Ever since the conclusion of MACNA 2014 in Denver, Colorado we’ve enjoyed a historic round of speaker videos made possible by Bulk Reef Supply. Most of MACNA’s speaker presentations have been uploaded and released but BRS saved a few more just in time to gift reefers with some very interesting topics to watch and discuss.
A post we shared earlier this year about getting “creamed by freshwater aquascapers” was one of our most popular stories of 2014. This is due in part to freshwater aquarists really placing a lot more emphasis on aesthetics of their aquarium, and especially on the aquascaping of the entire aquarium.
We’ve seen a push for more intentionally aquascaped reef aquariums this year, with Oliver Knott’s Reef Scaping page and today we have an official guideline with a presentation from Iron Aquascaping champion John Ciotti. Many of the principles presented by Ciotti are not rocket science, but you still need to have them in mind when starting up a reef tank in order to create a reef system that not only keeps fish and corals alive and healthy, but also can make an impression from across a room.
If you think starting up a business is hard, try starting up a business on a remote tropical island like Palau. Tom Bowling was one of MACNA’s esteemed international presenters and in this presentation he shares his trials and tribulations in achieving major milestones in captive breeding reef fish such as the threadfin snapper and bumphead parrotfish.
The other video that BRS is gracing us with this week is Dr. Charles Mazel’s seminal presentation topic which is near and dear to reefers’ hearts, Fluorescence. If corals and other reef life didn’t fluoresce, it’s safe to say that the reef aquarium hobby would be much smaller than it is today.
As much as we like to talk and notice fluorescent effects in our reef tanks, we’d bet that very few of you could explain exactly what it is. Not only does Dr. Mazel introduce what fluorescence is, he talks about why it happens, why it matters, and the myriad of ways we can use fluorescence and its effects to better understand the life that lives on and around reef environments.
