Reef Builders -The Reef Aquarium Blog

How do you camouflage yourself but stand out with your friends? Ask a cuttle, Part 1

Christine Williams — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:29:35 +0000

Sepia officinalis, photo C. Williams

Mantis shrimp are not the only marine organisms to take advantage of polarized light in communication and defense; in fact, it can be argued that the cuttlefish pulls even more amazing stunts—camouflaging itself from predators while sending colored light signals invisible to everyone except other cuttles—all while only being able to see the color green. So how, and more importantly why, do they accomplish this?

Cuttlefish skin, like that of other cephalopods, has evolved to be able to display an incredibly wide range of appearances, both in color and texture. Texture is accomplished through fine muscle control of the actual flesh, allowing the cuttle to match a gravelly bottom, for example, by making the skin bumpy. Color displays are created by chromatophores and iridophores which are able to react quickly in response to stimuli. Chromatophores are simply packets of pigment in skin cells in layers (yellow to the outside, brown to the inside and red between) which can expand or contract. If red expands and the others contract, you have a red cuttlefish. An all-red camouflage might work if the cuttle resided on Sesame Street, but in the ocean patterns and hues are much more complex, and the cuttle matches this by varying the amount of each chromatophore it shows, and in which location. Interestingly, the goal of the cuttle is not to match the environment exactly, and this has been proven in experiments putting cuttlefish in tanks with pure black and white stripes. To match this precisely in a moving body of water would be nearly impossible. Instead, the goal of the cuttle camouflage is to break up lines and to break up the background, making the cuttle not a perfect match, but difficult to pick out. Predator eyes are trained to recognize movement and clear lines in unusual places; by staying still and breaking up the straight smooth lines the cuttle is passed over.

Iridophores create the blues, pinks and purples of the cuttle repertoire, not by pigments, but by reflecting ambient light back at different wavelengths. Where chromatophores absorb light, iridophores use proteins like microscopic prisms to bounce back light—green light falling on the cuttle may be reflected as pink, for example. The combination of these two techniques allows cuttlefish to create some of the most stunning displays in nature.

Cuttles use these displays not only to blend in, but also to communicate with other animals. A flashy bright display can warn a predator to stay away, and it is theorized that some of the “moving stripe” patterns mesmerize prey, allowing the cuttle to slip in for a good meal. But if a predator is seen, how can a cuttlefish tell its fellow cephs that danger is near without drawing attention to itself? The answer is similar to the mantis: using polarized light. More on this, and how an essentially colorblind animal can be so color-savvy, in another installment…

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How do you camouflage yourself but stand out with your friends? Ask a cuttle, Part 1

How do you camouflage yourself but stand out with your friends? Ask a cuttle, Part 1

From revolution to evolution: a look at two hobby trends and their impact

Scott Fellman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:39:50 +0000

Photo from "Marine Atlas" by Helmut Debelius

After 30-something years in the hobby, you see a lot of trends come and go. Fads and “new” ideas show up and subsequently vanish back into the mists of time. Some of these “fads” do stick around a while, yet many quickly disappear after we move on to the next big thing.

You need only look back in recent reef hobby “history” to see examples of what I mean: A few years back, Acanthastrea was all the rage. If you had one, it didn’t matter how ugly it was—you were the coolest thing this side of ORA! People were downright proud of the big bucks they dropped on “designer Acans.” Much has been written about that topic, so I’ll leave it at that. Then came the Micromussa, and suddenly, we were into a whole new coral phase, with a similar madness—inflated prices and trendy names! This one stuck around a lot longer—and with good reason in my opinion, at least Micromussa are actually attractive! It’s really fun for me to follow these trends and how they arise, I tell ya!

Sitting around one night, I was looking at the sexy new equipment I’ve been accumulating for my new system, and I thought about some major trends and fads from over the years to see what impact they had on the hobby. How they impacted us and—for that matter—how they actually stuck around. I settled on two items that really fit the bill. Here are my rants on both:

The “Wet-Dry” Trickle Filter

Where would the hobby be without this invention? Originally derived from sewage treatment technology, the “wet-dry” trickle filter worked very well, and when entrepreneur George Smit unveiled it in America in 1986, a virtual revolution occurred. Suddenly, interest in the marine hobby skyrocketed. Because of the wonderful biological processing capabilities of the trickle filter, it became possible to maintain very high water quality and keep live corals and invertebrates with success never before enjoyed by earlier generations of hobbyists. As so often happens when things get “trendy” and a quick buck can be made, all sorts of people got into the “trickle filter business.” Suddenly, anyone with access to acrylic, glue, and one of Albert Theil’s books was a player in the hobby. If you look back in a magazine—say, FAMA from 1987-88, there were literally dozens of “filter manufacturers,” ranging from a guy in his garage to some pretty large companies that saw a good thing and hopped on the wet-dry train! Each one was out there promising optimum performance and results from their filter. Interestingly enough, almost none of these smaller guys are around today.

And of course, the folks who made plastic biomedia were having a field day! Just about anything, from extruded plastic noodles to hair curlers (“Mom, do you have any…?” was a refrain often heard at my house when I was a kid) were employed as “trickle filter media” . You could actually judge how cool a hobbyist was by what kind of biomedia he was using in his trickle filter…I’m serious! Dupla Bio Balls were the Elos products of their day. Your friends would literally drive to your house to see your trickle filter full of blue bioballs (OK—don’t even go there—I know a few of you are feasting on the innuendo). It was very serious back then, but absolutely hysterical to look back on now.

Trickle filters for reef systems hung on well into the 90s, and are still used today in freshwater systems and—for that matter— in some marine systems, too. The biggest downfall was the resulting accumulation of nitrate that occurred in trickle-filtered aquariums. So efficient at removing ammonia and nitrite, trickle filters fell short on harboring bacteria that consumed nitrate. Once the “Berlin” movement came around in the 90s, people began yanking their biomedia, and suddenly the concept of the “sump” was born. The “filter” in the traditional sense had morphed into a reservoir that served as the nexus of your water processing system: The “filter”, er—sump—now contained your protein skimmer (in many cases), reactors for various chemical media, and even macroalgae. This configuration is still the gold standard to this day. It’s safe to say that the trickle filter never really died—it just…evolved. Good technology changing with the knowledge of the times.

Sandbeds

Talk about controversy! There were many serious disagreements among hobby “experts” and main-street hobbyists alike about the merits of sand in the aquarium. Full-on, knock-down drag-out fights occurred on the message boards, in the hobby media, and simply between hobbyists in person! In the early days of the so-called “Berlin” method, it was agreed that you wouldn’t use sand in the aquarium, You were adding copious amounts of kalkwasser for topoff, which was to maintain alkalinity and calcium levels. Sand was less relevant. Eventually, Berlin subscribers decided that their tanks were lacking something…SAND! So back in to the tank the sand went. Suddenly, interest in living sandbeds and the beneficial creatures that lived and worked there exploded. Thanks to the work of authors like John Tullock, Ron Schimek and others, sand was not just stuff that you threw on the bottom of the tank. It was an adjunct to your filter system—a biological compliment to your tank.

Interest in sandbeds grew, and it was discovered that biological processes were taking place in deep sandbeds that assisted in the processing of nitrate and other substances that could degrade water quality. Then came the plenum, a man-made “assist” to the biological process. It was discovered that if you set one up right, you could create a “void” space that would really help the sandbed function even better. Man assisting nature! However, the plenum never really caught on that well, and users of the plenum swore by it, while detractors claimed all sorts of tank disasters could be attributed to it…in fact, the detractors of plenums also led to a backlash against all sorts of sandbeds. Suddenly, hobbyist message boards were filled with hateful jabs. Hobbyists claimed that deep sand beds (with plenums or otherwise) caused their tanks to “crash,” corals to wither away, their sex life to evaporate, etc. Some geniuses decided that keeping your tank bare of sand was the ticket! The only way! In fact, it was advised that you use “cutting board” (Starboard) at the bottom of your tank for both aesthetics and practical purposes rather than evil sand. You needed to keep detritus in suspension—Detritus = BAD! According to some bare-bottom fanatics, detritus caused the Vietnam War, AIDS, Global Warming, the rise of Al Queda, etc. Besides, the ocean bottom is filled with cutting boards, right?

The war against detritus was on! Powerful pumps were employed to keep it in suspension, and aquariums that looked like lab experiments were the thing. I distinctly remember the furor a hobbyist caused on the message board when he used BLACK starboard…”OMG- where do I get this stuff!” was a common refrain. Nice!!! Had we gone mad? Cutting board was an aquascaping statement? A dark cloud settled upon reefkeeping land. There was earnest advice to “cook” your rock by scrubbing it to nothingness, swishing it in water, and banishing it to an unlighted container for weeks and weeks, until it emerged bleached and dead, and allegedly “nutrient free”. Nutrients were bad—sterility was good! You were actually looked down upon for having sand in your tank, because, according to proponents of bare bottom systems, it was only a matter of time before the stuff accumulating in your sand bed would sink your system. Sterility ruled. “Hyper husbandry” (a sort of paranoid, extreme form of the “Berlin method” ) was created. I am probably forever exposing myself to the wrath and hatred of the rigid, die hard adherists to this “methodology,” but I’m okay with that..I’ve been around the block a few times…I can take it!

As time went by, hobbyists seemed to get bored of looking at tanks without sand, at cutting boards sitting at the bottom, and driving their protein skimmers to produce useless watery clear skimmate (another “methodology” that supposedly helped achieve higher water quality). Someone set up a beautiful tank with sand posted pictures of it on the message boards and all was forgiven. Water changes and regular attention to husbandry and natural biological processes, rather than “ultra-sterilization” and paranoia became cool again. Sanity began to return. It was once again okay to have sand in your tank, although some of the barebottom folks still admonished you to watch for the signs of the apocalypse. It wasn’t a matter of “if,” it was a matter of “when!” To this day, bare bottom aquariums are abundant, but the owners seem far less dogmatic and arrogant than they were back in the day, citing a much more plausible and logical reason for forgoing the substrate: They keep stony corals that require obscene amounts of flow, and they are tired of sand blowing all over them! Thank you! Hey, I can buy that. Many beautiful tanks have been set up bare bottom for just this reason and the owners don’t preach doom to those hobbyists that still like sand! You can feel the love.

It’s very interesting to look at the rise, fall, and evolution of aquarium trends. I hope this little rant has provoked you to think a bit about how we have evolved in the hobby and about how much more we have to learn. By looking at the past, we can hopefully create a brighter future for ourselves and the animals we cherish. Who knows what the next “revolution” in reefkeeping will be and how it will evolve into a hobby mainstay…or not!

Till next time,

Stay wet…

Scott Fellman

facebook.com/scott.fellman

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From revolution to evolution: a look at two hobby trends and their impact

From revolution to evolution: a look at two hobby trends and their impact

Steve Tyronne Limited Edition ‘Butternuts Boulder’ Porites

Karl Farmer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:20:37 +0000

The Butternuts Boulder Porites has an exciting combination of pigments. The center of the corallites contain a solid bright chocolate pigmentation. This contrasts rather well with the butternut tan pigments that develop on the corallite ridges. As can be seen in the closeup image above the corals colors are developed by pigments located in dense chunks or pigment sprinkles. Koral Hackerz acquired our seed colony from Renegade Reefers member StiffLeather. Julia acquired her original colony of this coral from Hacknpack.com who transhipped the coral in from Indo Polynesia. The coral was then immediately cut up into individual corallites and packed it out for shipping. Julie refers to this coral as the Butternuts Boulder because the coral will expand its tissue at night slightly and when removed from an aquarium and rolled down a hill, this coral simulates the smooth rolling behavior of a boulder. Steve Tyronne is maintaining a seed section of this coral for KoralHackers.com in a 125 gallon naturally filtered PentaZonal system. This system is naturally filtered with a cryptic zone, filter feeder zone, reef flat exposed zone, a PVC plumbing zone and an open water zone. The coral appears to prefer moderate current. In Tyronne’s captive reef the coral is positioned 15 inches away from a 175 watt 5,000 K Coralife metal halide. The rich earthy tones lose their luster when kept under light with higher color temperatures. The coral appears to develop its most intense coloration under moderate illumination. This helps to maintain the brilliant butternut corallite center pigments. Price is currently $65 per single corallite.

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Steve Tyronne Limited Edition ‘Butternuts Boulder’ Porites

Steve Tyronne Limited Edition ‘Butternuts Boulder’ Porites

Cool, bronzed antique aquarium and stand from the 1920s

Brian Blank — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:54:23 +0000

Steinhart Aquarium

We always enjoy looking back on the hobby seeing how we’ve progressed over the years, so when we came across this antique, bronzed seahorse design aquarium from the 1920s on Off the Wall Antiques we had to share it. This 20-gallon aquarium was made 1926 by the Jewel Aquarium Co. of Chicago. The tank is old school slate bottomed with some very ornate seahorses added to the design of the stand very reminiscent of the famous seahorse railing of San Francisco’s Steinhart Aquarium from the same time period. The tank is “supported” on the side with bronzed dolphins to keep the sea motif. This classic aquarium was sold for an unknown price but a less-than-stellar reproduction is selling for $8,500, so figure the original had to sell for at in the neighborhood of $15,000. The reproduction does a good job with the stand and base, but the aquarium itself is new and just looks like an off-the-shelf 20g spray painted bronze with what looks like some sort of common Oceanic light fixture. For the $8,500 we figured there would be some sort of ornate top to match the majestic stand.

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Cool, bronzed antique aquarium and stand from the 1920s

Cool, bronzed antique aquarium and stand from the 1920s

Shocker: cheap chinese-made pumps from Coralvue get recalled

Jake Adams — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:00:07 +0000

The High Seas Prop Pump aka Sun Sun pump from Coralvue can’t decide whether it is aping a Hydor Korallia, Tunze Nano Stream or both. It’s no surprise then that the cheaply made Chinese product has been recalled in Canada due to a couple reports of electrocution. We first wrote about the High Seas Prop pump at the Midwest Frag Fest where they sported some ridiculously cheap retail pricing. In less than six months, the pumps have caused enough problems to be recalled in Canada and if problems arise in the US we could see an American recall as well. If you’ve recently purchased some ridiculously cheap propeller style water pump that came in barely labeled white boxes, we suggest you give the pumps a very thorough examination and maybe pull out the old voltmeter to see if they are already leaking electrons into your tank. We spoke with an undercover EcoTech Marine operative who foresaw the potential problems with the Coralvue pump when they were displayed at MACNA and it was suggested that they might be better re purposed as rotoscopic binoculars.

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Shocker: cheap chinese-made pumps from Coralvue get recalled

Shocker: cheap chinese-made pumps from Coralvue get recalled

Planctonite’s Stair style frag holder

Ryan Gripp — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:18:28 +0000

Sure. You might have seen frag holders before, but nothing like this that has been made for commercial use. Have a look-see at the “Stair Frag holder” from Planctonite. The frag rack features over 48 slots for your new babies to sit and grow and it is made out of all cast acrylic. I like this design because it should be easier to see all the frags in your tank without having to go above to see them all, much like how eggcrate designs work. You can pick one of these guys up for €45.00 ($67).

Planctonite introduces sweeper for protein skimmers

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Planctonite’s Stair style frag holder

Planctonite’s Stair style frag holder

Reef Fusion 1 & 2: Seachem finally producing a two-part calcium & buffer solution

Jake Adams — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:05:42 +0000

Reef Fusion 1 and Reef Fusion 2 from Seachem is the new two part calcium/buffer solution that we’ll soon be seeing on store shelves. Reef Fusion is a cute name that fits well in line with Seachem’s original naming convention for their products. Why Seachem has waited so long to throw a two-part solution into the ring is a mystery. With this move Seachem joins B-Ionic, Warner Marine and many other large reef aquarium additive manufacturers in solidifying the efficacy and popularity of using 2-part dosing solutions to maintain a balanced mineral and ionic balance in reef aquaria. Reef Fusion 1 and 2 “contains all utilized majors and minors”, note the use of the word ‘utilized’ and it should start showing up here shortly in December. We are told that the product will be priced very competitively and we look forward to seeing if Seachem does anything special with the formula for two-part solutions. Otherwise, why would they have taken so long to bring this to market?

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Reef Fusion 1 & 2: Seachem finally producing a two-part calcium & buffer solution

Reef Fusion 1 & 2: Seachem finally producing a two-part calcium & buffer solution

Wisconsin Northwoods’ “Little Bohemia” of marine life

Brian Blank — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:10:22 +0000

When we think of marine aquaculture and warehouse facilities we think about the typical havens like Southern California’s thriving wholesaler industry a stone’s throw from LAX. So it’s amazing to see Drs. Foster & Smith’s LiveAquaria, one of the top-notch facilities, in the heart of America’s Midwest a five-hour drive north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city. This post was inspired by a recent article in NewsoftheNorth.net on LiveAquaria and it’s director Kevin Kohen.

Let me frame the story for you. Northern Wisconsin was heavily based in mining and logging over the years, in fact my grandparents both Finnish and German immigrants started their new lives in America in Northern Wisconsin as farmers and loggers. Over the years, the Northwoods (or “Up North” as they say there) became the place to escape the hustle and bustle of life with vacation homes abundant on the vast and beautiful lakes of the area. In fact, during the heyday of organized crime in the 1920s and 30s, Northern Wisconsin was home to hideouts of famous gangsters like John Dillinger and Al Capone. In Manitowish Waters, less than an hour from LiveAquaria Rhinelander facility, is a resort named Little Bohemia where John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson narrowly escaped the FBI.

Back in 2002, Drs. Foster & Smith entered into the aquaculture and marine market acquiring Kohen’s Ohio-based LiveAquaria. In 2005 they opened their well-planned and cutting edge Rhinelander facility. To see the proof, just check out their state-of-the-art filtration and holding systems we brought you from the Reef Builders Live tour of the facility last summer.

A few key points Kohen brings up in the article shows just how the hobby is not a major threat to the coral reef ecosystems around the world but has done tremendous amounts for the understanding and knowledge of the coral reefs. Building a self-sustaining industry is one of the keys to the long-term health of the hobby.

“We’re trying to offset some of this wild harvest with desirable species of coral, grown in large quantities, to be able to supply the United States with captive grown coral,” says Kohen. Although LiveAquaria hopes to promote the demand for cultivated coral, it is not seeking to completely replace the wild harvest coral industry. “When done right, selective harvesting of wild coral can benefit the reef,” he adds. “Similar to the effect selective logging can have on the health of a forest. It’s a sustainable fishery when it’s done properly. It’s very controlled, it’s highly regulated, and it can even be beneficial to coral reefs. It also provides a trade for all these people that live in these remote regions have no other means to make an income, except for their resources.”

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Bloy

Kohen also views hobbyists as a thriving component of the science and research of corals. As we’ve seen over the years, the hobby and the goal of sustaining these fragile ecosystems in captivity has added greatly to the scientific body of knowledge. “The aquarium industry has helped the scientific community with an incredible number of discoveries,” said Kohen. “If you talk to some old scientist, they don’t believe corals can be kept alive in captivity. We’ve broken so many barriers as aquarists to help scientists and reef ecologists, and to discover new species of fish. It’s a win-win for aquarium people and the scientific community. Check out the gallery below for some pictures from the Reef Builders tour of the facility last summer.

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Wisconsin Northwoods’ “Little Bohemia” of marine life

Wisconsin Northwoods’ “Little Bohemia” of marine life

Pseudanthias hawaiiensis and other rare Hawaiian endemics spotted in this deep diving video

Jake Adams — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:44:15 +0000

Pseudanthias hawaiiensis, Apolemichthys arcuatus and several other rare hawaiian endemic reef fish are featured in this fresh video of deep diving on the west side of Oahu. There is something surreal about looking at a lightly coral-encrusted volcanic reef slope and seeing a whole range of common aquarium fish that we usually associate with living on a coral-built, coral reef. This fun video features bandit angelfish in pairs, many common tangs, Hawaiian cardinalfish and a bicolor anthias. In one scene you can see a single crosshatch triggerfish in the foreground but the silhouettes of innumerably more in the distance. The especially unique scene is the lone male Hawaiian longfin anthias, Pseudanthias hawaiiensis, an endemic species which is very simlar to ventralis anthias, P. ventralis.

Juvenile Bandit Angelfish, Apolemichthys arcuatus net-caught on video

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Pseudanthias hawaiiensis and other rare Hawaiian endemics spotted in this deep diving video

Pseudanthias hawaiiensis and other rare Hawaiian endemics spotted in this deep diving video

Cool Sun HID pendant from Sunlight Supply gets birthed in “How it’s made” style video

Jake Adams — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:57:16 +0000

The Cool Sun HID pendant is a large reflector and mogul base lighting unit for use with high power metal halide or high pressure sodium lamps. This pendant may be primarily designed for horticultural use, it’s efficacy at reflecting tons of light beams in the desired direction is applicable to large reef tanks, perhaps eventually for use with Plasma Arc lighting in the future as well. This video documents the beginning of the Cool Sun pendant from sheet metal to fully packaged box; enjoy this mash-up of a music video and a ‘How it’s made’ clip from Sunlight Supply.

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Cool Sun HID pendant from Sunlight Supply gets birthed in “How it’s made” style video

Cool Sun HID pendant from Sunlight Supply gets birthed in “How it’s made” style video

Reef Builders -The Reef Aquarium Blog

How do you camouflage yourself but stand out with your friends? Ask a cuttle, Part 1

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From revolution to evolution: a look at two hobby trends and their impact

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Steve Tyronne Limited Edition ‘Butternuts Boulder’ Porites

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Cool, bronzed antique aquarium and stand from the 1920s

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Wisconsin Northwoods’ “Little Bohemia” of marine life

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Cool Sun HID pendant from Sunlight Supply gets birthed in “How it’s made” style video

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