Biotopes: Choose Your Flavor

[jhale]

Manhattan Reefs Official Biotope Thread

I wanted to start this thread off with lots of information, fancy diagrams, charts, and species lists. Well I have not had the time to gather everything I wanted to since I thought of this, so I'm going to start off slow.

As we know there are different parts to reefs that can each contain different types of coral and fish. I wanted to start a discusion around setting up reef or fish only tanks using the biotope approach.

A Brief Description of Some Biotopes:

these descriptions are basic and a compilation of info I found from a few different sources, they are missing depth and lighting stats, we can get to those later.

Beach Zone



The beach zone is derived from sand and gravel produced by the biological and physical erosion of reef limestone. Rocky intertidal areas may retain water in tide pools even at low tide. The organisms that live in tide pools are adapted to withstand intense ultraviolet radiation, desiccation and high salinities.
Rocky intertidal areas may retain water in tidepools even at low tide. The organisms that live in tide pools are adapted to withstand intense ultraviolet radiation, desiccation, and high salinities.
Currents flow in and out of the lagoon through channels in the reef. The channels also serve as corridors for roving predators, like jacks, which move from the outer reef to feed in the lagoon and goatfishes, which move from the lagoon to feed on the reef flat at high tide.
Medium-strong and gentle current. This sandy zone is frequently inhabited by algae and anemones.

Reef Flat



The reef flat is a rigorous environment. The organisms that live here must be adapted to withstand intense ultraviolet radiation, high salinities, and elevated water temperatures.
Although some areas of the reef flat are barren pavement, pockets of branching corals do occur where there is sufficient water flow to prevent over-heating or desiccation.
Average current with small waves; high tide and low tide slightly noticeable.

Algae Ridge



Encrusting coralline algae flourish where waves break on the reef, forming an elevated bank known as the algal ridge. As water from the waves returns seaward, its load of suspended sand and gravel scours a series of narrow ridges. The alternating ridges and valleys are known as spurs and grooves.
Corals growing on top of the spurs are stoutly formed and compressed in shape to withstand the extreme force of breaking waves.
Stronger current influenced by tidal action, but low lapping of waves. Illumination is very important in this zone and produces magnificent growth of corals.

 

[jhale]

Sub Terrace



On many reefs there is a terrace below the algal ridge. In this zone we often find stout fire corals which are able to withstand the wave surge and strong currents which characterize this area.
Here surgeon fishes and parrotfishes rove over the submarine terrace grazing on benthic algae.
As we move down the slope from the submarine terrace, we find increasing coral cover and fishes that prefer areas of rich coral growth.
Strong current influenced by tidal action and breaking of waves. The growth of coral is very dense in this zone.

Terrace



Some outer reefs have flattened terraces that interrupt the gradient of the reef slope. It is here, protected from the wave surge overhead yet still exposed to abundant sunlight, that we find lush gardens of corals with expansive body forms designed to maximize their exposure to sunlight.
Zone of the reef with the strongest current; waves and illumination are very intensive. Acropora coral polyps, favia corals, porites hard corals thrive especially well in this zone.

Reef Slope



Descending the slope, we find corals continue to expand horizontally in shape in order to capture as much sunlight as possible.
Branching forms found in shallow water are largely replaced by plate like forms below a depth of sixty meters.
Below sixty meters, we also encounter the first forests of gorgonian corals. These delicate sea fans orient their fronds to maximize contact with the passing currents which carry plankton.
Strong current with slight waves and high illumination. The variety of species and the number of hard corals is very high.

Drop Off



On many reefs the reef slope may suddenly drop off, forming a nearly vertical wall. At depths below seventy to eighty meters, the overlying water reduces the amount of light so much that few sunlight-dependent hard corals can survive.
In these dim, quiet waters the delicate corals not dependent upon photosynthesis become common. Free from the competition of zooxanthellae-based corals which dominate the waters above, fragile lace corals send out thin branches to trap plankton.
Although the orange tube coral does possess a limestone skeleton, it lacks zooxanthellae and is a carnivorous plankton feeder. Being independent of sunshine allows this coral to descend to depths of over one thousand meters.
Soft corals are termed ahermatypic and are non reef-building (lack zooxanthellae), as opposed to hermatypic, or reef-building corals, which contain symbiotic zooxanthellae. Soft corals are totally dependent upon currents to bring them their supply of zooplankton. They also secrete toxins into the water which discourage competitors. Soft corals also lack a limestone skeleton.
Deeper zone of the reef with parallel current lines. Plankton eating species mainly inhabit this zone.

 

[jhale]

I'd like to figure out how to set up a tank sticking to the information for each particular part of the reef.

If your into diving it would be a great help to hear your personal observations and see any clear photos of of reefs you've visited.

 

[inkblue]

i'm gonna need more tanks... :arg:

 

[jhale]

the idea is to pick your favorite corals, or part of the reef and try to devote a tank to keeping them happy. I think it would look more natural than having every type of coral in a tank.

 

[jhale]

no one wants a biotope tank?

I originally set my tank up to keep sps type coral.
Somehow I ended up with a bunch of non-sps things in my tank.
I've given away and sold most of them, I'm now debating what to do with the
last few pieces. Some large frilly mushrooms and a nice piece of frogspawn.
I'm having a hard time finding spots in the tank they are happy.

I don't think you need to go to the extreme of keeping animals from the same reef zone all from the same part of the world, but I would like to stick to one reef zone.

 

[inkblue]

Hence my idea... multipLe tanks, multiPle zonEs

 

[jhale]

hey ink, at least I know one other person cares

in addition to my acro sps reef, I'd like a tank for large fish, and a tank for smaller creatures like seahorses. I think a seagrass tank would be cool to have with a bunch of seahorses.

what kinds of biotopes are you thinking about?

 

[inkblue]

drop off and terrace... well i figure you know more than me, so someHow you must know what you are taLking about, hence ...i care :lol: :sigh1: :smokin: i admire perfection... :icon16:

 

[jhale]

you could have your tanks all lined up and share the same sump

 

[inkblue]

yeaH, a fish-only tank would be nice... but somehow, it might seem empty

 

[jhale]

you could experiment, I'm sure you would find something that would grow that not all the fish would eat. even if they picked at it that would be fine.

I also would like to add a freshwater planted tank to the mix. I love the black ghost knife fish, I had one when I was much younger. it used to eat from my hand, they are so cool looking. a low planted tank for them would be neat.
add one planted amazon biotope to my list

 

[marrone]

Nilo had a Mangrove biotopes setup with mudskippers and everything. Not sure if the picture of it is still around.

 

[jhale]

all the old photos got erased from the old server, I think.

 

[spykes]

SPS biotop here and a small drop off on the side, and below for blastos and ricordias that's it

 

[aaron]

I always had the idea in my mind that when i eventually move back to sydney I would set up two tanks, One would be the usual coral, reef type tank, pretty much what we all have now. The other would be a slightly cooler temperate tank which represented a rubble drop off in sydney with everything collected by me from sydney harbour. The other idea i had was to make an intertidal pool / look down type tank again representative of costal australia around sydney. this one could easily be done in a converted back yard swimming pool. (yes that old dream again)

 

[scotty]

jhale where did u find those pics? they are great i like them all to tuff to pick one

 

[jawwad2004]

John, this is a great idea, wish I had the money and time to devote to this project! This can be a whole new category in the reefing hobby, I really like the idea, will try to flirt with it somehow with my 90. Instead of devoting seperate tanks for biotopes since I dont have the space, I will create "zones" in the tank for each biotope. First things first, I need more rock!

 

[House of Laughter]

bump for fellow reefer

House

 

[masterswimmer]

Jon, I've already got a biotope tank set up. I've started to stock it too. Did you see my thread, it's on MR. It's my 16 gallon reef wall setup.

First a pic, then the link to the thread:

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7404

Russ