by AquaNerd | Aug 28, 2016 | Corals, Reef, Science
The Montipora Family contains about 19 different species but our featured coral of the week focuses on the encrusting purple Montipora nodosa. This unique Montipora will easily encrust on rock work or frag mounts. It is a relatively fast growing coral and it is considered to be easy – moderately-easy to care for in a reef aquarium. Encrusting Montipora Coral is classified by aquarists as a small polyp stony (SPS) coral often referred to as Cabbage, Lettuce or Velvet Rock Coral. It’s a relatively fast growing coral, and under the right conditions will spread and encrust on just about any substrate in the aquarium including the aquarium glass, given the chance. The coral polyps are very small and the calices are less than 2mm in diameter by ReefBum | Aug 25, 2016 | Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Reef, Science
In a captive reef aquarium both LPS and SPS corals require nutrition to thrive. In my SPS dominated reefs I have always had a lot of fish and relied on fish poop as a source of nutrition to improve SPS growth and coloration. To further supplement the diets of my corals, I have also used certain feeds such as Oyster-Feast from Reef Nutrition. According to Chad Clayton, Reef Nutrition’s Live Feeds Supervisor, Oyster-Feast is their best all-around base feed for the majority of invertebrates in a reef tank. The positives associated with this food are as follows: It’s a natural food source. It’s sized appropriately for SPS corals (the smallest particles are in the 1 micron range). There are a wide range of particle sizes by Saltwater Smarts | Aug 20, 2016 | Corals, Fish, Photography, Reef, Science, Tanks
Your choice of reef lighting can dramatically affect how corals look in your aquariumI always say that you only really need three things to be successful in this hobby: good water quality, good water flow, and good light. by AquaNerd | Aug 16, 2016 | Corals, Equipment, Reef, Science
The new Ecotech models include the XR30wG4, G4PRO, and XR15wG4PRO and Ecotech expects to begin shipping orders later this month. The Radion G4 features a whole LED new cluster along with a new lens design. The re-balancing of proven colors combined with the addition of warm white and violet takes color rendition for your corals to the next level. Reconfiguration of the clusters compliments the all-new HEI lenses to deliver balanced color mixing better than ever before. The HEI lenses on the G4 deliver more usable light area. This is accomplished by spreading light that would normally create an area of high PAR directly under the LED fixture and redirecting it to a significantly wider optimal area of intensity for by AquaNerd | Aug 4, 2016 | Corals, Reef, Science
Imported many years ago, now aqua-cultured by many reef enthusiasts, the Tie Dye mushroom coral is actually a corallimorph. There is a long standing debate that “jawbreaker” and “tie dye” mushrooms are different, but they are the same. The picture above came to us from Joe Knows Reefs and he currently has 3 different Tie Dye mushrooms for sale. The mushrooms came from Mark Poletti – a well known enthusiast and reef keeper from California. Over time these unique mushrooms can develop additional colors, from red to green, yellow and sometimes purple and blue. Mushrooms corallimorphs are one of the easiest corals to maintain in the reef aquarium however, some prefer lower illumination and slow to moderate water movement. Considered semi-aggressive in nature, it is
