Tag Archive
Coralscience.org is building a mesophotic reef system
Tim Wijgerde et al. are starting a very interesting project at Coralscience.org: they are building a low light reef tank (modelling “mesophotic” reef system) using equipment and foods available to all aquarists. I’m sure we “hobbyists” can learn and benefit from this work by marine scientists. Read all about it here. »
Latest additions
Last week I received an animal shipment from Mrutzek Meeresaquaristik. Once again, Mrutzek Meeresaquaristik provided excellent service, something that is unfortunately not common in EU online shops. All animals were in good condition although the Colopometra sp. crinoid was understandably damaged during the shipment. I’m happy to report that it is already recovering fast, I can... »
Amino acids and reef aquarium: Glycine
Representatives of 10 phyla removed significant quantities of glycine from solution during an observation period of 16 to 24 hrs (Stephens and Schinske 1961) Glycine is not essential nutritional amino acid for prawns (Cowey and Forster 1971) Most abundant DFAA in southern California coastal waters (Clark et al 1972, Carlucci et a 1984) Bivalve Mytilus... »
Amino acids and reef aquarium: Glutamic acid
Glutamic acid was very successful feeding activator for stony coral Montastrea cavernosa, causing full envelopment on every trial (Lehman and Porter 1973) One of the predominant amino acids in costal surface water and has high heterotrophic turnover rate (Williams et al 1976) Main contributor to the bacterial intracellular amino acid pool, may compete with... »
Spongeguide.org
Sponges are one of the more beneficial invertebrates for reef aquariums due to their great ability to filter DOM and bacteria out of the water. Plus they are colorful, have interesting shapes and many have modest husbandry requirements if properly fed. A new guide for Caribbean sponges is available at spongeguide.org. They have more... »
Amino acids and reef aquarium: Cysteine
Cysteine seems to be less interesting amino acid as it is found in only 11 abstracts out of 4300 scientific papers I have in my collection. There are some papers that discuss Cysteine as a part of special proteins in marine invertebrates but these are much too advanced (for me) or theoretical to apply... »
Amino acids and reef aquarium: Aspartic acid
Important carbon source for some bacteria strains (Macleod et al. 1954, Berland et al. 1970) Aspartic acid is not an essential amino acid for crustaceans (Cowey and Forster 1971) As a DFAA reduced in surface water but found in much more larger amount in bottom and interstitial water (Clark et al. 1972) Causes a... »
Amino acids and reef aquarium: Arginine
Arginine is essential amino acid for crustaceans, it cannot be synthesized by themselves (Cowey and Forster 1971). Arginine causes feeding response (including digestion) in stony coral but has a significantly delayed response (1-2 minutes). Activity is confined to the mouth region (Lehman and Porter 1973) Arginine is a major contributor to copepod and mysid... »
Amino acids and reef aquarium: Alanine
Alanine is not essential amino acid for crustaceans (Cowey and Forster 1971). Alanine can elicit synthetic food retention in sea anemone tentacles but not mouth opening or digestion (Nagai and Nagai 1973) Present in natural seawater and is readily utilized by pelagic heterotrophic organisms (Williams et al. 1976) Common marine diatom Nitzschia laevis can... »