FOURTH QUARTER 2020 I VOLUME 14
REEFERS DIVE:
The Red Sea
ZOANTHIDS OF THE CARIBBEAN
REEF AUTOMATION
REEF PHOTOGRAPHY: KEEPING THE BLUES AWAY REEF SPOTLIGHTS: SHALLOWREEF ISLAND, AN ARTIST'S PENINSULA, AND ALEMOKI'S CUBE
Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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FEATURES 6
SHALLOWREEF ISLAND Manuel Amrein has been in the hobby for about 6 years and lives in Switzerland. This custom tank is less than 12 inches deep, but with such a large variety of so many types of corals, it packs all the visual punch of much larger, deeper reefs.
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REEF PHOTOGRAPHY: KEEPING THE BLUES AWAY Nicole Helgason is a professional scuba diver and runs Reef Builders’ ReefStock shows in Denver and Sydney. Many hobbyists struggle to produce naturallooking pictures of their corals. Let Nicole show you how to keep the blues away!
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ZOANTHIDS OF THE CARIBBEAN Josue Matias (aka Joshporksandwich) is a reefer from Florida with a passion for colorful zoanthid photography. Some of the nicest zoas available hail from the waters of the Caribbean. See what strikes Josue’s fancy in this visual compendium.
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AN ARTIST’S PENINSULA Elizabeth Turner is an artist from Atlanta, Georgia, who has been in the reef aquarium hobby for 2.5 years. With an artist’s aesthetic on full display, Elizabeth has produced a visually stunning little reef.
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ON THE COVER REEFERS DIVE: THE RED SEA
Richard Aspinall is a gardener and freelance writer on subjects from travel to scuba diving. He lives in southern Scotland with his wife Angie and two wee dogs. Visiting a beautiful natural reef is a wondrous and educational experience for reefers. See why Richard recommends the Red Sea. Cover image by Richard Aspinall
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REEF AUTOMATION BASICS Keith Moyle is a UK hobbyist with over 45 years of experience and owns aquatic consultancy Kuhana Reef Motivation. Installing the right automation for your reef system is key to both your animals' health and your enjoyment of the hobby. Learn the basics of modern automation in this overview of available devices.
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ALEMOKI’S CUBE Dane Albrecht is an engineer and avid DIYer from South Africa who has had a passion for the creation of aquatic ecosystems since the age of 6. Committed to a system that is low maintenance and stable, Dane created Alemoki's Cube, his first reef. See the beautiful result here.
FOURTH QUARTER 2020 | Volume 14 © 2020 Reef Hobbyist Magazine. All rights reserved.
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MANUEL AMREIN Instagram: swiss_and_salty
SHALLOWREEF ISLAND
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y journey in the reef aquarium hobby began approximately 6 years ago. Before creating this aquarium, I owned two others. Each time I moved to a new apartment, I broke down my reef and built a new one. Shallowreef Island is now my third reef. The display was custom built to my specifications, and I hand built the cabinet on my own. This aquarium has been running since February of 2020. With this new system, I chose a lagoon-style display that is shallow and wide. The display has a volume of 170 liters (approximately 45 gallons) and stands less than 12 inches tall. The entire aquascape is made with artificial rock and live sand, and my corals consist of mostly LPS (large-polyp stony) and soft corals. SPECIFICATIONS Title: Shallowreef Island Display: ~47" Ă— 20" Ă— 12" Volume: ~45 gallons Scape Materials: artificial rock, live sand Lighting: (2) AquaIllumination Hydra 26HD Filtration: Aquabee Cove-IS 120, Theiling Rollermat Compact Pump: AquaIllumination Nero 5 Dosing: (2) GHL doser, GHL computer Water Testing: Reef Kinetics ReefBot Additives: Grotech ABC, Grotech VitAmino M
Skimmer, rollermat, GHL Profilux, and two dosers
Christmas Tree Worms
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Zoa garden
PARAMETERS Temperature: 77° F Calcium: 420 ppm Magnesium: 1,380 ppm Carbonate Hardness: 7° Phosphate: .04 ppm Nitrate: 10 ppm Specific Gravity: 1.0271 FISH & INVERTEBRATES • Zebrasoma scopas • Zebrasoma flavescens • Halichoeres leucoxanthus • Centropyge bispinosa • Amphiprion ocellaris • Pterapogon kauderni • Chromis viridis • Discordipinna griessingeri • Cryptocentrus cinctus • Mithraculus sculptus • Lysmata amboinensis
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Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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Cryptocentrus cinctus
FAVORITE CORALS • master grade Scolymia australis • Warpaint Scolymia • Bleeding Apple Scolymia • Reverse Bleeding Apple Scolymia • Crocodile Island Scolymia • various Micromussa lordhowensis • various zoanthids • bounce mushroom The display is lit by two AquaIllumination Hydra 26HDs. Nutrients are dosed with Grotech Balling products through two GHL dosers
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Zebrasoma scopas
and a GHL computer, and my water parameters are tested with a Reef Kinetics ReefBot, an automatic multiparameter water-testing device. Water movement is created with an AquaIllumination Nero 5 pump. For maintenance, I employ an Aquabee skimmer and a rollermat filtration system and perform 10 percent water changes every week. I feed my fish a mix of mysis shrimp, Artemia sp., and algae granules. I feed my corals with plankton and powdered food. I hope you’ve enjoyed my short write-up of Shallowreef Island. If you’d like to see more pictures or follow my progress with this tank, follow me on Instagram (swiss_and_salty). R
Ania Nerowski/Gallery Aquatica Australia
NICOLE HELGASON
Reef Photography: Keeping the Blues Away
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aquarium pictures often turn out too blue when taken in this lighting, even when the colors appear bright and vibrant to your eyes. Whether you’re just looking to share a few pictures with friends and family or thinking of starting your own online aquariumrelated business, getting clear, bright, and colorful shots of your fish and corals is key.
Most reef tanks look best in the evening or when the lighting starts drifting toward the blue and ultraviolet spectrums. Unfortunately,
Aquarium photography is practically its own separate hobby within the general reefing hobby, and with good reason. At the macro level, little coral polyps are true works of art, and dialing in your camera settings to get the perfect shot requires practice and some technical understanding of your camera.
e all love spending time in front of our tanks, admiring our growing coral collections or waiting hours just to get a glimpse of some of our rare or cryptic fish. So it’s no surprise that, after all that time watching your aquarium, you would want to share your pride and joy with your fellow hobbyists. Yet as most reef hobbyists know all too well, trying to capture the vibrant colors of a reef tank in a picture is not as straightforward as you might expect.
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Reef aquariums are often lit by blue lights, which interfere with camera sensors, especially smartphone sensors. So getting the perfect shot, eliminating the blue, and bringing out bright fluorescent colors requires some advanced techniques, helpful color filters, or smartphone apps. If you try to snap a quick picture of your tank under blue lights with a smartphone, the result is usually a washed-out blue picture with a few indistinguishable outlines of what appeared to your eyes as colorful corals. There are a few tricks, however, to overcoming the blue hue, and once you master these techniques, you can move on to more advanced aquarium photography techniques, like freezing a fast-moving fish in frame. Here are some tips for getting the best pictures of your aquarium, from the most basic techniques, apps, and accessories to more advanced custom camera functions. SMARTPHONE SOLUTIONS Smartphone Gel Lens Filters: Hands down, the quickest way to trick your camera sensor into reducing the blue in your images is to place a thin yellow, orange, or ambercolored gel filter in front of your camera lens. These paperthin types of filters can be purchased at craft stores. Look for orange- or yellowcolored cellophane or gel paper, and cut out a small square to put over your camera lens; around 1" Ă— 1" is ideal.
Clip-on Lens: The second option is purchasing a clipon lens filter. I recommend looking for a clip-on lens like the Polyp Lab Coral Viewer, which will offer a higher-quality image compared to the homemade gel filters. These clipon lenses can also get scratched, but Clip-on lens filter | Image by Reef Builders a good-quality lens should come with a lens cap to minimize scratches. The color-correcting capabilities are similar to the gel filter, and most clip-on lens kits come with a yellow and orange lens attachment so you can test out which filter works best with your tank lighting. I prefer an orange-colored lens filter, as this seems to work best with most aquarium lights. If you have a programmable light, try playing around with the color balance by shifting it between the white and blue spectrums with your lens filter clipped to the camera to find the best results. This way, you can be sure to get the brightest colors possible. Adjust the combination of blue and white lights until you see the best results on your smartphone screen.
Once you have your square filter, you can slide it in front of your smartphone lens. This Gel lens filters trick works best if you have a cellphone case. You can leave the small orange square in your case and place the filter in front of your cellphone lens when needed. The downside to this technique is that the gel filter can be easily scratched, and the scratches will show up in the final image. Also, if the filter is not pressed up close to the lens, it can cause your smartphone to search continuously for a focal point and leave you with a blurry image. Nevertheless, you will find most reefers and reef aquarium shop employees will have some version of a gel filter tucked in their cellphone case or floating around in the back of their wallet just in case. This trick will eliminate the blues in no time and bring warm colors back to your images. This trick also works for point-and-shoot cameras as well as DSLR lenses; just cut out a larger gel square to cover the front of whatever lens you are using to photograph aquariums. Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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Raw picture taken while diving | Image by Dive+ app
Same picture after Dive+ app processing | Image by Dive+ app
Smartphone Filter Apps: There are several smartphone apps that give you the option to add a digital filter that works the same way a gel filter or clip-on lens filter does. And for more advanced users, these apps help unlock more manual camera features on your smartphone, such as manual shutter speed and custom white balance to dial in the perfect color balance for your photos. We’ve come across a few apps that automatically remove the blues from images. The first is called Aquarium Camera. It allows you to pick between different orange- or yellow-colored filters, with the possibility to adjust the color tone and brightness using a slider tool. You can also adjust your images with a custom white-balance feature and then manually adjust the red, green, and blue levels. This works great when you are photographing tanks at a local fish store or friend’s house and need to make minor color adjustments on the fly due to varying light conditions. If you’re sitting there with a smartphone that is already full of blue images, you will be amazed at how much color can be recovered by downloading the Dive+ app. This app is made specifically for scuba divers since they face a similar struggle between blue lights and lack of colors in underwater images. The Dive+ app offers a built-in color-correction algorithm that does wonders at removing some level of blue from your images and restoring red, purple, and pink tones. CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE ON DSLRs DSLR camera users probably don’t need a lesson in shutter speed. However, custom white balance is a function most photographers never use. DSLR and point-and-shoot cameras come with various preset white-balance options, some even with a dedicated
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underwater white balance. But for the best results, you want to use custom white balance. With custom white balance, you are telling your camera to recognize white, which will reduce the blue tones in the image. To use this setting, place a piece of white paper next to your tank. You should notice the paper is glowing blue from your tank lights, although you know it should be white. Then adjust your camera’s white balance settings until the object paper is white. Every camera is different, but a quick Google search about your camera model and how to set a custom white balance should be an easy way to learn this technique. POST PRODUCTION IN LIGHTROOM For any of the techniques using custom white balance, and even images taken with smartphones, you can always take your images one step further by using post-production software like Lightroom. Lightroom allows you to adjust contrast, increase or decrease exposure, and finetune white balance.
These tank images were taken in three stages: one with no filter, under blue lights; one with a clip-on filter, under blue lights; and one with a clip-on filter, under blue lights, with a custom white balance. | Images by Jeff Stutz
To use custom white balance in Lightroom, find the eye-drop tool, and click any part of your image that should be white. This will adjust the color balance even more. You can also adjust color saturation. If you’re finding that the corals you purchased from your favorite vendor just don’t seem as colorful at home as they did in the photos, you can probably blame the heavy hand of an editor bumping up the saturation values in Lightroom. However you choose to get your best aquarium photograph, the most important part is to remove the blues and enjoy! R
Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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JOSUE MATIAS
ZOANTHIDS
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OF THE CARIBBEAN
’m a zoanthid farmer, and I’ve been addicted to zoas for a long time. I’ve written a number of zoanthid articles in past issues of Reef Hobbyist Magazine, but it’s been a while since my last write-up. Since then, my setup has drastically changed. It has transformed from two frag tanks in a small closet to six frag tanks and a 125-gallon display in a shed in my backyard. I upgraded all the lights over my tanks, going from inexpensive Chinese LEDs, T5s, and metal halides to all AquaIllumination Hydra 52HDs for a total of 15 LED fixtures on my system. I really wish I
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would have changed my LEDs earlier. The increase in zoa size and coloration with the new Hydra lights is incredible. Not only that, but I’m growing all types of corals with the same settings, and everything is doing great. I recently visited my local reefing hero and aquaculture master Colin Foord from Coral Morphologic. Colin has been collecting corals commercially for over 14 years and is my go-to person for info about conservation of our reefs here in the south Florida area. During my visit, I was amazed at the incredible collection of Caribbean zoas
Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
Bloodshot Palythoas
Purple People Eaters
Miami Vice morph
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Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
that Colin has accumulated over the years. Inspired by the colorful variety in his tanks, I wanted to spotlight and share some of these beautiful Caribbean corals here. Two of the most famous types of zoas to come out of the Caribbean are the very expensive and elusive Bloodshot Palythoas and the Miami Vice Zoanthids, some of the most beautiful blue zoas in existence. The Bloodshot Palythoas are mostly mint green with a variety of different-colored centers. The smaller Miami Vice Zoanthids are mostly blue with different-colored centers. Most of the Caribbean
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zoas, big and small, have a distinctive teal-green skirt that no other zoas have anywhere else in the world. There are also a lot of People Eater-type palys in this region, like the OG Purple People Eater. While I won’t describe all the different morphs found in this region, I hope you will enjoy all the photos presented here, which do these beautiful corals more justice than words ever could. These zoas are found all over the rocky areas of the Caribbean. Some of these zoas, including the smaller Miami Vice Zoanthids, require very strong lighting. Their location in the water is so high that at low tide, they can be out of the water for over 6 hours in the Florida heat (in the high 90s F in the summer). In the ocean, some
Pinkshot Zoanthids
Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
Caribbean zoanthids receive up to 2,000 PAR (photosynthetically active radiation), whereas my zoas have adapted to my lights, which are set to 180 to 250 PAR output. When purchasing Caribbean zoanthids, always buy from a reputable source. The zoas should be acclimated to an
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Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
aquarium environment, free of pests, and adapted to aquarium lighting. Ask the seller how long they have had the zoas and how long ago the colony was fragged. Caribbean zoas should be quarantined long enough to thoroughly observe the corals for any parasites that may wreak havoc on your system. Once the zoas are acclimated into your home system, I recommend strong flow and a heavy feeding regimen until they are flourishing. If you’re interested in seeing live video of the environment in which these beautiful corals are found, check out Colin’s new project—
Miami Vice morph | Image by Colin Foord
Coral City Camera—on YouTube. It’s a grant-funded 24-hour stream of an underwater camera in the Port of Miami area. This is where most of these amazing zoas were collected. The camera project was also recently featured on BBC America, giving the project international recognition. If you need help with anything zoanthid related, feel free to contact me. I am always happy to help my fellow aquarists. You can find me on Instagram (joshporksandwich) or Facebook (jpszoas). I want to thank Reef Hobbyist Magazine for the opportunity to write this article and Colin Foord for always sharing his knowledge with me. R
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ELIZABETH TURNER
An Artist's Peninsula
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y love for aquariums arose from a more general passion for the natural world. Though I had many pets growing up, I never had an aquarium until my early 20s when, after a serious injury made it clear that I would be stuck on the couch for an extended period, I convinced my boyfriend at the time to buy me an aquarium for my birthday. I’ve had a tank ever since but only recently delved into the saltwater world. I’ve always enjoyed (perhaps to an obsessive extent) researching things on the internet, and this is 100 percent what put me on the path to success with my first saltwater aquarium. I was especially inspired by the visual impact of minimalist aquascapes that make use of negative space, like bommie-style tanks. I also have been very inspired by more natural aquariums and biotopes but couldn’t bear to be restricted to a biotope for my first saltwater tank. I wanted a mixed reef (one of everything, please!) but knew that it would be a challenge to create an environment that was ideal for multiple types of coral.
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SPECIFICATIONS Display: Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 20 Peninsula Dimensions: 30" × 12" × 13" Volume: 20 gallons Return Pump: SICCE Syncra 1.0 Rock: live rock Sand: CaribSea Fiji Pink, Reef Sand Lighting: (2) AquaIllumination Prime HD Heater: Cobalt Neo-Therm, 100 watts Circulation: Aqamai KPS, IM Spin Stream nozzle Skimmer: Eshopps Nano Skimmer Filtration: IM Custom Caddy with filter floss, Chemi-pure Blue Auto Top-off: AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro Dosing: Bubble Magus T11, BRS soda ash, calcium chloride Controller: Apex 2016 My reef’s inception was in an Innovative Marine 10-gallon tank. I’m an artist, and aesthetics were important to me during planning.
The back of the tank where I keep SPS and more light-hungry corals
I paid attention to composition, color, and space. I researched corals extensively and identified almost all the corals that would ultimately fill the tank before buying anything. I drew out coral layouts over photos of my tank to get a better idea of what I wanted and to help me stick to my stocking lists and save room for corals I wouldn’t be able to get until the tank was more mature. As this was my first tank, I wanted every coral I saw, so that was definitely a challenge. I spent a great amount of time searching for specific coral color combinations I liked. I wanted to choose unusual, peaceful fish for the tank. I went in hoping to only buy aquacultured corals and captive-bred fish, but while researching the myriad of captive-bred fish, I realized that many of them, though successfully bred and raised at some point, aren’t consistently available to hobbyists. I quickly revised my plan. FISH • Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse (Wetmorella nigropinnata) • Yasha Goby (Stonogobiops yasha) • Randall’s Assessor Basslet (Assessor randalli) SOFT CORALS • Pipe Organ (Tubipora musica) • assorted zoanthids • assorted bounce mushrooms • Ricordea florida • Grube’s Gorgonian (Pinnigorgia flava) • Discosoma neglecta • Fiji Yellow Leather (Sarcophyton elegans) Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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I spent a long time looking for a Lobophyllia sp. with colors that I really liked, since I only had room for one.
LPS (large-polyp stony) CORALS The sun corals continue to be some of my favorite corals. Their feeding response, temperament, and need to be spot-fed meaty foods make them feel more like pets than many other corals. • black and pink sun corals (Tubastraea spp.) • Dendrophyllia sp. • Acan Lords (Micromussa lordhowensis) • Fungia Plate (Fungia fungites) • John Deere Leptastrea • Meteor Shower and Bizarro Cyphastrea • short and long tentacle flowerpots (Goniopora spp.) • Duncan (Duncanopsammia axifuga) • Lobophyllia hemprichii • Pagoda Cup (Turbinaria peltata) • Rainbow Crush Chalice (Echinophyllia sp.)
- Mint Pavona (Pavona frondifera) - assorted Montipora capricornis - thin-branch Birdsnest (Seriatopora hystrix) - Forest Fire Digitata (Montipora digitata) - Oregon Tort (Acropora tortuosa) - Mad Raver Milli (Acropora millepora) - Flaming Unicorn Acro (Acropora sp.) - Pink Spath Acro (Acropora spathulata) - Green Slimer Acro INVERTEBRATES
SPS (small-polyp stony) CORALS
- Pom Pom Crab (Lybia tessellata) - Rock Flower Anemones (Phymanthus crucifer) - Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) - Emerald Crab (Mithraculus sculptus) - Tiger/Strawberry Conch (Conomurex luhuanus) - dwarf feather dusters (Bispira sp.) - Blue-leg Hermit Crabs (Clibanarius tricolor) - many known and unknown snails, worms, and other hitchhikers
I really love a lot of the beginner SPS corals and enjoy their single bright colors, but I eventually got pulled into the acro craze. I knew I wanted a couple of the more difficult pieces.
In that first year, I dealt with high nitrates and phosphates and excessive algae but kept things manageable. I started 2-part dosing around 11 months in.
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Around the time things were really getting settled, I realized I just couldn’t fit everything I dreamed of in a 10-gallon tank and transferred everything to an Innovative Marine 20 Peninsula. I added another AI Prime, which I feel has been incredibly useful for having corals with very different lighting needs in the same shallow tank. Unfortunately, the new tank did bring a lot of new problems. Instead of having too many nutrients, I had almost none and started having issues with the dreaded dinoflagellates. At their worst, they killed a handful of snails and hermits and likely caused the death of my dear watchman goby, my first fish. Most of the corals pulled through, though quite unhappily. With a combination of UV, This sun coral's bright pink and yellow color and great feeding response make it one of my favorites. blackouts, heavier feeding, and adding macroalgae, pods, and phyto, I was able to beat the dinos back. Dinos have been an ongoing nuisance that seems to rear its head whenever routine care gets out of whack. Creating greater micro biodiversity was my main angle of attack in battling dinos. I have always been a fan of gradual and natural fixes to solve issues instead of intense bottled solutions, though that probably comes from being hesitant and indecisive as much as idealistic. Besides the dinos, I’ve had a slew of other issues like Aiptasia anemones, hydroids, and a scary acro brown-out (thankfully everything healed after fragging). MAINTENANCE Feeding: I feed Cobalt Aquatics Marine Omni flakes or Reef Nutrition TDO pellets to my fish once a day, and I spot feed the LPS and fish with frozen mysis or Rod’s frozen food with a pipette every other day (at least this is the goal). Cleaning: I do weekly 10–15 percent water changes with RO/DI water and Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. Occasionally, I use tweezers to manually remove nuisance algae or crush vermetid snails and use a turkey baster to blow detritus off the rockwork. Every few months, I clean all the equipment with diluted vinegar and scrub out the back chambers. Testing: I test calcium and alkalinity every couple of weeks, nitrate and phosphate once a month or so, and magnesium every few months, but I tested everything weekly when I was starting the tank. I try to keep alkalinity at 8.5 dKH, calcium at 440 ppm, and
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The front right side of the tank, featuring dueling Cyphastrea that I'm afraid will take over the entire rock eventually
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I wanted to be sure I had a rainbow of colors, and that’s easy to see in the top-down view.
magnesium at 1,350 ppm. Nitrates are a bit low, around 0.5–1.0 ppm, while phosphates are a bit high, around .05–.10 ppm. Fragging: With a small tank, fragging has ended up being a regular part of my maintenance routine to keep the faster-growing corals in check. At a little over 2 years old, the aquarium finally seems to have found a balance and appears very healthy and stable. I am working slowly to get parameters more stable at ideal levels, but I’m certainly not
interested in chasing numbers. The corals are fluffy and colorful, the fish seem happy, and most pests have either been evicted or are playing nice. As a relative newbie, I’m extremely proud to have a tank that’s been this successful. I have all the corals on my dream list, and while I may add a fourth fish, the only thing I’m still really hoping for is a beautiful Tridacna crocea clam. I’m always praying a catastrophe isn’t on the horizon, but overall, I am incredibly excited simply to continue watching things grow. Though large reef tanks are quite awe inspiring, I love the intimacy of a nano tank, and watching it every day brings me so much joy! R
My female Yasha Goby is a very shy fish. I always treasure getting to see her out and about.
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REEFERS DIVE:
Elphinstone Reef
The Red Sea
RICHARD ASPINALL
The endemic Chaetodon semilarvatus is quintessentially Red Sea.
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’ve written extensively about the Red Sea, talking at length about its superb coral reefs, off-shore islands with their strong currents, shark encounters, and the dozens of easily dived shipwrecks that make this stretch of water one of the best diving destinations in the world. For divers, the Red Sea truly has it all.
Most Red Sea diving is done from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the stretch of Egyptian coastline known by the Tourist Board as the Red Sea Riviera. Some dive centers operate out of Eilat, the Israeli resort at the top of the Gulf of Aqaba, but for many, the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh on the Sinai, or the towns of Hurghada and Marsa Alam, are likely the first ports of call. Perhaps more importantly, this is where the international airports are located, with many folks flying in from Istanbul, Cairo, or one of the European hub airports. The Egyptian economy is struggling, there’s no denying that, but any one of the large and luxurious shoreline hotels—of which there are possibly too many—will offer very affordable rates with good international and local cuisine. More importantly, just about every resort will have a dive center on site or an arrangement with a local dive center. Most centers will offer some courses to already-certified divers or introductory sessions to novices leading to certification. In my experience, most centers are well run with excellent gear, especially the ones that are part of international organizations with reputations to protect. For the last few decades, Sharm El-Sheikh has been the main diving destination in Egypt. A once quiet Bedouin settlement within easy reach of Mount Sinai, it was a sleepy spot. Nowadays, it is the easiest place to stay to reach some of the best coral reefs in the Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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world. Countless day-boats will head out to the Ras Mohammed National Park, at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, and to the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba to explore the reefs around Tiran Island. These sites truly are stunners, offering superb coral growths and fish, with occasional gentle currents that make for exciting drift dives. The Red Sea has interesting geography. It is part of the African Rift Valley system, so despite being relatively narrow, it is, in parts, very deep. There’s no better place to experience this than at a site called Shark and Yolanda. When the conditions are right, you can hang off a coral-covered wall in water hundreds of meters deep, with thousands of anthias feeding in the plankton-rich water. To the right is the Gulf of Aqaba and to the left, Suez. Huge shoals of snapper, Naso Tangs, and spirals of barracuda are regulars. In the summer, Hammerheads are spotted here. The nearby wreck of the Yolanda (a Greek ship carrying bathroom parts) makes for an amusing end to a spectacular dive; who doesn’t enjoy coral-covered toilets? While Sharm is a very useful place to fly into, for many people, it can be a bit too noisy, as can a few of the resorts such as Port Ghalib and the tourist areas around the marina in Hurghada. If the bright lights aren’t for you, then there are two options: liveaboards and old-school resorts. Although I like luxury every so often, I really like getting back to the basics. Along the road that runs down the side of Egypt’s Red Sea coastline are a number of low-key resorts, created entirely for divers who want a simpler experience, reminiscent of diving 30 years ago. A famous family of batfish hanging around the mast of an old trawler, just off Hurghada
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Shore-based diving has its advantages, whether you’re hotel or tent based, and there are fun terrestrial things to do: camel rides, visiting the desert, or even arranging trips to Cairo and some pointy pyramids at Giza. However, if all you want is diving and you want the best, then liveaboards are the way to go. Most divers
will be familiar with the term, but newbies might not be. You literally live aboard the boat for a week, and it takes you from one dive site to another. Very often, you have only to fall off the back of the boat and you’re on a wreck or coral reef, and in the main, the modern boats are very luxurious. They may cost more initially than a hotel stay, but what you get and where you can get to makes liveaboard diving the best option for anyone other than a novice. The best thing about liveaboards is the access you get to sites while everyone else is still waiting at the jetty to get on a slow day-boat that will doubtless make them seasick. Take the Thistlegorm, for example. This British cargo ship is one of the most famous wrecks in the world. Shore-based folk will travel hours to dive her. A liveaboard will moor overnight on the wreck, giving you access first thing before breakfast, without the hordes to get in the way of your photography. The Thistlegorm is the subject of several books, documentaries, and much debate and argument online. She was sunk at anchor in 1941, and while she’s not a
Stunning coral growth in Tiran
Colonial LPS colony
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Amphiprion bicinctus is common and makes for a great photo. Red anemones are much sought after by dive photographers and often featured in dive briefings.
Entering a shipwreck requires excellent skills.
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Exploring the holds of the Thistlegorm at night can be very exciting but only if you’re moored on the wreck. This old BSA motorbike is stacked with several others in the back of a truck.
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Liveaboards at Daedalus Reef
notable vessel in herself, her cargo certainly is. Full of war-time material, from motorbikes to rifles, aircraft wings to two steam locomotives (now lying on the seabed), she’s a must-do dive. A liveaboard itinerary focusing on the wrecks of the north may well be your ideal trip. There are enough sites to ensure you won’t get bored, if that’s your passion, though most liveaboards that do the northern circuit will aim to mix wrecks and reefs to find a balance to better suit all guests. To reach the offshore islands, a liveaboard is the only way. The ship makes the crossings from one small island to another through the night, with 8 to 10 hours sailing being necessary to reach the most southerly of the Egyptian offshore reefs from a home port. Increasingly, liveaboards that venture into Sudanese waters are available, though at present, these can still be quite expensive. The off-shore diving isn’t as easy going as the reef systems close to shore; strong currents and winds can mean diving is harder here, with current the norm, but when the conditions allow and turbidity is low, these reefs are simply spectacular. Diving here does require a little more experience, so don’t make this your first-ever liveaboard trip. Having a nitrox certification is recommended, with some boats offering it for free. High currents suit these gorgonians at around 40 meters off Big Brother Island. At that depth, we only had a few minutes to hunt for Longnose Hawkfish.
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The offshore sites such as The Brothers Islands, Daedalus Reef, and Rocky Island sit within a huge expanse of empty sea. Strong currents feed astounding corals, including some of the best dendronephtheids you’ll see in the world, and while many of us are there for the entire experience, the real crowd pleasers are the sharks. I adore sharks and consider being in the water with them a privilege. The Brothers Islands (one big and one little) and Daedalus Reef can be guaranteed to have at least one Oceanic Whitetip cruising around them, and they will get close to investigate who and what shares their waters. Negative interactions have occurred, but they are very few and far between, and the authorities have put restrictions in place and mandatory training for dive guides to make sure everyone stays safe. Oceanics are found in the shallows, but deeper down, cleaning stations attract Thresher Sharks and Hammerheads. As you can tell, I could write about the Red Sea for days, with its fascinating human culture, place in history, biogeography, endemic species (of which there are well over a thousand and counting), sea grass meadows, dugongs, dolphins, and its place in the hearts of divers from across the world. For me, the Red Sea was the first place I saw a real coral reef, and I keep coming back for more. R Encounters with massive Napoleon Wrasse are great fun. Some individuals can be almost too friendly.
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KEITH MOYLE
REEF AUTOMATION BASICS INTRODUCTION High on the list of parameters reefkeepers seek to control are nutrients and major and minor elements. But striking up a conversation about these water parameters today might just as easily lead to a discussion of reef automation, power bars, profiles, coding, and remote access. Technology has had a major impact on our daily lives and has quickly become an important, if not essential, aspect of our hobby. In this article, I will explore some options for automating your reef aquarium, from the simplest devices to fully integrated controllers, and attempt to somewhat demystify the world of modern reef automation. THE BASICS OF AUTOMATION Automation is nothing new, having played a role in the aquarium hobby for decades, though the major advances in reefkeeping
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A fully controllable flow pump from EcoTech Marine
technology are more recent. To see aquarium automation in its most basic form, we don’t need to look any further than the humble heater thermostat. The original bi-metallic strip designs have mostly been replaced with digital devices that are much more reliable, but the principles of controlling temperature remain the same and are the basis of digital automation. We are simply measuring an input, in this case, temperature, and based on that measurement, turning the heater on or off. Remote temperature controllers, which use a temperature probe, are now commonplace and often control both heating and cooling (via a fan). They also generally include an audible alarm that sounds if the temperature deviates outside of a predetermined range. A wide variety of devices aimed at monitoring and maintaining aquarium conditions and automating routine tasks have been available for some time. From basic temperature control to advanced dosing systems, automation offers many benefits that increase aquarium stability.
Modern temperature control module
STAND-ALONE CONTROL One of the most beneficial, yet simple, devices is the auto topoff unit (ATO), which maintains stable salinity levels. Most modern ATOs use electronic sensors rather than float switches, which can sometimes be unreliable. They detect even the slightest change in water level and activate a pump to replace evaporated water with reverse osmosis (RO) water from a reservoir. Many ATOs also incorporate an audible alarm to alert the reefkeeper of issues with the system; some will even stop the pump if it runs for longer than usual, as it would if there were a leak anywhere in the system.
or other additives are dispensed into the aquarium. Not only do they automate the manual and often forgotten task of dosing, they also provide more frequent dosing intervals than even the most dedicated hobbyist could hope to achieve. Multiple daily doses are possible using very small volumes of additives, which maintain extremely stable parameters and avoid the yo-yo effect associated with manual dosing.
Dosing units are increasingly common in modern reef systems, as they automate the process by which major and minor elements
Tunze ATO
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Of course, many other devices that we perhaps take for granted are examples of reef automation. These include lighting (with sunrise, sunset, and weather simulations), programmable wavemakers (that simulate various wave or current patterns), and even automatic feeders. Automation has also found its way into calcium reactors, which were once seen as specialist devices due to their perceived complexity. pH controllers brought a degree of automation to the calcium reactor, allowing precisely controlled CO2 injection to regulate and maintain desired reactor output pH levels. However, DaStaco and, more recently, Deltec, with their Twin-Tech reactor, have fully automated the calcium reactor, bringing it right up to date. CONNECTED DEVICE PLATFORMS Taking the concept of automation further, some manufacturers have created their own proprietary control systems that allow a range of their own (and other) devices to be connected together on one platform, often providing cloud-based control of connected devices. CoralVue has the Hydros WaveEngine system, which can power, control, and even sync multiple flow pumps from various manufacturers. EcoTech Marine recently released Mobius, a new control platform that uses Bluetooth LE to link up and control VorTech pumps, Radion lighting, Vectra pumps, and Versa dosing pumps with
Reef Factory dosing pump
a smartphone. Tunze’s smart controller brings pH control and temperature measurement and control together with the control of their Turbelle pumps and LED lighting.
Tunze Turbelle controller
A relative newcomer is Polish brand Reef Factory. Their Smart Reef system features a comprehensive range of wireless devices that include sensors and monitors that communicate via a smartphone app or on a local network for monitoring and control purposes. This approach negates the need for a centralized control unit, as all devices have built-in WiFi modules and work independently. All are integrated via the app, providing a distributed, decentralized system. The devices are primarily focused on temperature, pH, and salinity, though dosing pumps and controllable sockets are also available. WATER QUALITY CONTROL DEVICES Monitoring and direct control of water conditions have generally been limited to the pH in calcium reactors or the aquarium’s oxygen redox potential (ORP) by controlling CO2 gas flow or ozone additions, respectively. However, until recently, this has not extended to alkalinity, which was a missing link in the move to true aquarium automation as alkalinity dosing volumes previously relied upon manual testing.
This photo shows some functions of the Hydros WaveEngine app.
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GHL’s Ion Director
offer a starter kit with basic functionality, allowing you to add modules as you grow into the system. GHL’s Profilux is probably one of the most popular, with Aquatronica and Felix Smart also being well known.
Reef Kinetics ReefBot
Recent technological advances now allow the process to be fully automated, and this is probably one of the most important breakthroughs in the hobby in the last decade. GHL’s KH Director, Focustronic’s Alkatronic and Dosetronic, and the KH Guardian can all offer precise control of critical alkalinity levels in the aquarium. Taking water quality control to the next level, GHL’s Ion Director can measure and control calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and nitrate when used in conjunction with an automated dosing system. Unlike alkalinity control, this is achieved without the need for reagents for testing. FULLY INTEGRATED CONTROL SYSTEMS These are often regarded as the ultimate in aquarium automation and provide a comprehensive range of monitoring and control options with remote cloud-based access as well as email and text alerts should something go wrong. Complete systems aren’t cheap, especially as add-on modules may be required for access to all the systems’ functions. However, their level of automation is unsurpassed. Controllers are modular devices that interconnect on a local communications network and are daisy-chained to the central control unit. Modern controllers offer much more than temperature and pH control, and many provide dedicated support for lighting, wavemakers, ORP, dosing systems, automatic feeders, and even PAR and flow monitoring. Remote access through your tablet or mobile phone gives you unparalleled control of your reef from anywhere in the world. Notifications via email or text offer peace of mind should something go wrong. Some devices even provide voice control capability through Amazon Alexa. Most manufacturers
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Having a single device in control of your aquarium is potentially a risk, but solid-state devices are very reliable, and I believe the benefits outweigh the risk. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the ability to program the controller and establish your own control parameters. As everything is integrated, determining the action of one device based on the status of another gives great flexibility. For example, if your return pump stops, you can automatically turn off your skimmer, which would otherwise overflow due to the increased water level in the sump. Once power is restored, turning the skimmer back on can be automatically delayed for a defined period, allowing the sump level to return to normal. AUTOMATED WATER TESTING Another device worthy of mention is Reef Kinetics’ ReefBot, which automates the process of testing your aquarium water using a range of compatible test kits from various manufacturers. Not only does the device eliminate the human error associated with color comparisons, it enables you to set test schedules, conduct tests, and log the results automatically, as well as send real-time updates of the results to your mobile device via a web-based app. DIY Creating your own aquarium controller is another option if you have the technical ability. Skilled hobbyists are using the Raspberry Pi and Leviathan devices with great success. The cost of such devices with the peripheral equipment needed to create a capable control system represents a significant savings over proprietary systems. However, DIY controllers may lack the finesse and ease of use of their more expensive counterparts. FINAL THOUGHTS Reef aquarium success requires a responsible approach and time commitment. Automating your aquarium is a great investment, provided it’s used as a tool to ensure more stable water parameters and improved conditions and not seen as a way to discharge your responsibility for maintaining your reef. R
DANE ALBRECHT
ALEMOKI’S CUBE HISTORY From a young age (a mere 6 years old), I have been fascinated with fish and aquariums. It was at this tender age that I got my first aquarium, stocked with the proverbial two goldfish. Looking back, this is where it all began for me.
Through countless hours of research into the principles and practices of reefkeeping, as well as the various types of reef tanks that were commonly kept, I decided to try an Acropora-dominated reef tank. Yes, I like a challenge. LESSONS LEARNED
Up until the age of 18, I had a variety of tropical freshwater aquariums with a huge array of different fish. Then I entered my marine phase.
Although this setup would be my first reef tank, there were lessons learned from my previous aquariums that helped shape this build:
After a vacation to our holiday home in Mozambique, I decided I was finally going to try my hand at a marine setup. This was after an amazing snorkeling trip to one of the reefs situated in the Bazaruto Archipelago.
1) I hate noisy aquariums. A durso overflow and splashing noise would not be acceptable. I find them extremely irritating, and they detract from the viewing experience. My solution was to use a Herbie Overflow.
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Ornate Leopard Wrasse
2) Metal rusts! My previous freshwater stands were not powder coated or galvanized, and even with fresh water, I had rusting. I made sure not to make the same mistake with this setup and had the stand powder coated. 3) Maintenance doesn’t get done if it isn’t easy. My previous setups taught me that tasks that are not enjoyable will be put off (to the detriment of the system). My goal with the new system was to ensure easy access to the equipment and to reduce the amount of maintenance required. Things like reducing salt creep and spray were high on my list of priorities.
Squaretail Bristletooth Tang
for biopellets, GFO (granular ferric oxide), carbon, etc. However, I quickly realized that much of the equipment I had originally planned was unnecessary. I ended up running just a skimmer as my main nutrient export, along with a filter sock (which I change every 4 days or so if I remember). My goal is to keep the system as simple as possible so that I don’t need to constantly tinker with it. The original rockwork is barely visible anymore, and that just goes to show that a rockscape, although seemingly important when a tank is started, becomes much less important once the corals begin to grow in. Coral placement becomes much more important for long-term success.
CONSTRAINTS South Africa has some disadvantages equipment-wise. We have limited variety, and what we do have can be very expensive. This led me to do a lot of DIY work in order to set the system up within budget. SPECIFICATIONS Main Display: 24" × 24" × 19" Frag Tank: 22" × 12" × 11" Return Pump: (2) Jebao DCS 2000 Wavemakers: (2) Jebao OW-25 (display) Powerheads: (2) Sun Sun JVP-131 (frag tank) Lighting: ATI SunPower (6) × 24 watt (display), 24-watt dual T5, 10-watt sump floodlight Skimmer: Bubble Magus Curve 5 Temperature Control: STC 1000, AC mini fan, (2) 300-watt Via Aqua heater UV: Ultra Zap, 55 watts Doser: Jebao DP4 Auto Top-off: DIY automatic Battery Backup: Tedelex GOALS As my original plan was to have a fully Acropora-species-dominant system, I started with space in my sump for all the reactors required Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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small group of fish. The food of choice is a frozen meal prepared and produced by my good friend and reefer buddy. Twice weekly, I do my coral feeding with either Polyp Lab Reef-Roids, EasyReefs EasySPS powder, or Hikari Coralific Delite, and I alternate between spot feeding and broadcast feeding the entire system. I also clean the glass during this time. I always aim to do a monthly water change of about 40 liters (~10.5 gallons), but I often skip this if the tank looks as though it is doing well. Every 6 months or so, I clean the sump area, which includes vacuuming and rinsing any biomedia, as well as cleaning the protein skimmer body. STOCKING The tank is very lightly stocked fish-wise. I do also have a few inverts, but ultimately, I am in the hobby for the corals. FISH MAINTENANCE My daily maintenance became a quick 5-minute visual inspection each morning and night to ensure all equipment was working as it should, and at night, I would feed my
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• Squaretail Bristletooth Tang • Ornate Leopard Wrasse • Tailspot Blenny
Sump, skimmer, and plumbing
INVERTEBRATES • (2) cleaner shrimp
• Red-legged Hermit
The system holds over 20 different LPS (large-polyp stony) corals and more than 20 SPS (small-polyp stony) corals, the majority being Acropora species. I had soft corals for the first year of running the setup but eventually focused the system to house only LPS and SPS corals. Some of my favorite corals in the system include my purple and yellow Micromussa lordhowensis, gold Homophyllia bowerbanki, and purple maricultured Acropora cervicornis. I have a particular affection toward Micromussa spp. corals and love my garden of micros, which I have collected since setting up this system. PARAMETERS Salinity: 35 ppt Alkalinity: 8 dKH
Calcium: 420 ppm Magnesium: 1,380 ppm
I use Salifert test kits to monitor my water parameters, which I try to keep as close to natural sea water as possible. If my levels are close to these numbers, I don’t make any adjustments. I’ve found that chasing exact figures leads to worse fluctuations. The key for me has always been to reduce deltas rather than hit a specific value. Throughout the life of my system, I have yet to test my phosphate or nitrate levels. I believe that unless you plan to actively manage these levels through your test results, knowing the values is pointless. I take note when my SPS start to look dull or when my Reef Hobbyist Magazine
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the growth of the Acropora species. I run four Blue Plus bulbs and two Coral Plus bulbs. In the future, I plant to add DIY actinic LED bars, which will help with the color pop, but for me, the change to T5s has been the best move for the system to date. PAST AND FUTURE
tank begins to grow a film of algae, and I use these indicators to adjust my feeding regimen accordingly. This approach has worked well for me. In the last few months, I have transitioned from using Aquaforest calcium, Aquaforest magnesium, and off-the-shelf bicarbonate of soda to the full Aquaforest balling method with daily amino acid dosing. I believe this has helped a lot with coloring up my corals and has fixed ionic imbalances that I was experiencing due to excessive dosing of 2-part. LIGHTING For much of the system’s life, I ran two AquaIllumination Hydra 26 (non-HD) lights with the AB+ spectrum at about 70 percent intensity. I then switched to a (6) × 24-watt T5 ATI SunPower unit. This has helped tremendously with shadowing issues in the tank and with
Green Ice Acro
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Looking back, the biggest struggles I have had since starting the hobby have been with STN (slow tissue necrosis) and an Ich outbreak. My struggle with STN was only during my startup phase. Almost all Acropora species that were introduced into the system flourished for a month or two and nearly doubled in size, only to slowly fade over the next 2 to 3 weeks, eventually turning gray and dying. Once my setup hit the 1-year mark, my SPS started doing much better, and I attribute this to the maturation of the setup. The Ich disaster happened about a year into the hobby when I added a possum wrasse that was under extreme stress. This fish had what I believe to be Ich. When I realized that I had introduced a fish with Ich, I attempted to remove all the fish for quarantine, and all of them subsequently perished over the course of 2 days, none of which had shown any signs of illness prior. The reefing journey I’ve had over the past 2½ years has been extremely exciting, but I still feel that I have barely scratched the surface. Due to circumstances in which I find myself, my reefing journey seems to be coming to an end, at least for the time being. This break will only be temporary, and I will be back, armed with my knowledge and experience gained thus far to once again tackle the reefing hobby. R
Lumo Green Trachyphyllia
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