by AquaNerd | May 15, 2017 | Events, Opinion, Reef
WWC – please send this to me! The guys from Worldwide Corals have done it again with the best Reefapalooza Orlando show I have attended.  In it’s 4th year in Orlando, this was, in my humble opinion, the best run show we have ever been to and I’ve had the pleasure of attending all four Orlando shows as a vendor. When we arrived, the Reefapalooza crew greeted us a the back entrance and within about 20 minutes they had the contents of our truck and trailer unloaded and delivered to our 20′ x 10′ booth.  Our thanks go out to the RAP staff that helped us get our gear into the convention center and bring water to our booth for our coral and Tahitian Maxima clam display.  Well by AquaNerd | Apr 22, 2016 | Aquaculture, Conservation, Events, Industry, MACNA, Reef, Science
The Marine Aquarium Societies of North America (MASNA) is proud to announce the 2016 – 2017 MASNA Student Scholarships.  MASNA is a non-profit organization composed of marine aquarium societies and individual hobbyists from North America and abroad, totaling several thousand individuals. MASNA’s goals are to: Educate our members with online and published material, the MACNA conference, and other sanctioned events. Assist in forming and promoting the growth of clubs within the hobby while ensuring a sustainable future for the marine environment. Support the efforts to eliminate abuses in collecting and transporting marine organisms through education, assistance and encouragement. Encourage the ethical growth of the marine aquarium hobby and support captive breeding/propagation efforts. To further the goals of MASNA, MASNA offers the MASNA Student Scholarship program to by AquaNerd | Mar 31, 2016 | Corals, Events, Fish, Reef, Science
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been hit by widespread coral bleaching, which has the potential to be devastating to one of the world’s most iconic natural wonders. Battered by record warming on land and sea the past two years, coral reefs around the world have suffered bleaching events. When that happens, corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing corals to turn white or pale. Without the algae, the coral loses its major source of food and is more susceptible to disease. Starting in the North Pacific Ocean in the summer 2014, the bleaching expanded to the South Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean in 2015. That prompted NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch in October to declare the third ever global bleaching event – after the 1997-1999 by AquaNerd | Mar 10, 2016 | Events, Reef, Science, Technology
AquaNerd and Aqua Illumination are doing a giveaway on an Aqua Illumination Prime LED fixture that will take place on April 1st.  Anyone is eligible to win by liking this post on the AquaNerd Facebook page and liking AquaNerd on Facebook*.  If you’ve already liked AquaNerd then all you will need to do is like the post. About the Aqua Illumination Prime LED Fixture. Optics The AI Prime® comes standard with 80 degree lenses giving you the best balance of power and spread. Our lens optics are custom designed, boasting greater than 90% optical efficiency and including a diffuse exit surface to provide improved color blending. Power Output With a spread of 30″ x 30″, the AI Prime® has a peak PAR of 260µMol at a depth 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
