[James]

I was told that if you live in Hawaii, it is illegal to own a saltwater fish/reef tank. Is this true?? and if so Why?

I'm thinking maybe because they don't want people taking animals of the reefs, or releasing foreign animals onto the reefs???

[kevinpo]

It is not true. You can have a saltwater fish tank with live rock just not corals. They do not want non native corals getting introduced into the native population. It is possible to obtain a permit for study of corals but not very likely one would be issued.

HTH,
Kevin

[Ninong]

You cannot import live rock into the state of Hawaii and you are restricted in what you can collect locally. It is legal to collect a limited amount of "live rock rubble" for personal use only just as it is legal to collect a limited amount of sand for personal use only.

The taking of sand, coral rubble or other marine deposits is permitted in certain circumstances. The material may not exceed one gallon per person per day, and may be taken only for personal, noncommercial purposes. HRS §171-58.5, §205A-44

http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/libra...l_liverock.htm

I have seen pictures of gorgeous saltwater fish aquariums in Hawaii but even though some people do have reef tanks in their homes, they are almost always illegal. You cannot legally import the corals into the state and you cannot legally take the local stony corals. You cannot legally import live rock into the state and you cannot legally remove any live rock "to which marine life of any type is visibly attached."

Architectural Digest featured a mansion in Hawaii a couple of months ago that had an outdoor saltwater pool that was visible from the home's basement. It was 8-ft deep and filled with a gorgeous assortment of marine fish. It had a white sand substrate but the "rock" background appeared to be man-made. Anyway, it was a tank to die for!

I did see plans for a very large saltwater aquarium that was being built in Hawaii (I believe it was linked in a thread on Reef Central a few years back?) in a home that was located very near to the ocean. The aquarium was designed to be open to the sea. I'm pretty sure they were using man-made "live" rock for the structure of their reef but I definitely remember that they intended for it to be populated by settlement of coral larvae from the seawater. I remember the author making a point of saying that that was a legal way to have a reef aquarium in Hawaii without breaking any laws. I wish I had stored that thread, it was very interesting.

P.S. -- The permit Kevin is referring to is called a "scientific collecting permit" and it is given to academics and public aquariums (such as the Waikiki Aquarium) but not to individual hobbyists.

Scientific Collecting Permit - required for any researcher or educational or research institution to collect aquatic life or to use certain fishing gear or methods, for scientific research, that are prohibited or restricted by regulations.

[Samper]

If you could find that link to the outdoor aquarium I'd love to check it out.

[Elmo18]

I've lived on O'ahu for 8 years a few years back. You can keep saltwaterfish, but no corals for the average hobbiests.

Actually, why even have a reef tank there...when you can go to the Waikiki Aquarium...and just snorkel in Haunama Bay

http://waquarium.mic.hawaii.edu/index.html

- Elmo

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Samper

If you could find that link to the outdoor aquarium I'd love to check it out.

It wasn't an outdoor aquarium. It was an indoor aquarium that was "open to the sea." The aquarium itself was entirely indoors but the water supply was connected to the ocean. I don't remember the details but they were using NSW and it was flushing through the aquarium on a regular, if not continuous, basis. The project was "under construction" at the time it was mentioned in that thread. I'm not sure if the project manager, who was the one doing the posting, even gave all of the details. The only part I remember is the talk about using unfiltered NSW via a direct connection to the ocean so that coral planulae could settle out on the "reef structure" in the aquarium. I believe it was going to be 2000 gallons.

A couple of years ago we posted links to a picture of a house in Florida (I think it was Florida) that had a 25,000-gal indoor reef tank. It didn't look like a reef tank in the sense that we think of one. It looked like a swimming pool with coral bommies constructed every ten feet or so. In fact, I seriously doubt if they would have been able to keep any live corals in there because they didn't have appropriate lighting. All of their lighting was from the ceiling. The "aquarium" was designed so that you could use it as a saltwater swimming pool. Might want to be extra selective in your choice of fish and other tankmates. That thread should be somewhere in the General Discussions forum if Scott didn't loose it in one of his many "software upgrades."

The outdoor/indoor saltwater feature/aquarium that was featured in Architectural Digest was in the issue of a couple of months back. It featured a very large house situated on an ocean view lot in one of the Hawaiian islands. There was what appeared to be an architectural "water feature" running down the center of the entry court. It was a long narrow water course that appeared to be no more than two or three feet wide and not very deep with moving saltwater. It was one of those features that are more form than function, with raised stonework (or concrete?) supporting what seemed like nothing more than running water. The gimmick was that it emptied into an underground pool/aquarium that was 8-ft deep and visible from the basement level of the home. The viewing panel (probably acrylic) appeared to be about eight or ten feet wide by about six feet tall.

P.S. -- I think I'm wrong about it being in Architectural Digest because I'm remembering too many images for it to have been a magazine spread. It must have been on TV on one of those "fabulous homes" specials on either HGTV or the Travel Channel or something like that. Because I'm suddenly remembering them walking down the stairs into the basement and seeing the glowing viewing pane of the aquarium as the focal point in a dimly lit room. And I remember a very expensive, very large grand piano in a very wide open room with walls that opened to the outdoors.

[Samper]

One day............one day I'll post some pics here of my reef tank so large you can dive it.

[James]

thanks for the info guys. Makes you think of what is possibly happening in Florida??? I read somewhere that they have a problem with people releasing the Emperor Angel onto the reefs (not a native of Florida) after they outgrow home systems. I live in Santa Barbara, California but our beaches are too poluted to take or release any wildlife.

[ricksreef]

emperor angels are only one of many exotics they're finding in florida waters

http://www.reef.org/exotic/index.html

[samsreef]

Originally Posted by Samper

One day............one day I'll post some pics here of my reef tank so large you can dive it.

Same here....

[James]

Originally Posted by ricksreef

emperor angels are only one of many exotics they're finding in florida waters

http://www.reef.org/exotic/index.html

Bummer, its too bad people are not more responsible.

[ricksreef]

ya, it is.
i caught a 3 stripe damsel, bumblebee snail, & scolymia coral
a few months back while diving. looks like someone just
dumped their tank into the ocean. it's scary to think about
what swam away before i got there...

[samsreef]

Originally Posted by ricksreef

ya, it is.
i caught a 3 stripe damsel, bumblebee snail, & scolymia coral
a few months back while diving. looks like someone just
dumped their tank into the ocean. it's scary to think about
what swam away before i got there...

If thats true then there must be quite a few people dumping entire systems because no offence but the ocean is a lot bigger than a tank so if you came across things as small as bumblee snails stripe damsels then there must be quite a few in there!

People should really think about this stuff before they get in to the hobby! I think the worse case scenario (ie not being able to fit the tank in a new home or etc) I would sell it on to another hobbiest or give it to the LFS for credit.

[ricksreef]

it was only in about 4 feet of water at a semi-popular snorkel spot,
so hopefully i got there soon after they were dumped. i can only
hope there's not more.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...=what+i+caught