Soft corals from Komodo National Park - (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Having your own coral reef is a dream shared by many aquarists. For a long time, it used to be very difficult to grow and maintain coral reefs in aquariums because of the lack of knowledge about them and their needs to survive in a saltwater aquarium.
A coral reef system is complex and requires the right components and proper maintenance. The good thing is that even though some corals are still very difficult to grow and maintain, a wide range of corals is now easy to grow even for beginners.
If you're a beginner or average aquarist, when picking corals for your saltwater aquarium, you might want to go with soft corals because they are easier to take care of.
Below are 5 different types of soft corals:
Cladiella Corals: Cauliflower, Finger Leather, and Colt Coral. They adapt very well and do best with moderate lightening and water movement.
Palythoa Corals: Button Polyps and Sea Mat. Can grow very fast under bright lightening (might overgrow your other corals). Prefer rapid water movement. Warning: Handle them with gloves to protect yourself from their toxin (the palytoxin).
Sarcophyton Corals: Leather, Mushroom Leather, Toadstool, Toadstool Mushroom and Trough Coral. Adapt to all lightening levels. Moderate water movement is preferred to prevent parasites on their surface.
Discosoma Corals: Disc Anemones, Mushroom and Mushroom Corals. Low light is preferable. Active feeders (small fishes but also detritus and uneaten food).
Zoanthus Corals: Button Polyps, Zoanthid and Sea Mat. Bright light is preferred as they feed on zooxanthellae along with algae, D.O.C.'s and bacteria. Warning: Use gloves to handle them (because of the palytoxin).
As you see, many different corals can grow in your saltwater aquarium. This is just a short selection so what you have to do is research the specific needs of the different corals you're interested in and make sure they can grow in the same aquarium. With the right light, water movement and nutrients, you'll have a beautiful coral reef system!
Every hobbyist, either advanced or beginners want the best components in their aquarium to grow and maintain their corals in the best environment possible. That is why having a very high-quality saltwater aquarium can make a difference. But the hard part about purchasing an aquarium to grow corals is that many different components are needed and selecting and installing them can be a daunting task.
This is why we recommend Red Sea aquariums, and more specifically the Red Sea Max 250 because of its high quality and the fact that this system has all the components needed (+ a starter kit) which makes the installation effortless.
Just as nature above the sea level is as variable as the sun, from the deserts of Arizona to the snow topped caps of the Swiss Alps, so can the world under the sea be a constant study in contrasts, with no two reefs the same. This is good news for the underwater enthusiast who is attempting to establish the perfect reef aquarium in their home; there is no established "formula" for the perfect tank. There's plenty of room for creativity!
One thing that cannot be shirked upon is the size of a tank. It must be more than adequate to allow the species of fish that are chosen to inhabit it plenty of room to exercise and grow. Just as a person cannot thrive in an enclosed environment, neither can a fish. A 75 gallon tank is a generous size for the home marine biologist to establish their own eco-system and allows for space for several species of fish to spread out (provided they are compatible species, of course. Putting two species together who are unsuited to tank life together is a recipe for disaster, regardless of the size of the tank).
Courtesy of advances in the convenience of establishing a home aquarium it is now possible to purchase an aquarium that has been pre-drilled in order to prevent overflow. This provides a cleaner look than the traditional "hang on the back" overflow system for the home professional who is attempting to create the picture perfect reef aquarium.
There are many options for decorating a reef aquarium, although it is generally much more aesthetically pleasing and healthy to the fish to keep all of the decorations one hundred percent organic. Live rock is a vital element to any eco-system, yet makes a lovely addition to a home saltwater aquarium. The microorganisms which grow on the rock (the rock is not really alive, obviously; it gets its name from the fact that it is a natural habitat for many species of bacteria) will help to filter out the harmful waste products produced by the fish that will accumulate in the water of a saltwater aquarium in spite of the filtering system-after all, how often does Mother Nature need to clean her saltwater aquarium? She has created the perfect filtering system as long as man does not add any elements to throw off the balance.
Live plants and coral are also essential elements to the perfect reef aquarium. There are many different types of plants which can be added to a reef aquarium, and it is best to choose based on the species of fish which will be inhabiting the tank. For successful transplantation of live aquarium plants it is essential that the sand or silt on the bottom of the tank be deep enough to allow the roots of the plants to successfully take hold. These plants will also require additional light and carbon dioxide to allow for proper photosynthesis.
There are many options for creating the perfect saltwater aquarium, many of them very costly; however, with the proper mix of imagination and frugality it is possible to create a reef aquarium that is aesthetically, ecologically and financially friendly.
An open brain coral under actinic lighting. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There are some species of coral that can survive with the normal amount of lighting, so for the beginner, you may want to stick to these species. Specifically, Mushroom Coral and Coral Polyps can survive with normal lighting techniques.
Conversely, species such as SPS (Small Polyp Stony Coral) that include Acropora, Montipora, Porites, Brain Coral, Bubble Coral, Elegance Coral, Cup Coral, Torch Coral, and Trumpet Coral require far greater intensity with lighting, making them a substantially greater challenge for the aquarium hobbyist, especially considering more light usually means more harmful algae will grow in the tank.
The best lighting technique to keep your coral safe is the light emitting diode (LED) technology, which has begun to make the former standards: gas and filament based lighting systems obsolete. Though initially more expensive than gas and filament systems, over time they save money because they use less power and have a longer lifespan, meaning fewer replacement costs and hassle.
It is important to note that the zooxanthellae’s photosynthesis process requires light of two different colors: red and blue, which is why aquarium lights often will exude a purple hue, as most of them provide both colors as an industry standard.
While it is essential to have the minimum amount of light in order to meet the zooxanthellae's minimum requires for photosynthesis to work, it is also important to note that it has an upper limit tolerance as well. Your lights must, therefore, be in the middle or bad things will happen to both the zooxanthellae, and as a byproduct, the coral.
While not an exact science as for how much or how little light depends on how many zooxanthellae reside in the coral, and that can be anywhere from thousands to millions, but a good place to start would be to ensure that your intensity minimum is 3000-lux and that you don’t go above 120,000-lux. While this may seem to be a quite wide and open range, you will have to make determinations base on the behavior of your coral.
Good quality types of lamps to use would include fluorescent, and you should use six lamps, or if your aquarium is not wide enough for that, then it is recommended that you instead utilize high output lamps, which are more expensive, but necessary. You should replace these bulbs every six months. Power compact fluorescent lamps, which are U-shaped, are an even better option, and you will only need four.
Coral is an excellent addition to any aquarium, and there is much fish that enjoy coral as a food source. Regardless if you have added coral to your aquarium to survive or as sustenance for your fish, you have to have the right lighting or it won’t survive.
If you are into reef tanks and your curiosity drove you to know more about Nano Reef tanks, read on.
Let me start from the bare basics. What exactly is a nano reef tank? A nano reef is nothing but a reef tank of fewer than 20 gallons. Now, this is not a sacrosanct rule of law like Newton’s law on gravity but I strongly adhere to this definition as 20 gallons is the threshold where popularly accepted formulas for reef tanks or ‘small’ reef tanks begin to lose ground, calling for new conventions.
Next, a pretty obvious question which you may ask is why would you want a nano reef tank? Pretty obvious answer: It is generally a low-cost affair. You can easily manage a decent nano tank with less than $200. Apart from cost they are easy to maintain, you can fit them anywhere, are extremely portable (that means if you are bored of watching it lying on your home desk, take it to your office desk without any hassles!).
And it is not something for just novices. They can offer new challenges to experienced reef keepers minus the cost and time constraints. I say challenging because there is very little room for error when it comes to the nano tank. Whether it is maintaining water quality or temperature stability or oxygen depletion, one has to be extremely careful in maintaining a nano reef tank.
Lighting a Nano reef is something of a complex issue. There are people who have kept Nano reefs with 3-7 watts per gallon of light. Some have used 30 watts. It boils down to the fact that you can have a successful coral tank using the rule of thumb, 3-7 watts per gallon, but your tank will be healthier if you provide larger quantities of light.
A nano reef will require your attention towards heating and cooling aspects too. This is because in a nano reef tank stable temperature control is very important. Unlike large tanks temperature change in nano reefs can be quite large and frequent. For the heating purpose, a normal heater would suffice. But cooling is a difficult problem. A common solution is to keep the tank in an air-conditioned room. Some people use evaporative cooling with fans, but this is probably not the best idea as there are chances that amount of evaporation it causes can produce wide specific gravity shifts in a nano tank which would not be appreciated by the tank's inhabitants.
Due to the small surface area, a nano reef tank will require adequate water circulation more than any other form of a reef tank. A simple and effective solution is to use an open-ended bubbler. Larger is the size of your tank more bubblers you may need.
There is no doubt that a sump would greatly aid in the temperature and nutrient buffering capabilities of a nano, but it seldom used. The main reason for this is that being small in size, using a sump adds to the complexity and takes up space, a big constraint in a nano.
Now here comes the best part of the nano reefs. The water quality maintenance or change is ridiculously simple! Being small, the water quantity is low. So changing the water every two weeks is a painless task. A regular water change will also obviate the need for a skimmer.
Now decide on for what live rock to choose and what quantity. Again here is a nano advantage. Since the size is small you wont be required lot of rock so you can go for the best quality live rock without causing a dent in your bank account.
And finally the choice for corals : You could go for both stony corals or soft corals. Virtually every soft coral is eligible for a nano reef tank. But when it comes to stony ones few points need to be cosnsidered. You should go for small colonies of stony corals, preferablly 12". You can pick any among Acropora, Bubble coral, Favites, Torch Coral or Elegance coral.
For a 5 gallon nano, you should add another about 3 lbs of live rock, plus at least another 3 lbs of live sand.
So go all out and play! Its not about the size, remember all good things come in small packages.
Upside down jellyfish (Cassiopeia xamachana) is another member of the order Rhizostomae. The species name, xamachana, means Jamaican although their natural habitat is in no way exclusive to Jamaican waters. Populations exist throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean as well as along the coats of Florida. They are also present halfway across the globe in the Pacific Ocean. Although not native to these waters, upside down jellyfish were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands during World War II most probably from jellyfish polyps attaching themselves to the underbellies of warships coming back from the Philippines.
This species is prevalent in shallow, warm tropical waters such as mangrove swamps. They are often called mangrove jellyfish because they are frequently found in large aggregations in these swampy regions. Unlike many species of jellyfish, upside down jellies are completely marine. None have been found in brackish or fresh waters.
These jellies spend their lives completely differently than most jellyfish. Jellyfish typically spend much of their time drifting freely on the ocean's currents. Upside down jellyfish are free swimming until they reach about 2 cm. Then their bell inverts and they sink to the bottom of the ocean floor. From there they will spend the majority of their adult life upside down on the muddy substrate with their tentacles pointed up to capture the ever-present zooplankton from water columns.
Much like blue jellies, upside down jellyfish have a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae. This is the same symbiosis that occurs with many jellyfish and coral species. In addition to providing essential nutrients, these golden algae also produce oxygen to help support respiratory metabolic functions the jellyfish needs to survive in oxygen-poor environments. This is of particular importance to upside down jellyfish because they spend the vast majority of their life nestled in muddy substrate and must rely on their food to come to them. Because of their specialized eating habits, upside down jellyfish are usually found in nutrient-rich waters with high concentrations of decaying matter to support the zooplankton teaming within these swampy, saltwater environments.
Upside down jellies have flat, saucer-shaped bells. Their umbrellas are typically greenish grey or blue in colour. They have a central depression or exumbrella in their bell. The exumbrella acts as a suction device to help them stay anchored to the ocean floor. Rather than a single mouth opening, they have 4 elaborately branched oral arms. These arms have a frilly, lace-like appearance similar to many green, leafy vegetables. They are often referred to as cabbage-head jellyfish because of these appendages. It is believed that this species a filter feeder and also relies on some form of absorption of dissolved nutrients directly from the water to supplement its nutritional needs.
Upside down jellyfish do not directly inject their prey like most jellyfish do. Their nematocysts (stinging cells) are controlled by the cnidocil. This is the equivalent to a mechanically or chemically triggered grenade launcher. The stinging cells launched from the cnidocil produce a cnidoblast that will stun or paralyze prey in the immediate vicinity. The jellyfish then begin ingesting their prey with their primary mouth openings. Once the prey is reduced to food fragments, these nutrient particles are passed on to secondary mouths for further digestion.
The jellyfish's cnidoblasts also function as a self-defence mechanism. If abruptly disturbed, large groups of these jellies will launch themselves upward from the ocean floor and release their nematocysts. This massive venom release into the water is usually sufficient to ward off potential predators. The toxic compound is generally inconsequential to human beings. It may result in an itchy or tingling sensation of the skin or a rash on individuals more sensitive to the venom.
Upside down jellyfish can reach up to 14 inches in diameter in the wild. In captivity, a maximum growth potential of 8 inches is more realistic. Depending on their size in captivity, upside down jellyfish can be fed zooplankton, or small invertebrates and fish. In order to allow their symbiotic algae to properly photosynthesize, a lighting system conducive to a marine reef tank is highly recommended. These jellies have a higher temperature tolerance than most scyphozoan medusa. Medusae or adult jellyfish can be found year round. However, the optimum temperature for these adult jellies is between 75-78 F. This simulates the height of the adult season. Upside down jellyfish typically strobilate during summer or early fall. Whereas most scyphozoans strobilate during the winter months.
Technological advancements in the aquarium industry continually redefine the concept of "home aquarium owner." Just twenty years ago not even the biggest public aquarium was capable of keeping jellyfish alive in captivity. Now they make desktop Jellyfish Fish Tank Aquariums. And why would you want a jellyfish tank? Perhaps you should check out what the translucent bodies of Pet Moon Jellyfish look like under LED lighting. Pet Jellyfish give a whole new meaning to the term exotic pets.
Saltwater tanks are sought after by many aquarium enthusiasts, however, they are more tedious to maintain so are not often undertaken. Keeping a saltwater aquarium requires patience, and having live coral in your saltwater tank requires patience and knowledge. Patience, we say because the healthiest and hardiest path to owning a home coral aquarium is to grow your coral.
While it takes more time, growing your own coral makes it much easier to maintain the health of your coral. You must become educated about the requirements for growing coral, and follow very specific procedures, but if you can be patient for approximately 12 weeks, you can grow your own coral for your home saltwater aquarium.
The basic set-up of a saltwater aquarium is the same as a freshwater tank. You purchase a tank and filter and then select the best location for your aquarium. Once the tank is ready for water, there are several steps to follow:
1. Fill the bottom of the tank with sand.
2. Now it is time to add the water. Your aquarium water must be de-chlorinated.
3. Next add the salt, making sure to mix it so the gravity measures exactly 1.205.
4. Arrange any live rocks and plants you would like to include in the tank.
5. Finally install the water heater and place the hood on top of the aquarium.
6. And now you wait. About 4 weeks to be exact before moving on.
Patience. Remember? The fours weeks will go by quickly, and in no time your saltwater aquarium will come to life before your eyes. The reason you don't add anything to your tank for a month is to allow plenty of time for the salt levels to balance out. At this stage, you have to install a protein skimmer, and then you can go ahead and add some snails to the tank, or perhaps even a crab or two. During the next couple of weeks, you want to make sure that the filters perform correctly. Also, use this time to adjust the lighting. It is recommended that you don't keep the light on for more than 12 hours per day because too much light can lead to algae problems.
When you reach the six-week mark, you can finally begin to add some coral. There is a wide variety of coral available for saltwater aquariums, and the most popular include Bull's-eye Mushroom Coral, Button Polyp Coral, Hairy Mushroom Coral and Yellow Mushroom Coral. When you place the coral into your tank, attach it to the live rock that you placed at the bottom when you initially set up your aquarium. And now we wait again; just two more weeks.
After eight weeks, you can add more coral, this time aquacultured coral like Leather Coral, Pumping Xenia Coral, Spaghetti Finger Coral, and Starburst Polyps. This coral should be placed into the live rock just as before.
After another two to four weeks, you can begin adding some fish to your home saltwater aquarium. In the realm of things, 12 weeks really isn't that long, and the end result will be more than worth the wait. Because a saltwater environment is so fragile, it is vital that you give this watery realm all of the time it needs to gain balance and begin living harmoniously. The healthy saltwater aquarium that results is a wonderful accomplishment after just 12 short weeks of patience and care.
When people start a saltwater aquarium they do so because they have a compulsion to create a miniature version of the ocean in their living room. They want the whole kit and caboodle; the brightly colored fish, the flowing plants, the half-rotted pirate's ship, and the coral reef. Growing a coral reef in your saltwater aquarium is the ultimate goal for many saltwater aquarium enthusiasts.
Beginners that are just starting a saltwater aquarium are not advised to attempt a reef aquarium. Start with a fish only aquarium and become familiar first, once you have mastered that you will be ready to add one of the hardier breeds of coral to your tank.
Before running out and purchasing coral reef, bear in mind that you are not adding an elaborate rock to your tank. Polyps are a tiny invertebrate. These polyps work together to form the limestone structures we know as coral reefs. Before you add the reef to your saltwater aquarium you must remember that the life of these polyps depends on your ability to provide them with the proper food, lighting, and water.
Having good water is especially important if you want your coral reef to survive. An abrupt change in your water can cause the polyps to go into a state of shock, this will cause your reef to become discolored.Your aquarium must be filled with clear water which will allow the coral reef to get the full benefit of your lighting. Coral requires a strong water current, outfit your tank with a filter that circulates the water throughout your entire tank. Avoid a linear current.
When you have decided on a variety of coral for your coral saltwater aquarium do some research on the lighting. Some corals have special lighting requirements.
Remember that coral, like all living organisms, requires you to feed them. For a long time, it was believed that coral reefs needed only minimal feeding. This belief was triggered by the belief that coral reefs were nutrient poor. People assumed that the reefs used photosynthesis to feed. The reality is that most coral needs to be fed, at a minimum, weekly (every two to three days is recommended). Most coral needs to be fed food that has to be frozen or refrigerated.
Throw away any food that has been open for over five months, it becomes stale. You may want to consider purchasing a liquid or bottled food for your corral. The size of the polyps in your coral reef will tell you a great deal about their food requirements. If you have large fleshy looking polyps you will be able to feed them large pieces of food, minced meat, and large zooplankton. If you have a coral reef that is made up of tiny polyps you have to remember that they can't digest the large pieces of food, these polyps will starve to death in an aquarium that is full of food that is too large for it to digest.
If you have done your homework and are patient and diligent you will be able to enjoy a very successful and beautiful coral saltwater aquarium.
Zoanthids are rightfully beloved by nearly all marine aquarists. They are often bright, uniquely colored and fast-growing. Because they are generally hardy, they make an excellent choice for the beginning aquarist; however, the rarer color patterns tempt even experienced reef aquarists. Despite their popularity, many aquarists are unclear of zoanthids relationship to other marine animals, especially those that we commonly call coral. On the one hand, zoanthids look like miniature sea anemones, yet they also seem to resemble soft corals such as the Glove Polyps pictured below (Clavularia species-pronounced "klav-yoo-lahr-ee-ah"). In truth, zoanthids are neither anemones nor soft corals-so what are they?
"Flower Animals"
Let's start with some basics. Zoanthids, like all of the animals we typically call "coral" in the marine aquarium hobby, are cnidarians (pronounced "nigh-dare-ee-yans"). More specifically, zoanthids are part of the class Anthozoa, which includes the soft and leather corals, sea anemones, mushroom corals and stony corals (and exclude other cnidarians such as fire corals, lace corals, jellyfishes, and sea wasps). Anthozoa, as a word, originates from Greek ("anthos" and "zoion") and translates roughly as "flower animal," which is an apt name for most zoanthids. Like sea anemones, mushroom corals and stony corals, zoanthids are called hexacorals because they have polyps with tentacles in multiples of six (octocorals, on the other hand, have eight tentacles). Zoanthids, unlike the "true" or stony corals (what hobbyists generally term SPS and LPS) lack skeletons, but they are also not soft corals (which are all octocorals). The polyps of zoanthids are either solitary or embedded in so-called mats. Solitary polyps are often connected to other polyps by runners (called stolons, pronounced "stoe-lahn"), while mat polyps embed themselves in a tissue matrix or mat (called a coenenchyme and pronounced "see-nehn-kyme").
When the aquarist looks at a zoanthid polyp, they are generally focused on the oral disc. Each zoanthid polyp has a mouth (called a siphonoglyph and pronounced "sye-fah-no-glif"), which is part of the oral disc and generally surrounded by two rings of tentacles. Like all cnidarians, zoanthids possess nematocysts (pronounced "ne-mat-oh-sist") or stinging cells (the word cnidarian translates from the Greek as "stinging nettle"), which assist in food capture. When it comes to defense, however, it is a toxin called palytoxin, which keeps most predators (including the aquarist) at bay.
It is common to tout the fact that most zoanthids are easy to keep and require no supplemental feedings. While it is true that many of the commonly available zoanthids are zooxanthellate (zoo-zan-thuh-late) and host symbiotic zooxanthellae (zoh-zan-thel-ee) in their tissue, the reality is that nearly all zooanthids rely on particulate food and plankton capture to sustain their metabolism. As a result, nearly all should be target fed in captivity (in addition to providing appropriate lighting).
Identifying Zoanthids
It is very difficult to identify individual species when dealing with zoanthids. That is why you frequently see them sold by their genus name (e.g. Zoanthus spp.) and a creative description of their coloration (e.g. Halloween Zoanthids). Zoanthids are often (there is much debate that is well beyond the scope of this article) divided into several families. The most frequently seen zoanthids in the aquarium trade are from the families Parazoanthidae and Zoanthidae. Within the family Parazoanthidae, the genus Parazoanthus (pare-ah-zoe-an-thuss) is particularly popular (e.g. Yellow Polyps), while the Zoanthus (zoe-an-thuss) genus (e.g. Z. pacificus and Z. sociatus) and the Palythoa genus (which is now often seen as being congeneric and nearly conspecific with the genus Protopalythoa) are the most commonly represented genera from the family Zoanthidae. So-called Acrozoanthus (ak-roh-zoe-an-thuss) or Stick Polyps are also seen with some frequency in the hobby and are usually classified as belonging to the family Zoanthidae.
Family Parazoanthidae - Brief Description and Husbandry Tips
Species from the genus Parazoanthus are the most common in this family, and, as species identification is uncertain, most are sold as Parazoanthus spp. or simply Yellow Polyps. Although called Yellow Polyps, their coloration can vary from a cinnamon-brown to a bright yellow, with some species even taking on a red color (e.g. P. puertoricense). The polyps reproduce by budding at the base of the parent polyp, and they form colonies in this way that encrust rocks, shells or vacant worm tubes. Some Parazoanthus species live commensally with other organisms (e.g. sponges), but most of the specimens seen in the hobby contain symbiotic zooxanthellae within their tissue and, given sufficient light, will do quite well with only periodic target feedings. The fact that many Yellow Polyps are indiscriminate feeders means that they often survive in a mature aquarium without any target feedings. This fact, however, should not deter the aquarist from at least weekly target feedings of zooplankton-type foods. Moderate light, moderate to strong intermittent flow and supplemental feedings are the key to success with these attractive zoanthids.
Family Zoanthidae - Brief Description and Husbandry Tips
Recent research has found a remarkable similarity between the genus Palythoa and Protopalythoa, and so we will mostly deal with them together here. If there is a difference apparent in the aquarist, it is in the fact that Protopalythoa species' polyps (e.g. Button Polyps, Protopalythoa spp.) are often not embedded in the tissue matrix or mat, while Palythoa (pal'-ee'-thoe'-ah) species' polyps (e.g. Sea Mat or Encrusting Colony Polyp, Palythoa spp.) are. All have broad, flat oral discs surrounded by tentacles (perhaps more tentacles on Protopalythoa species). The discs may be brown, brownish yellow or even a cream color, and some have quite attractive fluorescent accents and striations. Sometimes the oral disc will be darker than the mat in which it is embedded, again, making for a nice display. All are fairly light tolerant and prefer moderate to high flow. As with all zoanthids, they will benefit from targeted feedings, and those with long tentacles and broader oral discs may require more direct feeding. One word of warning: be careful, as many of these zoanthids are competitive and will easily overgrow adjacent corals.
The Zoanthus genus is often the best-represented genus from the family Zoanthidae, and it is most frequently what people think of when they think of zoanthids. There are many species, and most are simply identified for the aquarist by their remarkable color schemes. The polyps are generally small with dramatic contrasting colors between their oral discs and tentacles. These animals rely heavily on zooxanthellae, so much so that some aquarists claim no food response occurs as a result of targeted feedings. In reality, this is probably because Zoanthus species are more selective in their feeding, but regardless, it is essential to place them in high light environments to sustain their zooxanthellae populations. Given the proper environment, these zoanthids are hardy, fast-growing animals that reproduce by budding and will rapidly spread across your live rock in a colorful display that will ad interest and beauty to your reef tank.
Something for Everyone
In conclusion, zoanthids are, generally speaking, highly interesting, attractive and hardy animals. They can add color to almost any reefscape, and they require little in the way of specific husbandry. Most grow quickly in captivity, and their collection from the wild generally has a little detrimental impact on natural ecosystems. Zoanthids are often the first cnidarians introduced to the beginning aquarist's tank, but the more uniquely colored and rarer species are equally coveted by advanced aquarists. In short, zoanthids offer something for everyone.
Blue Zoo Aquatics was formed in 2001 as a custom aquarium design, manufacture, installation, and maintenance company which provided its services in and around Los Angeles, California. The company founders and key personnel had either a background in marine biology or had spent their entire career in the saltwater aquarium industry.
Customers who bought a custom aquarium were also frequently asking us to provide livestock and aquarium supplies, so we created bluezooaquatics.com to showcase our entire product offering and make it available to everyone.
Today, Blue Zoo Aquatics has evolved into the complete source for all of your aquarium needs. Although we can still design and build you a beautiful custom aquarium, we are also proud to offer one of the largest selections of livestock on the web as well as a wide variety of quality aquarium supplies.
Our business has expanded, but Blue Zoo is still owned and operated by the same team of expert aquarists that have dedicated their lives to helping people have fun and succeed with saltwater aquariums. - http://www.bluezooaquatics.com Article Directory: EzineArticles
Rumphella aggregrata soft coral in home reef tank (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Do you dream of watching the natural beauty of the undersea reef life while sitting in your living room?
Whether your goal is a nano reef tank or a 150-gallon aquarium with an ecosystem of coral and saltwater fish, the following five steps will lead you on your way to success.
1) Commit! Decide you are going to spend the $$ it takes to make a proper go of it. At a minimum, most tanks, (from 10 gals to 55 gals) take between $250 and $500 to get going. Can you do it cheaper? Yes, but usually not your first one. You have to know what you are doing and understand how things can and will go wrong before you can choose less expensive husbandry options and/or equipment. Save up if you have to, but count on that first tank being expensive.
Realize that this is not a short-term commitment. And as much fun as it is to collect the coolest coral fragments out there and show them off to your friends, there WILL come a time when you are hauling all of those same 'frags' out of the tank and into temporary storage when your six-year-old cracks the side of the display tank with a pool ball or some other calamity occurs.
2) Study! Spend time on the internet, in books and watching nature shows on reefs BEFORE you get your animals. Understand the animals that you are going to keep and how they interact with each other. If you count on the LFS (Local Fish Store) or your buddy down the road to keep you out of trouble and don't do your homework. You will fail. That is the one guarantee in this hobby. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
The only way around this is to be able to afford to pay someone else to set-up and maintain your tank.
3) Mingle! (see 2 above) There are plenty of reef-keeping societies out there with lots of experience to help you along your way and teach you what you need to know. As long as you are doing your own homework, they are usually happy to help!
4) Keep an open mind! There is not just one way to keep a reef tank - no matter how loudly people on the various bulletin boards and forums out there might shout that there is.
5) Share! It is amazing how much help people are willing to give when they realize that you are offering a particularly nice specimen that they have always wanted. Equipment that they didn't even remember they had may magically appear or they might be willing to share a very nice piece of their own reef frag with you.
Trading frags not only is a great way to increase your variety, but it helps maintain genetic strains of corals (frags are also known as 'clones') that might otherwise die out in a single tank struck by the calamity mentioned in 1 above.
Historically saltwater aquarium owners have shied away from reefs. No one could understand why when these coral reefs were put into an aquarium the reef had a depressingly short lifespan. Now, thanks to some very persistent aquarium owners, fans of the saltwater aquarium's can enjoy the beauty of their very own coral reef. There are reefs for every aquarium owner, from the raw beginner to the experienced professional. The saltwater enthusiast can now find the saltwater coral that best suits their abilities, whether they are a rank beginner or an experienced professional.
Zoanthus Coral is a wonderful choice for the person who is just beginning to add coral reef to their saltwater aquarium. Reef enthusiast finds that Zoanthus is a hardy coral that flourishes in most saltwater tanks. Zoanthus coral does not like to be fed a meaty diet and prefers to have its food finely chopped. Zoanthus Coral can be found in a variety of colors, many experienced saltwater reef aquarium owners like to use Zoanthus as a filer coral for their more temperamental varieties of coral reef. Zianthus is also called Sea Mat and Bottom Polyps.
Another good variety of starter coral is Cladiella, Cladiella is also commonly referred to as Colt Coral and Finger Leather Coral. The Cladiella Coral is renowned for is adaptability. Anyone interested in using Cladiella Coral in their saltwater reef aquarium must make sure that it is securely anchored or it will not grow.
Something like Siderastrea Coral. Siderastrea is a soft coral, that is tolerant of light, temperature, changes in the tanks quality of water, and currents. It is typically tan or gray or white. Although it can occasionally be found in round domes the typical shape of the Siderastrea Coral is flat plates that can measure anywhere from 4-12 inches around. Pink Starlet Coral, Starlet Coral, and Lesser Starlet Coral are three names that commonly refer to Siderastrea Coral.
Once the saltwater aquarium owner becomes comfortable caring for his hardier varieties of coral they may wish to move onto something a little more challenging.
Fish and coral seem to go together, some types better than others. When an aquarium owner is looking to purchase fish they must consider the compatibility of the fish to the coral. It is also important to make sure that the fish you are purchasing for your saltwater aquarium is healthy. Take the time to examine their eyes, scales, skin, abdomen, mouth, and fins before making your final decision.
The eyes of your fish should be clear and bright. A cloudy film obscuring the eye could be a sign of an internal bacterial infection. A saltwater fish that has blotchy scales is a fish that is potentially dealing with an internal disease. Fish that have bruised mouths can sometimes lack an appetite, look for a fish with a firm unbruised mouth. Your potential fish should have an abdomen that is firm, and gently rounded. The fins should be crisp and clean. A fish that has scales that are ragged or one that's fins are starting to droop and sag.
Specimen of Acanthastrea lordhowensis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When shopping for fish, it might be tempting to pick the rare and fancy fish full of colors, and exotic looking shrimp or crustaceans. An aquarium full of marine life complete with a coral reef and aquatic plants is very appealing. After all, who wouldn't want to have an underwater paradise in their living room? It may, not, however, be the best choice for a beginning hobbyist.
Coral reef aquariums require much more care than freshwater tanks or saltwater fish only tanks. Freshwater fish are usually hardier than marine species and therefore a little more forgiving when it comes to water acclimation. It is recommended that only experienced fish keepers with a real commitment to the hobby attempt a coral reef aquarium. A tank containing coral reef life may require several months of cycling before getting the water just right. The water in a coral reef tank must be regulated for lighting, temperature, and ph. Start with tap water and then add a sea salt mix to the water. This type of solution is available at most pet stores.
The salinity of the tank should be between 1.023 and 1.004. The ideal temperature for a marine aquarium is between 75 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also important to test the P.H. of the tank. Ideal P.H. is somewhere between 8.3 and 8.4. Test kits can be purchased online or at your local pet store. The same store will also carry any solutions necessary to adjust the P. H. There is not much wiggle room when it comes to these specific starting points. In order to avoid a costly mistake, it is important to be patient, watch the tank closely, and make sure that you don't introduce any marine life until the tank is absolutely ready.
Once the aquarium is ready, start with anemones and clownfish. They are the hardiest of reef species, and who wouldn't love to have Nemo swimming around in their living room? Monitor the marine life closely. Check the activity levels of the fish, and watch for stress. Stress is the most common cause of sickness in fish. Remember that these creatures may have come directly from the ocean, and it may take a while for them to get acclimated to their new home. Another cause of stress in fish is overcrowding. Make sure there allow about ten gallons of water per one inch of fish. Account for the full grown size of the fish, not the size of fish when it is purchased.
The incubation period for most sickness in fish is about thirty days. So after about a month, if all is well with the tank and the fish seem to be adjusting well, then it is okay to introduce some new marine life. A mandarin fish or a dwarf angelfish might round out the collection nicely, and they are fairly compatible clownfish.
Whenever adding new fish, choose the species carefully for compatibility. The fish should be compatible with water specifics, but also make sure that their food source is compatible. Always remember to be patient when adding new fish. Give the existing tank members plenty of time to get adjusted before making additions to an aquarium. The best piece of advice is to do research. Make sure that all new purchases will be suitable tank mates for the existing creatures. With a little luck, and a lot of skill you will be on your way to having a reef aquarium that will impress any fishkeeper.
A reef aquarium is vastly different from a fish only aquarium. Not only will you need different equipment, but you will need a whole different skill to create and maintain a successful reef tank. Although you can keep fish in your reef tank, the main focus of a reef tank is to display live coral. Introducing certain species of fish can help in maintaining the reef environment and special care should be taken when selecting the appropriate species to compliment the coral in your tank.
Reef tanks are primarily filtered by the live rock through a natural process. This biologic filtration is usually supplemented by protein skimmers. Protein skimmers use what is called the foam fracture process to eliminate waste matter and filter the water. A combination of biological filtration and protein skimmers is very effective at keeping a reef tank in ideal condition.
Unlike fish only tanks, reef tanks require constant water movement. Different types of coral require different flow rates, but as a rule of thumb, a flow rate of 10x will be sufficient. What this means is that the flow rate needs to be 10 times the capacity of the tank (in gallons) per hour. It’s important that you adjust and fine tune the flow rates to the specific coral in your tank.
One of the most popular methods of creating water flow is by using power heads. They are simply small water pumps under the water that creates an underwater stream when you alternately switch them on an off. By using a wave timer, the pumps are synced to create a water flow. A newer method for creating and managing water flow is the use of submersible propeller pumps. Although they are more expensive, they use less power and can produce greater water flow compared to power heads.
Another important aspect of reef tanks is lighting. While fish only tanks use lighting primarily for display, a reef tank needs light to “feed” the coral. Since the coral uses photosynthesis to stay alive, lighting is the most important aspect of keeping your coral alive.
The lighting levels required for each type of coral varies widely. While some types of rock require very high levels of light, some only need low light levels. Special care should be taken when picking coral for your tank to ensure that the lighting of your tank is sufficient. As a general rule, 5 to 8 watts per gallon should be sufficient for the most common coral.
Sea anemones are a very common offering in the marine aquarium trade. All types of species are brought in from carpet anemones, filter feeding tube anemones to rose bulb tip anemones.
Sea Anemones at California tideppols. Sea Anemones look as plants, but they are animals and they are predators. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
While most people think they are corals, sea anemones are actually under the phylum Cnidaria, which strangely enough, includes the jellyfish. They do share a common trait with corals, however. Within their bodies are contained symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae which extract energy from light and feeds the sea anemone with their by-products.
Where they differ spectacularly from corals are their ability to move from location to location. This behavior is commonly seen in captivity where the sea anemone will move around the aquarium until it has found a suitable spot.
Unfortunately, this behavior is undesirable mainly because their tentacles contain stinging cells used to capture prey and as a defense mechanism. As they move around the aquarium, they may come into contact with and sting any corals that are present.
The sea anemone shares a symbiotic relationship with a number of creatures in the wild. The most famous of their hosts are the clown fish family. They also play host to damselfish, certain crabs and a variety of anemone shrimp that rely on it for protection from predators.
They are a tricky species to care for in a marine aquarium as they require strong water flow and very strong lighting to do well in the long run. Should they die, they literally begin to melt. Which can really foul up the water?
Unfortunately, the great number of these creatures end up dying in captivity due to improper conditions. This is a shame because in the wild they are known to reach a lifespan of a hundred years or more. Some experts have pointed out that they may not even die if conditions remain good.
The family of Sea Anemone also contains a number of pests. Among them, the infamous Aiptasia and Majano anemones. Unlike their prettier cousins, these pests thrive in captivity and can quickly take over the entire aquarium.
are sought after by many aquarium enthusiasts, however, they are more tedious to maintain so are not often undertaken. Keeping a saltwater aquarium requires patience, and having live coral in your saltwater tank requires patience and knowledge. Patience, we say because the healthiest and hardiest path to owning a home coral aquarium is to grow your coral.
is so fragile, it is vital that you give this watery realm all of the time it needs to gain balance and begin living harmoniously. The healthy saltwater aquarium that results is a wonderful accomplishment after just 12 short weeks of patience and care.
they do so because they have a compulsion to create a miniature version of the ocean in their living room. They want the whole kit and caboodle; the brightly colored fish, the flowing plants, the half-rotted pirate's ship, and the coral reef. Growing a coral reef in your saltwater aquarium is the ultimate goal for many saltwater aquarium enthusiasts.
