The only way around this is to be able to afford to pay someone else to set-up and maintain your tank.

3) Mingle! (see 2 above) There are plenty of reef-keeping societies out there with lots of experience to help you along your way and teach you what you need to know. As long as you are doing your own homework, they are usually happy to help!

4) Keep an open mind! There is not just one way to keep a reef tank - no matter how loudly people on various bulletin boards and forums out there might shout that there is. 5) Share! It is amazing how much help people are willing to give when they realize that you are offering a particularly nice specimen that they have always wanted. Equipment that they didn't even remember they had may magically appear or they might be willing to share a very nice piece of their own reef frag with you.

Trading frags not only is a great way to increase your variety, but it helps maintain genetic strains of corals (frags are also known as 'clones') that might otherwise die out in a single tank struck by calamity mentioned in 1 above.

Chris Knowlton is an avid fan of reef keeping and propagation. He maintains a nano tank and two large saltwater reef aquariums. To visit his site and read 5 More Steps to Success with Saltwater Coral Reef Aquariums visit http://www.KnowltonsReef.com

5. Weather: In Rocky Mountains you can see clouds forming just before afternoon storms. Being able to read sky can keep you out of trouble. Lightning kills hikers in Colorado regularly.

6. Staying dry: Hypothermia is biggest wilderness killer, and getting wet is biggest cause. Watch for ledges or large fir trees to stand under if you see rain coming.

7. Shelter: A pile of dry leaves and dead grass can keep you very warm in an emergency.

8. Hydration: Fill water bottles every chance you get, and you won't have such a hard time with any long dry stretches of trail.

9. Injury: Pop a "blister" on trunk of a small spruce or fir tree, and you can use sap that oozes out as an good antiseptic dressing for small cuts.

10. Fire starter: White birch bark will usually light even when wet.

These are just a few of wilderness survival tips and techniques you can easily learn. Why not practice one or two on your next backpacking trip?