- This is episode one,
and you found the beginning of something cool.
This is the 5 minute guide to saltwater aquariums.
Our mission is getting new saltwater tank owners
the information they need to set up
and maintain a reef tank they can be proud of.
If you're looking for a series
on how to start a new saltwater aquarium
with clear, direct path to success,
in manageable bit-size five minute chunks,
this is it.
(drum beat)
Hey I'm Ryan, your host of BRStv.
This is episode one of the five minute guide,
and we answer the number one question
for new tank owners, "Is it hard?"
You could ask this question a hundred times
and get a hundred different answers
ranging from easy to nearly impossible.
I'm gonna give it to ya straight,
you have selected one of the most difficult pets possible.
Saltwater tanks and reef tanks,
with corals in particular,
are not goldfish bowls or hamsters,
this is a section of an ocean reef.
You're recreating your home,
a symbiotic ecosphere of life.
Most people will never even have a chance
to see in their entire lifetimes,
and you're gonna do this in your living room.
I believe that difficulty's actually what makes it
one of the coolest, rarest, and most interesting
and rewarding hobbies in my life,
this just isn't the kind of thing the average person does.
In fact the difficulty is why it's so interesting.
It isn't just a pet, but a hobby.
In this case, perfect hobby for someone
who has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge,
passion for applying that knowledge,
and the achieving the type of results
anyone could be proud of.
All that combined with an artistic or creative flair,
a bit of gear or tool junkie DNA,
and truly unique group of pets that can live decades
and absolutely part of the family,
in the same way that any 20 year pet is.
At this point, you've probably said,
"This is for me, how do I get started?"
Or checked out and said,
"This is way more than I signed up for."
If this is for you, I can explain
exactly what difficult really means.
Maintaining a saltwater reef tank's
actually simple and requires minimal effort.
80% of it's just feed the fish,
change some water every couple weeks,
and clean the glasses needed.
The other 20% is a couple of couple of
cool filtration and chemistry elements.
Simple to implement,
and part of what often gets perfected
as you dive deeper.
The challenge of reefing's not really
any different than any other hobby,
it's captured in the difference between
acquiring knowledge and the application of knowledge.
Take championship barbecue, home brewing, or bass fishing,
acquiring the knowledge to do these things
can take many years.
Learn, attempt, fail.
Learn, attempt, succeed.
Learn, attempt, master.
There's no way around it,
it takes years to master anything,
but some paths are just harder than others.
The easiest path is finding someone who's done it before
and willing to share a working,
easily replicable recipe or technique.
In a matter of hours,
you can take that knowledge and produce similar results.
For instance, you don't have to be
a bass master to catch a fish,
if a guide or a good friend brings you
to the right spots and shows you the right technique.
You'll probably catch 30 fish in the morning
and learn the difference between fishing
and catching.
One is absolutely more fun than the other.
In fact, you can probably go back there
and replicate those result on your own later.
A solid, and more importantly fun starting point
for a hobby where you can take what you learn
and then go find your own spots
and learn new techniques.
Saltwater aquariums and reefing's no different,
application of knowledge and the actual act
of maintaining a tank is what I'd refer to as
easy and absolutely requires way less
time and effort than most common pets,
as long as you find a solid guide.
And that's what the five minute guide
to saltwater aquariums is all about.
It's all the initial knowledge acquisition challenge
in a manor which won't make you a reef master day one,
but will provide a solid recipe and technique
that will produce a successful tank you can be proud of.
The building blocks of a journey
to something really amazing.
All that and quick, less than five minute
direct, succinct, or easy to consume bits.
We're gonna share this in two phases.
Phase one with episode one through eight,
which is just the "What,"
or basic understanding of what we're doing here
with saltwater aquariums and reef tanks.
And phase two, or the "How" phase,
where we set up an actual tank,
and show the recipe and technique for success.
So you can produce a tank that looks like this
with your very first try.
The next logical question here is,
"How much does all this cost, and is it expensive?"
The entire saltwater aquarium guide is always avaiable
here in this playlist for binge watching,
but cost in an important factor,
so click here to get the answer.