Confused: Update.

Hey all.

Edited by builderofdreams - June 06 2012 at 9:46am

That would be sweet. You could sell coral larvae instead of frags

BillyC wrote: That would be sweet. You could sell coral larvae instead of frags

Nocturnal zooplanton.
Have you ever dived on the reef at night or seen videos of it. Have you notice how much plankton is swimming around? It actually obscures visibility.
Have you ever viewed your reef aquarium before dawn or earlier? Do you notice coral polyps expanded more than during the day? Have you seen LPS feeder tentacles stretched out at night? How about duster worms and other filter feeders? What do they do in the dark?
Hobbyists tend to focus on coral with the unfortunate exclusion of all else. Yet, the food chain of our reef tanks, as in the ocean, grows macrofauna that are doing an awful lot of feeding/biofiltration. We talk about a reef aquarium reaching an age of maturity because of things we can see, but let's not overlook the nocturnal zooplankton that has reached a beneficial level. There are worms and bugs continually spawning and then eating each others spawn. There is zooplankton that comes out of the LS and LR after dusk to feed and spawn, then at dawn returns to the LS and LR to sleep.

Hope this helps.

Do you have a wrasse thats sleeps in the sand bed? This tripped me out when I first bought my wrasse, makes my tank cloudy when he wakes up and goes to sleep

Update:

builderofdreams wrote: Really irratates me only because i don't know Why.

For fun and to verify what we are saying, I'd siphon some of that early morning water out into a quart jar or clear glass. Let it stop swirling and look at it against a bright light.
I'd also let it settle and using a pipette take some water from the bottom. Then put a drop under a microscope or look at it with a good magnifying glass or Jewelers Loop and be amazed at what you see.
Your coral and other inverts are open and eating all night long.
Cardinalfish love this kind of environment as well.