Aquaria

Reef Tank: Bringing in Reinforcements

2009-07-09T10:07:00.003-04:00

The algae war in my reef tank continues. Despite some recent success, specifically in taming a rise in nitrates, the nuisance persists. Dosing AlgaeFix has greatly reduced forms of green algae on the rock and tank walls, but cyanobacteria continues to be an issue.

Cyanobacteria from my freswater planted tank

Also known as 'red slime', cyanobacteria is an obnoxious problem within the aquarium. It first appeared on the substrate, and not fully understanding how difficult it is to remove once it spreads, I was lazy on removing it fast enough. Scooping it off the substrate is simple, as it forms a tight mat that can be removed by hand. Once it spreads into the rocks and corals though, it starts to create strands that are extremely difficult to completely remove from the tank. Leftover pieces quickly spread across the tank mere days after cleaning.

While my water chemistry is good in regards to nitrates, a primary food source for algae and bacteria, the tank still has quite an issue with detritus build up. To rule this out as a possible source of energy for the cyano, I've decided to add some new snails to my tank. I'm hoping the combination and numbers that I've selected with be able to efficiently trim down new algae growth, while contributing to stirring up the sand bed and consuming waste and detritus.

6x Nassarius Snails (Nassarius sp.)
An effective detritus consumer, that will hopefully remove quantities of uneaten organics from the rock and substrate.

6x Bumble Bee Snails (Engina sp.)
Smaller in size, they can get into crevices within the rock, in addition to burying in the sand for food. Plus they look cool.

6x Turbo Snails (Turbo fluctuosa)
An algae removing workhorse for the marine aquarium.

When I dealt with algae issues in my freshwater aquarium, the ultimate solution ended up being the addition of a dozen Amano shrimp, which quickly and efficiently removed all traces of nuisance algae from the tank within a few weeks. Looking for an equivalent silver bullet to deal with marine cyanobacteria has turned up mixed reports. Conventional wisdom states that nothing common to the aquarium trade will consume red slime. However, a few livestock dealers make the claim that scarlet hermit crabs, Paguristes cadenati, will eat it. Being in their commercial interest to market livestock as cures for common frustrations within the aquarium hobby, I remain skeptical.

As an experiment, and because Live Aquaria offers free shipping from Florida when you order $60 worth of 'clean up crew' animals, I am also bringing in 8 of these crabs. I'll monitor them carefully for any evidence of wether they eat this pest or not.

Reef Tank: Algae War Continues

2009-06-18T20:48:00.003-04:00

Tonight I tested some algae-specific parameters for the first time since changing my filtration strategy. The good news: nitrates dropped from 40ppm to 0. Phosphate remains at zero as always. Looks like the Seachem Purigen was a success.

The bad news is that I still have algae. After two weeks of doing the API Algaefix, I noticed it was growing back slower after a cleaning, and that some of the stringy algae was less green. Supposedly this is a sign of it working. I plan on continuing dosage for now. I'm hoping that by removing the nitrate, my corals will bounce back soon, and the algae will begin to disappear.

Another item of note, my clownfish have begun to display mating behavior. They've also been regularly digging a small pit in the gravel, which seems odd as I was under the impression that they generally prefer flat, solid surfaces for egg laying.

And finally, after a year of barely keeping SPS alive, I've been considering switching over to primarily soft corals. Live Aquaria has recently stocked up on some very interesting and colorful species, flying in the face of conventional wisdom that all soft corals are brown.

Links: EcoTech Marine has a great site too

2009-06-14T10:47:00.003-04:00

Like everything else in my tank as of late, the Vortech MP20 is growing itself a fine outer layer of green algae in addition to the usual assortment of encrusting worms. Today I took it apart for a warm water and vinegar dip to loosen some of this stuff. For a refresher course on disassembly (actually very easy), I stopped by the EcoTech website.

I was pleased to see that at some point in the recent past, like Seachem, they entrusted their web presence to a competent design and development team. Great work on the site guys, and great job to EcoTech Marine for realizing how important the web is to emerging companies in this hobby. And bonus points for utilizing video in such a compelling way. Check out this wave:

The Gyre Wave from ecotechmarine on Vimeo.

Links: Beautiful Tanks, Beautiful Sites

2009-06-04T09:53:00.004-04:00

Two of my favorite reef aquarium blogs, Glassbox Design and Reef Builders have recently been showcasing some exceptional aquariums. I hope this trend continues, as it is a nice alternative to the usual gadget press releases, and it is a much more convenient method of finding beautiful and successful tanks than trying to parse the large forums.

Three tank profiles of note:

• Yasuhiro's Blue Lagoon, via Glassbox Design

• Different Shades of Chingchai, also on Glassbox

• Julian Sprung's modern aquarium, via Reef Builders

Also, while researching chemical filtration mediums, I was really pleased to discover that Seachem has invested in a beautifully designed website. Too often aquarium equipment sites seem to be an after thought, lacking in information. Seachem has obviously made their online brand a very high priority, and as a designer I applaud them for it.

Reef Tank: Filtration Update

2009-06-03T09:41:00.003-04:00

In light of my continued issues with nitrates (~40ppm) and the resulting algae, I've decided to make a few changes to the filtration mediums used in the filter. Up until now I've been running two bags of carbon along with some live rock rubble. Carbon is great for polishing the water, but it isn't actively helping with an accumulation of organics. The live rock has proven a good breeding ground for micro fauna (I regularly find abundant copepods and sponges), but there isn't enough volume to consider it an effective biological filter.

First, I reintroduced the zeolite media I had experimented with last summer. The highly porous nature of zeolite absorbs impurities and serves as a breeding ground for beneficial bacteria that reduce organics. I started low with the volume of zeolite, and hope to increase it based on how the corals react.

Secondly, I added 100ml of Seachem Purigen. This is a porous chemical filtration medium that works as a sponge for organic matter in the water. By removing this material from the water column, it never has a chance to complete the nitrogen cycle and become nitrate. Thanks to the abundant volume of the Aquaclear filter, I am also able to continue running a bag of carbon and the live rock rubble.

The last change to my maintenance routine is a little more controversial, at least in my mind. I am generally very conservative about introducing any form of additives, and especially opposed to chemical treatment of algae. That said, after reading a long thread about the effectiveness of API's Algaefix, I had to try it. The experiences of many aquarists confirmed the claim that this product will not harm anything within the tank, from fish to invertebrates, but will eliminate most forms of algae within weeks. An $8 bottled solution is very tempting after spending a few months scraping algae and performing multiple water changes each week.

The current dosing schedule is 3ml of Algaefix every three days, to be reduced when algae shows signs of dying off. I will update with progress.

Equipment: Tunze Nano Skimmer Followup

2009-05-30T12:38:00.003-04:00

In February I swapped the noisy and unreliable Coralife 65 skimmer I had been running for a Tunze Nano skimmer. As noted in the post, initial impressions were positive. The skimmer is virtually silent, began skimming with no break in period, and was a massive aesthetic upgrade for the tank. But like anything in an aquarium, the real test is time. Maintenance, reliability, and skimming performance are things you discover after months of operation.

Performance
The skimmate shown above was produced after 20 hours of operation. I'm running the skimmer wetter than normal because of my recent nitrate issues, but this is roughly approximate to the performance I've seen since installing the skimmer. Generally I get a tea colored, organic smelling liquid as well as a solid cake of buildup around the neck. No doubt that the skimmer is doing it's job.

Maintenance
The Coralife 65 had a screw off collection cup. Before removing this, you needed to turn the skimmer off (by unplugging) or it would overflow. With the Tunze Nano, you just lift the cup and neck out while leaving the skimmer running. This sort of convenience makes it much easier to perform daily or every other day cleaning on the skimmer. And with the included cleaning brush, you can get the neck and cup spotless in less than a minute.

Reliability
Like any skimmer, the Tunze Nano is sensitive to the water level. It includes a marker on the side of the skimmer body indicating what the proper level should be, which is very convenient for knowing where your top off water should come to. The downside to water level sensitivity is that nano tanks fluctuate in volume much faster than larger tanks: evaporation and a cooling fan can take an inch of water out of my 29 gallon tank in one day.

As the water level drops in the tank, it also drops in the skimmer, meaning that the foam will stop reaching the collection cup. This necessitates maintaining a consistent water level in order to have proper skimming. The lazy aquarist within me resents this, but I know that maintaining a consistent water level has other benefits, such as keeping salinity and other parameters stable.

Conversely, if the water level is too high or an additive causes the skimmer to run wetter than normal, you can run into a situation where the skimmer pumps water straight into the cup, filling it quickly. With the Coralife 65 hanging outside of the tank, this could result in a minor flood. With the Tunze Nano this has happened only once (my fault for fiddling with the adjustments). Because it sits within the tank, and because the lid of the collection cup has openings, the Tunze will not overflow. Peace of mind you can't appreciate enough.

Overall
Great skimmer, wish I'd known about it when I originally setup my tank. I'd recommend it to anyone with 30 gallons or less. For those with tanks in their livingroom, you absolutely can't beat the virtue of silence when it comes to a skimmer.

Photo: Geometric pygmy hawkfish

2009-05-05T10:08:00.003-04:00

This fish has remained quite shy since I acquired it in March. It will tolerate viewers sitting quietly in front of the tank, but any rapid movements or strange behaviors, specifically related to cameras, send it hiding amongst the rocks. I was finally able to get a half decent picture, by sneaking up like National Geographic nature photographer.

Despite the shyness, this is a great species for the smaller reef aquarium. It is a calm fish that spends most of its time perched on the rocks (or hiding), which makes a nice contrast to the typically boisterous clownfish and chromis that I keep.

Links: Start at the Source

2009-04-21T11:07:00.002-04:00

Here I am prattling on about my nitrates rising, completely oblivious to the aging to do item "Buy RO filters for aquarium". Thankfully Ocean@Home posted a reminder that parameter issues often start at the source, the water you put into your tank. Doing frequent water changes to combat nitrates isn't going to help if the tap water is the source of your nitrates. Tonight I'll test my tap and RO output just to verify.

A quick online order from Drs. Foster Smith, and I should have some new RO filters here within the week. I took the opportunity to order a new XM 15k metal halide bulb as well, another yearly maintenance task I've been slacking on. Better late than never!

Reef Tank: Shopping for Algae

2009-04-14T13:03:00.007-04:00

Crazy idea of the day: adding a whole lot of macro algae to my tank, making it a "planted" reef.

• Motivator 1: I miss having a planted tank.
• Motivator 2: Algae would make the tank more diverse.
• Motivator 3: Having a unique tank look.
• Motivator 4: Potentially would take up some nutrients.

The real thought process trigger was this recent post on the Glass Box, with a video of a Japanese tank. The sand bed is planted with turtle grass,

Thalassia testudinum.

I also like the look of Halodule beaudettei, which is more like freshwater hairgrass. Combined with turtle grass, you can get an interesting meadow effect, an often sought after look for freshwater planted tanks. If I could get this to grow thick enough, it would be a really interesting effect with the live rock rising out of it.

Live Aquaria has a good selection of marine algae, but they are often out of stock. I found a small company, Gulf Coast Ecosystems, that specializes in tropical algae collection and aquaculture. I'm going to do some more research right now, but think this may be an interesting change for the tank. The only (major) downside I can think of is that these plants are native to the Caribbean, and the majority of my stock is from the South Pacific. Though I've never intended to create a strict biotope, it would be more of an unusual species mix than I've generally preferred to make.

Open Question: Dealing with Nitrates

2009-04-06T14:39:00.005-04:00

Over the preceding two months I've noticed the nitrate levels in my reef tank creeping up from unmeasurable to 20ppm. I blame this squarely on a Glassbox post about fish being fed enough; worried that I was compelling my fish to be "coralexic", my tank has since become an all you can eat Chinese buffet. I believe the elevated nitrate level is responsible for some of my corals browning out. Also I've noticed a few strands of dreaded hair algae appearing within the tank, as well as increased diatoms on the glass of the tank.

My plan is to keep up with my weekly 5% water changes, and also to introduce a new form of nutrient export. If anyone has advice on the choices below, please volunteer your expertise in the comments. Also if you'd like to sign up to come over and do some of the water changes, please feel free.

Option 1: Convert Aquaclear filter into an algae scrubber

Originally I bought this filter with intent of modifying it into a refugium, filled with live rock rubble and chaeto. Since, I've been running a small amount of rubble and two bags of carbon. This option would involve adding a small light above the filter, installing a grate over the exit, and filling the filter with chaeto algae to remove nitrates.

Pros: cheap, fun project with existing equipment
Cons: reduced volume of carbon, not enough volume for a useful quantity of algae

Option 2: Hang-on refugium

Although a real sump is out of the question for this tank, there are out of the box options for hang on refugiums. This would perform roughly the same function as a modified Aquaclear filter, but with a lot more volume. These things always struck me as somewhat gimmicky though. I would run mostly chaeto within the refuge, along with some sort of sand bed and live rock rubble.

Pros: More volume, greater biodiversity, out of the box solution
Cons: Expensive, unsure of their effectiveness, possibility of flooding?

Option 3: Another solution?
Larger skimmer to cut the problem off at the source? Less feeding? Better sand bed maintenance? Some sort of addition clean up crew? All of the above? Let me know what you think.

Video: Trained Lumpfish

2009-04-01T13:21:00.003-04:00

The less informed may be inclined to think of this as an April Fools joke, but you can in fact train fish to perform daring stunts such as wriggling through a soft rubber hoop. I got my dad the official Fish Training Kit thinking it would make for a good joke, but as the video below shows, fish training is in fact serious business:

The trainer and her star lumpfish (Cyclopteridae one of my favorite cold water species!) are native to the New England Aquarium, and I found this lovely post not from their irregular and uninformative member's newsletter, but via the excellent Zooilogix blog.

Video: Boris and Friends

2009-03-30T21:24:00.001-04:00

I've never really tried out the video function on my camera, and that is reprehensible. So here is a quick shot of Boris and a few of his friends, partying it up as is their custom.

Blog: New Skin in Progress

2009-03-30T17:17:00.007-04:00

Taking advantage of some project downtime, I'm trying to put a custom skin on this old blog. Apologies in advance to IE6 users, your browser is just too much work to bother with for someone who has a limited knowledge of CSS.

Update:
Something came up, so I've rolled back to the old template for now.

Update 2:
Simplified the design so I wouldn't hate it the morning after. I've only tested in Safari so far, but given how simple it is, I don't expect much to be broken. Also I've switched to a different comment system, so all old comments have disappeared until (if!) I bother to import them.

Also the colors are all wrong because my Photoshop color space got screwed up again. >:(

Links: Stunning Aquarium Video

2009-03-25T14:00:00.003-04:00

Eye Candy v2 from Greg Rothschild on Vimeo.

I would like to say that seeing an aquarium of this quality fills me with jealousy or a sense of failure regarding my own tank, but who has time for petty emotions when a video like this is playing. You could film a Planet Earth episode in this tank.

Reef Tank: Boris the Destroyer

2009-03-24T23:01:00.004-04:00

This post was supposed to be an update on the new corals and fish I added a week ago, but first I'd like to introduce you to Boris the Destroyer, a superglue eating hermit crab:

The first inhabitants to take up residence in my tank were hermit crabs and snails, including Boris here. While the rest of the hermits are fairly mild-mannered, Boris is a special individual. At some point in the past year, he killed a Nassarius snail, took over the shell, and promptly grew to three times the size of his fellow hermit crabs. I've always wondered how he managed to grow so fast, and why he shows particular interest in new coral additions to the tank.

It turns out Boris has been eating the super glue (Cyanoacrylate) that I use to attach coral frags. Over the past week, each morning I've awoken to one particular Monitpora frag knocked loose from the rock work. I'd reattach it, only to have it knocked loose again the next day. Each time I re-glued the frag, Boris would make a beeline from anywhere in the aquarium straight to that coral. I thought he was picking delectable treats off the foreign frag plug, but after a few days I realized he was actually chipping off and eating the super glue. There can be no doubt that he has gained super powers from this diet, and poses a threat to civilization.

I had banned the naming of aquarium inhabitants ever since a pair of cichlids my girlfriend had named after F. Scott Fitzgerald characters were found floating upside down, but as Boris is surely immortal, I have no problem bestowing him with the name.

The Plectranthias inermis is doing great. Although still quite shy, I have seen it venturing further into the open. I was worried about how small it was compared to the other, more boisterous fish, but everyone seems to be getting along well.

The corals were, as usual with Live Aquaria, healthy and attractive frags. I noticed what could possibly have been STN setting in on a nub of the blue branching Montipora, so I snipped that off. The green branching piece took quite a beating, as it was a target of Boris, but seems to be recovering decently. The green cap is also good, although I am considering moving it to a position with more light.

You can also see in one of the following photos how insanely fast the Montipora caps I got a few months ago have grown. They have easily doubled in size, and one is moving in on its neighbors. I am hesitant to mess with success here, but something may need to be moved soon.

Reef Tank: New Livestock

2009-03-18T11:32:00.004-04:00

Fresh off a plane ride from the Live Aquaria facility in Wisconsin:

Plectranthias inermis (Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish)

I have been following the Diver's Den RSS feed for a few months, waiting for a unique fish suited to a smaller reef aquarium, and I'm hoping this will be it. Given my recent issues with nitrates, likely from heavy feeding, this will probably be the last fish I introduce into the tank. As such, I was looking for a lively and interesting specimen.

Montipora sp.

I have had great success with the growth and general health of Montipora species in my tank, especially when compared to other stony corals. Hopefully these new specimens will do just as well. All of these corals were grown in an aquaculture facility, while the fish was likely wild caught.

Turtle Aquarium: Step 3 - Finishing Touches

2009-03-16T22:04:00.002-04:00

After allowing the silicone seals holding the shelf installation to cure overnight, the final step in this project was to finish the landscaping. I began with the back wall above the land area, which I wanted to cover with cork. This required cutting three pieces, including a notched middle piece to sit over the divider between land and beach areas.

By doing some fine tuning with a jig saw, I was able to get these three pieces to fit flush and tight enough that adhesive was not required. The plastic rim of the aquarium was helpful with this process. This also means that I could remove and redo the land area without having to cut off the back panel, should future renovations be necessary.

With the cork in place, I filled the beach area with an inch of coconut fiber soil, then topped it with three inches of aquarium gravel. I added some mondo grass, Ophiopogon japonicus, a plant that is mistakenly sold as purely aquatic but actually does quite well partly submerged, as I will be using it. This species did particularly well in the early iteration of this tank. For the land area, I added a bottom layer of large gravel for drainage, and then filled it to the top with coconut fiber.

The final step was a layer of terrarium moss and a few more terrestrial plants for the land area. This looks good now, but previously I have had trouble with moss growing under the bright UV lights I use for the turtle. Additionally, he tends to claw a lot of it into the water when climbing around. I was willing to try it once more just because of how good it looks, but I expect that in the future I may be going back to regular lawn grass which roots better.

One thing I failed to account for when moving to wood for the construction of this shelf was the added thickness. As such the land area ended up being a few inches higher than I wanted, leaving little room for plant growth under the light fixture and glass lid. It is also harder to view. I'm looking into a few options, the most appealing being some sort of screen riser for the tank that will provide additional vertical height and ventilation. There are a number of pre-made options for smaller tanks, but I have yet to find one in the size I need.

I will add a final post about this project with finished photos and an analysis of what went right and wrong with the project.

Turtle Aquarium: Step 2 - Shelf Installation

2009-03-11T10:11:00.003-04:00

Last night I drained the 40 gallon aquarium and moved the turtle into a temporary 10 gallon tank on loan from a friend. Needless to say much hissing, clawing, and snapping was involved in this transfer, and someone is completely irate over his temporary home.

The shelf dropped into the aquarium quite easily, leaving only a quarter inch of clearance between the glass and the shelf on either side, while fitting perfectly flush to the rear of the aquarium. This is much more than I could ever hope for given my limited woodworking skills, and I attribute the success entirely to slow and careful planning and measurements. I placed the half logs on the bottom glass of the aquarium and then maneuvered the shelf to sit on them. Currently only the weight of the shelf is holding them in place, but I plan on evaluating the possibility of drilling through the platform and screwing it directly to the log columns. It was not possible to do this prior to installing the shelf and still have it fit into the tank.

Once the shelf was in its final place I used a healthy amount of silicone to affix it to the sides of the tank, creating what will (hopefully) become a water tight seal. This involved filling the quarter inch gaps on either side of the aquarium. Since these are not load bearing seals, I'm hoping this will be fine.

I also hydrated a brick of ZooMed coconut fiber substrate. This is basically a freeze dried block of shredded coconut shells, the planting substrate I used in the previous iteration of this aquarium. It has the benefit over other soils of being completely organic and holding up well under constant moisture. Placing the brick of fibers in a bucket with some water results in rich, moist substrate material.

Tonight I will evaluate the strength of the silicone, and make any patches if necessary. Then I will cut and affix the final cork panels to the rear wall of the aquarium above the land area, and begin filling in with substrate. Hopefully I will be able to return the turtle to the primary aquarium and break down the temporary tank.

Turtle Aquarium: Step 1 - Shelf Construction

2009-03-08T16:28:00.000-04:00

This weekend I finally got started in earnest on construction of the new turtle tank, building out the shelf that will form the land area. Originally I had intended to use plexiglass for this, but after cutting the pieces, I noticed they were bowing in the middle between the support columns. This would stress the silicone seals holding the pieces together, especially when the landmass was added. I looked into thicker plastic options, but they were both expensive and unavailable locally.

Instead I decided to go with wood. I was worried about well this would hold up when partially submerged, but I was assured by an accomplished boat build (dad) that it would hold up fine. Thinking back to when I worked on a lobster boat in Maine and traps were built out of wood slats, it made sense.

I followed the same plan, modifying the measurements to take into account the extra thickness of the wood over the acrylic I had planned to use. Construction went as smooth as you could hope for when doing woodworking in your city apartment kitchen. The three pieces (shelf, front edge, and divider) were assembled with stainless screws and Gorilla Glue. I sealed the joints with silicone.

Next I cut some cork paneling to fit across the front. I had bought two 18x24 pieces, so two 6" strips sufficed to cover the front panel. I made a diagonal cut in beach area piece to disguise where the divider piece is. The beach area will be slightly below water level, making it easy for the turtle to haul himself out. This area will be filled with gravel and rocks for basking.

There is a bit of a seam between the two pieces. I should have put a bevel on the edge so the fit more seamlessly, but I think when the cork is in the water it will swell up and close this gape somewhat. Below you can see the shelf on its half-log supporting columns:

Next step is to get a small temporary aquarium to hold the turtle, so I can drain his current tank and get this shelf placed in. I need to silicone the edges of the shelf to the glass to create a seal separating the land from the water as much as possible. After that comes the fun part: landscaping!

Turtle Aquarium: Build Plans

2009-02-17T08:45:00.003-05:00

This weekend I finally ordered the materials for building out a new turtle vivarium. The goal of this project is to match the aesthetic appeal of the original tank, while also increasing swimming room. The original construction consisted of a simple divider between the land and water area, resulting in an 8 inch deep land mass that was for the most part a waste of volume.

With this second design I'm intending to create a shelf, leaving the area under the land mass open for swimming and lurking. The intent is to use two artificial logs as columns for supporting the shelf. Here you can see a front and top rendering of what it will hopefully look like. The shelf and back wall will be covered with cork bark as in the previous tank.

On the right is a cut in the front panel. The water level will be even or slightly higher than this, to make it easy for the turtle to pull himself out on land. This area will also have a large flat rock, and light will be concentrated for basking. Think of it as the equivalent to a chaise lounge in the shallow areas of a swimming pool.

This project will need only three pieces of acrylic: a front, bottom and divider panel. These will be attached together with silicon, and then attached to the walls of the tank and the supporting pillars.

Equipment: Tunze Nano Skimmer

2009-02-11T20:04:00.003-05:00

My shiny new Tunze nano skimmer arrived today. I'll share a few initial impressions, and write a more lengthy review once its been running for a week or so. Needless to say, I am thrilled to be getting rid of my finicky and flood-prone Coralife skimmer, and the tank already looks better.

Compare the giant, ugly hanging pump and return box:

To this small rectangle that practically disappears into my black background (right hand corner):

Some initial impressions:

Dead silent: my old skimmer made the living room sound like an aquaculture lab. Now all I can hear is the fans in my lighting fixture.
Easy installation: attach it to the side of the tank with a magnet, plug it in and adjust the air intake. Done.
Tiny footprint: I had to move my light fixture forward about an inch from where I normally keep it to accomodate the collection cup, but otherwise this unit is tiny and unobtrusive. Huge upgrade from what I had before.

Links: The wonderful world of aquarium blogs

2009-02-11T00:57:00.005-05:00

I purposefully crafted the cheesy post title to avoid saying the word "blogosphere", but that is in fact what it is: a surprisingly tight knit (some might say slightly inbred, given the redundancy of post material) community of aquarium bloggers has been formed in the past year. I find it a refreshing alternative to cruising the popular aquarium forums, which are rife with repetitive question threads. There is much to be found and learned in the forums, but my patience for parsing through the rest of it has run a bit thin now that I've established a general basis of reef keeping knowledge.

Here is a run down of the blogs I'm currently subscribed to. Feel free to post more, or yours, in the comments and I'll add it in. Also, as my own little blog has finally established some staying power, I've begun work on a custom designed template for it (finally!). The visual is progressing well, but as usual I will get hung up on the code, so no promised ETA for now.

Aquarium blogs I'm currently subscribed to:

www.aquadaily.com
Good general purpose aquarium blog, with information for fresh and saltwater enthusiasts.

www.pacificeastaquaculture.com
Blog for a coral importer and retailer that I have not yet ordered from. Great behind the scenes posts about the retail facility and importing operations.

www.aquatic-eden.com
Planted tank specific, featuring "aquascapes of the week" which are great eyecandy. Makes me miss having a planted tank!

www.glassbox-design.com
A great blog, with both industry coverage and personal insight logging the progress of a very beautiful tank. The design and modernist slant is personally appealing as well.

www.advancedaquarist.com
Excellent and professional articles updated monthly. Great source of information for the reefer.

designandreef.blogspot.com
Similar to the Glass Box, great documentary blog of a design orientated reefer and his nano tank construction, along with various posts relating to design and aquariums.

blog.reefiris.com
A blog from Keith updating the progress of his development for Reef Iris, a very promising website project that allows people to funnel their internet-capable controller information and other tank information into a community site. I think this will become a great alternative to forum build threads as it progresses.

www.reefbuilders.com
The ultimate blog for industry news and product information.

blog.marinedepot.com
Official blog of Marine Depot, a high quality online store for reef products.

www.oceanathome.com
Another good hobbyist blog with a range of aquarium information.

blog.fragd.it
As a web geek, I love a creative URL. As an aquarium fan, I love a useful blog. Fragd.it is both.

Coralife Skimmer: The Last Straw

2009-02-10T00:03:00.003-05:00

When I created the initial equipment list for my reef aquarium, it was based entirely on research with zero real world experience. Parsing the forums and books, and with the previous knowledge from my planted tank days that buying the right equipment the first time was the most economical method, I put together a set of gadgets and equipment that I thought would be a good setup.

I got a few things right, primarily the lighting. My Coralife 65 skimmer however has always been a disappointment. It is finicky about water levels, prone to overflowing, and making me nervous to leave it running while out of the house. It is incredibly loud, aesthetically displeasing, and the performance is at best mediocre.

This evening while playing some video games, I heard a small dripping. For some reason, the vent in the output pipe was bubbling water instead of venting air, causing a slow drip down the side of the tank and onto the floor. Clutching a recently acquired Amazon gift card in my hand, I just placed an order for a Tunze Nanoskimmer which I hope will solve all these problems.

The Tunze Nanoskimmer is:
- Reportedly quiet
- A small, square footprint within the tank
- A respect and well-known manufacturer
- Entirely contained inside the tank, so that overflows would at worst return to the aquarium

I will report with setup and operation details when it arrives. In the meantime, if anyone wants to buy a very used Coralife 65 skimmer, I'll pay you to haul it away.

Links: RSS Feed for Live Aquaria

2009-02-07T11:58:00.003-05:00

Live Aquaria is easily the best site for ordering aquatic life, with unmatched quality and shipping, as well as a stay-alive guarantee. I've been a big fan for quite some time, and the majority of my reef's inhabitants originated from them.

They've just added an RSS feed for their Diver's Den, which provides what-you-see-is-what-you-get specimens on a first come, first serve basis. The feed should let you keep tabs on their stock without having to remember to check the site.

Here is the URL: http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/feed/ddfeed.xml

Now I just need to get them signed up on Brightcove for all their videos.

Update:
The only downside is that unlike browsing the actual site, with the RSS feed you get a view into things that have already sold! So waking up this morning, I discovered I was too late to get in on these beautiful Montipora color variations! So sad.

Photos: California Academy of Sciences

2009-02-07T10:18:00.002-05:00

A little over a year ago, on my first trip to San Francisco, I stumbled into a temporary aquarium space for the California Academy of Sciences. They had an enormous, two-story coral reef setup, along with an aquaculture facility for propagating more corals. Talking with the staff informed me that the tank was a test to see if coral could be grown in captivity at extreme depths, and the propagation facility was for growing out colonies to populate a much larger tank that would be located in their permanent building, scheduled to open late in 2008.

Being out there for business this week, I took advantage of a few spare hours to get over and check out the finished tank. Unfortunately there wasn't much stocked in the form of corals yet. I'm not sure if they are adding species in slowly or what. There was an enormously large and diverse population of fish however, along with some other innovations. A large sand bed with a full grown mangrove tree was attached to the aquarium. A walled off section for sharks and rays, as well as a shallow lagoon area was also attached to the tank. The reef tank is impressive in size and ambition, but as all reef keepers know, it will take several years to reach it's true potential.

The california coast tank was also quite large, and featured an enormous wave box. From what was visible, it appeared to work on the same principal as the systems common to home aquarium. But check out the size of these waves:

My favorite section of the aquarium was the staff picks. Here small aquariums and terrariums were set into a wall, featuring a favorite species or biotope of each staff member. There was an incredible reef tank here, with a coral wall built along the left hand side leaving dramatic open space through most of the tank. Very cool.

Below are some photos I snapped, and there are a few more to be found on my Flickr account.

My favorite tank design:

Primary viewing window for the reef (there are several others):

Some of the reef lighting. There was another tier of lights above this, as well as natural sun lighting through the roof:

Feeding time on the reef:

The California coast:

Resident of the cold water tank: