Hello everyone. I will be talking about about a ecosystem that I designed to house Caribbean Acroporid specimens for research in school. This will be typed as I go, so please excuse any grammatical errors.

I have been researching Scleractinia genera for several years, with special interest in the genus Acropora. I have moved into studying the Caribbean species and this will be a description of the ecosystem they are now housed in. Caribbean Acroporids are more difficult to maintain in captivity than their Pacific relatives which so many of you have the experience in keeping. I received permits through the florida government to conduct research on these specimens. I have worked with Caribbean Acroporids in the past, and found out that a ecosystem needed to be designed to house only these specimens

THE SYSTEM SETUP: This ecosystem is basically comprised of two 50 gallon systems plumbed into one central 150 gallon sump. This ecosystem became opperational in April 97. I have two different environments that house the three different species. One is a high energy system, and one is a lower enrgy system. The high energy system is illuminated by a 250 watt double ended halide (reefsun). The High energy system also has a surge device which provides current into this system. Due to the fact that I am taking a little time to write this you may wish to look on my website at pictures while I type. The address is www.wavetech.net/~kubicki

I will first talk about the habitat before I go into the details. Sorry for jumping around I will come back to the stuff I started. This tank was an experimental desiign that I engineered for conducting growth research with Caribbean Acropora specimens. There are two environments synthisized in this sysytem, a "higher energy" and a "lower energy" environment. In the higher energy environment there is stronger illumination and current, and in the lower energy tank theree is slightly weaker illumination and current. The main purpose for this setup was to monitor the morphological changes and growth differences between the same species in these two different environments.

LIVE ROCK: There is NO live rock in this ecosystem. The only "live rock in this system is teh small chunks that are attached to the specimens. The reef structures were made out of plastic egg-crate.

SUBSTRATE: There is 50 pound of E.S.V's "Fine Grade Oolitic Arogonite Reef Sand" mixed with thirty pounds of "live sand from the vicinity that the specimens were colloected. This mixture of sand is located in the bottom of teh sump.

LIGHTING: There are three forms of lighting over this ecosystem. The first is over the "higher energy" tank, this consist of a single 250 watt double ended "ReefSun". The bulb is rated at 10000kelvin, there is a glass shield present. This 250 watt halide is suspended 13 inches from the waters surface, and 15-20 inches from the specimens. The second form of lighting is over the "lower energy tank". This consists of two 96 watt PowerCompacts rated at 6700kelvin. The PowerCompacts are suspended about 3 inches from the water's surface, and about 8-10 inches from the specimens. The third and final lighting source is over the raceway which goes from the high energy tank to the sump. This consists of two standard output 40 watt Hagen "LifeGro" bulbs. These bulbs are suspended about 10 inches from the waters surface. These bulbs were all introduced back in April 97, and have not been changed. The photoperiod last for twelve hours a day. This is constsant throughout the year.

CIRCULATION: In tank #1 (high energy) the only form of current is from a surge device similar to the one Dr. Carlson uses in Hawaii. This surge device creates a current about every 25 seconds. This surge device is fed water from the sump via a GenEx pump. Tank #1 is only 1/2 full due to the influx of water created from the surge device. The level fluxuates about 3-4 inches between surge cycles. The water coming from the sump is split from the gen-ex, 3/4 going to the surge device, 1/4 going into tank #2 (lower energy tank). Tank #2 is only fed via the discharge from the gen-ex pump. There is a MaxiJet 1000 which provides additional current to tank#2. This powerhead is on a Oscillating device. Even with this powerhead, the current in Tank #2 is pretty low. There is a decent amount of current in the sump. One 700 gallon per hour powerhead and one 400 gallon per hour powerhead direct current towards the surface. These powerheads cause a lot of surface turbulance which aids in the gaseous exchange taking place. There is also current which blows across the sand bed from these powerheads.

FILTRATION: The only deliberate filtration I use in this system is a home-made down draft skimmer, similad to an E.T.S. 800.

OTHER EQUIPMENT: For Ca++ replenishment I built and use a Ca(OH)2 reactor, complete with a magnetic spinner device. Once in a while I will use E.S.V's B-Ionic Ca++ sup. The only supplements I regularily add is American Marine's SELCON.

WATER TESTING: I rarely check the chemical parameters in this ecosystem. Here are some of the typical test results I have found.
Ca++ 350mg/L
Alkalinity: 2.5meq/L
Temp anually 80-82
Salinity: 38ppt

MAINTENANCE: This system is typically left alone. I clean the skimmer once every two weeks. Ca(OH)2 is added to th e reactor when it is needed. A couple 30% waterchanges are performed each year. This pertty much raps up the basic description of my ecosystem. I appologize for the time delay between the information pieces, and for the lack of organization.

I sort of went form the top of my head. Please let me know of any questions you may have or if you are unclear on some aspects.

Questions

What grows in the raceway, if anything?

Mainly algae:). I was going to place fragments there, but I have kept them in the main tank thus far.

Why are Caribbean acros considered harder to keep? Your setup seems fairly normal for an SPS tank. .... and one very similar .....Q: So far you've described the hardware, and it sounds typical of what many people use for corals. I was hoping you would talk some about the corals. Could you start by explaining some of the ways in which Caribbean acroporids are harder to keep than Pacific ones?

I have talked with several public aquariums and private individuals who have had attempted to rear Caribbean Acroporids, and all have had very bad results with A. palmata in particular. Some people and aquariums have had ok results with A. cervicornis, but most that attempted A. palmata had it die in a matter of a month or two. A lot of people cross introduce species from different geographical locations, i.e. Pacific and Caribbean. There is a strong possibility that a pathological cause may be the problem, but this is hard to say at the present. I have tried Caribbean Acroporids in several different ecosystem and suffered the same results(death within a matter of a month or two), until I designed this ecosystem. Every time I had trouble with Caribbean Acros, they were in ecosystems that also contained Pacific species as well. The Pacific Acroporid species always showed signs of good health and growth while my Caribbean specimens died. I then concluded there must be some type of pathological reason. The Caribbean and Pacific have been geographically seperated for millions of years, this could allow for a foreign virus or bacteria to overcome these Caribbean species which had no biological defenses.

You do not add any extra iodine?

No.

What were the signs of distress before death?

I have been working on getting a type of flatworm recognized as a new species. I discovered this flatworm on a colony of A. cervicornis. This flatworm seems to have a micro-predatory association with Acropoid species. Zooxanthellae cells have been located in this worms gut tract. The specimens would show a lessening of polyp extension prior to showing sign of tissue necrosis. DID I answer your question? Please let me know if you want something explained in further detail.

Have you concluded that a surge device is a superior for water movement in sps species than using powerheads and wavemaking units?

I have had excellent success with surge devices with my specimens. These include the genera Acropora, Pocillopora, Stylophora, Montipora, Seriatopora, Porites, Pavona, Etc.

After this experimnet is over, have you considered taking some now-acclimated frags and introducing Pacific species to see if you can reproduce the mortalities?

Yes, That is something I plan to do to elimainate some doubt.

< DBW > Well, I think I will now unmoderate that channel for general chit chat. Thank you very much Brian for doing this chat for us, much appreciated on such short notice. We will set another date up with you, and can have you back to talk with an organised talk on another subject.
<Gannet> Thanks very much Brain. Very interesting, and it was most gracious of you to agree to do this on the fly.
<Gannet> "Brian" I can type faster than I can spell. :)
<b-kubicki >No problem, I am quite embarrassed because of my poor typing and bad spelling and grammar because I had to look at the keys instead of what I was writing..
<RichK> So, the carribean acropora reef is lower in avg temps?
<Gannet> You did fine. Better than average. :)
<RichK> unlike their pacific counterparts?
< b-kubicki >yes, it is lower than the average temps found on many Caribbean reefs. I have 1000watts of heaters, but this is all the higher the temp will go in the winter.
<HHinNC> Brian...which of the 2 tanks showed better growth?
<RichK> I also though that collection of acroporas in carribean waters was frowned upon
<b-kubicki>Actually the lower energy system has shown better overall growth, but the A. cervicornis specimen in the higher energy system has maintained 1/2 plus growth per month.
<HHinNC> interesting....I would have guessed the high energy tank.