The Natural Aquarium
A successful reef aquarium...
It is important to try and understand the natural world that marine organisms live in, and to try and replicate these details as much as possible in the home aquarium.
It is important to look at the physical and chemical properties found in nature and replicate these if a marine organism is to survive for any length of time.
A Reef will only develop in nature in specific areas of the ocean where specific conditions are present. Light must be able to reach marine organisms because reef all reef building corals harbour photosynthetic, symbiotic algae. And so a reef will only appear where water clarity is sufficient to allow light to penetrate through. And so clear sediment free is essential for the reef to survive. Sediment rich water will stop light from penetrating and can smother or destroy corals. Also salinity, temperature, the availability of nutrients and water movement all play an important role.
Reefs have developed in the tropics due to the optimal temperatures and off the coasts of continents because of the effect of currents on water temperature and clarity.
An understanding of the ecological interactions on the reef helps us to understand why specific conditions need to be met in the aquarium. There are many fish sold in shops that do not originally come from a coral reef such as the Open Brain Coral, which is often a surprise to customers buying these products.
It is clear that we can never completely replicate the reef in our own aquarium, but we can try to make conditions as similar as possible. Due to the advances in technology we are able to do this better all the time which can only be a good thing for the aquarium trade.
A Reef will only develop in nature in specific areas of the ocean where specific conditions are present. Light must be able to reach marine organisms because reef all reef building corals harbour photosynthetic, symbiotic algae. And so a reef will only appear where water clarity is sufficient to allow light to penetrate through. And so clear sediment free is essential for the reef to survive. Sediment rich water will stop light from penetrating and can smother or destroy corals. Also salinity, temperature, the availability of nutrients and water movement all play an important role.
Reefs have developed in the tropics due to the optimal temperatures and off the coasts of continents because of the effect of currents on water temperature and clarity.
An understanding of the ecological interactions on the reef helps us to understand why specific conditions need to be met in the aquarium. There are many fish sold in shops that do not originally come from a coral reef such as the Open Brain Coral, which is often a surprise to customers buying these products.
It is clear that we can never completely replicate the reef in our own aquarium, but we can try to make conditions as similar as possible. Due to the advances in technology we are able to do this better all the time which can only be a good thing for the aquarium trade.