthy and happily grazing on the stuff we cringe at..... I should also note that our tour guide told us this was considered brackish water as all the really beautiful fish were concentrated where the underground fresh water river emptied into the reef which I though was real interesting!
Some of the video and pictures might appear blurry, that was the salt and fresh water trying to mix almost like a oil and vinegar......so here are some pics and videos take a look and share with friends !