# Aquariasts <> Environmentally inconsiderate?



## js97 (Jun 11, 2008)

Have any o fyou guys ever thorught about that? the water changes, the removal of exotic, and sometimes rare, specimens from the wild and transporting them half way across the world. 

What happens to all that SALT water that gets dumped into our sinks? Are we slowling increasing the salinity of our reservoirs (yes i realise it's miniscule but still?)

any of you ever consider this?


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

yes. 

there was a very interesting article posted here about how the tropical fish industry is leading to protected zones and actually performs a HELPFUL function environmentally speaking in certain regions.

By far, the greatest environmental impact of the hobby is the electricity consumption and fuel consumption used in transportation.


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## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm sure most have thought of this, you have to do as much as possible to decrease the environmental impact.

I know my top two concers are:

Electrical Usage
Water Consumption

For the electrical usage I will only use electronic ballasts and have cut the time they are on to 6-7 hrs per day and the growth is still there.

Water consumption, my only concern here is the rejection rate on my RO unit. Will be upgrading to a high efficiency and I'm also testing a tank on just tap water right now while I test food with corals. I only do a 35g water change every 3 months so no concerns there.

And for livestock - cultured, cultured & cultured. I have made some purchases of wild colonies mostly from fellow hobbyists. Most of our corals started out as frags from hobbyists as well.


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

I agree with the two headed fish on this...it's electricity consumption and transport related pollution/consumption that bother me most.

I love the look of MH lights, but I use T5 and CF lighting to conserve energy (and $$) and my biggest light, a 96W CF is over a 75G so I am definitely not in the "3WPG Club" or anything like that.

Water "consumption" is a factor, but as a FW only hobbyist, I don't feel that has a significant impact. (I can't comment on your postulation regarding the salinity of our water supplies...that's a tough one to quantify).

We don't *consume *water, we borrow it. We don't pollute water, we're trying to keep our tanks in an ecologically healthy state, we have to to keep the fish alive. Yes the water goes down the drain, on into the garden, but it's not consumed, never to be seen again like fuels burned in transport. I try to buy local when I can, not because I feel a strong affiliation or that the fish are better, I feel foolish buying a few grams of fish that were shipped on an airplane in several pounds of water when I can find "the same" fish born and raised closer to home. The same reasons I buy local/Ontario fruit and veg whenever I can. It also helps keeps the fish in the wild...in the wild.

Don't forget though, there are several species of fish that are extinct or very close in the wild and the majority remaining alive are in the aquarium hobby, the only one I can think of at the moment is White Clouds, but there are others. So is that consumption or conservation? 

I once heard a justification for captive animals in zoos and aquariums along the lines of "In order to care for an animal's plight, people must be aware". I wonder how many aquatic hobbyists contribute to conservation organizations (in terms of participation or donation) vs. non-hobbyists.


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## aeri (Sep 9, 2007)

an average 10 minute shower uses 40 gallons
an average toilet flush uses 1.5 gallons

assuming we do water changes once a week for each of our tanks at 50% capacity, it's not that much comparatively.


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## wiggle (Aug 7, 2009)

I read somewhere that to produce 1 pound of beef, it takes 20,000 litres of water! An insane amount of water.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

wiggle said:


> I read somewhere that to produce 1 pound of beef, it takes 20,000 litres of water! An insane amount of water.


not near as bad when you considered it takes 3 kgs of human grade, edible grains to raise one kg of beef, and billions are starving.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Yeah, but humans don't have the extra intestine to digest the grains that the cows eat. So if you feed those starving humans with cow grains. They'll still starve but now only very slowing with a full stomach!

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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

unless you have the funds to convert and*live off the grid*.....why worry ....as that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars !

Should complain to the government to regulate solar power companys !

and make animal farmers collect rain water !
or all become vegetarians !

which all is impossible !

I totally agree 100% with the above poster!

sad sad world we live in! every how many seconds a child dies of starvation?
thats not counting adults or even our continent .

oh well .....WHY WORRY!


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

wow, i can think of a lot of reasons to worry. plan on having grand kids blossom? what sort of place do you want to hand over to them? what legacy do you want your generation to have?


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

IF you wanted to talk serious food then Farm insects it takes 100x less for a pound of crickets or something then one pound of beef you can also produce more then a cattle farm in the same amount of time, and its better for you. If humans got over the thought that bugs are disgusting which they aren't, then we wouldn't have a problem with food. and it would save so much time and energy.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Well I try to reuse as much water as possible with my water changes. The water goes to my plants outside or now that my hydroponics plants have taken full rooting I'm losing like 1 cup of water about every day. So every 2 days I do a small water change of about 5-10% and take that water and pour it into my hydroponics system which is pumping out tomatos for me. So that works for me till I get my aquaponics setup working then I can totally be rocking it growing stuff and filtering all water into the plants and having clean water back to the fish and eating the fruits of the plants.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

How does worrying do any good? (twoheadedfish)

This hobby lowers my stress, I live longer. The longer I live, the more impact I have on my environment. Most of that impact is "negative".

If people are so concerned about the environment that they don't want to live any more, I feel sad for them.

We can do what we can do, but water is water, and that water you flush down the drain is cleaner than what most people are flushing, and it's full of beneficial bacteria, nitrogen based fertilizer excellent for agriculture and gardening, etc.

If you want to decrease the load on your municipal sewer system, how about you try gray-water reuse. Rainwater barrels full of used aquarium water make excellent "gardeners tea"; a nutrient rich way to decrease your total water use and your garden will thank you.

Don't worry. Do something. Or not. But don't worry. You'll end up on pills and they'll be in the sewer system too (after they go through you). And then you just have one more thing to worry about. 

W


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Anything humans do these days are environmental hazard. To me, aquarium hobby is not a major contributor to the environment issues (except spoiling local water systems with foreign plants/animals).

Salt water from water changes? What about road salt for snow? I use more salt for my driveway than my aquarium.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

"fish keepers" contribute to destruction of our environment in quite a few ways. Just ponder a few things the aquarium industry makes available. Plastic coated gravel, I am sure that the manufacturers of that product create an enormous amount of toxic waste. By buying it you are doing it too...
At Big Al's I saw them selling lead strips for the plants, as if we already don't have an overload of lead in the environment. 
Plastic plants, fake rocks and "drift wood", all these castles, pirate ships, sculls and other perversions , any disposable items and many more...
For that reason I keep my tanks natural and, literally, GREEN.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

There are lots of ways to lessen one's impact through the hobby. Using filters that don't require regular constant component replacement, is one way. Judicious use of lighting is another. If you have multiple tanks, perhaps one air pump to run them all. Water use is a necessary component of the hobby. As stated earlier, water is borrowed, but if you can use it twice, so much the better. Locally produced livestock is an option available to most people especially if you attend an Aquarium society.
For those that wish to become active in species preservation, get involved with CARES. Many species we keep are threatened or even extinct in the wild. Hobbyists can be part of the solution as well as part of the problem.


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## mauve (Apr 12, 2010)

BillD said:


> There are lots of ways to lessen one's impact through the hobby. Using filters that don't require regular constant component replacement, is one way. Judicious use of lighting is another. If you have multiple tanks, perhaps one air pump to run them all. Water use is a necessary component of the hobby. As stated earlier, water is borrowed, but if you can use it twice, so much the better. Locally produced livestock is an option available to most people especially if you attend an Aquarium society.
> For those that wish to become active in species preservation, get involved with CARES. Many species we keep are threatened or even extinct in the wild. Hobbyists can be part of the solution as well as part of the problem.


nicely put.
I rarely change water, and when I do, it is around 25%, and I use it to water plants  I use filter twice a week in the evening for a couple of hours to remove some crap...
Lo tech is the way to keep it real.
BTW whats "CARES"? Any info?


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