Aquaria

Reef Tank: Zeovit Notes

2008-06-23T21:24:00.003-04:00

After a month of running zeovit filtration and supplements in my tank, I can finally remove myself from their exceptional marketing photos and take a look at what benefit it had provided for my tank. Given that my system and corals are still very young, its hard to draw any conclusive evidence. Further complicating the matter is that my tank has been quite healthy and algae-free since inception, and maintains a very low bioload (still only one fish). That said, I've noticed some nice coloration from all SPS species, especially my birdsnest which has taken a very bright pink coloration. Good polyp extension all around.

One thing the good people selling zeovit systems will impress upon you is that a special reactor is useful for running the filtration media. Giving the rocks a shake every day loosens the mulm that collects within the media, letting it drift into the system and feed the corals. I've found that for smaller tanks, running this media within a simple hang on filter, the Hagen Aquaclear, works just as well. This filter has a nice media basket with convenient handles at the top above the water surface. You can easily remove the top and give these a good shake to release a great cloud of organic filth for your corals to feast upon.

I've found the Aquaclear to be a great all-purpose filter. Currently I have a bag of activated carbon and a bag of liverock rubble running, with the rest of the space filled with approximately 1/3 liter of zeovit medium.

Links: Making Waves with Vortech Pumps

2008-06-15T16:15:00.002-04:00

I've started reading yet another (RSS is a wonderful technology) online aquarium magazine, www.advancedaquarist.com. Informative and well researched articles from smart people is a great counterpoint to some of the things you read on internet forums.

Being a gadget lover, I'm always drawn to posts about reef keeping technology. The controllable Vortech pump should be a familiar item to anyone involved in keeping coral, but unless you've seen one in person its hard to understand just how powerful the pump is, and how minutely the controller allows you to tinker with water flow. Check out this article about defining waves in general, and making them with the Vortech.

Or better yet, just start up this amazing video:

Links: Moving a Reef Tank

2008-05-28T18:37:00.002-04:00

Moving a tank is no different than moving the rest of your household: success requires careful planning, execution, and having the necessary materials on hand before begining. In July we will be facing this challenge when moving to a (fantastic) new apartment. Fortunately we have a month of overlap between leases, so a full day can be devoted directly to moving the tank without distraction.

I found an excellent link today while browsing the Reef Central forums, a write up on moving reef tanks. Take a look: http://www.melevsreef.com/moving_a_tank.html

Some key takeaways from the read:

Have freshly mixed saltwater on hand, both at the packing point and the destination.
You'll want clean water to bag up your livestock in, and clean water to fill the new tank. Moving liverock and disturbing a sand bed will put a lot of detritus in the water, and you don't want things to sit in bags while your RO unit slowly makes new water.

Stock up on supplies.
Trash cans for moving water. Big tubs for your liverock, submerged. Bags for livestock, and coolers for them to be placed in. Towels, filling supplies, and everything else you might imagine you need. Making a trip to the store for extra containers while your reef is half packed will not be helpful, so get more than you'll need at the start.

Reef Tank: Updates

2008-05-18T15:42:00.002-04:00

I wanted to provide a quick update on my reef aquarium. For the most part things are doing well, and I feel like the tank has established a good rhythm. Water quality has been great, the firefish has been quite healthy, and a plethora of small invertebrates has been emerging from the live rock.

Coral Growth
Of the ten coral specimens I've introduced to date, eight are doing great and showing good signs of growth. The Acropora millepora and tabling Acropora in particular have shown exceptional encrusting growth lately. The pink birds nest, Stylophora pistillata, has also been growing very fast.

Two species not doing well. The Pavona maldivensis has been pale and showing no sign of growth since within a few weeks of being introduced. I keep hoping it will come back, but it is seeming less likely with each passing week. More concerning is the recent demise of the Pocillopora damicornis. For the first month, this was my healthiest looking coral. Great color and polyp extension, and very obvious growth. One day it just started going down hill for no apparent reason, showing bleaching around the base which has since spread up into the branches. Some of the polyps still look healthy and extend to feed, but I fear there isn't much time left for this colony.

Flow Adjustments
I decided that running two Koralia 3 pumps, 850 gallons per house each, was too much for this tank. Corals demonstrated stressed behavior in the powerful current. I have since cut back to running just one, with a Koralia Nano on the opposite side to keep detritus off the bottom of the aquarium. This seems to be working out well so far.

Zeovit
Possibly suckered in by the great marketing photos on Zeovit USA, I've started to implement their system on my tank. Zeovit is a mineral that has been commonly used for filtration in commercial aquatic systems prior to becoming a trendy brand in the reef hobby. The pore density of zeovit makes it exceptionally good at filtering out ammonia, preempting the nitrogen cycle before it can occur. By removing the ammonia early in the cycle, bacteria never get a chance to convert it into nitrite, which eventually becomes nitrate.

Because of the sheer effectiveness of its ammonia removal, it is suggested that the reef keeper dose colonies of bacteria and bacteria food to keep the tank in a natural state. Conveniently, the provider of zeovit also makes these products. You can read more from the source in this PDF guide to the Zeovit filtration system.

To start, I've begun with ZEOBak bacteria solution, and the ZEOFood7 bacteria and coral food. I will slowly introduce the zeovite filtration material this coming week. There are a number of other supplements and foods in this product line that I have read good things about. Although too early to make any sort of useful evaluation, I've noticed the tank water appearing quite a bit clearer since the dosing start. Algae formation on the glass also appears to have been reduced quite noticeably. I like to pretend that the corals are beginning to color up and appear healthier as well, but that could just as easily be attributed to their finally becoming acclimated to the tank.

Turtle Tank: Three Years Later

2008-05-18T15:30:00.003-04:00

I haven't yet posted about my turtle aquarium on this blog, so I owe my non-existent readership some back story on the setup and specs of this habitat. In the meantime, I spent a few minutes this afternoon trimming some of the plants and other general maintenance. This tank was built with a plexiglass divider wall to retain the land area. The facade of this wall is built out of natural cork bark which creates a great natural aesthetic, in addition to being a nice soft material for the turtle to clamber across.

After three years of operation he cork is naturally quite saturated with water. Its been slowly chipping off ever since the tank was setup, but today I noticed that quite a large piece had finally started to break off. I attempted to adhere it back to the plexi, but the soft and waterlogged bark was not letting anything stick. I finally just broke it off and removed it from the tank.

I'll have to decide how to proceed with this tank. It could use a total breakdown and reconstruction, but I don't have any temporary space to house the turtle while I make that happen. Also I need some sort of plan. I've always looked at the revision as a chance to make more swimming area available within the aquarium, but I have yet to figure out how to do so while also keeping the natural aesthetic. It would make sense to do this before we move to a new apartment in July, so I best get sketching.

Reef Tank: More Firefish Pictures

2008-03-31T20:15:00.003-04:00

When I came home from work tonight the firefish was out front and center, and he's been at the glass begging food and attention ever since. I managed to get some decent pictures of him (her?) and the new coral:

Reef Aquarium: First Fish

2008-03-30T15:48:00.002-04:00

Today we took a trip over to Skipton's and looked for a good first fish for the reef tank. As a person with a history of past impulse purchases, I wanted to make sure I limited my selection to species I had read about and knew would be good fits for my tank. I made up an email with common names, photographs and scientific names of the six fish I was interested in and mailed this to my iPhone. This turned out to be really helpful when staring down the tanks full of gorgeous saltwater fish.

We ended up deciding on a Purple Firefish, Nemateleotris decora. Here is a shot from when he was drip acclimating.

Quite the looker, and the colors are even more vibrant under the metal halide lighting. Its been hiding under a rock on the side of our tank for the majority of the time so far. I saw it eat a few marine food flakes that I dropped in experimentally, so hopefully all is well and its just being shy/angry about the new tank. I also picked up some frozen food while at the store, mysis shrimp and a marine blend. Once I see this guy show himself around the tank I will try out a little of that.

I also couldn't resist getting this Zoanthus colony. I've really wanted some polyps for the tank, and they were too nice to pass up. The polyps are most closed up in this photo, I will take a better one tonight showing its placement in the tank.

Blenny Lips Video

2008-03-25T12:00:00.004-04:00

Its always fun when your professional life intersects with your hobby. Working for an online video service, the potential for this is quite high due to the number and variety of video publishers we work with. Blenny Lips has always been one of our favorite small video publishers, publishing great scuba shots from Bonaire:

Reef Tank: Copepods

2008-03-18T21:24:00.005-04:00

I got a call from Cassie while on my way home that "some of the corals didn't look very good" and that there were "crawly things in the tank". My immediate thought was that some sort of pest, possibly the 'red bugs' associated with Acropora corals had been introduced with the recent coral frags. This turned out to be a case of "new parent" needless worry on both our parts. After getting a few of the new critters under my microscope, and verifying the identification, it turned out to be harmless copepods, a coveted food in the captive reef aquarium for both corals and fish. In other words, a good thing.

Here is a good article on Copepods, and also a few photos from the microscope.

At this point there are hundreds, if not thousands, of these guys in various stages of growth around the tank. I've been reading that a new trend in reef keeping is to avoid adding fish until the tank has been established for a few months, allowing populations of these smaller animals to take hold and establish themselves before larger predators are introduced. So far this seems to be a good approach.

Reef Tank: More Frags

2008-03-16T12:17:00.000-04:00

With the new metal halide lighting in place, I wanted to have someone take the compact fluorescent fixture off my hands. A one bedroom apartment is not the sort of place that you tend to keep unused equipment sitting around in. I posted listings on the aquarium forums I use, and on Craigslist. One interesting note came in from a Boston area reefer who offered up some coral frags in trade for the light, in lieu of the price I had been asking for.

Throughout the entire history of this project I have tried to plan and move slowly with each aspect. Impulse purchases and stock acquisitions can be a real problem with keeping aquariums. The prudent move would be to watch the corals I introduced on Friday carefully for two weeks, and then proceed with further stocking. Furthermore, the corals being offered in trade are some of the more difficult of the stony corals to keep. I decided to get them anyway.

Here are some photos, along with trade names and my best guesses at scientific names.

Acropora rosaria:

Acropora sp., "purple slimmer":

Acropora sp., supposedly a tabling formation:

Acropora millepora:

I acclimated these with the same slow drip procedure used for my previous coral acquisitions. So far everything seems at home, with decent polyp extension. I think I'm close to my limit on coral species and space in regards to the room they will need to expand into over the course of the year. Now the long wait while they slowly fill in.

Reef Tank: First Corals

2008-03-15T23:41:00.002-04:00

Here are the first corals to hit my tank. All are aquacultured fragments of larger colonies that have been thriving in captive conditions. This makes them more likely to survive in a new aquarium system compared to wild caught specimens, or so I'm told. In the future I will hopefully be able to write up in more detail the particulars of each species, and hopefully figure out how to take some better photos. I'm afraid that last part might involve some expensive camera equipment.

Seriatopora stellata:

Porites cylindrica:

Pocillopora damicornis:

Stylophora pistillata:

Pavona maldivensis:

Reef Tank: Coral En Route

2008-03-13T06:46:00.004-04:00

This morning I placed an order at Live Aquaria for a stony coral frag pack. While stony corals can be more difficult to keep because of their increased need for light, calcium, and water current, I find them some of the more interesting species and was what I always envisioned keeping in my tank. The package I ordered is for five frags (small fragments from a larger colony) of aquacultured coral colonies. Aquacultured specimens, as opposed to wild card, are purportedly more tolerant of aquarium conditions and less likely to be severely traumatized by the introduction to a new tank.

My new metal halide fixture arrives tonight as well, so I hope to be able to get that setup and post pictures of the tank. This should represent the last piece of equipment that was part of my original tank plan, although I've already thought of several things I'd like to change and upgrade in light of the decision to keep stony corals primarily.

Parameters from Last Night:
Temp: 80F
SG: 1.025
pH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm
dKH: 9
Calcium: 400ppm
Phosphate: 0

Reef Tank: Evicted Crab

2008-03-09T16:11:00.003-04:00

I found this guy dead on the rock this afternoon. Since everyone else appears healthy, I'm assuming he was the victim of a shell-jacking, and not something more worrisome like water quality. Earlier I had also found a snail turned over on the back of its shell. Nerite snails are unable to right themselves when this occurs. I would have liked to put this guy under the microscope, but he was already starting to stink and I was on my way out the door when I noticed his corpse.

Marine tanks are certainly more violent than planted aquariums. I'm going to keep an eye out for any other activity, and fingers crossed that this isn't related to me screwing something up with the water change. I should probably get a bunch of empty shells to prevent any future outbreaks of violence, should that turn out to be what happened.

Reef Tank: More Testing

2008-03-05T21:35:00.002-05:00

Here is a graph I generated showing the process of the nitrogen cycle in my tank to date. Note that the x axis is not to any particular scale as I don't test at regular intervals. Still, it shows all tests going in the right direction, towards 0.

Today I got another set of tests for the reef aquarium. Once corals have been added to the tank, it is important to keep levels of calcium high in the water so that they can create their skeletons. It is also important to keep the carbonate hardness of the water level (also known as alkalinity) high to make this calcium accessible to the corals and buffer against pH swings. The third test measures phosphates, which form from animal waste and precipitate calcium, making it unavailable to be used. Phosphates can also serve as fertilizer for algae growth. To summarize, I am looking for calcium levels between 400 and 500ppm, KH at 140 to 215ppm, and no signs of phosphate.

Todays Parameters:
Temperature: 81F
Specific Gravity: 1.026
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm
Phosphate: 0ppm
Calcium: 480ppm
KH: 179ppm

I must say I'm surprised at how well everything has gone so far. The water levels above, aside from a slightly low pH, could probably sustain coral growth quite well. With ammonia and nitrite undetectable, the tank is ready to be populated. I am going to hold off at least another week before stocking, while I finalize the list of corals and fish I want to keep in my tank. I also need to upgrade my lighting fixture to metal halide before I can order any coral. Another week or two with the snails and hermits should help the tank to slowly prepare itself for these additions.

Field Trip: The New England Aquarium

2008-03-02T19:15:00.002-05:00

After the nine thousandth call from the New England Aquarium informing me that my membership was about to / had expired, I figured I might as well march over there and renew it. They have a good sized coral tank, and I was looking for some photos I could use for raw material while working on the design of this blog.

It was interesting to observe the tank now, after five months of research into setting up my own tank. Previously it had been fairly inspirational, but now I was able to identify some short comings, or at least what would be viewed as such by the reef tank elite. Bubble and hair algae was rampant throughtout the tank, and the fish and invertebrate diversity was relatively low for what would be possible in a tank of that size. That said, it is still a beautiful aquarium and only one of the many tanks worth spending some time with at that facility.

Click any of these photos to head over to Flickr where you can get a larger view of them.

Reef Tank: Snails and Hermits

2008-03-02T14:26:00.002-05:00

On Saturday morning I did another round of tests and found ammonia to have dropped to zero. Nitrites were still low and nitrates were elevated to 40ppm. I decided to try and add some of the first inhabitants to my aquarium, a group of snails and hermit crabs who could feast on the new growth of diatoms and the stuff that came in on the live rock.

I went to Skipton's Pet Center in Boston, which is the best fish store in metro Boston, as far as I know. They helped me settle on a dozen Nerite snails and ten hermit crabs, a few different varieties of Clibanarius, including red and blue colorations. Both snails and hermits originate in the Caribbean and are quite common, which makes them affordable to purchase compared to other species. The snails are intertidal and therefore spend a lot of time crawling above the waterline to breathe. Everyone appears to have survived their first night, and I've been watching both snails and crabs tear into the diatoms on the rock and glass.

Still trying to figure out the white balance while shooting under actinic light, so please excuse the yellow tone of these photos. The picture of the blue hermit crab is closer to the correct coloration. Also, if you go to a larger view of the snail photo, you can see the barnacles on its shell extending their feeders. Pretty cool!

Saturday Parameters:
Temperature: 81F
Specific Gravity: 1.026
pH: 7.9
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 3ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm

Reef Tank: Diatoms

2008-02-27T11:01:00.007-05:00

Last night I noticed a golden-brown colored dust growing on the substrate and rocks. I spent some time searching for algae species identification charts, and eventually came across an About.com article regarding diatoms. A trip to Wikipedia and some other resources confirmed that was what I had most likely observed in my tank. Of particular interest to me was this section from About:

This type of algae outbreak typically occurs when a tank is just completing or has finished the nitrogen cycling process, new live rock is introduced, as the curing process can add nutrients when some organisms on the rock dies off, or tank maintenance has been neglected.

Obviously that would pertain to current events in my reef tank. I had assumed that ammonia levels, which had been as high as 8ppm three days earlier, would require at least another week to subside, and had resolved not to waste my time and test kits checking it every day. The growth of diatoms and subsequent information about them forced a change of mind, and I conducted my usual tests this evening with surprising results: ammonia had indeed dropped to somewhere between 0.25 and 0ppm, an impressive down swing from the levels recorded on Sunday. Nitrite and Nitrate were still high, but that would be expected as they are the products of processed ammonia.

Also of interest was this summary of diatoms and their use of silicates, found in the Wikipedia article:

Diatoms cells are contained within a unique silicate (silicic acid) cell wall comprised of two separate valves (or shells). The biogenic silica that the cell wall is composed of is synthesised intracellularly by the polymerisation of silicic acid monomers. This material is then extruded to the cell exterior and added to the wall. Diatom cell walls are also called frustules or tests, and their two valves typically overlap one other like the two halves of a petri dish. In most species, when a diatom divides to produce two daughter cells, each cell keeps one of the two valves and grows a smaller valve within it. As a result, after each division cycle the average size of diatom cells in the population gets smaller. Once such cells reach a certain minimum size, rather than simply divide vegetatively, they reverse this decline by forming an auxospore. This expands in size to give rise to a much larger cell, which then returns to size-diminishing divisions. Auxospore production is almost always linked to meiosis and sexual reproduction.

Once again, an insightful article from Randy Holmes-Farley helps to clarify both the cause and effect. As mentioned above, diatoms construct their cell wall from silicate, hence their presence could be considered an indicator of silicates being present in the aquarium. His article discusses how silica occurs in the ocean and in the aquarium, as well as what organisms use it and how it can be controlled and dosed. Great stuff.

My assumption is that there would be a high level of silicates found in my tank due to a number of recent inputs:
• Unfiltered tap water for the initial tank fill
• Sand and sediment on the live rock
• Live sand substrate

So there should be plenty of raw material for diatoms, in addition to the high levels of light for photosynthesis (I've been running the tank lights 8 hours a day) and nitrate for fertilizer. Conventional wisdom seems to indicate that after the initial outbreak of diatoms in a new aquarium one can expect green algae to replace it. My initial hobbyist panic response to seeing my pristine new white sand bed polluted with some form of new algae has since been replaced with curiosity now that I've learned about the circumstances under which it appears. I intend to see if I can get a sample out of the tank and take a look under the microscope this evening, as the imagery on Wikipedia is quite stunning.

Todays Parameters:
Temperature: 81F
Specific Gravity: 1.026
pH: 7.9
Ammonia: .025ppm*
Nitrite: 5ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm

* The color of the ammonia test was actually somewhere between 0.25ppm and 0ppm, and closer to 0. In the interest of caution I am rounding up on the chart.

Links from this post:
Randy's article in Advanced Aquarist about silica and diatoms:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm

Wikipedia article on diatoms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatoms

About.com article on diatoms:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/algaecontrol/a/aa091100.htm

Chemistry: The Nitrogen Cycle

2008-02-27T10:16:00.002-05:00

As mentioned previously, my reef tank is currently going through a startup phase in which the nitrogen cycle becomes established. As there isn't much for me to do until this phase completes itself, I decided to dig a little deeper on the chemistry of this cycle and how it specifically relates to reef aquaria.

Fortunately for those of us who spent too much time goofing around in high school chemistry, there are a number of talented professionals contributing to the knowledge base. Of particular note is Randy Holmes-Farley, a chemist at Genzyme (which just so happens to be down the street from where I work). He writes articles for several online reef aquaria journals, and this morning I enjoyed reading two on the nitrogen cycle: Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium and Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium.

Of specific interest in these articles were a few points that differ in marine aquaria from freshwater systems, and that also defy what is passed along in forums as conventional wisdom. For one thing, it appears that in saltwater systems nitrites are not considered highly toxic unlike in freshwater tanks where they are considered as deadly as ammonia. Randy also lists out proven methods of eliminating nitrates in the reef tank, which though also not considered highly toxic, can be contributors to nuisance algae. Both articles are a great read for those looking to get an introduction to these steps in the nitrogen cycle.

Reef Tank: The Cycle Begins

2008-02-24T12:53:00.002-05:00

Once live rock has been introduced into a new aquarium the waiting game begins. Live rock brings with it life of all forms, from simple bacteria and algae cells up to more advanced life forms like sponges, worms and even coral polyps. Naturally on the long journey from the South Pacific (specifically, Tonga) much of this life perished. The combination of live and dead organisms helps to jump start the nitrogen cycle. Reef Central has a good FAQ regarding the nitrogen cycle as it pertains to reef aquariums.

In short, dead organisms arriving on the live rock decay, creating ammonia which is toxic to all life and probably killing off other organisms that had managed to survive the trip. Fortunately bacteria present in the rock are capable of converting ammonia to nitrite (still toxic to marine life) and then converting it further to nitrate (somewhat toxic at higher levels, but not as bad as the other two). As the patient new aquarist, I must sit back and watch this cycle slowly take place over the next two to six weeks, watching via test kits as the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate change in the aquarium. Once the bacteria has taken hold ammonia and nitrite levels should read at 0 ppm. Nitrate may still show up in minute levels and can be minimized via water changes.

I plan on testing the parameters every four days or so to monitor this cycle, and to perform 20% water changes once a week to further reduce toxins. As a sign of a successful cycle beginning, we're looking for a drop in ammonia and a rise in nitrate to indicate the bacteria are at work. The protein skimmer has been pulling out some very light skinmate but doesn't appear to be quite as dialed in as I would like. I'm not sure if this is related to a lack of nutrients in the water to be skimmed or some other variable.

Todays Parameters:
Specific Gravity: 1.0255
pH: 7.9
Ammonia: 8ppm
Nitrite: 5ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm

Reef Tank: Live Rock Arrives

2008-02-21T14:48:00.003-05:00

Today my order of live rock arrived from Live Aquaria, bringing the first real look of a reef to this tank, along with a multitude of life. I had chosen 30 pounds of Lala Select rock harvested in Tonga which has a unique look and coloration. I wanted something different from the pink Fiji rock that is nearly ubiquitous in the modern reef aquarium. This rock did not disappoint, the colors of the encrusting corraline algae were unique and beautiful:

The design I had sketched out on vacation (with a snorkel trip still fresh in my mind) called for creating a slanted pile of rocks from the left side of the aquarium with an isolated island of one rock set to the right. The isolated rock concept was directly influenced by invincible569's 300 gallon system that I had been following on Reef Central for some time. Laying out a reef aquarium design is not easy: I had absolutely no idea what the size or shape of the rocks would be as they were coming via mail order.

I took all the rocks out and set them up on the kitchen table where I had marked off the dimensions of the aquarium, and attempted to reconstruct the design. Although the rocks were much larger than I had anticipated (the 30lbs was primarily comprised of only three large rocks), I was able to come closed than I anticipated to the original design. One rock in particular was well suited to become the solitary island, while the other two fit together nicely to create a larger area complete with cave and peaks.

I snapped enough photos that I could remember how things had been placed, and then dunked each piece of rock in salt water to remove sand and other loose debris before reconstructing the arrangement in the aquarium. Although the left side isn't quite as high as I had originally sketched out, I am quite pleased with the final results. As someone pointed out after the fact, its important to leave room for the corals to grow in. Creating a natural scene in a smaller aquarium can be tough with large rocks, and I'd seen enough poor examples to know both what I wanted to do and what I wanted to avoid.

Now the long wait while life dies off, bacteria becomes established and the tank becomes habitable. Plenty of time to research coral species and get some real world experience with the alchemy of creating and changing salt water.

Snorkeling: Some Snapshots from Vacation

2008-02-12T21:36:00.005-05:00

Cassie and I had a great time in the Dominican. There really isn't any way to have a bad time as far as I can tell. We did some snorkeling on an inner lagoon reef and saw some great stuff. Lots of soft corals, some brain coral, and a few leathers. Tons of fish of course. I came away with some great ideas for how to layout my future reef project and some awesome visuals of what a reef looks like in nature.

I don't have an underwater camera, so these surface shots of my ugly head are all there is.