So here we present, our version of the famous carol 12 Days of Christmas (sing it as you read it).

On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

A ETSS 500 skimmer, for the best water clar-ity.

~

On the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 3rd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Three blinding Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Four vortech mp60 pumps,

Three blinding Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech mp60 pumps,

Three Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Six million flat worms,

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech mp60 pumps,

Three Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 7th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Seven crazed yellow tangs,

Six million flat worms,

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech mp60 whirling pumps,

Three blinding Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 8th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Eight stinging urchin pricks,

Seven crazed yellow tangs,

Six million flat worms,

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech whirling pumps,

Three blinding Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Nine months of bryopsis,

Eight stinging urchin pricks,

Seven crazed yellow tangs,

Six million flat worms,

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech whirling pumps,

Three blinding Vertex LED fixturess,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Ten polyp PPE frags (Oh Yeah),

Nine months of bryopsis,

Eight stinging urchin pricks,

Seven crazed yellow tangs,

Six million flat worms,

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech whirling pumps,

Three blinding Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Eleven buckets of IO salt,

Ten polyp PPE frags (Oh Yeah),

Nine months of bryopsis,

Eight stinging urchin pricks,

Seven crazed yellow tangs,

Six million flat worms,

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech whirling pumps,

Three blinding Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Twelve too many sleepless nights,

Eleven buckets of IO salt,

Ten polyp PPE frags (Oh Yeah),

Nine months of pulling bryopsis,

Eight stinging urchin pricks,

Seven crazed yellow tangs,

Six million flat worms,

Five territorial domino damsels,

Four vortech whirling pumps,

Three blinding Vertex LED fixtures,

Two squirting cephalopods,

And a ski-mmer for water clar-ity.

~

Merry Christmas to all who read our blog. May your families, that’s including your beloved tank inhabitants, be well and healthy.

As I was browsing Youtube for some cool videos, I stumbled upon this touching, educational BBC clip about the decline of reef fish in the Indo-Pacific. It is a true eye opener.

While Jeff and I are getting the exclusive backroom tour of the ROM’s reef exhibit, sit back and enjoy this video filmed by one of our own Toronto reefers (Thanks Andrew!).

A company out of NJ named Reefmakers, is set to establish the second largest international reef off of the Florida Keys. The WWII ship, which was used to track missiles and aircraft, is going to be the new home for many fish species and hopefully corals. The 8.6 million dollar project, is years in the making, and will be paid by dividends from the new found diving and snorkeling business.

The Yahoo! article also said:

Preparation for sinking has taken months of inspections and cleanup to remove contaminants. Workers hauled off more than a million feet of wire, 1,500 vent gaskets, dozens of watertight steel doors, 81 bags of asbestos, 193 tons of potentially cancer-causing substances, 46 tons of garbage that could come loose and float to the surface, 300 pounds of materials containing mercury and 185 55-gallon drums of paint chips.

I hope that the people at Coral Restoration Foundation in the Keys, start to repopulate the reef using this new wreckage. Imagine the endangered staghorns A. cervicornis creating a forest around the ship, teaming with life. I will attempt to contact the team at CRF to see if they have any initiatives to use the wreckage as a reef re-population point. Stay tuned.

For us northern hemisphere-ners, the reefing season is almost done. The shops are bringing less and less coral. The forums are staying busy only late at night. And I am running out of calcium reactor media!

Just like a sports offseason, us too reefers have to retool, reorganize, and rethink how we look at our systems. We change some inefficient equipment, rework the plumbing, or even install a new sump. This is what we do in the summer months. And, oh yea, grow corals for the reefing season.

Personally, I am quite satisfied the way things are shaping up in my system. Things are on autopilot (metaphor people, not an actual autopilot). The way I intended them to be. But, never say no to improvement. So lets look at my to do list:

1. Setup a power-down backup system for the 320 gallon. This will be done using a vortech mp40w pump with a battery backup.
2. Install pendants for the prop system. Thinking of using T5s, but I am leaning towards uses the MHs that I already have.
3. Change the membrane in the RODI.
4. Buy new bulbs for the 320.

What are your plans for the offseason? Are you doing anything new? Buy a new pump? Lights? Tank? Let us know!

Well its Friday, and almost 20′C. What a way to kick off the pre-weekend (you have to be positive for Friday). So for today, we will try to keep it light and digestible.

Everyone likes tank tours, so for today we want to show you Chris Morris’s website that focuses on many systems in our Toronto area. Its a small sample of what we have here. Please enjoy watching the videos responsibly, as the corals you are about to see may harm your wallet .

So when I saw this picture this morning, I was transported somewhere wonderful.  I picture myself somewhere on an uninhabited island, hot sand between my toes getting ready for another dive.  As I slipped into the pristine water, I’d lick the brine from my lips, put my mask and regulator on.  I’d feel the pressure of the water around me like a warm hug from the ocean and I’d disappear into a cloud of colourful fish.

The Maldives as viewed from space.

Link via Wikipedia.