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- Apr 28, 2019
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Ok so watching modern reef diver videos as everyone knows always have lots of sad sites that were once reefs or maybe are still holding on but super bleached... lots of algae and other issues... but still plenty of vibrant healthy looking reefs around the world... but the one area that always seems to be the least affected and most beautiful looking natural reef in my opinion is the Red Sea. It's slightly land locked so it doesn't get as much fresh water coming in... the Red Sea has a salinity of 1.030, impressive variety of species, amazing coral coloration, and seemingly less dead zones, less bleaching, and less algae... I can't help but think the takeaway is that the higher salinity of 40 ppt is at least partly responsible for this.
Studies show some corals in the wild to be 5,000+ years old... when the world was cooler and glaciers were larger and not melting as much fresh water into the ocean to drop to the current ocean salinity.
Has anyone tried maintaining a reef with this level of salt? Ive got half a mind to start an experimental tank like this. What are the negative effects besides more money in salt? I assume some creatures both fish and inverts have evolved over time to the lower salinity of today's oceans and wouldn't be able to tolerate this, but there is plenty of life to choose from in the Red Sea.
Studies show some corals in the wild to be 5,000+ years old... when the world was cooler and glaciers were larger and not melting as much fresh water into the ocean to drop to the current ocean salinity.
Has anyone tried maintaining a reef with this level of salt? Ive got half a mind to start an experimental tank like this. What are the negative effects besides more money in salt? I assume some creatures both fish and inverts have evolved over time to the lower salinity of today's oceans and wouldn't be able to tolerate this, but there is plenty of life to choose from in the Red Sea.