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The incredible coral reefs of Indonesia’s Raja Ampat

by | Jul 10, 2016 | Conservation, Corals, Fish, Photography, Reef, Science, Travel

The first time I dived on Raja Ampat’s reefs, I didn’t know where to look first. The profusion of colors and the seeming chaos of the Indonesia reef’s appearance — not a single straight line to be seen — provided a total contrast to the orderly, human-built world we usually inhabit topside. <![CDATA[ #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } ]]> MORE: Hunting down the world’s oldest art in South Sulawesi, Indonesia Photos and video struggle to ever do Raja Ampat’s reefs justice. They just can’t fully capture the all-encompassing sense of the reef’s

Featured Coral – WWC Rhodactis Shroom

by | Jun 29, 2016 | Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Reef, Science

With Reef-A-Palooza almost upon us, I thought it would be a good idea to feature a WYSIWYG coral from the folks that put on the New York and Orlando shows, World Wide Corals.  Normally I don’t “ohh and ahh” over a Rhodactis mushroom but this one looks very beautiful, making this our Featured Coral of the Week.  As of today, they only have one Rhodactis like this in stock and WWC is offering it for $129.00. About: The Rhodactis or Bullseye mushroom, as it’s sometimes called, is often seen in violet to blue or with margins and highlights in orange.  What makes this mushroom unique is the rainbow of colors seen in the specimen.  Papillae form a cauliflower-like patterns, and they typically can

Reef Threads Podcast #280

by | Jun 28, 2016 | Corals, Fish, Podcast, Reef, Science


A photo of the Steinhart Aquarium Twilight Zone display posted by Charles Delbeek.

We’re back for the 280th time. Our guests this week are Matt Wandell, Richard Ross and, for the first time, Nick Yim, from the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences. Lots of subjects this week, but the big one is the new twilight-zone display at the aquarium and what it’s like to dive deep for new species. If you enjoy the show, please tell others. Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

Steinhart aquarium
Steinhart Aquarium website

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Salty Q&A: Calcium and Alkalinity Out of Whack

by | Jun 19, 2016 | Corals, Reef, Science

Maintaining stable parameters in the accepted range is much better than chasing “ideal” numbersQuestionI’m having an issue with the calcium and alkalinity levels in my reef tank. Right now, the calcium is at 380ppm, which is at the low end of the acceptable range, and the alkalinity is at 10dKH, closer to the high end of the acceptable range. I’d like to get the calcium up over 400ppm so I have a greater margin for error. But whenever I add more calcium supplement than usual, I notice that the alkalinity level drops afterward. Any idea why this is happening? Is it coincidence or cause-and-effect?” – Submitted by Ross C. Answer Thanks for your question, Ross