Is This The Most Popular Hobby In The World?

There are many hobbies that people enjoy. Some people have a hobby that is a consuming passion, others its just something that is an enjoyable way to pass the time.

There are lots of different hobbies, some depending on the area of the world the hobbyist lives in. For example, gardening. This is a very large group, but it is mainly restricted – but not wholly – to temperate areas. Growing flowers in a desert is difficult! There are cacti of course and they have their own following.

The hobbies that are available vary from large numbers of participants to small. Stamp collectors may enthuse greatly, but their numbers are comparatively low. Amateur photographers run into much greater numbers, but those numbers are not that large. So it goes on: scuba divers, kite flyers, hang gliders, sailing, painting, art collecting, athletics, cooking, DIY, written competitions – well, you get the idea, the list could be very long.

None of the hobbies I can think of seem to equal the popularity of marine aquarium keeping. Maybe I have the wrong idea of the numbers involved in some other hobbies, or perhaps I have missed a massively popular one.

Look at the marine aquarium hobby. Some are interested in fish only aquariums, others in pure reefs and others, probably the most, in mixed reefs. It doesn’t matter whether the hobbyist is rich or of more modest means, all can participate.

Then there are the internet forums and other websites that have sprung up, and there are large numbers of them.

I receive Emails from around the world on various aspects of marine aquarium keeping.

Then consider industry. It was not that long ago that manufacturers had little interest in the hobby. If there are few hobbyists, there isn’t a viable market. But look at it now, there are manufacturers producing equipment in competition with one another, and additives to allegedly enhance the aquarium environment etc. It is a vibrant industry and, again, would only be viable with a large enough customer base.

Marine aquariums can exist anywhere in the world, hot or cold. All that is required is the equipment to maintain the seawater at the required temperature, be this heaters or seawater chillers, and have other equipment and of course livestock availability. This marine hobby is worldwide.

I suspect that hobbyists are the most numerous in the US and the EU. In those two the hobby really is very big. However, other countries, large or small, have representatives, perhaps just a few up to a good number.

So this hobby of ours could be the biggest in the world. In a relatively short period it has grown from diminutive with just a few determined and often struggling followers, the pioneers, to the position it holds today.

This wonderful hobby grows because it is so interesting and educational, and the marine aquarium creation so beautiful. It is also addictive!

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Locating A Marine Aquarium

A marine aquarium, be it fish only aquarium or a marine reef aquarium, is very attractive. Therefore it is quite understandable that the aquarist wishes to place it in an area with the most visual impact. The aquarium could go nearly anywhere in the house without too much difficulty.

Marine aquariums are in fact sometimes placed in bathrooms and kitchens as well as other more obvious areas in the house. There’s nothing wrong with this, provided proper consideration is given to the welfare of the fishes and other livestock.

The very first consideration is the size of the aquarium which will indicate the weight. Before the system is even designed, the location should be carefully considered. In addition to whether the aquarium will fit the chosen area properly, there must be an electrical supply that is accessible with the aquarium in place, and the aquarium must be easily accessible for maintenance. Any sump that is going to be used has to be taken into consideration.

If the aquarium is small there could be a temptation to place it on a piece of household furniture. Great caution is needed as much furniture today is not particularly strong. Seawater is heavy, for example the seawater in a net 100 litre aquarium (circa 26.5 US gallons) will weigh around 100 kg (circa 220.5 lbs). Then there’s the weight of the rocks, sand and the aquarium itself to add on. This size of aquarium is not considered big, but I wouldn’t like to trust a piece of home furniture with it, or a smaller aquarium for that matter. It is better to use a proper aquarium stand which will be strong enough.

Another consideration applies to larger aquariums. They will need proper stands, or have supports made individually for them if décor is important, and, in addition, the floor must be strong enough. Solid floors may well be fine, but a suspended floor may need to be checked for suitability, and strengthened if necessary.

It is best not to site an aquarium next to electrical equipment, such as a TV etc. The location may be excellent for visual effect, but seawater next to electrical equipment is not a good idea, as electricity and seawater are not a friendly mix! There could well be dangerous problems, particularly during maintenance of the aquarium.

An aquarium is best sited away from an area of heavy foot traffic, to afford a level of peace to the inhabitants. Some reasonable traffic is not a problem as it does not seem to adversely affect the fish, but constant heavy traffic, such as children, is excessively disturbing.

Similarly, do not place an aquarium against or close to a central heating radiator or an air conditioning outlet vent. In the first case a hot radiator may heat the seawater and in the second cool it (causing heaters to switch on thus costing more). Also, a radiator or outlet vent may need servicing at some point.

Aquarium lighting nowadays is advanced and can provide sufficient spectrum and power for the aquarist’s needs. So there is no requirement for the aquarium to receive any sunlight. Allowing the aquarium to receive sunlight could be detrimental, in that excessive algae growth could be caused (subject perhaps to other additional conditions) and if the sunlight was available for long enough the seawater could be heated. It would not be a good idea, for example, to site an aquarium under a large glass area in the roof or in a garden glasshouse.

Choosing a good location is a really good idea when the weight of the stocked aquarium is considered. Moving it ’as is’ is impossible. Breaking down a stocked aquarium, particularly a reef, to move the system is not fun when it could have been avoided in the first place.

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Arrrrgh – Technology!

You may (or may not) have noticed that the site has been down recently.

For this I sincerely apologise.

The reason for this is that we chose to move the website to another hosting company. All the data, databases, code etc was moved without an issue and verified. Once this was complete the name servers were repointed to the new area. For a while the website worked fine but then suddenly something happened. All areas of the website became unresponsive and simply failed to load.

This was logged as soon as we saw it with the hosting company and we are pleased to report that it all now appears fine. We do not know exactly what caused it but believe it to be something to do with the databases.

Anyway the site is now back and we can push onwards and upwards.

Again, apologies for any inconvenience caused.

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I’ve Got Bio-Balls, Will I Be Ok?

No, no, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick! It’s not some horrible problem at all, but to do with aquariums.

Marine aquariums need bio-filtration, and this is provided by bacteria. The bacteria of course need a place to live and to avail oneself of this free service from nature the aquarist must provide them with a suitable home.

The bacteria operate what is called the Nitrogen Cycle, either fully or in part. To operate in part is easy, all that is required is plenty of oxygen plus ammonia and then nitrite. The bacteria will change the ammonia to nitrite, and then the nitrite will be changed to nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic, and nitrate much less so.

To support livestock it is enough to do only as in the previous paragraph. The toxic ammonia and nitrite are dealt with. Nitrate is left and this should not harm anything at very low levels.

However, the levels will slowly increase beyond the guideline (for a reef system) which is 10ppm (parts per million) or less. One way of reducing the level is with routine seawater changes. These changes are good for other reasons and should be completed, however nitrate could increase in spite of them. Nitrate increases are not desirable as the appearance of nuisance algae may occur.

Nature has a remedy but it cannot occur where there is oxygen present in any normal amount. The bacteria that reduce nitrate need an environment that is very low in oxygen – this forces the bacteria to extract oxygen from the nitrate thus removing it (it converts to gas and escapes the aquarium).

So bio-balls are a good medium for oxygen hungry bacteria, but not for bacteria that deal with nitrate.

If nature is going to assist with nitrate reduction, a denitrator (a so-called nitrate ’reactor’) could be used. Better, live rock can be used. Live rock has surfaces that can be used by oxygen needing bacteria, and well inside are areas for the nitrate bacteria. Live rock with a DSB (deep sand bed) is even better.

So if an aquarist is using bio-balls the answer is yes, it will be all right, except that the bacteria will produce nitrate and that will be the end of nature’s assistance.

If bio-balls are in use in addition to sufficient live rock (and perhaps a DSB) then the bio-balls can be removed, but remove them a few at a time over a period of weeks. This will allow any bio-load that was supported by the balls to be taken up gradually by the other media.

If the bio-balls were the only media, then none must be removed straightaway. Introduce sufficient live rock into the aquarium, wait a week or two, then commence removing the bio-balls a few at a time as already described. It would be of little use introducing, say, a canister filter for bio-filtration as the end product is the same – nitrate.

A good few years ago bio-filtration methods included balls. Times have changed.

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Florida Fish – But They Don’t Live There

Wild coral reefs are wonderful places to view, either by snorkel or scuba dive. Reef formations with various corals, and lots of varied fish.

But there’s a problem – or a potential problem anyway. Some of the fish don’t belong on some reefs.

All reef fish come from warm seawater and they are probably likely to be able to survive if they find themselves in warm seawater but far from home.

Just to look in a marine fish book at the various species shows that the varying fish have homes in different parts of the tropical or sub-tropical world. Some of them don’t volunteer for it but are caught and transported by air to foreign parts for the benefit of marine aquarists. If the destination is a cold area there isn’t a problem, but what of a warm one?

Marine aquarists practice the hobby in cold and warm areas of course. In both areas there can be the problem that a fish is well cared for but eventually outgrows the aquarium it calls home. What is the aquarist to do? In a cold area, or a warm one a distance from the sea, the only answer is to pass it to a colleague with a bigger aquarium who has the space, pass it to a retailer so that another aquarist can purchase it, or pass it on to a willing public aquarium.

In a warm area near the coast there is another option, and that is to put it in the sea.

It seems that this option has been put to use as there has been some sightings of foreign fish. For example, there have been four sightings of Lionfish. They were seen off the coast of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Other sightings of foreign fish were off the coast of southern Florida, and these included Sailfin Tangs, Yellow Tangs, Emperor Angelfish, Yellowbar Angelfish, Sohal Surgeons, Batfish and Arabian Angelfish. There could be others.

These fish could only have got into the area by introduction, and it is unlikely that this could have happened because of a professional body. (Professionals do make mistakes, however. An example is a public aquarium on the Mediterranean Sea, Europe. The macro algae Caulerpa either inadvertently got into the sea or was thrown in, and is now a major problem.)

It is likely that the fish were placed in the sea by aquarists probably because they had grown too large for the aquarium. The aquarist could well have been thinking of the fish, and maybe was unable to find anyone to take them – so into the sea they went.

On the face of it, what’s the problem? Beautiful fish enhance a reef. It is the fact they are foreign that is worrying. In several areas, not just the sea, introduction of foreign life has caused problems. Plants that were imported can escape gardens and end up in the wild, and out-compete the local plants. Maybe so can fish – the Lionfish may be having a great time eating local fish that have never come across the predator before. If angelfish etc are present in both sexes, they can breed and multiply. Will they out-compete local fish for algae and other food?

Marine aquarists are a responsible and caring group of people. None would want to harm any fish in their care, or cause upset to the wild reefs. Unfortunately, it is possible that imbalance could happen on the wild reef because of that caring attitude.

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Do Fish Drink?

As far as I know all life needs water to survive. Doesn’t matter if it is a cactus in a desert or a tree in a rain forest, it needs H2O.

What about fish though? They’re surrounded by the stuff, absolutely gallons of it.

Fish are life forms of course and so they too need water.

The type of water that surrounds them plays an important role in how the fish obtain the stuff. The water can be fresh or salt.

Fresh water fish absorb water through their skin. They also have methods of ridding themselves of excess water without losing the important salt within their bodies.

Marine fish are the same in that they need to keep a certain concentration of salt in their bodies. Of course, marine fish are surrounded by salt and water. What they do is drink the seawater and the gills process the water removing the salt. In marine fish it is the retention of water that is the problem, and to combat this some of them have inefficient kidneys or do not have kidneys at all.

Anyone wants to read a bit more here’s a link:

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1996-12/847855291.Zo.r.html

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Caulerpa

Mention the word ‘algae’ to a marine aquarist and the aquarist’s face might turn white, before he or she spins round to look at their aquarium and ask, in a panicky voice, ‘Where?’

We are all aware of that concern: nuisance algae! The stuff that covers everything in long thin strands of green or covers with a thin sheet of dark red or black looking film. Nuisance algae can be combated or avoided in the first place. But this isn’t about nuisance algae.

This is about nice algae for the aquarium! In the marine world there are a lot of types of algae that could come under the word ‘nice.’ They are decorative and sort after. Aquarists who use live rock may have been fortunate to see some grow.

Of course there is one algae that is essential, and this is the single celled type called zooxanthellae, or symbiotic algae, which dwells in the flesh of corals.

The algae here is Caulerpa sp. This is green, though the shade of green can vary, and generally grows longish leaves (sometimes up to 12″) which have various ‘patterns.’ The algae spreads by putting out runners, from the top of which the leaves appear. Underneath are holdfasts, which look a little like roots. The roots are simply anchors, however, as the caulerpa feeds through the leaves. This macro algae is very useful to the marine aquarist for decorative and/or filtration purposes.

A great deal could be written but all that will be done is a general description of the main types and what they could be used for.

The first and probably best known is Caulerpa prolifera. The leaves are plain and have straight edges which taper to a point. The leaves are normally flat. Growth is fairly speedy.

Two more attractive types are Caulerpa mexicana and Caulerpa seratuloides. They both have leaves that look a little like bird feathers, with individual sections sprouting from the stalk sideways on both sides from bottom to tip. These types could show rapid growth.

A different appearance from the previous types is Caulerpa racemosa. It is often called grape caulerpa because of the appearance: the leaves are bunches of small grape-like growths attached to the stalks. This type is more slow growing and more difficult to cultivate successfully.

What can be done with caulerpa? For decorative purposes it would of course be in the display aquarium, where it can look very attractive. However, the aquarist must be sure it doesn’t outgrow its welcome as some can spread rapidly. I had some Caulerpa mexicana in a previous aquarium and it was certainly attractive, though I had to harvest it regularly to maintain control.

The other area that caulerpa is often found is in a sump. Aquarists grow it there so that it can act as a filter. As it is an algae, it uses the same nutrients that nuisance algae does, that is nitrate and phosphate. In doing so it robs any potential nuisance algae of food. Even if hobby test kits indicate zero (undetectable) for nitrate and phosphate, it could well be that there is a low presence. Planting a piece of caulerpa and watching to see if it grows is possibly an indicator. Obviously, algae in a display aquarium will also reduce nutrients.

As with all plants caulerpa needs light. Fluorescent tubes such as T5’s or metal halide bulbs should be fine, so growth in a display aquarium should not be a problem as far as this is concerned.

Caulerpa grown in a sump can be lit a little differently. A fluorescent light with reflector will suffice, the light is usually quite close to the seawater surface. There may be an advantage in using a tube that has a K (Kelvin) value that is lower than normal for a display aquarium, such as 6500K. Or a white marine type can be used, around 10000K. In addition there are two ways of timing the ‘light on’ period. First is to leave the light on all the time without any dark period, which doesn’t seem to have any detrimental effect on the caulerpa, and the second is to have the light on period when the display aquarium is in the light off period. The second option could assist with pH stability – pH could fall a little when the display is in the dark period, but with the caulerpa lit this is counteracted.

When planting in a display aquarium, try the type of choice and see if there is any success. If not, try another type. In the sump, it could be a good idea to plant more than one type and see which ’takes’ first.

Caulerpa should be harvested from time to time, always leaving plenty to continue growth. As the plant uses nutrients, removing the caulerpa in a controlled manner also exports nutrients.

The aquarist may find that the caulerpa in the display aquarium is disappearing. Have a look at algae loving fish such as surgeons and rabbit fish – they could be fat and very happy!

Important Note: Caulerpa in the aquarium is fine, decorative and useful. However, when harvesting, or simply removing caulerpa of any type it must not be thrown away into the sea. Caulerpa is invasive and can and is causing problems.

In some areas caulerpa is banned because of problems. Please check the position in your area before obtaining caulerpa.

For some information here is a link:

http://www.sccat.net/#the-caulerpa-information-center-1e86c5

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