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RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:48:33 GMT

Eric Borneman (7/19/2007)

The crumbly wall description is great. That is an odd thing because it's a lot of bioerosion and coral growing and dying underneath, breaking, growing, eroding, crumbling, settling, tumbling. This is not always so and sometimes those walls are really solid except a crumbly veneer - especially on windward reefs - giant solid caves of limestone with solid crusts of coral and still the particulate snow. But, the crumbly wall thing is really interesting in how it seems to limit a lot of big corals and also that detrital mass of carbonate and organic mush that feeds all the myriad inverts we still don't have a prayer of keeping. Maybe if we stopped trying so hard to remove all of it from our tanks and utilized it instead of disposing of it? I just gave away some purple vase sponges from my sump - like giving away frags. They are everywhere. Its the settling area for all the waterbrone debris, and that's where they are doing the best. I don't skim it out, so they get a feast in there.

See, now you have me wanting to challenge myself (my tank) even further, although I can't imagine what more (actualy, what less) I could do. There is no mechanical filtration at all, no floss, artificial sponge and so on, the skimmer has been out of action for six months or more as well. Maybe now would be a good time to try some tunicates / sponges again as it has been a good long time since my last effort(s). Thanks for reminding me of my sump also, good gawd, the glass is covered in a few sponge species, and get colonial tunicates from time to time as well on it. But if I personaly put them into the tank, no good. Guess it comes down to chance on what species hitches in on rocks or water borne being matched to my systems abilities to provide. A lot of it may also be simply because in the high light environment of the tank, algae competition, no matter how slight, is just too much for them, hence doing so well in the dark areas of the sump. I think.

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

Eric Borneman — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:23:58 GMT

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:28:42 GMT

Thanks Eric, and on that front (show and tell), I believe my mistake has been that instead of setting the camera for greater pixel content, I have been going for max amount of photos that can be taken, will give it a go next time.

Sponges and tunicates, yeah, thats what I would call a holy grail myself, I have tried to do just what you mentioned and most times end up nuking my tank slightly when a harvested sponge fails, which they always seem to do. Except for a very shallow air tolerant yellow species, I also have only found one blue species that stands up to being collected and my tank's conditions at the same time. So far though, I have tried enough that I have a good feel on which ones to avoid, which for now, is a lot more than ones that I know I can keep. Tunicates, thats gonna be even more of a challenge I think. I can get them home okay and never have them touch air, but its the long term that I have yet to have any success with. Am sure it is food related.

I also believe I am getting a far greater understanding of this areas reef as to why it is the way it is. Having parked myself at 50 feet on the reef wall and my poking around on it while drifting along, I noted a few things that at first did not stand out right away. I expected to see large coral colonys jutting out from the wall yet could not see any. Then I realized that the crest and the wall itself is very "crumbly" for lack of a better word. Most every coral is growing on very loose substrates, I found that I could pick any spot on the wall, and could make it wiggle. Same for the rest of this area as well. I am positive that as life goes about its business on the reef, good chunks of it must break free from time to time and fall down the wall, making any coral jutting out from it, at risk of underwater landslides so to speak. I fear that an earthquake would cause the reef's coral encrusted surface to just slide off. And wonder how often that has occured already. I can only imagine what the bottom looks like, I bet it is a big pile of boulders and rubble from the years gone by.

Being a "sea" or better described as a VERY wide channel, and not the open ocean fronts normaly thought of, only allows for tidal movement to create the flows needed, no such thing as swell or wave action to speak of. Being a narrow (relatively speaking) channel of sorts, with large and small islands on both sides of it, means it also gets a great deal of run off, both naturaly occuring from rainfall and that dumped in by man. Which equates into a lot of silt and detritus being constantly moved. Water clarity here is about half of what I normaly expect to see on a ocean front reef. There is a great deal of particulates always in the water. Easy to see as a thick "dusting" everywhere, thankfully corals and other life forms can clear themselves of it. But get down in the cracks / crevices, and it reminds me of when having to empty a vacuum cleaners bag. Such a heavy particulate load, and am sure the nutrient dynamics are different as well, probably explains the mixture of stony and soft corals I see, which is split just about 50/50. Lots of xenia! But... I also noted that the xenia at depth, (30 feet) do not pulse, but those found near / on the grass beds pulse like crazy. Please don't ask me why...lol

I can not wait to get my new housing next month and be able to get some real details. but overall, I think the reef here is finally starting to sink into me as to its nature.

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

Eric Borneman — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:38:23 GMT

And here's the thing - why isn't there more effort on this front. Colorful coral selection and growth is kind of easy already. yes, it is pretty, but why aren't more advanced aquarists working on the splashes of color as sponges and tunicates? That, to me, is the holy grail at this point. Availability is an issue of course, as is feeding, but this is the direction we need to move, I think. Thanks for the updates and the other comments in the thread. Keep this one going. I stickied this because I find it arguably one of the most important threads in the hobby for educating and understanding since so many people do not or have not had the pleasure of seeing the real thing. Algae covered rocks that used to be coral reefs don't count!

RE: Reef Tour

Reefski — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:36:06 GMT

yes, i know about the brownness of reefs having read Veron's books. i do like the pretty colors but will try to have fewer larger specimens (eventually) in my tank. i love the Waikiki 5000 gallon tank aquascaping with large colonies of the various corals. i will try to emulate that look more with my tank. and that will take much patience, years of it.

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:27:07 GMT

Hi Carl,

All of the photos shown were taken in 15 to 20 feet deep not too far away from a reef wall crest, that itself begins at about 20 or so feet deep. The photos, again, are on the shallow flats that slope gently upwards to the shore. Hard to describe, but will try. From the actual reef wall crest (where it drops steeply) back towards shore, there is pristine reef with very few spots that are not coral colonies, as you get further in shore from the drop off, the corals tend to be in isolated small "islands" with an average of ten feet of sandy, sparse sea grass areas inbetween. One such "island" was nothing but an acropora colony that was massive, at least 15 feet across and amazed me at how much life, including fish, lived down under the living coral in the forest / tangle of coral branches.

Color, I guess I could and should blame the hobby for that misperception about coral reefs. I have never seen anything that comes close on the reefs that the acropora / montipora colored stick show tanks appear as. Color, other than shades of browns and greens is actualy a rare thing to see on a reef, as far as corals go. If I do see something red, blue or yellow, 9 out of 10 times, its either a sponge, tunicate etc etc. rarely a coral. When I do see a coral that is not brown or green, you can bet I will get a photo of it...lol,

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

Reefski — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:06:31 GMT

Chuck, first off thank you for what you are doing.

second, i wish i could hold my breath that long and dive more than 5 feet without severe ear pain. (ruptured ear drum as a kid).

anyway, a couple of things stuck me after looking at all the pictures. the acroporas seem to have been displaced to deeper more nutrient deficient water, there is a lot of sandy areas around and between the corals.

there were few very colorful corals and most colonies of all colors did not seem that large.

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 19:13:14 GMT

Brother do I hear you! I blame myself for it all as well since I had assumed a great deal, which I blame on my american way of thinking, in that, when the group made the dive reservation, one would think that the resort owner would ensure everyone was capable of the planned dive so as to avoid any lawsuits. But even still, I should have took it upon myself to insist on talking to them first. Although the language barrier was a brick wall, if not for being able to use simple gestures that all humans understand, it would have been worse. After the butt chewing the resort owner got from me, I doubt I will get a call for anymore such jobs, besides, the sucker ended up giving me a whole four dollars at the end of the day, I spent two dollars just getting there!.... The filipino divemaster got half of what I did...lol. On the bright side I did however get to see some pristine reef and make note that I did not see one bit of that sargassum kelp anywhere. I even saw a few batfish! (spadefish in the states). Which tells me that "my" reef is under assault on a few fronts, overfishing and land based nutrient run off due to human population levels. I think I'm fighting a losing battle here (my reef).

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

CTReefer — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 18:50:40 GMT

Chuck: Keeping inexperienced morons like that from drowning themselves doesn't sound like something you should ever be involved with again. Luckily, you have the diving experience & know how & were able to handle things this time around. Even very experienced diver's can have problems at times. You were right to let that guy at the dive shop have a piece of your mind. If I were you, from now on I would only agree to take out cirtified diver's who can show ID's & log books of their recent dives. Next time, you might not be so lucky! As we all know, the underwater world, while very beautiful & exciting, is also a very dangerous place......

Steve

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 07:32:32 GMT

Forgot to add one...lol

While I was bringing the three of them back to the boat/surface, my wife pointed out that there was someone drifting away from the boat, (not one of my three), so I got my three out of the water and swam over to collect up the stray, I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he could not swim or make any headway against the current. So I told him that we both had enough air to drop to the bottom and crawl our way back with no problem. So I go under and he stays on the surface, I look up...and he doesnt have any FINS!!!!...., So I told him lets drop to the bottom and I can just pull him along.... He trys to go down, but is bobbing like a cork, I reach up and try to empty his BC of air and nothing happens, he is still just bobbing away, I reach under his BC to check the amount of weights he has on, and.... NO WEIGHT BELT!!...., I asked if he lost that gear and he said he simply forgot to put it on when they got in with the other divemaster and he had just been bobbing away ever since..., I towed him back to the boat and did my best not to laugh out loud, although once Linda saw that he was finless and having just watched me tow a diver back in against the surface currents, she did laugh out loud...lol... Beauty day hey!

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 07:26:27 GMT

Thanks Steve, but yeah, not a single certified diver amongst them, I of course asked about their experience and was told "one of them is very experienced", leaving me to assume the others were occassional divers and needed watching. Thats what I get for not grilling each diver myself. Lesson learned. But.. I did chew out the owner when we got back and watched him bug out when I told him that had I not been there, he would have had three dead guests on his hands, one of them freaked out sitting on the bottom because he couldn't clear his ears, ripped his mask off and threw out his regulator (air supply) and....just sat there! Later, I had the three of them sitting at 20 feet on the edge of the abyssal drop off so they could watch the fish swim by, I of course emptied their BC's of air so they would stay put. I look to my left to take a quick peek at another diver to that side of me, I look back, and one of them had gone out over the face of the wall and was dropping like a rock! and doing nothing about it! I caught up to him at 40 feet deep, grabbed his first stage and hauled his butt back up again. His friends would have just sat there and watched him disappear into the abyss..., then.... the so called "very experienced" diver, who appeared to be, runs out of air..., thankfully he knew to grab the nearest divers octopus (spare air supply) and not just sit there and drown.

I also informed the resort owner, that from now on, Before ANYONE gets near the boat, they have to go through an interview with me first. And never will there be a repeat of today again as I told him I refuse to teach diving on the fly like that ever again.

Overall, I spent one astounding moment after another all day long...

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

CTReefer — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 07:11:23 GMT

Very nice Chuck! That made my Saturday morning much more enjoyable. Glad that you were able to handle those novice divers. I can't believe that they would take a chance like that knowing that those people had never received diving instructions & were not cirtified. I thought that one had to be cirtified in order to dive?? Things must be very different in the Phillipines?

Steve

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 06:19:00 GMT

Just another update that I have just added an additional "side" reef tour of Hilutungan island that I had the pleasure of being the divemaster for. I'll let the webpage tell the rest of the story...

Hilutungan Island Tour

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 03:57:34 GMT

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have made some changes / additions to the reef tour and hope you enjoy it. The addition is yet another "map tour" area located just north of the main site, which I got the photos today. Look for them to change though as I get better photos since those taken were all done on one tank (the other tank was just for "me"..). A totaly beauty day hey!!!! oh, and Eric, you are probably going to kill me, but I could not resist collecting some day glo RED coralliamorphs which are now in my refuge tank, I figured I don't keep acroporas and the like and should not have to deal with what such critters bring to a tank....I hope... Will get some photos up of the new finds tomorrow after they have had the night to settle in. Got a strange reproductive mode to show you on a Alveopora ( I think thats the species, they have 24 tentacles while the goniopora has 12?), anyways, will show ya in the morning (my morning..lol)

My Reef Tour

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:08:21 GMT

Thanks! Its nice not having to clean the glass...lol, although algae control is a real pain...

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

cone9 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:38:07 GMT

WOW...nice tank Chuck!!

Dave

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:18:47 GMT

I may just do that, and then use a graphics editor and make up a photo of some alien looking critter...lol, wonder how many would actualy "get it" though...lol

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

Talfish — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:21:21 GMT

Chuck,

I was just checking out your tour page again, now that I have a new PC and DSL I noticed that you need 1 more spot... something really cool, so there would be an "Area 51"!

Keep up the good work!

Tal

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:02:27 GMT

Thanks! But yeah, that is one biggun there...lol Only green one in the area as well. It is unique enough that I nick named it "the green giant"..lol, Just a few blocks up the coast where the channel cuts in much closer to shore, there are a great many of them scattered about, but are the usual tan/brown colored. Some are also huge colonys as well and always make me wonder at just how old they could be.

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

grenaria — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:08:32 GMT

Wow, I was just checking out the new photos, very nice work Charles! On number 42, is that a Euphyllia? Wow.

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 07:26:17 GMT

Thanks, but in due time, it will change as I will be getting a new "main photo" that is used for the clickable boxes. Having taken that photo from shore, it does not give me the look down view needed to fully cover the area. Today I noticed a three story building nearby and will climb it to get the right angle for use. Then it will just be a matter of plugging everything back into place.

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

chrismo — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 22:39:43 GMT

Thanks for all that work! Very fascinating and nicely put together!

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:05:55 GMT

To be honest, as I rip and tear at it, it floats away and ends up tangled down into the other nearby kelp, without its hold fasts, it should die or quickly end up washed up on shore as it does on the rare storm. I can't imagine trying to collect and then keep every scrap of it as I go, keep in mind, at the time, I'm holding my breath and having to hang on with my other arm. I am feeling it tonight...lol

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

CTReefer — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:43:26 GMT

OK, I'm curious? Chuck what do you do with the Kelp after you dig it up? Nice job on updating the site, I like it!

Steve

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:52:08 GMT

Today saw a few additions made to the reef tour. But first, on my way out, I gathered up 30 juvenile sea urchins for my translocation study. Once at the site, I thought it would be an easy task to clear away the kelp, wrong! I quickly realized that I also had to dig out each kelp's holdfast (roots if you will). After 40 something free dives, I had about 50 percent of the area cleared and was at near 100 percent wore out myself. In a few days, I will go back and finish up the clearing job. So then what do I do? I head further out and end up doing a few more free dives down to 25 feet deep to take the photos needed to make the format change (thanks Eric!) for the reef tour's "clickable areas", today I managed to get area "40" completed, please check it out.

Was kind of cool though that as I dug out each kelp's hold fast, I would get mobbed by a lot of wrasse who quickly lost their shyness. Saw at least five species and all were very beautifull fish.

I also took a few more photos of some of the coral species found within the grass bed areas. Since I am not foolish enough to attempt their identification by photos or by shoving my face mask up against them, I will just say they appear to be a lobophyllia, goniopora, galaxea, montipora and a few favia/favites. Those photos can be seen in Zone 1. I also added a photo each of Linda (my wife) and I at the bottom of the main reef tour page. Am beat and refuse to get out of my chair for the rest of the night...

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

CanadianReef — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:33:34 GMT

That is soooo cool,I think I'll bookmark that one to follow the progress.Im also a bit jealous,did I mention it snowed 15cm here today?

RE: Reef Tour

jtremblay — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 09:02:45 GMT

Very cool, Chuck!

But now you're making me want so what's at the dropoff, so you'd better get your diving gear replaced

Jason

RE: Reef Tour

forestal — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:25:07 GMT

Fantastic job Chuck, I envy you the locale you are in, but the hard work not just on the site but weekly observations makes for really great data.

RE: Reef Tour

rhdoug — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:29:55 GMT

Thanks Chuck, that was great! I just looked at all the shots, (didn't intend to but got caught up in the images) fantastic job! I feel just like I was there with you, except drier (and colder here in New York).

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:14:59 GMT

Thanks all, I appreciate the comments as I tend to be very self critical and never satisfied. Just more incentive to jump back in the ocean, well, not really, I have far too many incentives as it is...

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

CTReefer — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:13:43 GMT

Thanks Chuck that is simply terrific, to say the least! I see that we have another Rachel Carson (Edge of the Sea) in our midst. I really liked the description of the various reef topographies & how they harbor the various life forms. Very nicely done my friend. Keep up the good work & I hope that you get some donations along the way!

Steve

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:00:03 GMT

Thanks!

RE: Reef Tour

Eric Borneman — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:56:46 GMT

I'm scanning your articles when I get to lab today.

RE: Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:36:11 GMT

Sure can! and am also taking your other suggestion to heart and will be working on that as I gather the needed photos. I think I may just have to go back and redo all the 1-50 photos in a panoramic view with smaller details shown per your suggestion. Also, I think I need to work horizontaly to the main photo instead of trying to head straight out from shore snapping photos as I go, I tend to get off track due to currents and the lack of an internal compass...lol For now, its a rough version and will forever expand. Once I move to Bohol next year though, I will have to redo the whole thing with a whole new reef, hopefully one that does not include a zone 3...lol

oh, forget to mention, I found the two perfect sites for that translocation study and included the photos into that page today. They are also located where I can find them extremely easy again and again. Next trip will be at a lower tide where I can pull off / scrape off the kelp from area 1. Was too deep to attempt it today...lol I also have one of the sea urchins sitting in a bucket right now that I have to photograph to ensure I have the right species named as well. Been a busy day!!!

Chuck

RE: Reef Tour

Eric Borneman — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:28:08 GMT

Fabulous, and thanks for announcing it here! Chuck, what I think you missed in our last email was this: is it possible for you to just list the numbers of the numbers (1-50) under each of the zones so people understand on the actual photo of Chcuk's reef how far out eah of those zones extend.

RE: Reef Tour

KathyL — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:55:03 GMT

WOW! This is such a treat for those of us who are landlocked, to see and read about your underwater world! Many thanks, and I will be checking back frequently!

Reef Tour

charlesr1958 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:21:20 GMT

I managed to get the few final photos I needed today to complete the online reef tour I have been working on. Although I am not entirely happy with the photos and will be working on putting something better together, so for now, call this Beta 1.1...lol

A Philippine Reef Tour

Chuck