Harlequinmania

They are only open almost everyday throughout the year except for 2 day during CNY..

Click through to see the images. The description below is provided by Living Color Aquariums Hybrid reef tank revolutionizes the way large live reef aquariums are built! This jaw dropping 650 gallon ( 96″L x 36″W x 42″H) hybrid live coral reef aquarium is hand built using 1.25” acrylic and utilizes our museum-quality artificial reef as the main structure. Our artificial reefs are so lifelike that you cannot tell which rock pieces are artificial and what is real! The client for this project is a true reef enthusiast and he wanted his new aquarium to be designed without any unsightly cords or pumps visible. To achieve this, the stand pipes, overflow and return lines are camouflaged within the central structure. For additional flow, artificial islands with multi-directional nozzles are placed throughout the tank and themed to look like live rock. The reef structure is inert and totally fish safe; Live corals thrive and spread quickly on the artificial substrate. The fabricated reef is a stable structure which allows you to create reef shapes impossible with conventional live rock from towering reef structures to cantilevered ledges. The artificial reef structure is created using Living Color’s proprietary blend of epoxy which has become the gold standard in the Zoo and Aquarium industry. To start the aquarium off right, we filled the tank with Tropic Marin Bio Active Salt. The advanced filtration system turns over the tank volume every 10 minutes, utilizes a calcium reactor, downdraft protein skimmer, chiller, advanced dosing system, auto RO-DI top-up, LED lights and a 100 gallon refugium filled with live sand/mud, macro algae and live rock. The refugium is set on a reverse daylight cycle to help ensure stable water chemistry throughout the evening hours. A power feeder located in the aquarium cabinet allows the client to feed New Era Marine Pellets or Frozen Food at the touch of a button without having to climb to the top of the tank. The aquarium was stocked using many choice coral pieces from ORA as well as corals transferred from the clients old 150 gallon reef tank. The fish were a mix of specimens from ORA and from the client’s existing animals. We hope to inspire new bold aquascape designs with the use of our hybrid reef technology. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Free Spirits Amish Solanki and his wife Natisha "sold [their] tiny condo, packed up [their] belongings, shoved in a backpack what [they] figured [they] needed and took off to explore for 3.5 months." They embarked on an great exploration and discovered a life-changing trip. His video comprises footage of their underwater adventures in Indonesia, Palau, and Philippines. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Electric eels, as you know, produce an electrical current when they move and when they attack prey. They have been know to produce as much as 500 volts and 1 ampere of current (500 watts) in certain situations. Living Planet Aquarium staff exploited this trait to control a series of Christmas Tree lights in their "Journey To South America" gallery. They placed stainless steel electrodes into the eel tank and used the electricity generated by the movement of the electric eel to power a light sequencer. The sequencer, in turn, rotated through each string of lights when the eel moved. Terry Smith, Project Manager at Cache Valley Electric commented that "the sequencer takes the voltage the eel produces and operates circuitry that flashes the lights, fast or slow, based on the level of voltage he puts out." Talk about an electrifying holiday display! (via Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine) View the full article

Wow, you build a roof over it just to house your equipment ?.. impressive .. Will be camping here for update. I bet it really envy alot of us here in sillypore to have a dedicated reefing room which many of us can only dream of..

i have tried comparing my N03 result with my salifest with a Redsea test kit and both appear to have the same reading... So i presume the N03 reading on the Salifest should be right.

Thanks for sharing the photo, at least the color different between the reading for the DD test kit is not as close to each other as compare to the salifest test kit.

28 degree would be significant , but 26 will be better .

regular small water change and keeping a low bio load should be enough to take care of it. Yes, skimmer is a must cos it can get messy when the starfish die inside the water. i am not sure about Dymax skimmer, and are you planing to run a chiller ? If not, try to opt for a good hang over skimmer instead since it doesn't give off extra heat into the water.

Click through to see the images. Why is this news so exciting? PNG offers many novel and variants of fish and coral species previously unavailable to hobbyists. EcoAquariums PNG has demonstrated a commitment to sustainable collection, equitability to village-based collectors, and shipping out high quality fish to aquarists. Similar to Quality Marine who recently introduced QR code tags to track fish along the supply chain, EcoAquariums PNG ships all their fish with ID tags; These tags record collection information and certify sustainable collection. It is rewarding to see the industry move towards greater sustainability and accountability. Thus far PNG has already exported about 60 species to Asia, including Swallowtail and Watanabei Angels, Golden Butterflies, Lyretail Hawkfish, Lyretail Anthias, New Guinea Wrasse, Papuan Toby Puffer, Ringtail Cardinals and Yellow Cardinal. No famed Lightning Maroon Clownfish have been collected yet, but they did ship out some unique misbarred clowns (pictured below). Aquarist may soon see very interesting captive-bred clownfish from parents of new PNG variants. The maiden exports to North America and the UK is scheduled for late January or early February 2012. Aquarists should see PNG fish and corals soon thereafter. Read Ret's interview with EcoAquariums Director Dan Navin and learn more about EcoAquariums PNG. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Why is this news so exciting? PNG offers many novel and variants of fish and coral species previously unavailable to hobbyists. EcoAquariums PNG has demonstrated a commitment to sustainable collection, equitability to village-based collectors, and shipping out high quality fish to aquarists. Similar to Quality Marine who recently introduced QR code tags to track fish along the supply chain, EcoAquariums PNG ships all their fish with ID tags; These tags record collection information and certify sustainable collection. It is rewarding to see the industry move towards greater sustainability and accountability. Thus far PNG has already exported about 60 species to Asia, including Swallowtail and Watanabei Angels, Golden Butterflies, Lyretail Hawkfish, Lyretail Anthias, New Guinea Wrasse, Papuan Toby Puffer, Ringtail Cardinals and Yellow Cardinal. No famed Lightning Maroon Clownfish have been collected yet, but they did ship out some unique misbarred clowns (pictured below). Aquarist may soon see very interesting captive-bred clownfish from parents of new PNG variants. The maiden exports to North America and the UK is scheduled for late January or early February 2012. Aquarists should see PNG fish and corals soon thereafter. Read Ret's interview with EcoAquariums Director Dan Navin and learn more about EcoAquariums PNG. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Why is this news so exciting? PNG offers many novel and variants of fish and coral species previously unavailable to hobbyists. EcoAquariums PNG has demonstrated a commitment to sustainable collection, equitability to village-based collectors, and shipping out high quality fish to aquarists. Thus far PNG has already exported about 60 species to Asia, including Swallowtail and Watanabei Angels, Golden Butterflies, Lyretail Hawkfish, Lyretail Anthias, New Guinea Wrasse, Papuan Toby Puffer, Ringtail Cardinals and Yellow Cardinal. No famed Lightning Maroon Clownfish have been collected yet, but they did ship out some unique misbarred Maroon clowns (pictured above). Aquarist may soon see very interesting captive-bred clownfish from parents of new PNG variants. The maiden exports to North America and the UK is scheduled for late January or early February 2012. Aquarists should see PNG fish and corals soon thereafter. Read Ret's interview with EcoAquariums Director Dan Navin and learn more about EcoAquariums PNG. View the full article

Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems that support enormous biodiversity. But they are at risk. Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the ocean, threatening reefs and other marine organisms. New research analyzed the role of sea cucumbers in portions of the Great Barrier Reef and determined that their dietary process of dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surrounding reef accounts for about half of at the total nighttime dissolution for the reef. View the full article

Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems that support enormous biodiversity. But they are at risk. Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the ocean, threatening reefs and other marine organisms. New research analyzed the role of sea cucumbers in portions of the Great Barrier Reef and determined that their dietary process of dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surrounding reef accounts for about half of at the total nighttime dissolution for the reef. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The squid, Belemnotheutis antiquus, was uncovered during a recent Victorian dig in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, UK. The scientists excavating the area broke open one of the rocks only to find the fossilized remains of the aforementioned squid inside with a very well preserved ink sack. After realizing what they had found, a bit of the fossilized ink was ground up and mixed with ammonia to make a crude ink. The ink was actually good enough to allow an artist to draw the fossilized animal, along with its Latin name, on paper. Leader of the excavation, Dr. Phil Wilby stated that "normally you would find only the hard parts like the shell and bones fossilised but there are a handful of locations around the world where soft preservation of the muscle, guts and gills has taken place. ... It is difficult to imagine how you can have something as soft and sloppy as an ink sac fossilised in three dimension, still black, and inside a rock that is 150 million years old." Apparently it happened in this case. The squid is now part of the British Geological Survey collection and an amount of the ink has been sent to Yale University for chemical analysis. (via The Telegraph) View the full article

A compound produced from fish oil that appears to target leukemia stem cells could lead to a cure for the disease, according to researchers. View the full article

Ocean acidification research is a relatively new study topic as scientists have only appreciated the potential extent of acidification within the last decade. As greenhouse gas emissions have accelerated in the past century, the oceans have taken up about a third of the carbon dioxide produced by human activities. That excess beyond natural levels increases amounts of carbonic acid in seawater. New research shows that some organisms are already experiencing ocean acidification levels not predicted to be reached until 2100. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Chris' aquarium is featured as Atlanta Reef Club's (ARC) Tank of the Quarter, where you can see many more photos. Well deserved! We plan to follow the progress of this aquarium and hopefully share it as an Advanced Aquarist Feature Aquarium in the future. For now, enjoy the tank overview and the many splendid photos. Tank Overview Display Tank 96”x36”x28” Starphire Glass Eurobraced 48” External Overflow Water Volume 435 gallon display 240 gallon collection sump 200 gallon return sump 60 gallon frag tank 30 gallon refugium Total System Volume - ~1000 gallons Control AC3 Aquacontroller and iPhone app Lighting VHO Actinics 2 x 1000W Metal Halides with Radium 20ks R2 Moonlights 400W Radium 20k over the frag tank 11am – 2pm Actinics 2pm – 8pm Halides 8pm – 10pm Actinics 10pm – 1am Moonlights 6am – 11am Moonlights Flow 3 Vortech MP60’s in the display 2 Vortech MP40’s in the frag tank Maxijet 1200’s in the sumps Support MRC Pro III Skimmer w/washdown MRC Commercial 240W UV MRC CR-6 Calcium Reactor MRC Carbon and GRO Reactors Hammerhead Return Pump 1HP Chiller (outside) 8 random heaters plugged into different DC8s Video from 11/21/11: " height="410" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="680"> "> "> View the full article

Click through to see the images. Chris' aquarium is featured as Atlanta Reef Club's (ARC) Tank of the Quarter, where you can see many more photos. Well deserved! We plan to follow the progress of this aquarium and hopefully share it as an Advanced Aquarist Feature Aquarium in the future. For now, enjoy the tank overview and the many splendid photos. Tank Overview Display Tank 96”x36”x28” Starphire Glass Eurobraced 48” External Overflow Water Volume 435 gallon display 240 gallon collection sump 200 gallon return sump 60 gallon frag tank 30 gallon refugium Total System Volume - ~1000 gallons Control AC3 Aquacontroller and iPhone app Lighting VHO Actinics 2 x 1000W Metal Halides with Radium 20ks R2 Moonlights 400W Radium 20k over the frag tank 11am – 2pm Actinics 2pm – 8pm Halides 8pm – 10pm Actinics 10pm – 1am Moonlights 6am – 11am Moonlights Flow 3 Vortech MP60’s in the display 2 Vortech MP40’s in the frag tank Maxijet 1200’s in the sumps Support MRC Pro III Skimmer w/washdown MRC Commercial 240W UV MRC CR-6 Calcium Reactor MRC Carbon and GRO Reactors Hammerhead Return Pump 1HP Chiller (outside) 8 random heaters plugged into different DC8s Video from 11/21/11: " height="410" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="680"> "> "> View the full article

Click through to see the images. When I first read about this program, I thought it sounded very similar to the one I blogged about last week called Adopt-a-Coral as it shares a number of similar features. Waldorf Astoria Maldives has partnered with Seamarc, a Maldives marine consultancy firm. According to their website, they have been involved in a number of marine conservancy projects that include Reef Ball, erosion control, environmental impact assessments, and the like. In this particular instance, Seamarc will be using a system they developed called "coral trays" for the transplantation project with the Waldorf Astoria. According to Seamarc, their trays "improve the resistance to predation and avoid sedimentation, while providing a suitable substrate for the [coral] fragments." Example photos of their "coral trays" can be seen above. For $150, guests can select and transplant a small portion of coral reef in the area surrounding the resort. The whole process takes one hour, and involves selecting a plot of living but damaged or threatened coral that has been harvested by Seamarc, attaching the plot to a lightweight frame structure, and transplanting it in the resort's lagoon. Guests can then monitor the growth and progress of their coral reef plot through a dedicated website. Whether the Waldorf Astoria Maldives is doing this strictly for altruistic or self-indulgent reasons, it is definitely a step in the right direction. (via Gadling) View the full article

If you would wish to setup a dedicated species tank for a Harlequin shrimp, i would suggest the following; - Salt mix brand ( Any brand should do, but choosing a good brand will helps ) - Filter : A good bio filter to take care of the waste especially from the star fish when they feed with a good skimmer. - Parameter which you should take note, sg 1.023 ~ 1.025, PH 8.1 - 8.4, dKH 8 -12 and temperature ( ideally 26 - 28 degree ) - Lighting - since you would not be keeping any corals, maybe using a Atlantic or blue led would be enough since it will also prevent algae bloom. - rock scaping, ideally you could keep it in pair with some hiding space . It would be very interesting to see the pair wresting the star fish . If you want to increase the coloration of your Harlequin shrimp, feed them with blue lukin star . The Hawaii variant of the shrimp is most beautiful i feel due to it;s strong coloration. Do remember to share some pics of your setup with us ..

A 14-year study in an atoll reef lagoon in Glover's Reef, Belize has found that fishing closures there produce encouraging increases in populations of predatory fish species. However, such closures have resulted in only minimal increases in herbivorous fish, which feed on the algae that smother corals and inhibit reef recovery. View the full article

A 14-year study in an atoll reef lagoon in Glover's Reef, Belize has found that fishing closures there produce encouraging increases in populations of predatory fish species. However, such closures have resulted in only minimal increases in herbivorous fish, which feed on the algae that smother corals and inhibit reef recovery. View the full article

How do marine mammals, whose very survival depends on regular diving, manage to avoid decompression sickness or "the bends?" Do they, indeed, avoid it? View the full article

On the 15th anniversary of the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, a quiet but profound rebirth of life and ecosystem health is emerging, scientists conclude in a new report. View the full article