by ReefBum | Jan 7, 2016 | Corals, Reef, Science
SPS Deep Dive – Stylophora Coral Who likes to gaze at a reef tank containing SPS with bright and vivid colors? I do. Of course there are some best practices one can follow to achieve great colors but SPS coral selection plays a key role. Selection is very personal and there are many, many options out there for reefkeepers to craft a unique piece of reef tank art. I love solid, contrasting colors in my reef and Stylophoras fit the bill, with colors ranging from purple, bright pink to electric green. Typically, the pink and purple varieties can do well in the upper, middle or lower part of a tank under strong lighting. They are adaptable to different types of lighting and most grow relatively fast, although by Saltwater Smarts | Dec 29, 2015 | Corals, Fish, Reef, Science
A group of Ricordea floridaAs an American reefkeeper, it’s all too easy for me to forget that some truly gorgeous invertebrate livestock originates relatively close to home in the tropical western Atlantic and Caribbean. I was reminded of this recently when CC entrusted several of his Caribbean specimens to my care in advance of his pending move to the great state of Florida. By the way, if you “felt a great disturbance in the force” some weeks back, it had nothing to do with the destruction of Alderaan. More likely, it was just Chris’s head exploding at the thought of his prized Caribbean species intermingling with my lowly Indo-Pacific corals and fish. Did I ever mention that CC is a terrible “species-ist”?Anyway, among this adopted assortment are several color varieties of Ricordea florida. Now, prior to receiving these specimens, it had been a long time since I’d given much thought to rics, and I’d forgotten how truly stunning these humble corallimorphs can be, so it was really nice to get reacquainted with them. They’re also fairly rugged, so whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced hobbyist, R by ReefBum | Dec 24, 2015 | Corals, Fish, Reef, Science, Tanks
Reef Tank Tip – Resist The Urge to Submerge There are a number of best practices for reefkeeping and one of the bigger ones in my book is to try and minimize the amount of time I put my hands in the tank. I consider myself a perfectionist and when I started to keep reefs I was always looking at my tanks and tinkering with the rocks or corals to achieve a “better” look. I would buy a new coral and spend a lot of time trying to place it just right, moving it from spot to spot. This stressed out the coral and made it tough for it to establish itself in its new environment. What I learned over time is that Mother Nature needs to by AquaNerd | Dec 22, 2015 | Corals, Reef, ReefGen, Science
The AquaNerd featured coral of the week originated from a zoa colony collected by ReefGen, called the Superduperman Zoanthid. These beautiful zoas are brightly colored, very hardy, and grow rapidly once established in the aquarium. For optimum growth, the Superduperman Zoa prefers moderate lighting and moderate water flow. We went to the ReefGen site to locate a price but it appears their site is currently under construction, however we were able to find these for sale at Unique Corals. For Eight to Ten polyps a nice frag sells for $34.00. Photo by Unique Corals Care: CARE LEVEL: Intermediate TEMPERAMENT: Semi-Aggressive PLACEMENT: On rock-work or rubble WATER MOVEMENT: Moderate LIGHTING: Moderate HUSBANDRY NOTES: Unique Corals grows their zoas out under a combination of LED and by AquaNerd | Dec 21, 2015 | Tanks
Aquarium maintenance companies are often asked to set up up a fully functional reef aquarium as quickly as possible. You know, just like they do on those reality TV shows. Well, entertaining TV aside, that’s not how it works in the real world of reefkeeping is it? A successful start to a reef aquarium requires establishing the necessary bacterial colonies to manage nutrient loads and avoid toxic accumulations of nitrogenous waste. Nevertheless the speedy set up of a life-sustaining reef aquarium is an appealing concept if it can be done in the interest of the inhabitants. And we’re not talking here about cycling a new system with stressed out damselfish. New on the reefkeeping scene is a system aimed at the professional aquarium maintenance
