Water samples taken near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have exhibited radioactive caesium levels 24.8 times the established limit (established by Japanese authorities)while Iodine-131 has been measured 126.7 times greater said limit. What does this mean for Japan’s reefs and ocean life? [via ZeroHedge and WSJ.]

ORA yellowline gobies are now available. Not a new release, but the Florida fish farm writes, “These gobies were once commonplace in the hobby but they have been extremely difficult to find since Brazil stopped exports several years ago.”

Our friends at AquariumSpecialty have completely overhauled their site. Hat tip for the user videos on individual products.

Copps the angelfish nut goes collecting in Florida.  Here’s the colorful catch… I think he needs another Queen or two. Check out his full story over at RC.

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This month’s TOTM by ReefCentral has deservingly been awarded to Eric Yao’s vivid SPS reef. This Hong Kong based aquarium is the result of careful animal selection and a well balanced coralscape.

Eric’s 175g reef utilizes powerful skimming via a Bubble King 250 Internal and enhanced nutrient export via ZeoVit. Specifically, Eric doses ZeoStart, ZeoBac, Amino Acids, KZ Coral Vitalizer, and K Balance. Additionally, this reef  receives Calcium and Alkalinity additions using the Balling Lite method controlled by a Bubble Magus dosing pump.

Despite the number (and growth) of his Acroporids, Eric has managed to put together a coralscape in which every view, photo crop, and coral can arguably stand on its own. There are no filler pieces in this glassbox. Check out the full tank profile on RC.

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Just over 10 days ago, the third documented Centropyge fisheri x Centropyge potteri hybrid was collected by Alika Garcia, a diver on Oahu, Hawaii, at apprximately 75′ on the south side of Oahu. This stunning hybrid was promptly sent to wholesaler Tropical Fish Emporium where it has been made available to the retail world.

The rarity of this Fisher’s x Potters hybrid angelfish has not been lost on Hawaii’s diver community. With all of the diving, collecting, and general exploration of Hawaii’s relatively shallow waters, this is just the third we humans know of. No word where this fish ended up–we hope it finds its way into a safe and happy home.

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When I first started Glassbox Design there was nothing like it. A few websites were writing about common domestic products, but no one was writing about the gadgets, livestock and beautiful aquariums that I liked–so I decided to do something about it.

Fast forward two and a half years and I am amazed at the influence, readership and sponsors that Glassbox has attained. It has been an unforgettable project that has connected thousands of advanced aquarists while shining light on the best products and companies in the industry. Despite what rumors have been going around, Glassbox Design will never be shut down. But some changes will be made in 2011.

One thing that many people do not know is Glassbox is not my full time job. I have a demanding career in conjunction with the site. Combining the two has been stressful, fun and lead to many lost hours of sleep.  I am fortunate that some opportunities have recently presented themselves and I must make them a priority.

What this means is, Glassbox Design will still be up and running, but will be pivoting away from the daily reef blogosphere (a space I am have grown disappointed in as of late…). It’s bittersweet to have to put the breaks on, but I believe the time away from the keyboard will lend to increased quality and getting back to why GBD was originally started.

It also means that my personal aquarium, The Glassbox, shown above, will be coming down as I prepare to move.

Going forward the goal of Glassbox Design will be to provide materially significant news and editorial content as it surfaces—and when time and resources permit. For shorter stories and link sharing, you can find GBD microblogging on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you all for your support over the years.

Best,
Eric Michael Sanchez

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Azoox.org is a new forum dedicated to the care of azooxanthellate, or non-photosynthetic, corals. Azoox has a great team behind it and is already showing signs of what a modern forum should be about–knowledge sharing.

Most recently IT guru Shane Garber (liquid) implemented api.embed.ly to allow direct embedding of videos, photos, documents and even tweets. [See an example here]. As other forum operators see this we’re sure it will become a popular feature.

Azoox describes their goals:

Non-photosynthetic corals (NPS) have long been of interest to reefkeepers, but they have also traditionally been difficult to keep. With recent innovations and understandings about what these corals actually need to thrive in captive environments, it is time for a focused community to bring together all NPS information, research and collaboration. Azoox.org is that community.

Our forums are dedicated to to sharing information on NPS corals at all levels, from the beginner to the researcher, in an open and friendly community. We hope you join our community.

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When reflecting back on each year that passes, you realize how quickly it all went by. 2010 was a tumultuous year largely dictated by the macroeconomic environment. For the aquarium industry it was the beginning of what I strongly believe to be the rise of LED lighting. It also put less influence on actual gadgets and more on the overall appearance of aquariums; a change GBD gladly welcomes.

If we rewind a bit, the latter half of 2009 was all about the LED legal environment: PFO this and Orbitec that. Fast foward to today and there is all but a whisper of this lingering discussion.

We’ve also seen a drastic loss of interest in the skimmer market. High end skimmers are still very nice, but have come nowhere near the populist rage they stirred in 2009. Just a year ago skimmer discussions were more akin to a religious debate (read: DSB v BB) than any equipment dialogue that we were previously accustomed to.

Enough about those other years. If I could summarize 2010′s most popular stories and themes they would be:

• LEDs
• The Economy
• Rare Fish
• Beautiful Aquariums

LED Lighting

Are most read articles on GBD have been without a doubt related to LED lighting. Kicking off the year in early January was our initial unboxing photos of the new AI Sol LED unit. As one of the the first units released from the Iowa based lighting outfit, the AI Sol kicked off the 2010 LED push.

Our other most popular LED articles inluded:

• Maxpsect G2 LED with Cree XP-Gs
• NanoCustoms PAR38 LED PAR Analysis
• TMC AquaBeam 1000 PAR Analysis
• JBJ 28g LED NanoCube
• Vertex Illumina LED
  • Vertex Illumina Light Studio App
• Ecoxotic’s Photon Cannon LED

The Economy

2010 started a bit slow and many aquarists were saving rather than spending. Overall this hurt new product development which was best exemplified by an InterZoo which many attendees described as “disappointing”. Now with a weak dollar and Fed manipulated low interest rates, companies (and individuals) are slow beginning to take on more risk  and spend.

The timing worked well for MACNA. Not only was it one of the best MACNAs to date, a handful of North American based companies were showing off innovative products–such as the Vortech MP60 and AI Sol Nano.

Rare Fish

Thanks to a few questionably insane and passionate fish enthusiasts, 2010 saw an influx of some holy grail fish. The demand for these unique fish grew rapidly in 2010 and in many cases prices have plummeted as collectors are less willing to pay thousands of dollars in this economic climate. Meanwhile collectors have increased supply of once passed over species as we saw with Lotilia graciliosa from Cebu.

For 2010, the biggest rare fish news of the year was not any species, but a business. Frank Baensch has RCT has back up and running with some incredible pairs already under one roof. On a similar note, ORA rocked the aquarium industry with the release of their captive bred mandarins.

Some of our most popular rare fish articles included:

• 1″ Juvenile Genicanthus personatus
• Lightning Maroon Clown
• Brachiosaurus Blenny
• Captive Bred Full Barred Latz
• Gramma dejongi
• Genicanthus takeuchii

Beautiful Aquariums

As new exciting product launches have dwindled, we’ve seen increased focus on aquariums, rather than their gadgets. We’re also seeing more and more TOTM quality reefs; a testament to the hobby’s evolution.

Just behind LEDs our most popular posts included the HD treatment of Copps Reef, Matt Wandell’s Deepwater Reef and Ching Chai’s regular updates.

Many of the beautiful aquariums we’ve featured have been using organic carbon dosing and/or biopellets. Aquarists have been more willing to experiment with these products and the results are showing. Check out Krzysztof Tryc’s reef and judge for yourself.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our readers and thank you for your support. We’ll cap off 2010 with a hint of what we plan to bring in 2011. That is,  aquaria is art.

Enjoy tonight and be safe.

Best,

Eric Michael Sanchez
GLASSBOXDESIGN

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Manhattan Aquariums’ Holiday Extravaganza
December 18-19 // 10am – 7pm
522 W 37th St. New York, NY 10018

As part of the event, Manhattan Aquariums will be offering 35% all livestock and 20 to 50% off all dry goods. Additionally raffle prizes will be up for grabs from the likes of Reef Geek, Tunze, PE Mysis, and Ecoxotic. If you’re in the area–check it out!

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We regret to inform you that one time lighting stalwart IceCap Inc. has suspended operations. They are currently undergoing a restructuring; working closely with investors, management, and vendors over the next 60 days in hopes of continuing the brand.

A restructuring like this and a fresh infusion of capital may be enough to bring this company back to life–with an established retail distribution chain including the likes Premium Aquatics, Aquarium Specialty, Dr. F&S, Reef Geek and Marine Depot, there is some value and goodwill left to be had. We wish IceCap the best of luck during these trying times. Scroll down to read the letter IceCap sent to its vendors just yesterday.

Dear Valued Customer,

First, I would like to extend a Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you, your family, and employees. I know this comes somewhat bitter sweet as many of you have attempted recently to contact IceCap, Inc. with little to no success. For that I am truly sorry.

IceCap, Inc. has been around for about 20 years and many of you have been dedicated and loyal customers of IceCap, Inc. through the ups and downs over the years. Unfortunately, we finally hit a trough in our business cycle due to several factors that impaired this business to the point where we could not and can not recover. Therefore, by the direction of the IceCap, Inc. Board of Directors we have suspended operations.

What this means is we are aggressively and actively seeking opportunities to keep the IceCap brand viable in the markets and with the customers we have served over the past 20 years. In doing so, we expect to bring closure to this process within 60 days and plan to align the new management team, investors, and/or owners with our valued customers in hopes this continuation of business and the relationship with the IceCap brand will mitigate the effects of recent events.

In the interim, please direct all inquiries to [redacted]. Please allow 48 hours for a response depending on the e-mail volume. Thank you!

Again, my apologies for the situation.

Regards,
IceCap, Inc.

Editor’s Note: There have been many accusations and rumors circulating about IceCap. As always, we ask that any comments be respectful in nature. Thanks.

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As if further proof was necessary that the world wide recession has impacted our hobby, German based H&S Aquaristik has announced it will now be distributing Bubble Magus products. H&S is also currently selling them direct–through eBay.

On their homepage H&S states that they will distribute and sell all models available. Additionally they will back the full warranty, service and repair that we’ve grown to expect from the German skimmer maestros.

The classic in-sump and recirculating design that H&S uses has not changed in years. Generally speaking, neither have the Eheim and AquaBee modified skimmer pumps they employ.

Point being, we would not be surprised if some of the newer Bubble Magus skimmers outperform their German distributor’s own creation. at a much lower price point. And we admit, in their latest all white form, Bubble Magus products are no longer the eye sore they once were.

Import Innovate or die trying.

h/t aquaristica

[h&s]

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Look out Latz lovers! Amphiprion latezonatus, commonly known as the wide-band or Latezonatus clownfish, is one of the most desired yet least obtainable species for anemonefish enthusiasts. Their characteristic wide center stripe that broadens with age, distinguishes them from every other species of clownfish. Wild collected “Latz”, as they are affectionately known, have trickled into the market in very small numbers for years. Unfortunately many have met their demise due a host of diseases and maladies that are often encountered with wild caught clownfish.

Amphiprion latezonatus is an Australian endemic, ranging from Southern Queensland to Northern New South Wales and Lord Howe Island, hundreds of miles away from the vast majority of saltwater aquarium fish collection to the north. Even worse than their remote location, most individuals are collected as large specimens, which ship poorly and have much less of a chance to adapt to aquarium life. Throw in an epidemic of seemingly inexplicable blindness and it’s enough to make your head spin.

Recently hope grew when news broke that captive raised Latz would finally be available on the market. This excitement was short-lived when it was realized that on those captive bred Latz the famous wide center stripe, was misbarred… they were wide-band clownfish without the wide band! The desire for captive-bred Latezonatus with the same beauty of their wild caught cousins went back to being a dream. Thanks to Karen Brittain, it’s now a reality.

In September I met up with biologist and fish breeder Karen Brittain at her home on the island of Oahu. Karen is best known for her accomplishments at the Waikiki Aquarium, when in 2002 she became just the second person in the world to successfully spawn and raise saltwater angelfish in captivity. Karen is also known for having spawned and raised clownfish for years, supplying the US market with many different species of impeccable quality. Karen definitely has a “blue thumb” when it comes to breeding fish.

When I heard that she had produced captive-bred Latezonatus clowns that “appeared wild”, I had to see it myself. As I anxiously walked into her breeding room I was amazed to see healthy captive-bred Latz completely indistinguishable from their wild counterparts. What a sight! The pictures speak for themselves.

Karen Brittain & John ‘Copps’ Coppolino, flanked by HI based wholesalers William Crook (L) and DJ Linehan (R)

Editors Note: These first Amphiprion latezonatus specimens are currently available in limited numbers. Aquarists in the U.S. can order direct from Aqualife Unlimited. Additionally they will be made available to local fish stores both domestically and internationally via two major wholesalers from Oahu.

Congratulations to Karen! We wish her continued success with her breeding programs.

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