Quote:
Originally Posted by phlounder
This brings up an interesting point. I think those of us in the U.S. sometimes forget that we didn't invent the hobby. 
I remember meeting Albert Thiel at a local fish store about 20-25 years ago. I think he was amazed at how backward the hobby was here. He was telling us about how easy it was to keep live corals and about the importance of live rock in the system and metal halide lighting. We were mostly all FO with dead coral skeletons for decorations back then. A lot of us here didn't have a clue.
It would only stand to reason that there would be good availabilty of corals in Europe, since they have been at it longer than us to begin with... |
Quote:
Originally Posted by davidh202
I agree with phlounder,many of the European reefkeepers are way ahead of us.It also seems that there is an even better selection of livestock in the stores over there.One of our members, (dlopes)from Portugal, is always posting his new acquisitions, which are usually gorgeous!Along with his tank and setup.
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I would say that at one time, European reefkeepers were way ahead of the USA. Certainly, a lot of the techniques used today originated in Europe. Today though, with the net, the information exchange is so rapid, and you can order products from all over the world. This means that just about anyone, just about anyplace, can construct a state of the art reef system.
As for Albert Thiel, you have to remember that this was in per-internet days, and when reef systems first started in the USA there were no good books on the subject, and the major aquarium publication, TFH, totally ignored reef systems for years, sticking to conventional SW systems.
Also, Thiel started out by selling Dupla Aquarium products in the USA. This was before he came up with his own line of products. Dupla never made it in the USA marketplace. The reason was not the equipment, it was the price. It was out of sight expensive. Many early reefkeepers found it less expensive to order products from industrial companies. My first MH lights were from a local company that sold them for hydroponic growing systems. The lighting wasn't as slick looking as a fixture from Dupla, but is was less than half the price.
My point about all this is that at that time, very few LFSs wanted to make the investment in the sort of equipment the reef people wanted. The were use to selling that 10 - 55 gal FW community tank, and that was about it. So with the lack of information, and lack of resources, at the time, people keeping reef systems had to be almost fanatics. This put the USA way behind for years.