The Environmental Gradient
The Concept and its History (circa 9/18/00)
The discovery that living sponges and sea squirts can be important and
applicable filtering components of captive reefs was not made over night. It was
a process that required a few years of captive discovery and a few more years
of captive research to prove. The basic concept has now proven itself during
research that was conducted at the laboratories of DE. Further refinements are
presently occurring. Additionally, we are looking into incorporating newer cryptic
and even some semi-cryptic animal organisms into the natural filtration concept.
The present sponge and sea squirt concept is centered on the idea that a major
component of the natural reef habitat has been under emphasized or has been
completely lacking in many captive reef methodologies. The missing component
has been the cryptic no light and very weak current habitat. This habitat not only
occurs in the deep twilight zone of reefs but is also found in many areas in mid to
shallow water depths. In fact the majority of inhabitable surface structure within a reef
platform occur within cryptic habitats. We document some of these in the
first volume of our Captive Oceans Series called
The Porifera - (Living Sponges) Their Biology, Physiology and Natural Filtration Integration
We devote an entire chapter to this subject in the book volume 1 of the CMAT series.
The snorkler and scuba divers vision of a tropical reef may be somewhat limited in scope simply due to the fact that the majority of inhabitable reef structure is not easily accessable to casual observation. This has also provided an opportunity where the captive maintenance and study of captive tropical reef organisms can be greatly benificial and can provide important discoveries.
By cryptic no light weak current habitat, I am not referring to sections of the typical
captive reef sump. These sumps have traditionally been very harsh environments
with strong currents. Aquarist often drip topoff freshwater into these sumps and also
add many forms of calcium replenishment. The water levels in typical sumps often
vary quite a bit. The cryptic habitats I am referring too are special no light weak current
habitats that are setup specifically for promoting sponge growth from live rocks. They
can also be designed to promote healthy sea squirts.
