by Saltwater Smarts | Jan 8, 2016 | Corals, Equipment, Fish, Invertebrates, Reef, Science
One-spot foxface, the coral munching culprit, and the new fish in town, the Atlantic blue tangCaribbean Chris, who is currently in the process of moving his family down to Florida (apparently Ohio in mid-winter isn’t sufficiently tropical for his taste!), recently tore down his 127-gallon Caribbean reef biotope aquarium and bequeathed to me a variety of different invertebrates, including several species of gorgonian, rock flower anemones, Ricordea, lettuce corals, and others, along with a lovely Atlantic blue tang. Fortunately, there was plenty of room in my 125-gallon tank to accommodate all these specimens, as it held only five fish and a few soft corals at the time. As someone who generally makes stocking decisions at the approximate pace of molasses in January (thus the low stocking rate in my tank), I, of course, had some concerns about how this influx of livestock would affect my system and whether all of CC’s valued specimens would survive the transition and thrive under my care. Fortunately, the whole process went off as smoothly as could be hoped.Well, almost as smoothly. There have been a few minor issues, truth be told. The first occurred a day or two after the livestock was introduced, when my one-spot foxface decided to feast on a fluorescent-green lettuce coral, denuding about two-thirds of its skeleton. It didn’t bother any of the other newcomers and still hasn’t several weeks on. Apparently there was just something about that one coral that proved irresistible by Sanjay Joshi | Jan 5, 2016 | Corals, Equipment, Tanks, Technology
It’s been 2 years now since I started the LED experiment on my 500G reef. I replaced my 3 400W Metal Halides with EcoTech Marine 8 Radion G2 pro LEDs and I have been quite satisfied with the... by AquaNerd | Dec 23, 2015 | Equipment, Reef, Science, Technology
Xseries Media Reactors We’ve known for some time now that MRC has been working on a new product series and today My Reef Creations has made it official with the release of their new xSeries media reactors. Below is the official Press Release from the guys at My Reef Creations. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 22, 2015 My Reef Creations Lawrenceville, Ga. – MRC® rings in 2016 with its new xSeriesTM, an affordable equipment line with exceptional quality MRC®, a brand synonymous with quality products and successful hobbyists, proudly introduces its latest line of equipment. MRC® ‘s newest member in design and manufacturing innovation, the xSeriesTM, was created by listening to customer feedback and building a line hobbyists will value for its affordability, as well as the MRC® quality by Saltwater Smarts | Dec 18, 2015 | Equipment, Fish, Opinion, Reef, Science
Fish oil is an important part of Paul B’s fish feeding regimenHobby pioneer Paul “Paul B” Baldassano has some strong opinions on what types of foods are best for fish, formed over his many decades of involvement in the marine aquarium hobby. Somewhere near the top of his list is fish (or krill) oil. He explains exactly why in the following excerpt from the third chapter of his book The Avant-Garde Marine Aquarist: A 60-Year History of Fishkeeping:From Chapter 3: Keeping Fish Healthy Oil, in my opinion, is one of the most important things you can feed to fish. No, not Oil of Olay or olive oil, but fish or krill oil. I take it myself every day, but not too much, as I don’t want to resemble my old flounder-faced girlfriend. In the sea, fish get a large percentage of their diet from pure fish oil. by AquaNerd | Dec 15, 2015 | Corals, Equipment, Events, Fish, Reef, Science, Tanks
From the boat, there’s nothing remarkable about the place — just choppy water and a white mooring ball, a few miles offshore. But once we’re underwater, I can see the rows and rows of PVC trees, suspended above the sand in a grid that stretches away into the distant murk. This is a coral nursery. Each tree bears a ripening crop of a hundred or more pieces of coral. The smallest fragments are pinkie-sized, twirling on their tethers as other divers kick by; the largest hang like many-limbed chandeliers, turning slowly in the current. When I get closer, I can see the individual polyps, the anemone-like creatures that make up each fragmented colony. Nestled in the crenellated openings in their solid skeletons, they by Saltwater Smarts | Dec 15, 2015 | Equipment, Fish, Funny, Reef, Science, Tanks
Ralphie checking out his brand new Red Ryder BB gun on Christmas morningBack in the sixth grade, I had my sights set on a BB gun for Christmas. No, it didn’t necessarily have to be the Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action, Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle so famously coveted by Ralphie in A Christmas Story. Make and model were of no consequence. Besides, that popular holiday film hadn’t even gone into production yet. I just needed something to keep up with my good friend, Dan Rogers, who was already duly armed with a pump-action Daisy. Dan and I spent many of our waking hours (and more than a few of what were supposed to be sleeping hours) exploring the vast (it seemed back then) ravine behind his house, and there were definitely things lurking in the forbidden recesses of that ravine that needed shooting—like old beer cans and…older beer cans. So any time we weren’t building campfires, fighting each other with makeshift quarterstaffs on fallen logs, or detonating firecrackers, we could be found picking cans off any level horizontal surface with BBs
