Harlequinmania

Viruses fill the ocean and have a significant effect on ocean biology, specifically marine microbiology, according to new research. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The nonprofit foundation’s focus is on re-establishing coral colonies like the endangered staghorn and elkhorn corals to the Florida Keys. In an effort to make their program goals more public, in 2007 Ken Nedimyer, president of the Foundation, started the volunteer arm of the Coral Restoration Foundation. With the volunteer program, participants learn about environmental issues the Keys face as well as take hands-on dives to help restore coral species like the staghorn and elkhorn corals: Volunteers go on working dives to the coral nursery to clean and prepare corals for planting, and an orientation dive at one of the restoration sites to see firsthand the evolution of corals over time. At the nursery, corals are started from a clipping about the length of a knuckle and grow to 30 or 40 centimeters. After a year on the reef, the corals grow several inches tall with multiple branches. In five years, they are strong, independent structures serving as habitat for a variety of tropical fish. ... “This is something the average person can get their hands on and do,” Nedimyer said. “We have a lot of people who have volunteered, and they ‘own’ this project. They can take (the experience) back to their home communities — it is a grass-roots way of giving people ownership.” A three day dive trip with the Foundation will cost $456.50 per person and covers lodging, tanks, weights, classroom sessions, dive trips to transplant coral and tend the coral nursery. More information can be found at the Coral Restoration Foundation's website: www.coralrestoration.org (via newmanpr) View the full article

Click through to see the images. Turns out, "'Rays have been known to store sperm and not give birth until they decide the timing is right," says head curator Paul Hale. "But it's not something I've seen before in my eight years at the aquarium." The staff noticed both females looking plump but did not assume the stingrays were with young because they are in a female-only display. All seven babies are doing great and are now on exhibit. via AOL Travel View the full article

Click through to see the images. According to Absolutely Fish (New Jersey, USA), they have not seen a blue Porcupine Puffer variant in over 3 years and have only seen eight specimens in 25 years. This specimen was collected from Bali and is being offered for sale for $199. Just promise us you won't try to poison your wife with this puffer fish. View the full article

While intensive research efforts have gone into developing ways to harness hydrogen energy to fuel our everyday lives, a natural example of a living hydrogen-powered 'fuel cell' has gone unnoticed. Researchers have now discovered hydrogen-powered symbiotic bacteria in deep-sea hydrothermal vent mussels. View the full article

Click through to see the images. For context, please read the Advanced Aquarist article: "Experimental Comparison of Measured Flow Output of Aquarium Propeller Pumps" The video and text below is provided by Tunze. What does the video mean…. There has been much discussion about the Flow Vs. Turbulence video and what it means and what it shows. Many misinterpret what they are seeing as wide flow vs focused flow. This short article will explain our findings. We set out to increase the flow of our pumps, we had two simultaneous flow meters running, one at the position in the video and one at the end of the tank. We found that while we were able to match our competitors pumps output on the meter at the pump, flow reach dropped dramatically and the flow meter became more and more unstable in its readings. We tired everything, we had alternate coil windings, alternate propellers and housings and literally dozens were tried. Certainly one has a mental picture of what 8000 gph should look like, compared to roughly 3400 gph it should appear like the pitting a Lamborghini against a base Chevrolet, but that isn’t the reality. Then, we had a Eureka moment, the law of conservation of energy states energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Our equivalent pumps use roughly equivalent amounts of energy. We cannot accurately calculate the losses comparatively, for example the competitors pump is louder but our pump is submersed and water mutes much of the noise, and there pump is air cooled while ours is water cooled so heat losses are also hard to accurately compare. But let us assume the losses are roughly equal to waste energy of noise, vibration and heat. This means we both put roughly the same amount of energy into water. Enter the next physical principal, entropy! In nature all systems have a tendency to there lowest energy state, for flow, this is turbulence. Watch a river, notice how at a narrowing of the channel the flow accelerates to a nice laminar flow of high velocity, then downstream the channel widens and hits obstacles and is reduced to turbulence, just swirling visible at the surface. Tubulence is a flow which lacks the y axis of directional energy and has only the x axis of velocity. This explains exactly our findings and shows why the flow meters were wrong and fundamentally why lph or gph measured by a velocity meter is unreliable. It deducts the necessary directional energy. Turbulence as a lower energy state generates a high velocity without a directional energy component, our pumps produce energy in both axis and the amount of energy we add to the water is equivalent, only the form it takes has changed. The width of the flow is not the point, we can deliver also a wide flow with a higher directional axis component and this is already in development. But you cannot get a substantially higher laminar flow rate without a substantially larger motor. A higher wattage input is required and tweaks to efficiency are modest as in general the pumps are near the maximum efficiency possible within the confines of modern mechanics. We expected to find some substantial error in our design, a shortage of intake area for example, we analyzed every factor, for example a 6305 has 8350 sq mm of intake surface our competitors pump has 8000 sq mm, in the end the only difference was the resulting form of the energy and we feel our flow form is more suitable and the lessons we have learned will result in substantial improvements and options for wider flow over the next 6-9 months. Bottom line, the pumps are the same, but different and we need another descriptor besides gph to have any real world value. View the full article

Reduced catches of small oceanic "forage" fish like sardines and anchovies may be required in some ocean areas in order to protect the larger predators that rely on these species for food. View the full article

Reduced catches of small oceanic "forage" fish like sardines and anchovies may be required in some ocean areas in order to protect the larger predators that rely on these species for food. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The last article reported test results on some LED fixtures. This article presents results on lighting output for some more LED fixtures available in the market. Table 1 presents a list of the LED lighting fixtures reviewed in this article. Each of these was tested using the same set up as my previous reflector tests, using a 3'X3' grid with a spacing of 3" in the X,Y direction. The fixtures were centered on this grid, and PAR was measured as PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) in micromoles/m2/sec using a LICOR 1000 data logger and a LI-192SA underwater cosine corrected sensor calibrated for both air and water. The data logger was set to average 5 readings for each data collection point. The data was imported into Microsoft Excel for analysis and the data was plotted to display the light spread and intensity at various distances. 4 plots of the data with 2 plots at each distance were generated showing: A 3-D surface plot showing the actual PAR values recorded A contour plot viewing the surface from the top showing the distribution Table 1: LED Lighting Fixtures Tested LED Fixture Picture Reef Fanatic -120WEcoray 60WMaxSpect G2 -160WThe Reef Fanatic 120 LED fixture was tested at 18" and 24", the EcoRay at 18", 24", and 30". Test Data and Analysis Reef Fanatic -120W ReefFanatic's 120W LED Pendant. It has a 1:1 ratio of blue and white LEDs arranged as 3 banks of LEDs. Each bank can be individually shut on/off using the on/off buttons on top of the pendant. A digital timer is integrated with the unit. Since the LED fixture looked very similar to the Blue Moon 90W tested earlier, and the major difference seemed to be in the number of LEDs being used, it was decided to test this at 18" and 24". As tested the fixture drew 130W of power, 1.1Amps current at 120 Volts, with a power factor of 0.99. Cooling of the LEDs is provided by fans built in to the fixture. The distribution of light is shown in figure 1. Figure 1: Reef Fanatic LED - 120W Ecoray 60 The Ecoray 60 has 60 1W LEDs arranged in a 6X10 grid, with a equal mix of blue and white LEDs. Unlike the Reef Fanatic LEDs, these LEDs also have integrated optics which help focus the light by reducing the wide spread of the LED light. These were tested at distances of 18", 24" and 30" to assess the distribution of light. As seen from the data, the additional optics clearly focus to light to achieve high PPFD values. This light would be ideally suited for deep tanks (even greater than 30" deep), or allow for higher placement of the light above the tank surface. As tested the Ecoray-60 draws 62W of power, .54Amps of current at 123V, with a power factor of 0.95. Figure 2: Light distribution for the Ecoray 60 MaxSpect G2 -160W Unlike the other LEDs, the MaxSpect G2 incorporates a wider range of LEDs with various color temperatures and power. In a 16" x 7.25" x 2.5" high gloss black package, it includes 4 15w 16000K LED, 8 3W 12000k LED, 14 3w Royal Blue LED's (445nm), 4 3w Violet(403nm) and 4 .1w Moonlight LED with 60 degree optics. A 3 Channel Lighting timer is provided for control. As tested the Maxspect-G2 draws 157W of power, 1.33 Amps of current at 121.9V, with a power factor of 0.98 Figure 3: Light distribution for the MaxSpect G2 160W LED fixture Conclusions LED lighting for reef tanks is on its way to becoming a reality, and various designs and configurations are making their way into the market. This is a rapidly developing area and unfortunately rapid product changes are not uncommon. On the plus side rapid design changes are benefit to the customer in being able to provide the most current state of the art, while on the negative side making the expensive products obsolete quickly. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Read more about the seneye Reef monitoring device and view an Advanced Aquarist exclusive screenshot of its web interface. And here is the short but extremely polished overview video about the upcoming product: Advanced Aquarist also received an update about the seneye beta program: We had such a fantastic response, we let a few devices go out for beta testing but we expect to do another round of beta testing to include more people very soon. We are especially interested in testers from different countries all over the world. So for the people who registered and were not randomly selected the 1st time they still could be in the next round of beta testing, equally if other people want to register for the 2nd round they have 1 final opportunity to, but only for one more week. Visit www.seneye.com for more information about the seneye Reef and the beta program. View the full article

How's the price of the live stocks as compare to singapore ?

Click through to see the images. As of this blog's publication date, they are only 92,000 certificates away from 20 million. According to PADI's website, the winner will receive: Round-trip coach airfare to Cairns, Queensland, Australia including all taxes and fees*; Four nights stay of two-person shared accommodation at a hotel resort in Cairns or Port Douglas, Queensland Australia (location to be determined by Tourism Queensland), including taxes and fees. Incidental expenses such as phone, internet, minibar, room service, movie rental, meals, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, tips and gratuities, etc are winner’s responsibility Three day / three night live aboard dive adventure on the Spirit of Freedom to Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs (approximate value of $1895 AUD per person), including:opportunity for up to 11 divesfull equipment hire, including dive computersdouble or twin share cabin with private bathroomchef-prepared mealsone hour, low level reef flight from Lizard Island to Cairnslevies and taxes Day trip to UNESCO World Heritage listed site, the Daintree Rainforest - the oldest rainforest in the world Cuddle a Koala Experience Aboriginal Cultural ExperienceExclusions: incidental expenses such as alcoholic beverages, tips and gratuities are winner’s responsibility View the full article

Scientists have developed a population model for Atlantic herring that links herring population trends to the size of the haddock population. The model also provides evidence that egg predation by haddock can cause alternate stable population levels in Georges Bank herring. These results have significant ecological as well as management implications. View the full article

When you're a tiny creature in a vast ocean it pays to hang out with the right crowd, regardless of whether they are related to you or not, a new study into the amazingly diverse world of marine microbes has found. For bacteria at least, it seems that what matters more than your species identity is whether you have specific genes that let you work with other species to form a functioning community. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Here is small sampling of the many skeleton articulations artist Grant Stoeklin of www.HelterSkeletons.com has created. Visit their website to view more fish skeleton articulations or to purchase your own mounted display. Prices are based on the length of the fish, and delivery requires four to six months. Parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia) Lionfish (Pterois volitans) Clown Knifefish (Chitala chitala) Lookdown (Selene vomer) Red Bellied Pirahnas (Pygocentrus nattereri) Rock Beauty Angelfish (Holacanthus tricolor) Spotfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus) Sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) Dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) Atlantic Flyingfish (Cypselurus melanurus) via www.MeetReef.com View the full article

Thanks for sharing the photos here. It is always nice for us to see how the LFS in other part of the world look like

Click through to see the images. The video starts out with an academic primer about flow and turbulence. It then goes on to explain the three different testing methodologies Tunze employs to demonstrate flow quality differences. Tunze compares multiple Tunze and Ecotech propeller pumps using these methodologies. The demonstrations show Tunze Streams have more laminar and consistent flow patterns with greater range whereas Ecotech's Vortech pumps have more turbulence, wider dispersion, and less reach. For context, please read the Advanced Aquarist article: "Experimental Comparison of Measured Flow Output of Aquarium Propeller Pumps" View the full article

Click through to see the images. The video starts out with an academic primer about flow and turbulence. It then goes on to explain the three different testing methodologies Tunze employs to demonstrate flow quality differences. Tunze compares multiple Tunze and Ecotech propeller pumps using these methodologies. The demonstrations show Tunze Streams have more laminar and consistent flow patterns with greater range whereas Ecotech's Vortech pumps have more turbulence, wider dispersion, and less reach. For context, please read the Advanced Aquarist article: "Experimental Comparison of Measured Flow Output of Aquarium Propeller Pumps" View the full article

Increased seawater temperatures are known to be a leading cause of the decline of coral reefs all over the world. Now, researchers have found that extreme low temperatures affect certain corals in much the same way that high temperatures do, with potentially catastrophic consequences for coral ecosystems. View the full article

Do fish swimming in schools or birds flying in flocks have a collective spirit that enables them to move as one? Are they animals with highly developed cognition, a complex instinct or a telepathic gift? A recent study conducted researchers in the Netherlands points in another direction. Mathematical models of self-organization show that complicated collective behavior can be the consequence of a few simple behavioral rules. View the full article

Intent to go back to SPS again, so upgrading my light to a better one. it;s love at first slight after i saw this lighting in Aquarama.. the installer from Reef system Installing the Movalite rail and light.

The last compartment of the sump, with two new pump ( Aqua medic 5000 and Water blaster 5000 ) with a total flow of 10,000 litres / hr to create a 10 X turnover rate of the tank to replace my old Red dragon. Still prefer runing two separate pump, to play "safe" in case one break down. Upgraded my chiller as well to a Daiken compressor chiller with Drop in coated copper coil. Chill down my tank from 27 - 26 degree in 20 min Awesome !

Photo of my refugium section with 4" sand bed ( Filled with Caribsea Miracle Mud + grade 1 sand ), chaeto and Lighted by LumenAqua Max 200 on 10 hour a day ( 1000 ~ 0800 ). On the top layer, i fill it up with a thin layer of Carbisea crushed coral sand to help in buffering the water PH.

Schuran Bio pallet reactor. Running only on a AB1000 pump, low power consumption and small foot print . Refilling the media is also a breeze since you just need to open the top cap to add in the new media. Outlet of the Bio pallet reactor is placed near to the inlet of the skimmer to improve it;s effectiveness.

Overview of my sump tank First stage Biological compartment filled with Bacterica King, Bio ring, Bio-home red, and some K1 media still stuck inside