This is a must-watch video: Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares some astonishing images of the ocean – and sad stats about its rapid decline – as she makes her TED Prize wish.
Please spread the news to anyone who might care; we’re really running out of time from a biodiversity point of view, let alone global warming.
Mature marine aquariums should never see ammonia levels rise above 0.1 parts per million (ppm), while a better goal is for it to be undetectable with standard test kits.
If your tank is well-stocked and you feed your fish heavily then you may sometimes see ammonia spike up to 0.2 ppm temporarily, before rapidly subsiding.
Levels of ammonia up to 0.4 ppm or so can be tolerated by most marine fish for 2-3 days. Higher levels will kill some or all of them.
Consistent levels ammonia above 0.1ppm are a concern, and you should investigate and remedy such a situation without delay.
Video of the week from mid-February 2009:
A visit to Amano’s Japanese nature aquarium gallery
Two aquarium specialists, Zolux and Hobby (aka Dohse Aquaristik) have pooled their resources in the UK to create a new company, Zolux Hobby UK Ltd.
According to press information received by AquaDaily:
Being both dynamic and innovative, ZOLUX and DOHSE AQUARISTIK are confident that sharing their experiences will allow them to offer the best products and services to British clients.
Both manufactures’ catalogues are very complementary and that synergy in their products will prove to be a welcome enhancement by UK pet stores, aquatic & reptile centres.
With his wealth of experience in the aquatic and pet sectors, Simon Collinson has been appointed as Area Sales Manager to promote ZOLUX HOBBY UK LTD products, under the brands HOBBY-Aquatics, HOBBY-Reptile, DUPLA and ZOLUX.
More evidence that 2009 will be the year of the aquarium blog, as Advanced Aquarist has just added readers’ comments to the bottom of all articles published by the online magazine.
Previously, discussion tended to relocate to the magazine’s sister Reefs.org forum.
Lionfish: The aquarium favourite poses a threat to Florida reefs
We’ve covered the dangers of Caribbean lionfish (Pterois volitans) on AquaDaily before. For those not up-to-speed, the problem is lionfish came to the Caribbean either via international shipping or else release from hobbyists (I suspect the former) and they are now said to be devastating local fish populations.
The news has developed with reports lionfish have made it to Florida reefs:
“It’s another huge challenge for the tropical marine ecosystem, on par with habitat degradation and overfishing,” said Dave Score, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
“Lionfish are altering the diversity of an area that has taken hundreds of thousands of years to adapt and evolve.”
Daphnia are fascinating - not that your fish will look twice before swallowing them!
Today’s tropical fish foods are a world away from those of even my youth. And my father’s generation had to make do with biscuit-based dried foods as the staple of choice for their fish.
The huge variety of flake, pelleted and freeze-dried food we enjoy today is a real treat for modern fishkeepers (or rather, our fish!). Add in a smorgasbord of frozen foods and it’s pretty easy to keep tropical fish in top condition.
Old-time aquarists were much more familiar with feeding and breeding live foods such as Daphnia water fleas, however, and I believe this was to the benefit of their fishes.
Another quick update on another marine blog.
Brian Blank over at Ocean@Home recently redesigned his site, and refocused his blog’s vision. From now on, he says, it will aim to be the web’s premium source of information on ‘blue collar reefing’.
What is blue collar reefing, you ask? Brian answers:
Blue collar reefing is about doing the best you can with what is available to you now and in the near future, making informed choices, and not just cutting corners to save money for that next coral or fish.
To be a true blue collar reefer you need time and patience and to realize that not everything happens overnight.
With the recession still deepening and more reef tanks going up for sale on eBay everyday, I think Brian could be on to something with his back-to-basics approach.
Head over to his blog for more on blue collar reefing, but do check out the post he wrote for AquaDaily about DIY projects first!
Leonardo's reef under T5s. It uses only 10lbs of live rock.
ReefCentral.com regulars will know all about Leonardo, who shot to fame with his bare-bottom ‘Formaso Forest’ tank a few years ago.
Now Eric over at the excellent Glassbox-Design.com blog has snagged the Dutch reefkeeper to join him in his quest to report from the cutting-edge of the hobby where design means high-tech reefkeeping.
Leonardo explains his methods as follows:
Trace-elements are automatically dosed because they are added to the Balling solutions. Iron and Iodine are dosed extra by hand every week, after looking at the color of the Acropora tissue.
I use Marine biopolymers (Tropic Marin – Reef Activ) as a Carbon source, and Prodibio Biodigest to keep bacterial diversity optimal. I also mix 1ml/day of vinegar to the RO water that feeds the Kalkwasser reactor. Recently I started to experiment with Vitamin B – complex addition, but it is still too early to conclude anything.
Head over to Leonardo’s introductory post at Glassbox-Design for full details on his system.
AquaDaily is looking for guest authors and staff writers to join the fun!
Are you someone who only dries your hands to write about aquariums on your blog or favorite tropical fish forum?
Then AquaDaily may be desperately seeking YOU!
I’ve been talking to about a couple of cool aquarium bloggers about guest articles, so I thought I’d get all my thoughts about writing for AquaDaily in one place.
Right now, I’m looking for 3-6 contributors from across the fishkeeping spectrum to blog about aquariums and tropical fish for AquaDaily.
All AquaDaily contributors must have good written English skills and a love of aquariums.
Ideally, you’d have kept fish for a few years, and you’ll run several tanks today.
