- Location
- Southampton UK
Well, where in the hell do I start with this one.?
As promised to the lovely LIRA crowd after my recent presentation at Atlantis MarineWorld, kindly hosted by Joe and his ever faithful team, I said I'd put this up on MH....so here goes.
To be honest, looking back far too many years to be comfortable with, Ive always had a driving passion for not only maintaining captive organisms and replicating natural conditions as closely as feasibly possible. But also in finding ways to understand the many methods and adaptations that various organisms have at their disposal to not only survive under certain conditions, but positively thrive. On one hand we have what we consider a range of ideals for an organism, and on the outer margins we have the extremes (as we see them).
What has always fascinated me though is whether those extremes are actually 'extremes' to the organisms present, or just another area that they can cope with just as easily, no matter how alien it appears to us. In fact I often think that in certain 'extreme' situations, the adaptive abilities of 'one' organism isn't the only key to its survival in that location. The coming together of various organisms adaptive mechanisms may be the key factor in what holds it all together. Another words, maybe its not so much the environment controlling the organisms present, Maybe its more a case of the organisms controlling and creating a local environment that meets their needs.
And that I suppose is where this mad cap idea came about.
Its been quite a few years now that Ive been hankering to try and emulate one niche area of the reef environment that has eluded a few and been largely ignored by the masses for various reasons, be that sheer engineering impracticality, assumed biological incapacity, or simply the common theory that it simply cant be done. Which is of course, The Inter-tidal reef flat zones that are found in only a few locations around the globe. IE those areas that whilst exposed at low tide to the elements, still seem to have a profusion of coral coverage despite the seemingly impossible conditions that those corals are exposed to on a range of occasions from sporadic to regular, dependent on tidal phases and lunar cycles. Whilst coral coverage isn't always present in exposed areas (far from it in fact) there are a few locations where conditions allow such diversity and its these areas that Ive been most interested in.
Although Inter-tidal phases and exposure times have been used and tried in various commercial applications not related to the reef or coral trade, as far as I'm aware there are very few cases of anybody successfully maintaining a private closed system that houses tidally exposed corals. so I thought, what the hell, lets give it a go and see what happens.
I'll state now that in no way whatsoever am i under any illusions of success with this venture. Its more an experiment into the viability of such a system in the hands of a private Aquarius, and what can be learned from that success or failure.
Whilst seeing what happens to the 'corals' is interesting, that isn't the only reason for this venture. I'm hoping to learn several other lessons in the course of the experiment 'if thats what you want to call it' that may help answer some questions, or offer avenues of further investigation by those more qualified than I.
What i will do at this point is offer my sincere thanks to various fellow speakers and respected professionals from the talk circuit who have helped me tremendously up to this starting point, be that by way of advise, passionate encouragement, correction, and 'on occasion' much needed gentle ridicule when Ive gone off the deep end and completely missed the obvious, or made huge assumptions..(thanks to Charles Delbeek there specifically) So its with no small amount of humility that i say, whilst the initial idea and much of the designing has spouted from my much confused and over ambitious brain...If it wasn't for the knowledge and support of these guys, i wouldn't even be at this stage, and it would still be some far of pipe dream. So if there was ever a reason to get up out of the comfy chair and go see the speakers that you guys have flitting around over there, inspiration and knowledge must surely be it...
back to the subject at hand...
As i was saying, despite the interest in how any corals present would react to tidal exposure phases within a closed system and all the hurdles that throws at you, I was also interested in the biology of the environment, how it would be maintained, and what benefits could be gained by pushing certain aspects further.
One area of both consideration and 'I feel' valid interest, is 'coral mucus' as a nutrient export mechanism. Whilst its well known that coral mucus has a surprising ability to trap organic material, its not an area that has been heavily investigated or utilized within closed systems to any degree higher than accepting its inherent presence within a system housing corals. What I'm interested in, is whether the inherent increase in mucus generation brought about by exposure can be combined with the mucuses natural buoyancy under such conditions to transport bound nutrients away from the main display on an incoming tide to an area 'or areas' specifically adapted to remove or take advantage of that nutrient/food source.
The second area I'm interested in, is just how beneficial that concentrated food source could be in enhancing certain 'already utilized' filtration methods such as remote deep sand beds, and specifically 'but far less commonly used' sea-grass beds.
Thirdly, I'm interested in the net results of such methodology and other avenues in way of returns back to main system in the form of higher diversity and planktonic loads as a more natural food source beyond that added to the system...in basic terms...its an effort to get closer (even just a little bit) toward that holy grail of increasing available food on a more constant basis, whilst still keeping nutrient levels down to a minimum, more on a par with natural conditions, but without the need for artificial means or additives. In short...offering a more complete cycle within a closed system, not just in nutrient terms, but in biomass and diversity as well.
Fourth and finally. can that cycle be pushed far enough that stability is increased, whilst nutrient 'export' becomes secondary to nutrient assimilation and recycling..The net result of which is 'hopefully' that water changes become more of a means of trace element replenishment, rather than a nutrient export route, and mechanical filtration such as the skimmer become a tweak rather than a major player.
I will say now though that I'm not trying to create some kind of all enclosed loop of self sufficiency...thats not the goal even if it was possible 'which it isnt'...Its mearly a case of trying to get closer to replicating and combining several aspects of the reef environment that commonly arnt linked in closed systems and what improvements 'if any' can be gained by such methods.
Obviously the corals are a main focus. and whilst exposure may lead to better coloration (or worse) the main focus would be to ascertain at close quarters what criteria determine which species can and cant cope with the conditions. what the energy demands are of corals subject to these conditions or if those demands can even be met....and whether it really is a stressor to them, or just another aspect of daily life that they can adapt to over time with little detriment.
More to follow...including drawings etc..
regards..
As promised to the lovely LIRA crowd after my recent presentation at Atlantis MarineWorld, kindly hosted by Joe and his ever faithful team, I said I'd put this up on MH....so here goes.
To be honest, looking back far too many years to be comfortable with, Ive always had a driving passion for not only maintaining captive organisms and replicating natural conditions as closely as feasibly possible. But also in finding ways to understand the many methods and adaptations that various organisms have at their disposal to not only survive under certain conditions, but positively thrive. On one hand we have what we consider a range of ideals for an organism, and on the outer margins we have the extremes (as we see them).
What has always fascinated me though is whether those extremes are actually 'extremes' to the organisms present, or just another area that they can cope with just as easily, no matter how alien it appears to us. In fact I often think that in certain 'extreme' situations, the adaptive abilities of 'one' organism isn't the only key to its survival in that location. The coming together of various organisms adaptive mechanisms may be the key factor in what holds it all together. Another words, maybe its not so much the environment controlling the organisms present, Maybe its more a case of the organisms controlling and creating a local environment that meets their needs.
And that I suppose is where this mad cap idea came about.
Its been quite a few years now that Ive been hankering to try and emulate one niche area of the reef environment that has eluded a few and been largely ignored by the masses for various reasons, be that sheer engineering impracticality, assumed biological incapacity, or simply the common theory that it simply cant be done. Which is of course, The Inter-tidal reef flat zones that are found in only a few locations around the globe. IE those areas that whilst exposed at low tide to the elements, still seem to have a profusion of coral coverage despite the seemingly impossible conditions that those corals are exposed to on a range of occasions from sporadic to regular, dependent on tidal phases and lunar cycles. Whilst coral coverage isn't always present in exposed areas (far from it in fact) there are a few locations where conditions allow such diversity and its these areas that Ive been most interested in.
Although Inter-tidal phases and exposure times have been used and tried in various commercial applications not related to the reef or coral trade, as far as I'm aware there are very few cases of anybody successfully maintaining a private closed system that houses tidally exposed corals. so I thought, what the hell, lets give it a go and see what happens.
I'll state now that in no way whatsoever am i under any illusions of success with this venture. Its more an experiment into the viability of such a system in the hands of a private Aquarius, and what can be learned from that success or failure.
Whilst seeing what happens to the 'corals' is interesting, that isn't the only reason for this venture. I'm hoping to learn several other lessons in the course of the experiment 'if thats what you want to call it' that may help answer some questions, or offer avenues of further investigation by those more qualified than I.
What i will do at this point is offer my sincere thanks to various fellow speakers and respected professionals from the talk circuit who have helped me tremendously up to this starting point, be that by way of advise, passionate encouragement, correction, and 'on occasion' much needed gentle ridicule when Ive gone off the deep end and completely missed the obvious, or made huge assumptions..(thanks to Charles Delbeek there specifically) So its with no small amount of humility that i say, whilst the initial idea and much of the designing has spouted from my much confused and over ambitious brain...If it wasn't for the knowledge and support of these guys, i wouldn't even be at this stage, and it would still be some far of pipe dream. So if there was ever a reason to get up out of the comfy chair and go see the speakers that you guys have flitting around over there, inspiration and knowledge must surely be it...
back to the subject at hand...
As i was saying, despite the interest in how any corals present would react to tidal exposure phases within a closed system and all the hurdles that throws at you, I was also interested in the biology of the environment, how it would be maintained, and what benefits could be gained by pushing certain aspects further.
One area of both consideration and 'I feel' valid interest, is 'coral mucus' as a nutrient export mechanism. Whilst its well known that coral mucus has a surprising ability to trap organic material, its not an area that has been heavily investigated or utilized within closed systems to any degree higher than accepting its inherent presence within a system housing corals. What I'm interested in, is whether the inherent increase in mucus generation brought about by exposure can be combined with the mucuses natural buoyancy under such conditions to transport bound nutrients away from the main display on an incoming tide to an area 'or areas' specifically adapted to remove or take advantage of that nutrient/food source.
The second area I'm interested in, is just how beneficial that concentrated food source could be in enhancing certain 'already utilized' filtration methods such as remote deep sand beds, and specifically 'but far less commonly used' sea-grass beds.
Thirdly, I'm interested in the net results of such methodology and other avenues in way of returns back to main system in the form of higher diversity and planktonic loads as a more natural food source beyond that added to the system...in basic terms...its an effort to get closer (even just a little bit) toward that holy grail of increasing available food on a more constant basis, whilst still keeping nutrient levels down to a minimum, more on a par with natural conditions, but without the need for artificial means or additives. In short...offering a more complete cycle within a closed system, not just in nutrient terms, but in biomass and diversity as well.
Fourth and finally. can that cycle be pushed far enough that stability is increased, whilst nutrient 'export' becomes secondary to nutrient assimilation and recycling..The net result of which is 'hopefully' that water changes become more of a means of trace element replenishment, rather than a nutrient export route, and mechanical filtration such as the skimmer become a tweak rather than a major player.
I will say now though that I'm not trying to create some kind of all enclosed loop of self sufficiency...thats not the goal even if it was possible 'which it isnt'...Its mearly a case of trying to get closer to replicating and combining several aspects of the reef environment that commonly arnt linked in closed systems and what improvements 'if any' can be gained by such methods.
Obviously the corals are a main focus. and whilst exposure may lead to better coloration (or worse) the main focus would be to ascertain at close quarters what criteria determine which species can and cant cope with the conditions. what the energy demands are of corals subject to these conditions or if those demands can even be met....and whether it really is a stressor to them, or just another aspect of daily life that they can adapt to over time with little detriment.
More to follow...including drawings etc..
regards..
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