It’s refreshing to finally get some good news about the health of our ocean’s corals. While most of the World’s corals are suffering, the corals off the coast of Cuba are flourishing. Scientist, David Guggenheim, attributes this to the ‘lack of typical human behavior.’ Cuba’s political climate made it difficult to get pesticides or fertilizers, which resulted in basically organic farming. This means less pollution in Cuba’s waters, which in additional to strong environmental protection laws, has resulted in thriving coral life. If only we could turn back time on the rest of the World’s reefs, but this is a fantastic example of how if human behavior impacts coral reefs. MORE… More:

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Yesterday I posted a breakdown of my personal aquariums, easing reader’s minds that as someone offering advice on marine aquariums, I actually have a few of them. After spending some time digging around forums (something I rarely do) I learned that the topic of misinformation seems ripe today. I’ve mentioned it before, and rarely do I suggest new reef keepers venture online to a forum for information. Like an open source programming platform, everyone has access, so as much junk comes down the chute as good stuff. Whenever something is wide open to everyone, spam is inevitable as well. I prefer the Apple mentality to gaining reef-keeping information; research, careful observation, testing and trial and error. If it passes through those phases, it may become something I try and eventually promote to aquarists.  Misinformation varies, and forums are filled with trolls eager to cause a ruckus. During my visit to a popular forum, I read over a thread about capturing your own fish for an aquarium. It went from somewhat tasteful to downright insane, with one person claiming that any fish they catch is bashed on the head and served for dinner. Considering my studies on the conscious nature of fish, you can imagine how I felt about that. To make matters far worse, many forums are allowing “vendors” to sell corals while influencing the decisions that reef keepers make. It’s a messy stew that takes press away from people really trying to progress the hobby, serious aquarists and those promoting patience and restraint. Saltwater Smarts wrote a post here that named patience as the most valuable tool in the reefer’s toolkit. He hit the nail on the head. So how do we solve the information dilemma? What constitutes an expert? How can the reliability of information from within the hobby be verified? How much of what we learn is really part of a big marketing scheme? My first recommendation is to take a step back into the older days of reef keeping. When I started keeping a coral reef, the internet wasn’t nearly what it has become today, and considering in rural Maryland all that was available was 56k dial-up, it didn’t play a large role in the pursuit of knowledge. You had to crack open a book. Published books on topics like reef keeping are usually reliable sources of information. For a writer to have taken the time to compile the information, pursue publishing and go through the many chains associated with that, you can usually rest assured that the contents is valid information, likely cited at the book’s end.… More:

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Combining a striking orange body and yellow-green eyes, the Halloween Lepto delights anyone who looks upon this SPS coral. Besides the unique color combination, the halloween Lepto also grows in an ridged encrusting pattern that makes it even more of an eye-catcher.

My frag of Halloween Lepto

Unlike other high-end SPS that are known to be delicate, the Halloween Lepto is an easy keeper requiring only moderate light and moderate to low flow. My frag of Halloween Lepto shown in the photo thrived under only four T5 bulbs at the bottom of a 21” deep tank. I’ve also found the coral to be very forgiving as it spent three days upside down after it got knocked off a rock. The coral has also recovered from multiple chemical attacks from neighboring corals.

Rounding out the reasons why the Halloween Lepto is a must-have coral is the fact that specimens are nearly all aquacultured. Extensive aqua culturing have driven down the price of the coral from over $100 USD a frag to under $50 USD. I love my Halloween Lepto and haven’t met anyone who doesn’t love their specimens as well.

Browse the Store! Questions?

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Apex Fusion, the nifty, free cloud-based service that allows you to control and monitor your Apex AquaController remotely from virtually anywhere in the world from nearly every platform available – Windows, OSX, iOS, or Android, just got a little makeover.  The most notable component of this upgrade is the Measurement Logging feature. Integrating the most common test kits, this feature allows you to simply input your results to the DOS with a few taps, and does all the tricky conversations and math for you (because, really, who likes to do math?). You can now also correlate your dosing with your parameters in your Apex graphs.     Really, one of the most important components of successful reef keeping is monitoring and controlling your marine chemistry parameters, so this is an incredibly advantageous addition to the Apex Fusion service. Check out these neat screenshots from the application! … More:

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Scientists in the Florida Keys have new groundbreaking potential method to restore dying coral reefs. These scientists are attempting life saving transplants for the Florida Keys reefs. The scientists are grafting new corals onto dying reefs. The growth rate of the coral reefs using this method are unprecedented. Dave Vaughan is leading the team of scientists at Mote Tropical Research Lab in Summerland Key, Florida who have discovered that when the corals were cut into strips, they grew back much faster, we are talking up to 25 times faster. So far in four months, the group has been able to get coral growth that would normally take 2 years. This is an amazing discovery. This is an amazing discovery, and if used worldwide, may be able to restore our destroyed coral reefs at unprecedented rates. This is fantastic news for our corals and I hope the future shows that the growth of these corals can help restore our reefs. The corals will still be subject to the same human impacts like pollution, over-fishing, and dredging, but at least there is hope to get our coral population back up. Click on the link to watch the video for more information. MORE… More:

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Horned bannerfish (Heniochus varius)When choosing fish species for our marine aquariums, bright coloration is often a highly sought-after characteristic. But there’s also something to be said for species with more subdued coloration that just happen to have really interesting morphology. One such species that comes to mind is Heniochus varius, the horned bannerfish, aka the humphead or brown bannerfish. Physical traitsActually, “bannerfish” doesn’t provide a very apt description of H. varius, since adults of the species lack the elongated dorsal filament, or banner, exhibited by many other Heniochus species. Juveniles do have the filament, but it more or less extends straight up, instead of trailing behind the fish, and is lost as the fish matures. Note the hump and hornsH.

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Scientists at the University of South Florida have come up with a device that will allow users to determine if that pricey restaurant fish is actually what is purports to be. The average diner probably would be unable to tell the difference between a pricey grouper versus an inexpensive fish presented as grouper. It is estimated around 30 percent of the seafood entering the U.S. is mislabeled. Add to that the average restaurant mark ups, and what you get on your plate may not be what you paid for. The ‘Grouperchek’ is a hand held device that can be used by anyone who purchases the fish for re-sale, to make sure it is legit. The whole testing process takes about 45 minutes and only costs $30.00. That is a big improvement to the previous tests which could take up to a couple of days for results and cost much more money. The test can also be performed anywhere, and used on raw or even cooked fish. I think you should get what you pay for and this device sounds like an awesome quality control device to make sure you get what you pay for. Because really, isn’t that what everyone wants and deserves? MORE… More:

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‘Coral City’ [embedded content] [embedded content] We are very psyched to share ‘Coral City’, a half-hour documentary accompanying the Coral Morphologic cover story in last August’s VICE Magazine. The movie, directed by John McSwain and shot by Jake Burghart of VICEMedia, documents our efforts to highlight the urban corals of Miami as resilient pioneers adapting to a rapidly changing world. Check out the online premiere over at The Creators Project. Tags: Coral City, Coral Morphologic, Creators Project, Jake Burghart, John McSwain, Vice, Vice Magazine This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2015 at 4:25 pm and is filed under Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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If you caught our recent unboxing review you’ll know that we installed this interesting skimmer on the test tank back in Autumn 2014. This is certainly a great looking skimmer and now that it’s been running for a good while we are in a position to give you more detail on how it stacks-up operationally (for technical details on the design of the skimmer, please read the unboxing review). OK, so installing the Quantum was a piece-of-cake. With the pump held internally there’s no need to assemble it once it’s inside the sump and it’s easy to handle (although we did take the cup off until it was in place). In operation this unit is very quiet… it’s not silent but is barely audible, especially once cabinet doors are shut. The noise produced is more a product of the water movement inside the unit rather than the pump

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I’ve been following a lively debate on one of the web’s many reef keeping blogs. It revolves around a series of posts regarding the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA and legislation that places corals on the Endangered Species Act. First, I understand that these issues are near and dear to many reefers’ hearts, mine included. Many of us are worried that our hobby will change, become heavily regulated and that certain coral species will be illegal to keep. Personally, in a worst case scenario, I don’t think pending legislation will impact the hobby to the point suggested by many. I do believe that if our industry doesn’t change fundamentally, the future could involve regulation that prohibits certain reef aquarium related actions. Most of the reef keepers I’ve spoken with, along with most of the replies I’ve read are viewing this issue through the narrow lens of reef keeping. In order to understand the larger picture, you need to take your position as a reef aquarist out of the equation.  For centuries human beings have slaughtered animals, destroying individual species and entire ecosystems. In the uncontrolled expansion of capitalism, we’ve destroyed habitat and put a price tag on individual species. In 1973 the Endangered Species Act was signed into law by Richard Nixon, for the very purpose of protecting critically endangered species from extinction, as the result of untampered economic and development related actions, that didn’t take conservation into account. The ESA states its primary goal as: Halting and reversing the trend of animal extinction, at whatever the cost. Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration enforce the ESA. If a petition is submitted that suggests a species is imperiled, then a review process begins that may end in said species being listed on the ESA. As we recall, the original petition surrounding corals was initially for up to 62 species. Science provided by Pet Industry Joint Council (PIJAC) has lowered the listed amount to 20 species, all considered threatened. The ESA’s goal is pretty easily explained, to halt and reverse extinction at whatever the cost. This means, that if NMFS believes that ending the sale and husbandry of certain coral species will aid in reversing the trend of extinction, then they will do it, without much focus on what reef aquarists, industries, etc feel, think or believe. Could science that suggests these animals are not endangered persuade them, yes it could, as we saw with PIJAC’s findings.… More:

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Nearly all lionfish in captivity more than three years show evidence of fatty liver disease upon necropsyThe fish in our aquariums rely solely on us to meet their dietary needs, and their long-term health and well-being are sure to suffer if we aren’t careful to provide foods in the proper amounts and of the appropriate nutritional balance. In the following excerpt from The Salt Smart Guide to Preventing, Diagnosing, and Treating Diseases of Marine Fishes, author Jay Hemdal explains how improper feeding can lead to the all-too-common problem of fatty liver disease in captive marine fishes—and what you can do to prevent it.From Chapter 3: Husbandry, Environment, and Your Fishes’ Health “A major chronic health problem facing most long-term captive marine fishes is “fatty liver disease,” or liver degeneration. Fish do not assimilate fats well, so oftentimes, if a fish’s diet is too high in fat, it will then be deposited in various tissues, especially the liver. Unlike with mammals, this fat is not readily usable during times of starvation. Even if food is withheld from a fat-laden fish, very little of the fat is ever reconverted into usable energy. Some fish do not show outward signs of obesity, especially sedentary species such as grouper.

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Yesterday I posted a breakdown of my personal aquariums, easing reader’s minds that as someone offering advice on marine aquariums, I actually have a few of them. After spending some time digging around forums (something I rarely do) I learned that the topic of misinformation seems ripe today. I’ve mentioned it before, and rarely do I suggest new reef keepers venture online to a forum for information. Like an open source programming platform, everyone has access, so as much junk comes down the chute as good stuff. Whenever something is wide open to everyone, spam is inevitable as well. I prefer the Apple mentality to gaining reef-keeping information; research, careful observation, testing and trial and error. If it passes through those phases, it may become something I try and eventually promote to aquarists.  Misinformation varies, and forums are filled with trolls eager to cause a ruckus. During my visit to a popular forum, I read over a thread about capturing your own fish for an aquarium. It went from somewhat tasteful to downright insane, with one person claiming that any fish they catch is bashed on the head and served for dinner. Considering my studies on the conscious nature of fish, you can imagine how I felt about that. To make matters far worse, many forums are allowing “vendors” to sell corals while influencing the decisions that reef keepers make. It’s a messy stew that takes press away from people really trying to progress the hobby, serious aquarists and those promoting patience and restraint. Saltwater Smarts wrote a post here that named patience as the most valuable tool in the reefer’s toolkit. He hit the nail on the head. So how do we solve the information dilemma? What constitutes an expert? How can the reliability of information from within the hobby be verified? How much of what we learn is really part of a big marketing scheme? My first recommendation is to take a step back into the older days of reef keeping. When I started keeping a coral reef, the internet wasn’t nearly what it has become today, and considering in rural Maryland all that was available was 56k dial-up, it didn’t play a large role in the pursuit of knowledge. You had to crack open a book. Published books on topics like reef keeping are usually reliable sources of information. For a writer to have taken the time to compile the information, pursue publishing and go through the many chains associated with that, you can usually rest assured that the contents is valid information, likely cited at the book’s end.… More:

The post What constitutes an expert? appeared first on reefs.com.

After reading some responses I got via email on the rift between aquarists and conservationists, along with replies to some dialogue on other blogs tackling the topic, I thought it was important to address some facets of this discussion. Some of the comments came from those who understand that being a private reef aquarist isn’t conservation, while also realizing that we as reef aquarists aren’t scientists actively working to preserve natural coral reefs. Others, the majority, were quite the contrary and I feel emphasize why the hobby and reef aquarists have been implicated in conservation rulings, while becoming the target of conservation groups.  A common message in both emails and online dialogue is that science that suggests coral species are threatened is hogwash, unreliable and rife with political nuisance about a sudden legislative interest in climate change. Several emails I received suggest that all of this is part of a greater plan by the Obama administration, to limit the role of industry in the environment to transition America into a sociologist state. Other comments came from folks who believe science has become like a religion, and that anyone who speaks out against it is immediately discredited. They also suggested that government bodies are using science to push through legislation that has the greater purpose of controlling Americans, at the same time denying that climate change and coral reef decline are realities. Some people believed that reef aquarists have been demonized and that those in power aren’t seeing enough economic kick-back from our industry to simply leave us alone, blaming PIJAC for not lining enough pockets in Washington. My personal political beliefs have nothing to do with reef keeping. I will say that in the eyes of government agencies, it’s beyond the layperson’s capacity to comment on the reality of climate change, or its potential causes (whether natural or man-made). Science, for the most part, is objective. Scientists set-out to measure and test something, learning about the systems at play and forging theories on what could spur different outcomes. Honestly, I don’t think NOAA scientists care whether the reef aquarium industry continues or not. They were tasked in revealing the role of specific coral species in reef ecosystems, identifying those species and determining whether or not those species were endangered or threatened. When that was done and submitted, PIJAC submitted science that suggested not all the species listed were truly threatened, which was taken into account reducing the species listed under the ESA.… More:

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Reefs.com strives to be the world’s leading destination for sustainable coral reef farming and the aquarium hobby. As such, we think it is vitally important to inform our readers about aquarium trade issues pertaining to sustainability. There are few more important issue for sustainably minded aquarists to be following right now than the legislative efforts to close Hawaii’s aquarium fishery.  This new series will focus on issues related to the aquarium trade and what individuals can do to better understand industry concerns and long term sustainability activities. To bring you some perspective on those efforts and how aquarists can respond, we reached out to Ret Talbot, who has covered Hawaii for CORAL Magazine since 2009. We are pleased to bring you a special report on a very important and timely topic.… More:

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Image courtesy of NOAA under Creative Commons License

 The marine aquarium trade is based in large part on wild fishes harvested from aquarium fisheries around the world. While most aquarium fishes originate in the Philippines and Indonesia, the third largest supplier of aquarium fishes to the U.S. is Hawaii, and there are currently eight bills before the Hawaii State Legislature that could significantly affect that fishery. Aquarists should be concerned that three of those bills—the so-called “ban bills,” because they would essentially ban the fishery—seek to close the fishery outright. Several others would regulate it to such an extent that it may no longer be financially viable. Sustainably minded aquarists should be concerned that one of the best-studied, managed aquarium fisheries in the world could be legislated out of existence based on allegations inconsistent with the data. Two of these bills (HB 873 and HB 606) will be heard Wednesday before the House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources and Hawaiian Affairs, and aquarists, as well as other stakeholders, are encouraged to submit testimony before Tuesday’s deadline.
Losing Hawaii – At What Cost? Controversy over the Hawaii aquarium fishery is nothing new. In the late 1990s, the debate over Hawaii’s aquarium fishery had already become so controversial that the Legislature stepped in and passed Act 306. Act 306 set out to improve the management of the aquarium fishery and led to the formation of a multistakeholder community advisory group (the West Hawaii Fisheries Council), the creation of a series of so-called fish replenishment areas (FRAs) throughout the State’s largest aquarium fishery, and the mandate for ongoing monitoring. More than 15 years later, the data show that the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area (WHRFMA), where around 70% of the State’s catch is landed, is a sustainable fishery and that current management is working. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely, but HB 873 and HB 606 are not about improvement; they are about closing the fishery. Sustainably-minded aquarists recognize that losing Hawaii as an aquarium fishery goes far beyond the loss of endemic fishes that would all but disappear from the aquarium hobby if the fishery is closed. Losing Hawaii would mean losing one of the best models for a sustainable fishery. Rather than serving as a template for much needed reform in the largest source countries, the closure of Hawaii’s fishery could instead lay out a blueprint for ending the global trade in wild-harvested fishes.… More:

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The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) is calling for plans to enlarge the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico. The new plan is proposing to expand current sanctuary size up to five times it’s current size, from 56 square miles up to 280 square miles. Established in 1992, the sanctuary is between 80-110 miles off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, and was founded by grouper and snapper fisherman in the 1800’s. It is one of the 14 federally designated underwater areas protected by the NOAA. The agency will collect public comments on it’s proposal until April 6, 2015. The inclusion of more territory into the plan would help protect our reefs from harmful human influences. MORE… More:

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When my son and daughter, Aidan and Hannah, were youngsters, both seemed to share my enthusiasm for marine aquariums. Even when they were just toddlers, they loved peering into my tanks—often leaving sticky little handprints on the glass in the process—and helping ol’ Dad with his aquarium chores in any way they could.I can still recall each of them at different times standing next to a five-gallon bucket—almost as big as themselves—and helping me mix up batches of salt water with a wooden stirring stick. Hannah once even had her own little tank containing a blue devil damsel named “Blueberry.” However, as painful as it is to acknowledge, somewhere between that time and this, my kids not only transformed into cynical young adults (one in college, the other in high school), but they also lost all interest in aquariums, completely and utterly. Heck, they don’t even seem to notice my tanks are there anymore, let alone spend any time viewing the livestock. I guess I just assumed their early fascination would eventually blossom into a full-blown passion for marine aquariums, just as it had for me, and that the hobby would be something we could share for a lifetime. Boy, was I wrong! Where things went off track, I’m not exactly sure, but here are a few theories I’ve been toying around with: 1) They’re not my children This was my first assumption. After all, how could anyone who shares my DNA have no interest whatsoever in marine aquariums?

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Image shown in the Miami Herald article, provided by Waterkeepers, of coral covered in silt.

We return, yet again, to talk about reef-aquarium-hobby stuff. Our subjects this week include our new sponsor Rod’s Food, Miami dredging, restoring Florida reefs, and Christine’s photos and her new light fixture. 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

Florida dredging
Biscayne Bay coral at risk from sloppy dredge work, Jenny Staletovich, Miami Herald

Fast coral growth?
Scientists try to regrow a dying coral reef 25 times faster than nature, PBS Newshour, Hari Sreenvisan

Christine’s Light Fixture
Maxspect Razor light fixture

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Gorgonian Sea Fans An often-overlooked category of corals is the Gorgonians. They include both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic sea fans as well as sea whips that grow in a corkscrew shape. Hopefully this... From: Tidal Gardens Inc. Views: 50 11 ratingsTime: 03:36 More in Pets & Animals

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