Harlequinmania

Click through to see the images. Movoto blog released an amusing infographic on just what it would take to turn your house into an aquarium. Maybe soccer player Thierry Henry was on to something? View the full article

Click through to see the images. Movoto blog released an amusing infographic on just what it would take to turn your house into an aquarium. Maybe soccer player Thierry Henry was on to something? View the full article

Click through to see the images. Movoto blog released an amusing infographic on just what it would take to turn your house into an aquarium. Maybe soccer player Thierry Henry was on to something? View the full article

You have to first upload to Youtube before being able to share it here.

Click through to see the images. Here are the tidbits we know about this mini masterpiece (we've contacted him and hope for more details): 5 gallon cylindrical aquarium DIY LED fixture consisting of eleven 3W Cree XRE's (5 cool white and 6 royal blue on separate dimmers) 12x12x12" custom sump Visit nanoreefwannabe's thread at 3reef.com to read more information about his pico reef, ask him questions, or simply compliment him on his beautiful pint-sized reef. Here are photos of the tank's progression over the past two years: View the full article

Click through to see the images. Here is more information about this mini-masterpiece (provided by the "artist" himself, Mike): 5 gallon cylindrical aquarium DIY LED fixture consisting of eleven 3W Cree XRE's (5 cool white and 6 royal blue on separate dimmers) 12x12x12" custom sump Filtration consists of Purigen, filter floss, Phosban, and GAC Additives include kalkwasser and Kent Marine Essential Elements 50% water changes bi-monthly Visit nanoreefwannabe's thread at 3reef.com to read more information about his pico reef, ask him questions, or simply compliment him on his beautiful pint-sized reef. Here are photos of the tank's progression over the past two years culminating into the beauty you see at the top of this article: View the full article

This skimmer look exactly similar to the new Reef Octopus skimmer i saw during the IMM Exhibition, cant wait to see the performance of it soon. Help us load a video of the skimmer performance here bro.

Click through to see the images. It wasn't long ago when reefkeepers underestimated the importance of foods for coral, but recent studies confirm the value of feeding corals. It's difficult to view corals as voracious animals because of the tiny scale and slow motion of their predation, but when you zoom in on a coral and speed up the footage, we can better appreciate their ability to consume food. This R.yuma mushroom coral (one of the most beautiful I've seen) proves corals pig out ... even supermodel corals. This video was posted by Reef Wholesale, an aquarium goods wholesaler based in Ontario, Canada and the North American distributor for Fauna Marin, Germany (an Advanced Aquarist sponsor). " height="383" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640"> "> "> View the full article

I tried this before as well purely for weekly tank maintenance. Dont mix with other bacteria product as it causes a bacteria bloom with cloudy tank. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Wow impressive build so far. Will be camping here for your update.. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Click through to see the images. View the full article

Click through to see the images. By flapping their fins in a figure-eight pattern, bluelined wrasses can travel at high speeds while using 40 per cent less energy than tunas of the same size. “For a long time, people thought the best high-speed swimmers were the fishes cruising in open waters, like mackerel and tunas,” says Dr Chris Fulton from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The Australian National University. “Our study shows that these coral reef wrasses, by virtue of their unique wing-like fins, can maintain very similar speeds at a dramatically lower energetic cost,” he says. The researchers’ discovery could help revolutionise robot submarine technology by reducing how much energy is needed to propel objects underwater. Current Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) use propellers or jets at the back. “By replacing these with fins at the front to mimic how the bluelined wrasses flap their fins, we could propel robots with less power, saving on batteries and increasing their range,” Dr Fulton says. Dr Fulton explains that fish like tunas and mackerels move their bodies and tails to propel themselves through the water. While this method enables them to swim fast, it can come at a high energetic cost. “Another way fish swim is to use their pectoral fins, those at the front of their body, to produce thrust,” says Dr Fulton. “Fishes that do this with rounded fins tend to paddle their fins back and forth, almost like how we row a boat: they hold their fins out and pull back in a power stroke, then collapse their fins and bring them forward for a recovery stroke. This means they are producing thrust only half the time.” Bluelined wrasses, however, flap their tapered fins in a figure eight pattern that produces thrust on every stroke, making it far more energy efficient. “This figure-eight fin sweep allows the bluelined wrasse to create a lift force as the water flows over their fins, in a very similar way to how birds fly through the air. This means the fish are literally flying underwater. “They also hold their body rigid while swimming to make it as streamlined as possible. They only flap their fins, slightly adjusting the angle so as to cruise along without burning up a lot of energy.” The study shows that bluelined wrasses stand out as the highest performing swimmers for their size with respect to optimum swimming speed and energy consumption, Dr Fulton says. Such extreme performance appears to be linked with the fish’s habitat, he says. Unlike many tail-swimmers that dwell in the open ocean, these wrasses live on shallow coral reefs where they experience some rough treatment from waves breaking over the reef. “Most people think that coral reefs are idyllic places for fish to live, but dwelling in these shallow waters means they often experience extreme water flows generated from waves,” Dr Fulton says. “It’s almost like living with constant winds from a cyclone – you can just imagine what it’d be like to try and find food and get home in that sort of weather!” Having a smart swimming technique has ensured these small reef fish have an evolutionary advantage in the marine environment, Dr Fulton says. “Fish use up to half of their energy on swimming. So if they can save even just a fraction of this, they can spend it on growing bigger, holding larger territories and producing more offspring,” he says. “Just imagine if you could save 40% on the petrol bill for your car – how good would it be to spend that spare cash on other things?” “We know fish with these wing-like fins dominate shallow reefs around the world, where in some cases they can be about 10 times more abundant than fishes with paddle-shaped fins.” The study “Energetic extremes in aquatic locomotion by coral reef fishes” by Christopher J. Fulton, Jacob L. Johansen and John F. Steffensen is published in the latest issue of PLoS ONE. (Press Release ARC Center of Excellence Coral Reef Studies) View the full article

Click through to see the images. In this video, jetstream01 features corals from his 135-gallon mixed reef tank lit with eight ATI Dimmable Sunpower T5's. While the video is rather short (less than 4 minutes long), it took weeks to put together as many of the shots were taken over a several hour time period. The short birdsnest shot in particular took over a week to capture! He mentions that he used a Canon T2i DSLR paired with an intervalometer to capture the video with many of the sequences taking anywhere from 500 to 2500 photos to produce. Grab your morning coffee, sit back, and relax while you watch: View the full article

Click through to see the images. From the University of Oregon: The $15 billion ornamental fish industry faces a global problem with antibiotic resistance, a new study concludes, raising concern that treatments for fish diseases may not work when needed -- and creating yet another mechanism for exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The risk to humans is probably minor unless they frequently work with fish or have compromised immune systems, researchers said, although transmission of disease from tropical fish has been shown to occur. More serious is the risk to this industry, which has grown significantly in recent years, and is now a $900 million annual business in the United States. There are few regulations in the U.S. or elsewhere about treating ornamental fish with antibiotics, experts say. Antibiotics are used routinely, such as when fish are facing stress due to transport, whether or not they have shown any sign of disease. "We expected to find some antibiotic resistance, but it was surprising to find such high levels, including resistance in some cases where the antibiotic is rarely used," said Tim Miller-Morgan, a veterinary aquatics specialist with Oregon State University. "We appear to already have set ourselves up for some pretty serious problems within the industry." In the new study, 32 freshwater fish of various species were tested for resistance to nine different antibiotics, and some resistance was found to every antibiotic. The highest level of resistance, 77 percent, was found with the common antibiotic tetracycline. The fish were tested in Portland, Ore., after being transported from Colombia, Singapore and Florida. Findings of the study were reported in the Journal of Fish Diseases. The bacterial infections found in the fish included Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus and others, several of which can infect both fish and humans. "The range of resistance is often quite disturbing," the scientists wrote in their report. "It is not uncommon to see resistance to a wide range of antibiotic classes, including beta-lactams, macrolides, tetracyclines, sulphonamides, quinolones, cephalosporins and chloramphenicol." Problems and concerns with antibiotic resistance have been growing for years, Miller-Morgan said. The nature of the resistance can range widely, causing an antibiotic to lose some, or all of its effectiveness. There have been documented cases of disease transmission from fish to humans, he said, but it's not common. It would be a particular concern for anyone with a weak or compromised immune system, he pointed out, and people with such health issues should discuss tropical fish management with their physician. Workers who constantly handle tropical fish may also face a higher level of risk. From an industry perspective, losses of fish to bacterial disease may become increasingly severe, he said, because antibiotics will lose their effectiveness. Anyone handling tropical fish can use some basic precautions that should help, Miller-Morgan said. Consumers should buy only healthy fish; avoid cleaning tanks with open cuts or sores on their hands; use gloves; immediately remove sick fish from tanks; consider quarantining all new fish in a separate tank for 30 days; wash hands after working with fish; and never use antibiotics in a fish tank unless actually treating a known fish disease caused by bacteria. "We don't think individuals should ever use antibiotics in a random, preventive or prophylactic method," Miller-Morgan said. "Even hobbyists can learn more about how to identify tropical fish parasites and diseases, and use antibiotics only if a bacterial disease is diagnosed." On an industry level, he said, considerable progress could be made with improvements in fish husbandry, better screening and handling, and use of quarantines, rather than antibiotics, to reduce fish disease. The ornamental fish industry is large and diverse, including trade of more than 6,000 species of freshwater and marine fish from more than 100 different countries. About half the supply originates in Asia, and freshwater farming of ornamental fish is a rapidly growing industry. Also increasing is the number of trained fish veterinarians, who can help fish hobbyists to reduce disease loss and save treasured pets. More information is available from the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Fish Veterinarians. A database of aquatic veterinarians is available online, at http://aquavetmed.info View the full article

Yes it is ideal for a reef setup as well Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Try checking with aqua fauna which is one of our sponsor Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

That's was really fast hand fast leg. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

i think these are all the local LFS which bring in SPS on a more regular basis . Coral farm and LCK does bring in SPS as well, but only once in awhile .

Click through to see the images. New LED fixtures continue to be introduced into the hobby. Specifically, there is an increase in the number of LED fixtures providing a more fuller color spectrum with multiple channels of control, allowing the user more freedom in custom tuning the light output. Continuing in the same vein as my previous LED lighting tests, this article presents data on light intensity and spread along with spectral plots for several new LED fixtures. 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 The spectral distributions were measured using the Licor LI-1800 spectroradiometer. The spectral data was collected from the various LEDs and normalized such that integrated light output (spectral irradiance) between the wavelengths of 400-700 nm was 100 Watts/m2. Data was collected at full power output for the individual channels of light control (eg. Blue, white) along with data with ALL LEDs on at full power. The data was normalized so that the full output was at 100 Watts/m2 over the wavelength range 400-700 nm. The various LED color outputs were then scaled by the same scale factor to allow of determination of the contribution of the various LEDs to the full output. The results are plotted as a Spectral power distribution plot. Table 1: LED Lighting Fixtures Tested LED Fixture Picture AquaIllumination: AI-Vega Maxspect Mazzara-P The fixtures were tested for light spread and intensity at 24"and 30", unless otherwise noted. Power draw was measured with a Kill-A-Watt meter. Maxspect Mazzara P-series The Mazzara P series is a modular lighting system that is sold as a complete unit with LED modules, frame mounts, power supply, and controller. The modular design allows for the addition of additional LED modules, on a support frame that is adjustable to fit a wide range of aquarium sizes. The mounting of the LED modules allows for sliding the location of the LED modules as well as allowing the LED modules to be mounted at an angle. The ability to adjust angular orientation allows for better control in directing the light output. It addition to the flexibility in mounting, this lighting fixture also allows for a plug and play replacement of the LED bulbs and the optics. 100, 70 and 40 degree optics come standard with the modules. The controller provides 4 dimmable channels, and each controller can control 16 LED modules. The LEDs used in each module are Cree XM-L, Philips Rebel ES and Bridgelux LED chips. As per the specification each LED module is rated as 60W (4-Cree XM-L @ 1500mA, 4-Bridgelux 10k@700mA, 3-Luxeon Rebel 460nm Royal @700mA, 3-Luxeon Reble 480nm Blue @ 700mA, 2-Bridgelux 420nm@700mA). Figure 1. Mazzara-P showing the arrangement of the different color LED in each cluster and the different channels of control Figure 2 Mazzara-P single LED module Light Intensity and Distribution at 24" and 30" Figure 3: Spectral Distribution of Mazzara-P AquaIllumination AI - VEGA Color The AI-Vega is the next generation LED light fixtures from Aqua Illumination. Compared to their previous products, popular AI-Sol and Sol-Blue, the AI Vega offers additional LED colors and 6 channels of control. Each LED fixture comprises the following LEDs: 4-Cree XM-L Cool White 4 - Cree XP-E Royal Blue 4 - Cree XP-E Blue 4 - OSRAM OSLON Deep Blue 2 - Cree XP-E Green 2 - OSRAM OSLON Deep Red A wireless controller allows for infinite control of the 6 lighting channels to create a wide range of color combinations, along with programing in special effects such as clouds and lightning. Figure 4 AI- Vega Showing the arrangement of the different color LEDs Figure 5 AI Vega Light Intensity and Distribution at 24" and 30" Figure 6. AI Vega Spectral Distribution Conclusions As LED lighting moves further into the mainstream, there is new effort being made to provide a fuller spectrum light that can be tuned by the aquarist to satisfy both the demands of the corals as well as the visual pleasure of the aquarist. Hopefully this data will help the aquarist make an informed choice on what to expect from the individual LED fixtures and how best to utilize them to achieve the desired coverage and light intensity. View the full article

iwarna have some wild orchid dotty back today .. Saw some left over SPS, and soft corals from last shipment.

Often consider as one of the "Fish Guru" in our forum, we are pleased to invite Digiman helping us out in this Weekly Fish Highlight section. He will be sharing with us on the rarest, unique or craziest fishes in this hobby here . Let's look forward to his sharing here

Imo I think golden angel is the hardest to keep in captive. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

6-8 month for optimal result while some say it can last till 12 month for a not so light demanding tank. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Click through to see the images. FIU to operate Aquarius Reef Base Unique underwater research lab to complement research and teaching MIAMI (Jan. 15, 2013) -- Florida International University has been awarded a grant to continue stewardship of the Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s only operational underwater research center. As a member of the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Science CIMAS, FIU received a grant to continue maintenance and monitoring of the facility for NOAA in 2013. This will enable FIU to develop a new business model to fund operations at Aquarius. NOAA’s National Undersea Research Program, including Aquarius, was not included in the president’s fiscal 2013 proposal, however, NOAA recognizes that the Aquarius Reef Base is a unique and valuable asset to the scientific community. The new business model would include research and education activities supported by federal, state and local government funding, as well as fees for services from science and engineering teams from government and industry that use the facility. Donations from private benefactors also will be key to ensuring the future of Aquarius. A photo of Aquarius can be found here. “Aquarius offers tremendous research opportunities, and we’re ensuring that the investment of American taxpayers continues to provide critical research results to the country,” said Mike Heithaus, executive director of FIU’s School of Environment, Arts and Society (SEAS). “For our students and our marine sciences program Aquarius offers fantastic new possibilities and is a natural fit for the work we are doing in the Keys and throughout the world.” FIU biology professor Jim Fourqurean is the director of the Marine Education and Research Initiative for the Florida Keys in SEAS, and he will be overseeing activities at Aquarius Reef Base. The existing Aquarius team will become FIU employees. “Rapid changes in the environment that supports the beauty and economy of South Florida make the observation post of Aquarius even more important,” said Fourqurean. “It gives us a unique vantage point to understand how changing climate, fishing pressure and threats from pollution and oil and gas exploration and production will impact our coastal environment.” Aquarius provides unparalleled means to study coral reefs and the ocean, test state-of-the-art undersea technology, train specialized divers, and to engage the imagination of students and the public across the globe in ocean science, coral reefs, conservation, and underwater technology. The undersea lab even offers training opportunities for astronauts headed to space. “Living and working in Aquarius is perhaps the closest thing on earth to actually being in space,” said William L. Todd, program manager for Exploration Analogs at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Todd commanded the first-ever NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) at Aquarius in 2001. NEEMO is a joint NASA-NOAA program to study human survival in the underwater laboratory in preparation for future space exploration. “Aquarius allows our astronauts to conduct unique undersea missions that closely resemble the tasks, timelines, operations and even spacewalks that will be conducted on long duration space missions,” Todd said. About Aquarius: Situated 63 feet below the surface a few miles off Key Largo, Aquarius provides about 400 square feet of living and research space and allows scientists to live and work underwater 24 hours a day for one or two week missions. The prolonged access to the seabed allows scientists to intimately study the animals and plants that reside within and around the reef. Scientists have embarked on more than 300 science, exploration and training missions to Aquarius since its deployment in November, 1993, resulting in hundreds of published papers about a wide range of topics — from the biology of corals to global issues including the overall health of the oceans. As many as 117 missions involved residency in the Aquarius undersea laboratory since its initial deployment in the Florida Keys. About FIU: Florida International University is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a community engaged university. Its colleges and schoolshttp://main.fiu.edu/academics/colleges-schools/index.htmloffer more than 180 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoralhttp://main.fiu.edu/academics/degree-programs/index.htmlprograms in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. It has 160,000 alumni and enrolls 50,000 students on two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of the Sun Belt Conferencehttp://www.fiusports.comand has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The underwater trash pile was discovered by Michael McCue, curator of the Tumor Underwater World Aquarium, while diving on a reef just off the coast of Agat, Guam. When he found the trash pile, he recorded the extent of the trash strewn about the reef site and subsequently uploaded the video to Youtube. Shortly after uploading, the video went viral and in the end a group of divers including the Guam EPA, Underwater World staff, and the Micronesian Divers Association cleaned up the mess. The military also got involved, helping fill three trucks full of the hauled-up trash, which were then recycled. (via Radio Australia) View the full article