Fresh Wild Cultivated Products...out of the blue
If you shop around the saltwater marketplace a bit you will be inundated with hyperbole. Marine life has been re-named from the scientific and common names to new "brands" that have marketing appeal "eye-popping, star spangled, candy cane") and so on.
Expensive new life support systems and additives hit the market regularly, each new product solving problems many didn't know they had. Beautiful electronic and acrylic gizmos exchange ions, strip proteins, dose pharmaceutical grade stuff, sterilize with UV, mechically filter, etc.
The end result is a lucrative industry may seem to require so much time and money that many are dissuaded from trying to have a saltwater tank. For those with adequate resources such as some corporate or medical offices, high-end restaurants, entertainment figures, etc., a lucrative aquarium maintenance occupation has arisen. The marine aquarium business is very popular, complete with Nemo movies and "reality" TV.
We love the interest and energy because we know that inside each of us is a born environmentalist. We are hard wired to love natural beauty, and the enjoyment of this hobby provides a healthy diversion for minds weary of a stressful world. See the link below for some psychology research on the topic, which measured what anyone knows who has stared, fascinated at this window on the unseen natural world of the sea: it's fascinating.
Wild cultured Oolite
Eco-Pods
Wild Cultured Coquina
Wild Cultured Caribbean Live Rock
and Corals ... from the Atlantic Floor to your door
Various Live Corals Diadema Sea Urchin Golden Reef Shrimp Nudibranch Conch
These are just a few examples of the many types of unusual Caribbean species that "hitch a free ride" on our live rock, and flourish in a mini-reef aquarium.
We sell mostly wholesale, but In areas along our routes with no dealers we offer a 5 gallon tropical reef in a bucket! This is a collection of several types, shapes, and compositions of the sub-strates we use on the farm to balance the chemistry, biology and beauty of your aquarium. The Eco Pod is infused with hundreds of living species in a stable yet dynamic ecosystem, including the seawater. Great reef aquarium starter.
This is oolite, a geologically young rock formed in the tropics by biological processes. It has the lightest density we offer, with lots of macropores that help it serve as an in-tank refugium, sheltering small and juvenile critters from predators. The composition has a surface chemistry that is helpful to the establishment of colorful marine life like corals, that need calcium from the surrounding environment in order to grow reef structure.
This is coquina, the subtropical shell rock formed by the geological buildup of tiny marine shells over hundreds of thousands of years. It has larger caves and holes to shelter critters, but an overall smaller pore size which fosters the develpment of beneficial denitrifying bacteria whitch clean the seawater. As with all of our wild cultured rock, it is loaded with larval marine life that appears over time in your aquarium.
We are the only operator that harvests and transports our products completely submerged in a simple aerated, temperature controlled life support system that provides for survival not only of the macro life on the surface, but larvae and eggs laid in and on the rock as well. As a result, life cycles will continue in your aquarium and you will typically find several interesting species like shrimp, crabs, or even fish that "appear on the scene" up to about a year after your installation.
A mini-reef aquarium is based on a balanced array of organisms, making up a miniature ecosystem. It requires relatively little in the way of expensive equipment or additives. The maintenance of water quality parameters (such as calium pH, and hardness) natural or artificial light for photosynthesis, proper temperature and visibly active water movement to create a largely self sufficient system, or mini-reef can be surprisingly inexpensive if we keep things simple. For example, the simple mini-reef "Eco Pod" system we use provides good survival for a few months with nothing but aeration added. The addition of live marine phytoplankton, easily cultivated at home, provides vital omega fatty acid and protein, food for zooplankton like copepods and amphipods which live in and around the rocks. These in turn make up the base of a complex food web of efficient, nutrient recycling plants and animals inhabiting a mini-reef. A simple homemade or purchased turf algae scrubber, especially separately lit at night, is a great way to remove excess nutrients and provide natural cycling and water quality which is vital for the overall vitality of the system. Success results in growing corals, filter feeders, coralline algae, grazers and even predators to complete the ecosystem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarium_therapy