It’s A Sunny Life

We marine aquarists are lucky in more than one way, and a part of this luck is that our aquariums are always sunny, no matter what Mother Nature has to say about it, wherever the aquarist may live.

Day in, day out on comes the lighting system and, surprise, the sun is shining and does so all the time until dusk when the actinics are on alone. Ok, there are some who have very advanced lighting systems (Led’s) which can simulate cloud cover but for most of us it’s a permanent clear sky.

Of course there are those aquarists who live permanently in a naturally sunny climate. There they are with a coral reef to dive on but then human nature being what it is they are not always completely happy.

A few years ago – cripes, as long as that! – my wife and I were in Barbados for a holiday and were in the process of hiring a car for sightseeing purposes. The garage proprietor was a friendly chatty type and the talk came round to reefs, I was asking which would be the best area for snorkeling. It turned out that he was a marine aquarist. How very widespread this hobby is! Sadly I never got to see his aquarium but he advised he obtained his fish (and corals?) from the reef. I mentioned I was surprised as he had a huge natural ‘aquarium’ to swim in, but he said it was wonderful to see the fish within his home.

When talking it turned out that what he really, really would like was a holiday such as we were having, two weeks or so away. ‘What – and you live in such a lovely sunny place’ was my response. He said he would love to take his family to England. England, very beautiful but well known for its cloudy days and rain.

It just goes to show that perspective depends on many things, one of them at least being what you haven’t got. So my ‘aquarists are lucky’ is probably down to the fact that there aren’t any coral reefs near me and the sun doesn’t always shine.

My soft coral reef continues to do really well. I do the required routine maintenance and spend time admiring the aquarium picture. I still have wars with those xxxxxx aiptasia anemones and have to admit that this is one area where I have not been successful, having failed to eliminate them. However, eliminating these aquatic weeds in a reef aquarium is just about impossible as there are so many nooks and crannies. I attack them periodically when they are small, the reason for doing it when they are small is that I understand (from reports on the internet) that aiptasia anemones are able to release ‘emergency spores’ when they are facing oblivion, as apparently they recognize they are under lethal attack. I don’t know if these reports are correct and scientifically supported. Anyway, if correct I assume small means a lower spore count. Periodic attacks also keep them well under control and prevents them spreading.

Now summer is well and truly with us I’ve tested my 12 inch electric fan, if temperatures raise unduly it will be used for cooling.

Talking about cooling, I’m sure there are a couple of beers in the ‘fridge….

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