By Dana Riddle
In the early days of reefkeeping, hobbyists relied on conventional methods to create water motion. Powerheads (small centrifugal pumps), designed to move water through under-gravel filters, were pressed into service to create water movement many corals require for survival.…
It was my intent for the articles examining metals to be the last in the series on coral nutrition, but my schedule has been much too busy for me to devote the time required to complete the second round of observations on the importance of fatty acids in coral diets.…
Part One of this series examined the symbiotic relationship between the coral animal and its dinoflagellate (Symbiodinium), and the general nutritional requirements of each, Part Two described foods for corals while Part Three dealt with proteins and their ‘building blocks’ called amino acids.…
This month our attention will shift to an occurrence likely seen only in aquaria – the possibility of starving zooxanthellae of necessary nutrients, resulting in low chlorophyll content.…
My interest in coral nutrition began in the late 1980’s, when the reef aquarium hobby in North America was in its nascent stages. At that point in time, the solutions offered to some of the mysteries of ‘mini-reefs’ were technological in nature and centered mostly on water quality parameters.…
Newcomers to the reefkeeping hobby may not be familiar with the many questions surrounding the issue of lighting in the early days of the hobby. Then, we assumed nature to be the ideal model for lighting – light intensity mimicking sunlight had to be better, blue light seemed to promote coloration, and so on.…
By Dana Riddle and Sara Peck Phylum: Cnidaria Class: Anthozoa Subclass: Hexacorallia Order: Scleractinia Family: Faviidae Genus: Leptastrea Species: bewickensis Corals are of the Family Faviidae are very common in the world’s shallow tropical and semi-tropical oceans....
By Dana Riddle Long time hobbyists will recall the early days of reefkeeping when we were uncertain of the lighting requirements of corals. We assumed that mimicking the intensity of natural sunlight was the way to go, and many reefkeepers used 400-watt or even...
By Dana Riddle This article is a follow-up to an article published here earlier this year (2013), and will examine the light intensity requirements of zooxanthellae in a coral commonly found in shallow water – the ‘Mound Coral’ (Porites lobata). These corals are not...
By Dana Riddle I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it...