Reef Builders - The Source for Reef Keeping Information

About 3 1/4 miles off the coast of Miami there lies a cemetery. It has enough for over 125,000 remains when all is said and done. Located about 45 feet down below the water’s surface. How does one end up down there? “The ashes are mixed with cement designed for underwater use and fitted into a mold, which a diver then places and secures into the reef. A copper and bronze plaque is installed with the person’s name, date of birth and death. There is also a line for a message.” The cost of placement starts at $995 (which isn’t bad) and can go as high as $6495 for those who want to be placed inside the base of a lion statue for all eternity.

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The Australian Marine Conservation Society is astonished by this proposal, in which Queensland’s fisheries department (DPI&F) plans to legitimise one of the most unsustainable forms of fishing on the planet - shark fin fishing. With over 90% of the world’s sharks and other big fish gone from our oceans, this project is unsustainable, unethical and will be flatly rejected by the Australian public.

Not only is the Queensland Government proposing to hand out specific fishing licenses for shark fin fishing, which will entrench the practice for years, they are planning to legitimise shark finning in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and in the Marine Parks of Moreton Bay and the Great Sandy Straits with this new license proposal.

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“Sometime in the next few months, work crews are expected to begin spelling ”SAVE THE REEFS” in block letters up to eight feet tall in water 30 feet deep.

The letters will be formed by 13,000 circular modules of concrete and limestone — each weighing about 700 pounds — anchored eight feet below the ocean floor to withstand major storms. The entire message is expected to take up an area the size of 40 football fields.

When completed people flying out of Miami International Airport will be able to see `SAVE OUR REEFS’ on the bottom of the ocean on a good, clear day.”

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Nutramar Ogo promises not to compromise water quality, we are wondering if that means leaking phosphates into your aquarium water like most green and purple nori does. Said to be packed with amino acids, Vitamin C, zinc, unsaturated fatty acids, and a variety of other essential vitamins and minerals. Bagged in the United States and re-hydrates to about 10 times its dry weight. Available at select LFS, retail is about $15 a bag.

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Say hello to the new wet-dry system from Berliner. This baby can handle systems for both fresh and saltwater. Choose 100% Berlin, 100% bio-ball or 50/50 combination. Features a noise reducing chamber, protein skimmer return port, super-flow capacity weir rated to over 2,000 gph, and an 18 gallon capacity sump. Measures just 11-1/4″ wide x 30″ long x 18″ high. Retail is $499. Available now.

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Reef Ramblings: Clamming Around
Part II: Spawning Tridacnids
Adam Blundell M.S.

Introduction
In the previous article I covered the many reasons why hobbyists would be interested in keeping Tridacnid clams.To sum up that article, Tridacnids are a perfect animal for captive care. For the more advanced hobbyists, or at least the more adventurous hobbyists, Tridacnid clams are potentially wonderful animals to aquaculture, experiment, and study.

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Reef Builders is launching its first photo contest. The subject of this contest is Blennies, so be sure to get your best camera out and take some pictures of your blennies. The winner will receive a 5 Gallon bucket of Reef Crystals or Instant Ocean sea salt and full bragging rights, along with a POTM icon next to their username. This contest ends May 31st.

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You remember when a Colossal squid was found a little over a year ago? Scientists have finally got to examine it in four hours time, they will run several tests on it including: “studying the suckers and hooks on in its tentacles, measuring its sharp, birdlike beak, examining the contents of its stomach, collecting tissue samples for DNA analysis, trying to determine its sex, its age.” The squids eyes are the size of large dinner plates if that gives you an idea of how massive this creature is, it is of course lager then a full sized school bus. Is Loch ness monster  sounding more and more believable?

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Ecotech Marine released the MP20, the MP40’s smaller brother. Designed for 70 gallons or less, the MP20 is clearly aimed at the Tunze Nanostreams, mainly the 6055 series. Quickly glancing over the specs reaches us to the Maximum Motor Tempature of 50-60 Celsius which translates into: 122F-140F degress. Yikes! That is hot! We are very interested to see how much this translates into warming your tank up, you might be able to throw out your heaters. The MP20 eats up 18 watts (which is very good) when its blowing your tank around with 2000GPH.  Folow the jump for the full press release.

Update: Tim, from Ecotech, stated that the thermal output cutoff is 140F, but the normal operation temperature is 80°-90°F, (something worth noting in your specs we might add). Thanks Tim!

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Drs. Foster and Smith, the large mail order company out of Wisconsin has released the 25 gallon EcoCube aquarium, sure to please your eyes. We would wager to say this is an OEM from another aquarium manufactuer. Besides offering the usual built in filter, it does come with a protein skimmer (venturi), auto top off system (nice!) and you do get the rimless tank. However, don’t jump the gun to fast, lights aren’t included and that will set you back a cool $130 just for the compact fluorescent pendant. Metal halides are of course extra at $270. For the price of $480 you get the aquarium minus lights, opt for the metal halide option and it will set you back a stiff $750. They won us over by the rimless design, we are all huge fans over here. Red Sea are you watching? Your Red Sea max has some stiff competition.

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