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This post begins our new Species Spotlight category, bringing you species-specific information about popular freshwater and saltwater fish and invertebrates. Mushroom Coral are the most forgiving coral any aquarist could ask for. Quick to reproduce in the home aquarium, with low light and flow requirements, they may very well be the best beginner’s coral available in the hobby. They also have much to offer to more advanced aquarist, whether it be as a space filler, or a "Mushroom Garden" which displays the many, many color and texture varieties these coral exhibit.
Whenever performing water changes, introducing new fish, or adding buffer or kalkwasser to your aquarium, remember to avoid immediate pH changes larger than .1! Since pH is a logarithmic scale (meaning each whole numerical change is tenfold greater than the previous number - for instance, a pH of 8.0 is 10 times more basic than a pH of 7.0, and 100 times more basic than a pH of 6.0) even seemingly small numerical swings can equal a big change in water chemistry. Changes of greater than .1 can lead to fish death and coral bleaching!
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Reef aquarists often overlook the necessity of a well-fed reef aquarium, and instead worry that increased feedings will only result in undesirable nutrient levels. However, on a wild reef, corals are literally bathed in a soup of edible plankton. The more effort that the aquarist puts forth to mimicking these conditions, the more colorful, healthy, and faster-growing their corals will be! Although feeding a reef aquarium undeniably increases the dissolved nutrient level in the water column. However, this is most definitely not a reason to avoid feeding, or to feed sparingly, and in fact, can be a good thing.
Living Legend: A large brain coral residing in the Belize barrier reef, likely for centuries.
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This is the conclusion to the three part nature aquarium series. If you haven't read Your Fish Nature Aquarium [Part I] and for the second part click here. Now for the conclusion to Your First Nature Aquarium!
The CO2 system I used was the Hydor CO2 Green NRG Exclusive (thanks to Hydor USA for their generous sponsorship!) which was perfect for my setup. The kit includes a CO2 tank, diffuser, tubing, bubble counter and easy to follow instructions. I can easily change the number of bubbles per minute or increase them without hassle. I was able to have everything installed and working in 30 minutes! After the CO2 was set up, I quickly planted my plants and added water. The following is a list of the plants used in this tank:
I've never been a big fan of slime coat replacement water conditions - they generally don't have that much of an effect, and they make your protein skimmer go nuts with foam production. I'm even less of a fan of additives that aren't made by Seachem. However, Hagen/Nutrafin's Aqua Plus is awesome.
Continue reading "Product Review: AquaPlus Water Conditioner" »
Gotcha! Marine Biologist Darrin Dukes displays his latest catch: a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle. Darrin is participating in the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, tagging and monitoring sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. Learn more about this fascinating and important project at www.seaturtles.org.
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Captive Aquatic's Blog own Mike Maddox will be featured on Blue Zoo Radio, the aquarium hobby's one and only weekly radio show. Blue Zoo Radio features weekly aquatic experts as guest speakers, and offers an archive of their interview sessions. Tune in this Monday at 8:45pm EST (7:45 central) to listen to Mike's expert opinion!
Merritt Adkins in News | Permalink
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Ever since I started in the hobby, I have been "saving" fish or invertebrates. When I "saved" a fish, I would purchase a fish that was in poor health (clearly going to die at the store) and nurse it back to health at my home. This may seem heroic, but it is not. In reality the act of saving a fish hurts more than it helps.
