These are some of the ways we care for the environment.The Montana Eco Star Award is given to businesses that (1) make a commitment to sustainable practices and (2) can quantify the energy and resources that they conserved.
Crystal Clear Aquariums is dedicated to energy conservation and helping keep the environment alive.
Educating the Public
It is part of our mission to educate the public about coral reefs and what it takes to keep them safe. We do this by sharing the reef world with people. None of our coral is taken from the reefs. Instead, it is all grown from fragments that are already in captivity via a process called aqua culturing.
We use only sustainably grown, aqua cultured corals and aquarium animals whenever possible. In addition, we introduce hundreds of people to the hobby of caring for these corals so they understand very well just how sensitive the corals can be and what it takes to make them flourish. We educate the public on the importance of water quality and how water quality around resort type islands is the cause of reef degradation.
We debug the myths circulated by conservationists who claim that safe practices in collecting fish from reefs harm fish populations. We teach the biological facts about these marine animals and provide opportunities for the public to gain hands on experience with marine life. For example, experts from the University of Hawaii’s Cooperative Fishery Research Unit examined the breeding behavior of the Yellow Tangs. Depending on the time that the fish were sampled, females were carrying anywhere from 44 to 24,000 eggs. As usual with fish, smaller specimens of 8-12cm produced smaller numbers of eggs, while larger fish over 12cm produced more than 20,000 per batch. Collectors barely touch the fish populations in Hawaii and the fish reproduce in enormous numbers, however, what does happen is that bad water from surface drainage off the islands directly damages the coral reefs which creates a chain reaction of problems that can affect the entire reef. This chain reaction includes increased ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates in the water. These substances are like poison to all marine life.
Energy Conservation
We recently converted to LED lights throughout our over 3000 sq-ft state-of-the-art facility located in the Gallatin Valley outside Bozeman, MT. By using LED lighting technology on most aquariums, we save hundreds of kilowatt hours of electricity; effectively reducing our energy consumption by 75% and keeping the animals happy and healthy! In addition, we use radiant heating which utilizes hot water circulation coils in the various sump filter system thus enabling us to heat all the aquarium water with minimal power usage.
Lastly, all of our store equipment is connected to the Apex computer monitoring system by Neptune Systems which turns the connected equipment on and off more efficiently saving power.
Generally speaking, we have conservation in mind to make sure we are as efficient as possible.
We sell MAC certified animals.
MAC is the Marine Aquarium Council. Mac is directly concerned about conservation of marine life and has set standards for breeding and care of marine life. By selling Mac certified marine life, we are supporting their conservation efforts.
We also support other businesses that are Eco star rated or Eco star award winners such as CatTamboo interactive cat toys and eco friendly pet toys.
To apply for the Eco Star Award in Montana, visit http://www.mtp2.org/ecostar.html.