THIRD QUARTER 2016 I VOLUME 10 INSIDE A PREDATOR'S REEF ASTRONAUT FOOD FOR YOUR REEF STRATEGIC FRAGGING: PLANNING FOR SUCCESS Reef Hobbyist Magazine 1 THIRD QUARTER 2016 | Volume 10 FEATURES Copyright © 2016 Reef Hobbyist Magazine. All rights reserved. ANNOUNCEMENTS 13 MACROALGAE FOR YOUR REEF • Care to share your breeding or husbandry success with the world? We are 6 Kelly DeLaVergne is a veteran hobbyist always looking for interesting articles to share with our readers. Email us your from Indiana and a strong advocate for women reefers. ideas through the "Contact Us" tab on our website. In this detailed review, Kelly describes her 13 favorite • Hard copy subscriptions are available to hobbyists in the United States! Scan the macroalgae and the specific lighting and chemistry they QR code below or visit us at www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com to subscribe. need to thrive. RHM-SPONSORED EVENTS ZEBRASOMA TANGS (Contact us through our website to have your event sponsored and listed.) Richard Aspinall is a freelance writer • ReefVisions Frag Fest: July 23, Tampa, FL 10 and photographer living in Yorkshire, reefvisionscommunity.com England, specializing in travel, wildlife, and scuba- diving subjects. For anyone planning to keep • Greenville Coral Reef Swap: August 20, Greenville, SC Zebrasoma tangs, this article contains all the critical • Aquarama: September 22–25, Guangzhou, China information necessary for you to succeed. aquarama.com.cn/ • Red River Reef & Reptile Expo: October 1, Fargo, ND STRATEGIC FRAGGING: redriverreefandreptileexpo.com PLANNING FOR • Mid-Atlantic Marine Aquarium Expo: October 8, Chesapeake, VA 18 SUCCESS Adam Mullins is a professional aquarist and co- midatlanticmas.org/mamax-2016/ owner of The Mystic Reef in Riverside, California. • Ladies Frag Swapping Bi-Annual Frag Party: October 8, Sturgis, MI The time has come to prune your corals. Have you made a plan to include the health, aesthetics, and DIGITAL & HARD COPY SUBSCRIPTIONS future growth of both the parent colony and the frag? If not, be sure to consult this article first. Scan this QR code to register for your free digital subscription, which gives you full access to archives on our new website. You can also sign up for your new hard copy subscription for ASTRONAUT FOOD home delivery. FOR YOUR REEF 26 Jason Oneppo has more than 25 years of experience in the aquarium industry and has WANT RHM IN YOUR STORE? been doing R&D for San Francisco Bay Brand for over a decade. Jason relays the history, broad uses, Increase your store’s foot traffic by offering Reef Hobbyist Magazine to your and best picks among the wide array of freeze-dried customers! We educate hobbyists on new products, husbandry techniques, and reef foods available today. livestock. Plus, we never publish e-tailer ads! Contact one of our distributors below or email us through the "Contact Us" tab on our website to get stocked. • A&M Aquatics – www.amaquatics.com • All Seas Marine – www.allseaslax.com ON THE COVER • DFW Aquarium Supply – www.dfwaquarium.com 34 • Exotic Reef Imports – www.exoticreefimports.com • Pacific Aqua Farms – www.pacificaquafarms.com INSIDE A • Quality Marine – www.qualitymarine.com PREDATOR’S REEF • Reef Nutrition – www.reefnutrition.com Felicia Svedlund is a recent PhD • Segrest Farms – www.segrestfarms.com graduate and has been a lifelong aquarium hobbyist. Willing to brave COME VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITE! the unconventional, Felicia has constructed an amazing reef tank www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com based on housing predatory lionfish. Find full access to RHM archives. Whether or not you ever plan to keep Download any issue in PDF for your computer or mobile device. a predator reef, this display will inspire Sign up for a hard copy subscription or FREE digital subscription. you to think outside the box. Watch exclusive videos and shows. Cover image by Felicia Svedlund Search for articles by topic, author, or keyword. www.facebook.com/reefhobbyistmag ONE BAD PECTINIA RHM STAFF Mindy Van Leur has been a reef President Harry Tung Photography Advisor Sabine Penisson keeper for over 20 years with 44 Executive Editor Jim Adelberg Copy Editor Steven Tanamachi an affinity for Acropora corals and helping new hobbyists. The Tyree Space Invaders Pectinia is one Art Director Yoony Byun Graphic Designer Dave Tran of Mindy's favorite corals. See how she maintains this [email protected] 4 www.reefhobbyistmagazine.comcoral's unearthly color and shape in her reef. COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS? Contact us on our website! KELLY DELAVERGNE 13macroalgae for your reef began using Chaeto (Chaetomorpha) as a means of nutrient PREFERRED TANK PARAMETERS FOR MACROALGAE: export many years ago in a refugium under my reef tank. When I decided to start raising seahorses, whose tanks have Temperature: mid 70s F much higher nutrient levels due to constant feeding, I knew the Specific Gravity: 1.024–1.026 macros would be crucial in helping me keep the tank clean. I Calcium: 400–450 ppm (many macros are calcareous and had no idea I would end up loving the algae almost as much as Ithe seahorses. require as much calcium as corals) Magnesium: 1,100–1,300 ppm If you are looking for nutrient export only, I would suggest Caulerpa, Nitrate: 5–10 ppm (in an actual macro display, you may have to Chaetomorpha, or Gracilaria parvispora, which are all fast growing, dose nitrate to keep up with the needs of the algae...or just keep high nutrient uptake macros. However, of the three, Caulerpa is my least favorite. It has a tendency to spawn, or go “sexual.” If seahorses!) Caulerpa does not get enough light, is not pruned regularly, and/ Phosphate: .5–1.0 ppm (same as nitrate; the algae need or isn’t happy for whatever reason, it will start to become pale. If phosphate to survive. If you’re having trouble, your tank might be you see this, make sure to remove it immediately. It means the too clean) alga fears death and is about to release its spores into the water Lighting: depends on the species, but generally 2–3 watts per column, along with all other nutrients stored in the living alga. This not only clouds the tank, but it affects oxygen levels and can gallon of 6,500–8,000 K lighting will make most macros happy. literally kill off entire systems. Of all the macros I’ve encountered, I currently use a Fluval 24/7 plant light but will be adding an SB only Caulerpa has given me this problem. One way to combat this Reef light for a better spectrum. issue is to attach a second macro tank that is set up on a reverse light cycle. My personal tank is attached to a sump with an algae I do weekly water changes, dose Seachem Reef Plus, and add scrubber. The tank and scrubber each get 12 hours of light on Brightwell iron, magnesium, and iodine as needed based on alternate schedules. monthly testing results. 6 www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com RHODOPHYTA—RED ALGAE Blue Ochtodes (Ochtodes secundiramea) adds brilliant blue color to any macro display. Falling into the Rhodophyta category, Gracilaria parvispora Ochtodes will also be is a pink-branched alga a deeper color in lower that looks almost like light. Unfortunately, a Birdsnest Coral. herbivores will eat This alga could replace Ochtodes, and this Chaeto in a refugium alga can become since it grows ridiculously invasive since it covers fast. It will do well in any rocks. In my personal lighting and any flow, tank, with other but it becomes pinker macros competing for in stronger light and nutrients, Ochtodes grows much faster in has grown only where Ochtodes secundiramea stronger flow. Stronger I have placed it. Gracilaria parvispora flow also helps to stop cyano and hair algae from getting caught and growing in its Halymenia durvillaei branches. is known as Flame Algae or Dragon’s Fauchea is an Breath. This alga will alga that looks like grow in almost any shimmering pink condition. I’ve even petals. This alga found it growing in a prefers moderate completely dark cave light and flow. I’ve with very little flow. personally found However, H. durvillaei that it maintains will have the best the deep pinkish- coloration in moderate purple color better Halymenia durvillaei to strong light and flow. in lower light. It needs enough flow to stop particles Fauchea sp. from building up between the branches but not enough to tear it. Botryocladia uvaria looks like red bubbles. This alga will grow in any light but keeps a deeper red color in lower light. It also grows in any flow but will grow faster, with less chance of nuisance algae getting caught in between the bubbles, Botryocladia uvaria in stronger flow. Jania rubens has lightly calcified cylindrical branches that form a sort of mat. This alga is usually found in shallow waters. Therefore, it will do better in your tank under stronger light but will survive in almost any lighting. While it doesn’t require strong flow, this tends to keep it looking cleaner. Jania rubens Reef Hobbyist Magazine 7 Rose (Halymenia color make it one of my favorites. Herbivores won’t eat it, but I’ve floridana) is an seen snails nibble on it at times. alga that is also referred to as red Codium sp. is a green sea lettuce. This alga known as Dead silky smooth macro Man’s Fingers. Most grows into curling sites recommend waves, resembling attaching this alga’s a rose. It will grow single holdfast to in almost any rock. I personally lighting and flow have some attached Halymenia floridana but will turn deep to rock but also have red in lower light and almost orange (like mine) in stronger light.