Reef2Reef welcomes Dana Riddle as an Expert Contributor!

Sistawolf · Jun 22, 2017

Welcome and thank you for joining our big family with your expertise!!! You will be greatly appreciated!!

ladynavyvet · Jun 22, 2017

Welcome to R2R! I'm beside myself with the excitement.

GoVols · Jun 22, 2017

@ladynavyvet
Welcome to R2R, Yourself!!!

Regards, GoVols

ladynavyvet · Jun 22, 2017

Thanks!

ohiojeffsreef · Jun 23, 2017

Nice!

Jon Warner · Jun 30, 2017

Fantastic News! Dana is a fountain of knowledge for all things "Reef". I first met him 20+ years ago and I have great respect for his knowledge and he's a great guy!

islandbreeze · Jul 4, 2017

Hi and welcome Dana, Im excited to see someone with so much interest and hands on experience with the latest in technologies in this intriguing hobby. I will definitely save you as a resource for future questions, especially spectrometry and what is colorometry? a study of influences to coloration in marine life? a quick def on that im curious but really my first honest question is kinda an observation ive recently discovered and a question kind of. I am a beginner to intermediate clown and aspiring tropicals breeder and recently incorporating corals and high bioload of growing hundreds if not thousands of fry in a multi tank setup ....including a healthy water column for corals.

Ok, so i built a 3 tank to 1 sump setup, the tanks are very shallow 1ft deep by 2ft wide 6ft long each( 3 deep blue frag tanks, w full width overflows each and 2 inch bean animals on each tank all separately running to sump, so total area is 2ftx18 ft x 1ft deep plus sump is 2 ft wide by 8ft long, more surface area. I have tons of live rock and 4 jugs arm media in sump also. im explaining this in detail cause i think its relevant and because i feel there is a very high surface area for co2 to be released. ive been fighting high alkalinity issues but im getting comfortable w 9-10kh Ok, getting to the point, i recently upgraded to a very large skimmer regal 300 external recirc. for a great deal new 670!! and it leaks when i shut off bubble pump so ive been running it full time until i can get replacement oring in which case id shut the skimmer off in day when ph is high. its rated for 800-1000 gallon , im only about 250 but my plans down the road of expansion and high fish load i went big... could it be that the reason my ph stays above 8.3 and goes as high as 8.45 because im purging too much co2 from system? aside from stripping water, can using a way oversized skimmer cause steady but kinda high ph? no kalk or reactor running but i have both hooked up when ready. also running 14k led profile w 9 hydra hds so im sure there is much photosynthesis natural full sun in day too. anyway, ur opinion on skimmer would be helpful or if you have any other insightful ifo on how to lower ph in day would be good. Thanks for your input and suggestions. Cheers, Adam

Reef Nutrition · Jul 5, 2017

Welcome back to the mainland Dana! Look forward to seeing more of your contributions to an ever growing awareness of our little glass boxes.

Cheers!
Chad

Mike Arnold · Jul 5, 2017

revhtree said:
Please help me in welcoming Dana Riddle to R2R!

I am very excited to announce @Dana Riddle as the newest Expert Contributor to the Reef2Reef Community. Dana will be heading up and overseeing the lighting forum. If you know about Mr. Riddle then you'll be very excited about this news! If you don't know him then you will quickly learn what a valuable asset he is going to be to our reefing family here at R2R!

The following is his bio.

The ocean has fascinated me ever since a summer vacation in the early 1960’s that included a visit to the rocky tide pools of Maine. The wonderful sight of marine creatures in a seaweed-filled pool will never be forgotten. Later, trips to the panhandle of Florida were filled with excitement as we pulled a seine through the seagrass beds and collected seahorses, pipefishes, cowfishes, and a myriad of other animals. Bringing some of these animals home to a suburb of Atlanta only seemed natural, and so it began.

A renewed fascination began with the publication of George Smit’s late 1980’s articles in Freshwater and Marine Aquarium (FAMA) concerning the keeping of marine invertebrates and algae. I read everything I could get my hands on and once again began keeping marine invertebrates. At that time, a heavy emphasis was placed on technology to keep corals alive. After spending a considerable amount on various devices and obtaining only moderate success, I decided to invest in some scientific instruments with the first being a meter to test PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation.) Then, a good PAR meter and underwater sensor cost $1,500. To my knowledge, I was the only hobbyist in the US to own such a device at that time. I began writing for aquarium hobbyist literature such as SeaScope, Marine Fish Monthly, and FAMA to pay for this equipment. More equipment purchases were made, and I wrote for other publications such as MASNA’s newsletter, Breeders’ Registry, Koralle, Récifal, Aquarium Frontiers (and later Advanced Aquarist), Planted Aquaria, Manhattan Reefs, and others.

To date, I’ve had over 250 articles published over the last 30 years. My modest book, The Captive Reef, was published in 1995. My little laboratory now has $100,000 worth of equipment, including, besides all the standard things, an analytical balance, centrifuge, spectrometer, colorimeter, data loggers, Ocean Optics spectrometers for analyses of light, two PAM fluorometers, drying oven, incubators, water bath, chlorophyll meters, electronic water velocity meter, and so on. These instruments have generated a lot of information generated and my writings have become much more technical in nature. Comments on them are coming from serious hobbyists as well as the professional reef science community.

Invitations to speak at clubs around the country began, followed by regional and national conferences. To date, I’ve made over 60 presentations from coast to coast. In 2011, I was awarded MASNA’s ‘Aquarist of the Year.’ Today, research continues and I’m excited about solving some of the remaining questions concerning modern reef-keeping.

Looking forward to going through your articles and videos, and maybe picking you brain a bit. I don't have and can't afford a par meter right now, and have always been a bit suspect of my lighting. My water parameters are always on target, but my corals just don't seem to do much. I'm currently running a couple of Kessil A350 tuna blues over 75gallon tank controlled by neptune apex with a pretty general dusk to dawn lighting schedule peaking at 80%. Hopefully, I'll glean some good info from this forum. Thanks and welcome