[Sam Cree]

I'm hoping all you guys do let us get to see your work as it takes shape. Even if you keep it secret until you publish, it will still be exciting.

We had tropical fish for awhile. There's a reasonably complicated process of setting up the "ecology" of the aquarium. After that, though, it was pretty simple, we had a good filter and vacuumed the tank once a week (which involved actually changing a fair amount of the water). The weekly vacuuming kept the water so clear that people sometimes thought it was salt water. Always used well water to avoid the chemicals in most city water. Temperature is important too.

Have a saltwater tank now, it's pretty much more difficult. Killed alot of fish before we hit on a system.

[HairOfTheDog]

Tropical fish and a complete tank system is much simpler than fishbowls once the tank is established. Even my two big bala sharks are not as dirty as two goldfish, but the filtration system moderates the chemistry of the water, and weekly vacuuming removes the gunk in the rocks that creates all the bad toxins, and empties out some water for the fresh to be added.

Salt water is a challenge I would like to try sometime. I have been attracted in the past to the idea of setting up a native Puget Sound tank, with things I can gather myself, rather than a tropical tank. The challenge would be keeping the water cool enough, as Puget Sound is a cool 58 degrees.