nanowonders

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At one time, my most precious possession; my Acropora Tortuosa Tricolour frag. 

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Amphiprion percula aka common Clownfish.

Finding Nemo - Amphiprioninae by wojciechszalata There you are!

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I should be writing. Instead, I'm watching this... Definitively, NSFW.

(Credit: www.whitecorals.com)

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A post shared by Bobbie Renfro-Price, PhD (@coralreefbiologist)

Harlequin Shrimp

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Seascapes by Paul Cowell

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Christmas tree worms on porites coral, I believe. Those worms are extraordinary.

I was free diving in Fiji at a Manta cleaning station, waiting for my giant friends to show up, and I found this. Gotta keep busy, those Mantas have no concept of arriving on time for a date.

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Actually, bleaching not only occurs as a consequence of higher water temperatures; it is also the unfortunate byproduct of the acidification of water. The more acidic the pH of the water is, the more it attacks the calcium that forms the skeleton of the reef-building corals.  Bleaching is the first response but it is not the end.  The algae expelled called zooxanthella, can repopulate a coral provided the water temperature and its chemistry, return to the parameters that are ideal for the algae to live and for the coral to thrive. 

Now, why are the temperatures rising? Global warming.

Why are is the water turning more acidic? Because, quite unfortunately, we insist in letting sewage water and general rubbish end up in our oceans. Sewage and rubbish contain organic compounds (animal and human faeces, food, chemical waste, etc) that pollute the waters by injecting microbes and bacteria but also, an immense amount of organic compounds that lower the pH and decay the pristine water quality of the world reefs.

There’s still time to save the Great Barrier Reef (x) | follow @the-future-now

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Komodo coral reef - Komodo, Indonesia.

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And this is the tank; a Fluval Reef M60 (91 litres/24 US gallons).  Not my first choice but it was all I could afford so, we will work with it.  It comes with a Fluval Light fixture 25,000 K, good for soft corals and other less light demanding corals like zooanthids, musrooms and star polyps.  The previous owner bought and included an extra light fixture, an Arcadia Classica LED Stretch 21 Watt, which allows for some maneuvering albeit not much.  Light will have to be replaced when I decide to start stocking sps corals. It also includes a Fluval Sea Protein Skimmer PS1 which will be replaced in due time (meaning as soon as I can allocate money for it) with a Tunze Comline DOC 9004 for better water quality. This system also includes a circulation pump, a heater and another smaller powerhead.

Like I said, and so it begins.

The madness.

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And so, it begins.