Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

Caring for Trachyphillia in the Reef Aquarium

How to keep your brain (coral) healthy!

Unfortunately, due to the fact that Trachyphillias are generally known as beginner corals, the majority of hobbyists run into problems when attempting to care for this genus long term.  Fortunately, these issues are generally correctable with some time and patience, and the information listed in this series can be applied to any stressed LPS coral. While beautiful, these LPS corals tend to be some of the most problematic "beginner" corals to keep, and this is due to several issues which I will be discuss ing in this multi-part series.

 

 

PAR and Reef Aquarium Lighting: What is PAR?

Photosynthetically Active Radiation, or PAR as it's commonly called, is a term that's widely used in the hobby, and is often not well understood, especially when applied to LED lighting.  When used correctly, PAR information can be very helpful in determining the best way to light a reef aquarium, and where best to place corals, clams, and other photosynthetic invertebrates.  When misunderstood, it can lead to unnecessary and costly lighting purchases and have detrimental affects on your reeef aquarium!

Shipping Fish and Corals Using Heat Sealed Bags

 

Editor's Note: this post introduces Miguel Toloso, a coral farmer and wholesaler saltwater livestock reseller from Los Angeles and a new author here at the Captive Aquatics blog.  He is the owner of practicalcoralfarming.com.

Rubber bands are so 2009...

How do you ship fish and coral? Just about everyone shipping corals these days uses rubber bands to seal their bags.  The biggest issue with rubber bands is that if the bags are hit hard enough they will leak, and if your the styrofoam cooler is leaking, the carrier usually delays or returns the shipment, which kills a lot of corals or fish.  It's also really time consuming to bag up corals with rubber bands, and doing so for long enough will make for some pretty annoying blisters as well! Fortunately, there's a much better way that's not only faster and safer for the corals, but can save a lot of time and money!