by AquaNerd | Apr 21, 2014 | Corals, Industry, Tanks
Healthy reefs depend on plankton, and fresh is always best. AlgaGen recently launched its Live Feeds Program, which aims to set up culture holding systems in local fish stores across the country. Stores that offer the new program will have live phytoplankton, rotifers, brine and/or copepods available to customers to feed their reefs or breed marine livestock with. Reef aquarists will now be ale to provide reef nutrition found in nature and elicit the natural feeding responses from all of the tank’s inhabitants. Don’t be afraid to ask your local fish store if this is something they will be carrying. Heres a video all about it: by Heidi dM | Dec 13, 2013 | Photography
If you’re an avid photographer, don’t miss out! Â You’ve got till 1 Feb to get your stunners in for this competition. Â And it’s not just underwater shots that they... by AquaNerd | Dec 11, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Industry, Photography, Science, Tanks
By: Daniel Leija The use of cell phones is nothing new in this hobby, as they’ve been a vital tool with applications that help us calculate how much calcium to dose in our tank and give us the ability to monitor and control our aquariums from afar. While these apps haven’t been around for too long, comparatively, something that has been in use for what seem like an eternity is cell phone cameras, and hobbyists are always improving aquarium photography with their phones. With the constant competition of who is the best and top dog of the smartphone industry, it is the camera in our phones that is always upgraded. For example, the iPhone 5 has an 8 megapixel camera. This year the iPhone 5s was released, and while it stayed with its 8 megapixel camera, it increased its aperture to f/2.4, allowing up to %33 more light into the camera. It also got really neat features like the burst mode allowing you to capture things in action with more success. It also got the slow-mo feature slowing videos down making for really neat shots of fish eating or swimming. While DSLR macro shots are relatively nice, we all know that is another hobby that gets expensive. Nothing is going to beat a nice crisp shot you get with a true macro lens attached to that awesome camera of your choice, but we have found great success snapping close up pictures of our tanks with our phones by AquaNerd | Nov 18, 2013 | Corals, Fish, Invertebrates, Photography, Science
As an aquarium hobbyist who is also fairly passionate about photography, I am always looking to capture those unique moments when I’m at a fish store or some other venue where fish, corals, and invertebrates take center stage. Often times, I’ll have my camera in hand and I can snap off a few decent shots here and there. More often though, I’ll be without my DSLR and have to rely on my smartphone, which isn’t exactly the most ideal option. The phone of choice for me has been the iPhone, with the 5s being my most current option. For those of you familiar, this phone can actually take decent pictures. Unfortunately, the pitfall for the on-board camera, like with most cameras, is blue LEDs. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this cheap little hack that can get you photos that are closer to what we see with the human eye. by Heidi dM | Oct 15, 2013 | Conservation, Photography, Science, Seahorses
Seahorses are not just beautiful creatures that fascinate young and old; they are flagship species, symbols of the sea grasses, mangroves, coral reefs, estuaries and seaweeds. Their use in traditional medicine, aquarium displays and as curios makes them a valuable...