Chasing coral

[gogeta]

So last night I was browsing Netflix, I saw the documnetary chasing coral. I've seen it mentioned on the site before. Pretty alarming really. We all know the reefs have had their ups and downs. I live of the coast of the largest coral reef in the world and have snorkelled it quiet a few times. I have seen it after cyclones which damaged it and seen whole sections Snow White but didn't realize the severity. Imagine on day in the next 50 years when the only coral alive in the world is what was managed to be cultivated in our tanks and kept alive.

 

very interesting watch, guess you just don't realize the magnitude of the coral bleaching till it's given actual data numbers 

[Weetabix7]

WOW. 

Just finished watching this. 

[WV Reefer]

It made me sad. 

[brandon429]

I agree its sad in parts but its also showed usable information for our systems,  it would be neat if the public was being trained in those locations to grow/house/nano reef their own coral frags. The lights to grow corals cost 25$ on amazon now.

 

took notice when:

 

-algae grew back on the corals solely because living corals were not there. Bioexclusion principle of algae management. The algae didn't grow because of elevated Phosphate levels, or nitrates, when did they mention waste one time in the context of algae growth in that doc? The algae always had the potential to grow on every reef, but it was excluded. We run our tanks totally backwards to that natural model, but dont have to in all cases.

 

Excellent tidbits imo. They talked about the action of surface destruction/algae grazing and how sands of the ocean and largely excrement from algae foragers, handy translatable info for us too.

 

-they should be shipping frags of staghorn around to reefers to grow and then ship back more frags, bunches of contributing coral scientists are armed with ten gallon tanks that can do it for sure. Any tank in this forum can grow brown acropora staghorn frags and quickly build up stores. True they wont have the genetic diversity required upon immediate transplant back to the wild, but given selection and a few generations they sure could redevelop them again. At least the core materials would ride out natural loss events in everyone's nano reef.

 

 

-teach people to nano reef. Nobody can afford to stock 200 gallon reef tanks in every home, but as a grassroots effort in some areas we should be spreading the techniques of nano reef keeping for the communities to actually grow and replant their own local specimens. If the doc says right there its temp extremes doing the death, then clip some frags and get to sharing the techniques in cooler places (homes and businesses) where practical. What I didn't like was the lack of approach for this mechanism, they all wanted to curb global warming, good luck getting all countries to agree on that in any due time. What there is time for is a bunch of frags from dying reefs to get brought up to a bunch of nanos on main land.

 

 

 

 

[Clown79]

I enjoyed it.

I watch a lot of documentaries 

 

There's one on YouTube and it's all about the reefs where ph is rapidly dropping and the effects of it now and the future.

[1891Bro]

1 hour ago, brandon429 said:

I agree its sad in parts but its also showed usable information for our systems,  it would be neat if the public was being trained in those locations to grow/house/nano reef their own coral frags. The lights to grow corals cost 25$ on amazon now.

 

took notice when:

 

-algae grew back on the corals solely because living corals were not there. Bioexclusion principle of algae management. The algae didn't grow because of elevated Phosphate levels, or nitrates, when did they mention waste one time in the context of algae growth in that doc? The algae always had the potential to grow on every reef, but it was excluded. We run our tanks totally backwards to that natural model, but dont have to in all cases.

 

Excellent tidbits imo. They talked about the action of surface destruction/algae grazing and how sands of the ocean and largely excrement from algae foragers, handy translatable info for us too.

 

-they should be shipping frags of staghorn around to reefers to grow and then ship back more frags, bunches of contributing coral scientists are armed with ten gallon tanks that can do it for sure. Any tank in this forum can grow brown acropora staghorn frags and quickly build up stores. True they wont have the genetic diversity required upon immediate transplant back to the wild, but given selection and a few generations they sure could redevelop them again. At least the core materials would ride out natural loss events in everyone's nano reef.

 

 

-teach people to nano reef. Nobody can afford to stock 200 gallon reef tanks in every home, but as a grassroots effort in some areas we should be spreading the techniques of nano reef keeping for the communities to actually grow and replant their own local specimens. If the doc says right there its temp extremes doing the death, then clip some frags and get to sharing the techniques in cooler places (homes and businesses) where practical. What I didn't like was the lack of approach for this mechanism, they all wanted to curb global warming, good luck getting all countries to agree on that in any due time. What there is time for is a bunch of frags from dying reefs to get brought up to a bunch of nanos on main land.

 

 

 

 

We just have to slowly turn up the heaters to acclimate them back to the wild. 

[.Boris]

The thing that struck me was the claim that in the last 30 years we have lost half of the coral in the world.
In 1991 I went on my first tropical dive holiday to the Philippines. Half of what I saw then is now gone...

[Pjanssen]

It is very sad. If global warming is the cause, then the reefs are screwed for sure. Only way to really make a difference in global warming is if we all become vegans. Cows and pigs and the crops we grow for them account for most of the emissions on the planet. (Netflix "Cowspiracy" and "What The Health"). Lets face it, we're on this earth for a very limited time. Hopefully after we are gone and turned into fossil fuel and the earth is reborn, the next millennial species will be more respectful.

[brandon429]

Imagine if someone showed up with standard brown florida staghorn on some frags. It would grow so rampant in a nano reef we'd have to dremel it off the rocks and glass eventually or burn it out with vinegar. I realize its not growing well in the wild due to XX issues, but nano reefers and reefers in general could provide a huge repository at least for the base organism which upon reintroduction goes back through selection processes to activate and keep the best adaptations. as of now its just dying they say, seems wasteful.

 

Certify a ton of aquarists to help the heck out, we're already doing it with its cousins and the fact nobody cares if its pink or electric orange makes this an easy homerun. we could grow stagorn in mason jars very easily in fact, I bet.

 

 

[Clown79]

Everything humanity has done with the advancement of the last 100 plus yrs is effecting this earth.

 

It's not just what we eat.

It's population - scientist have stated if we had half the population we currently have, the earth would return to it's healthy state.

 

Cars, ships, planes, air conditioning, manufacturing, etc it's all an issue.

 

Between the increase in temp and drops in ph the ocean and its livestock are at serious risk.

 

It's pretty appalling when you watch a documentary on the destruction of reefs simply because ph has dropped.

The reefs were dead and nothing growing besides algae. The effects this is having and will have on the oceans ecosystem is vast.

 

It's already causing cognitive behavioural changes in fish. 

 

The documentary is

 

Pbs  nova - lethal seas

 

It's a great documentary

[seabass]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

It's population - scientist have stated if we had half the population we currently have, the earth would return to it's healthy state.

Well... that's a problem, because how do they propose we reduce the population by half?  Let's hope they aren't working on how best to accomplish that.

 

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Everything humanity has done with the advancement of the last 100 plus yrs is effecting this earth.

Everything?  I take it that you mean negatively.  I'd hardly lump the development of solar and wind power, or other renewable resources into this characterization.  How about the development of electrolyzers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen, making hydrogen fuel whose only emission is water?  When produced with solar and/or wind power, hydrogen fuel has the potential to change how we power vehicles (without carbon impact).  No, instead of trying to roll back the clock to a point where the population was smaller and technology was less sophisticated, we need to continue to innovate and develop new technologies for the world we live in today.