2009 was a very big year for reef aquarists around the world and it was our pleasure to bring the news to reefers during the last completion of Earth’s solar orbit. We have hand selected some stories which are shoed-in as the most important stories of last year and some other stories which may just now be making their share of waves in various reefing circles. Follow the link to see just over a dozen of the most important marine and reef aquarium stories of two thousand and nine.
Big trouble brewing for the future of aquarium LEDs
Early in the year ReefBuilders ahd the displeasure of reporting not only that PFO was going out of business but that they were being sunk by a patent holder who also threatened to derail the entire future of LED lighting for reef aquaria. Thankfully an LED wildfire has sprung up in the place of PFO and we now have more LED lighting options than we could ever hope for, and this is just the beginning.
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Tridacna ‘maxea’: New giant clam hybrid of Tridacna maxima x T. crocea
Regardless of whether you believe that these clams are true hybrids or not, the fact remains that the clams they called Maxeas were some very unique bivalves that we hope to yet see more of in the future.
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In Tuamotu, Maxima clams are the Reef Builders
Although these giant clams from the South Pacific are still only trickling into the trade in small numbers we hope to see a greater bounty of smaller yet equally amazing Tridacna maximas from Tuamotu in the coming year.
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Tridacna costata: new pics and vid really show what makes this rare giant clam unique
This story may not be as obviously exciting to a reefing public looking for new life to keep in our tanks but come on, how often will we get the chance to bring you exclusive photos of a brand new giant clam species?
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40 clipperton angelfish seized by USFWS
As soon as we started digging up this story it was clear that this event would be the reef fish story of the year. With over $50,000 at stake and a few dozen fish of a species which hadn’t been imported in a decade, the seizure of this uber rare fish shipment was at once thrilling and saddening. Rare fish lovers rejoice because we will likely see another attempt at Clipperton Island angelfish in the next few months.
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Bubble King Cone Skimmer by Royal Exclusiv says hello
ATB was clearly the frontman in popularizing the Cone shaped protein skimmer but once Royal Exclusiv threw it’s offering into the growing pool of Skoners, they did a lot to legitimize the principles behind cone protein skimmer design and many other manufacturers couldn’t follow suite fast enough.
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Mysterious photo surfaces of an unknown small water pump
The true smaller Vortech pump has been at the top of the reefing community’s wish list since the original Vortech pump was first demonstrated in fall of 2005. IN the Spring of 2009 Reef Builders showed off the first pictures of the completely redesigned MP10 and the rest is history.
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New corals being exported from East Malaysia, Borneo, just inside the Coral Triangle
Although Borneo hasn’t born coral-fruit so far nearly to the degree that we would have liked, one look at the Cycloseris of the Year post and you’ll see that at least a few stunning corals made it out of the fabled Coral triangle. Let’s hoep coral exporting operators get the kinks worked out in 2010 so that we can see a whole lot more amazing disc corals and mussiids.
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LiveAquaria spawns the extremely rare Mccullochi clownfish
Just few short months after the Mcculochi clownfish was imported into the US for the first time, LiveAquaria announced that they had successfully bred and raised this species in the states. Producing the first McClownfish was not easy and the LiveAquaria team is still working to breed and produce more of these elusive anemonefish but at least we got to see their first successfully raised Mcculochi in their MACNA display aquarium.
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Live Bottles are reborn as Aquacultured Art by Atlantic Reef Aquaculture
This story may not appeal to 90% of our readers but for a few of the old salts the resurgence of Live Bottles in teh aquarium trade brings a salty tear to our eye. Using antique blue glass and strongly encrusting stony corals Dave Lackland is single-handedly resurrecting this aquacultured art form.
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Where in the world did Coral Morphologic get these crazy zoanthids?
Who would have ever thought that such amazing zoanthid colors existed right in the back yards of so many Florida Keys residents? We are keeping and growing some of these unique blue and purple zoanthid strains and we can’t thank CoralMorphologic enough for sleuthing around a bunch of Seagrass and Halimeda to find these gorgeous little zoas.
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Ok the walking dendro may not be that popular but how often does a completely novel coral species enter the trade? The Aussies still want an arm and a leg for these single polyps, causing Heterosammia to sell for upwards of $100 in the US but if that price could be reduced by half we’d see everyone and their dogfish keeping these in a wide range of reef tanks.
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Silica Dosing: reef blasphemy or another form of nutrient export?
This is one obscure topic which has yet to make a big impact in the aquarium hobby but we know of several high-level reef investigators who are researching the implications of adding Silicate to reef aquaria. The idea may not have yet spread very far but we were proud to feature this amazing original post from Christine Williams.
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Solid Vodka Dosing from NP Biopellets could usher in a new era of reefing
The results are still out on whether Biopellets can effectively control nutrients in a reef aquarium but we were shocked at the effect Reef Builders had on the market with this story. Two weeks after publishing this story Aquarium Specialty arranged their distributorship for North America and about two weeks later the little biodegradable pellets were on sale at a handful of premium aquarium products dealers. We’ll be keeping a pulse on the effects of Biopellets this year and we hope to also be the first writers to either give it the thumbs up or down.
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