Linckia laevigata: An Analysis of Plausible Causes of Mortality in Captivity
By: Malcolm Levison
The indisputable beauty of Linckia laevigata has led to this fragile organism becoming an icon of the global aquarium trade. However, survival rates in captivity are tragically low. Epitomizing beauty with an exotic appearance and arms as blue as the ocean itself, Linckia laevigata, (commonly referred to as the “Blue Linckia”), seduces thousands of marine aquarium hobbyists into an...
Rock, Flower, Papers: A review of journal articles about Rock Flower Anemones
(Phymanthus crucifer)
written by @Peace River
(cover photo by OrlandoReefer)
Rock Flower Anemones (RFAs) are common anemones that are kept in marine and reef aquariums, and they are widely available throughout the marine aquarium trade. The basic care and description are provided by several online vendors and anecdotal experiences and pictures are shared by hobbyists in many online formats including forums and...
I want to start this article off by saying that this is an extremely niche subject and many reefers who perform frequent or even semi-frequent water changes should not worry about their trace elements if most your corals are growing well because as has been my experience and that of many other reefers trying to chase numbers often leads to more harm than good. This article is mostly just to help reefers understand the ecosystems that we try to mirror in our own small slice of the ocean...
Introduction
The process of calcification or biomineralization in SPS corals is often a head scratcher for most people, let alone reefing hobbyists. I've always wondered myself what really goes on behind the scene. Through research, I reviewed some research papers in order to help us better understand how our husbandry and maintenance of our aquariums can affect the growth of our corals. I have shared my learnings below and broken everything down into ways that is easy to digest.
To start...
Flashlight Fish in Captivity
Jay Hemdal
C. 2020
Introduction
Flashlight fish, with their eerie green glowing photophores (light emitting organs), are arguably one of the most unique fish available to marine aquarists. One of only two families of fish kept in aquariums that are bioluminescent (the other being the pinecone fish), flashlight fish hold a strong fascination for many people, myself included. I worked with them over 30 years ago at the John G. Shedd Aquarium, and we have...
PART 4 "GETTING IT RIGHT" COLORIMETRIC INSTRUMENTAL TESTING METHODS (DIGITAL)
As we turn our attention to the use of digital testers (Colorimeters) such as the HANNA CHECKER, most of the same elements necessary for good precision and accuracy that exist in Visual Testing also exist in Digital Testing. Digital Testing methods have the same two steps as the Visual method: Evaluation (The Chemistry) and Assessment. Evaluation is the test procedure itself and Assessment is the determination of...
PART 3 -----COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (What We See)
SOURCES OF ERROR IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE
Next we turn to the second component of our testing protocols and that is the ASSESSMENT…What do we see and how do we interpret the results of our testing procedure.
Visual colorimetric testing method requires the determination of either the color intensity (light pink vs. deep pink) or the color or hue (pink vs. blue) of the test solution. This means we need to understand sources of...
PART 2-----COLORIMETRIC VISUAL TESTING METHODS (The Chemistry)
As we covered in Part 1 in the “Understanding Errors” section, the visual testing method consists of essentially two steps, Evaluation and Assessment. Evaluation is the test procedure (The Chemistry) and Assessment is the determination of the results. We will take a close look at each of these steps and the components of each and look at some potential areas where errors might occur and how we might minimize them.
TESTING...
GETTING IT RIGHT! ---MAKE TESTING COUNT BY USING A QUALITY SYSTEM APPROACH
INTRODUCTION
All of us want healthy and thriving Reef Tanks. This necessarily means excellent water quality. So I ask myself. How do I know the quality of my water? The answer of course is I need to test and measure. That being said, I asked myself some additional questions:
Do I want to manage my water quality with inaccurate data?
Do I want to be making adds of vital elements without having accurate tests
Do I...
