delafe
New member
First, I want to say that I am thankful that your article has served as a wakeup call to many people and that they are now starting to question things which they have been taking for granted.
Your article was certainly controversial, and has generated a lot of discussions on the various reef related forums. I posted the following message on one of those forums, and felt that in all fairness it should also be posted here so that you would have an opportunity to reply.
Once again, thanks for taking the first steps in what will hopefully turn out to be considerable research in the care of our closed systems.
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I must admit, there are a few questions which have been raised by Dr. Shimek's article. While I certainly appreciate the work and effort that he put into it, I think it would have been wise to allow the results to speak for themselves rather than include a link to his favorite online store...
Second, if you allow the results to speak for themself, then all that you have is that FRESHLY mixed synthetic salts by Instant Ocean and Coralife MAY have an increased mortality rate of a sensative invertebrate. I dont know if I would have jumped to the conclusion that it was the heavy metals.
An interesting note: Dr. Shimek posted online that he also had a higher rate of deformed larvae in the IO and Coralife beakers. If he would have discussed this in his article it certainly would have strengthened the argument that a polutant was involved. Although I would have also liked to have seen other test parameters such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc. I also would have liked to have seen a control with higher ammonia levels in Natural Salt Water (I believe that IO and Coralife both have higher than normal ammonia levels when first mixed.)
Dr. Shimek's article is an excellent starting point. I personally think that the real question that needs to be asked and answered is WHY did he get the results he got? He stated (In a public forum) that there was an increased rate of deformity of larvae in IO and Coralife, has it been determined whether or not Arbacia punctulata larvae have a higher than normal sensitivity to any one compound or water parameter? (ie: Ammonia)
At the very least, his article tells us that we need to be careful with freshly mixed salt water. Perhaps the use of activate carbon in the mixing container would be helpful? His article has certainly been an eye opener, and I am eagerly awaiting followup research based on the work that Atkinson/Bingman and now Shimek have done.
-Alfred
Your article was certainly controversial, and has generated a lot of discussions on the various reef related forums. I posted the following message on one of those forums, and felt that in all fairness it should also be posted here so that you would have an opportunity to reply.
Once again, thanks for taking the first steps in what will hopefully turn out to be considerable research in the care of our closed systems.
-
I must admit, there are a few questions which have been raised by Dr. Shimek's article. While I certainly appreciate the work and effort that he put into it, I think it would have been wise to allow the results to speak for themselves rather than include a link to his favorite online store...
Second, if you allow the results to speak for themself, then all that you have is that FRESHLY mixed synthetic salts by Instant Ocean and Coralife MAY have an increased mortality rate of a sensative invertebrate. I dont know if I would have jumped to the conclusion that it was the heavy metals.
An interesting note: Dr. Shimek posted online that he also had a higher rate of deformed larvae in the IO and Coralife beakers. If he would have discussed this in his article it certainly would have strengthened the argument that a polutant was involved. Although I would have also liked to have seen other test parameters such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc. I also would have liked to have seen a control with higher ammonia levels in Natural Salt Water (I believe that IO and Coralife both have higher than normal ammonia levels when first mixed.)
Dr. Shimek's article is an excellent starting point. I personally think that the real question that needs to be asked and answered is WHY did he get the results he got? He stated (In a public forum) that there was an increased rate of deformity of larvae in IO and Coralife, has it been determined whether or not Arbacia punctulata larvae have a higher than normal sensitivity to any one compound or water parameter? (ie: Ammonia)
At the very least, his article tells us that we need to be careful with freshly mixed salt water. Perhaps the use of activate carbon in the mixing container would be helpful? His article has certainly been an eye opener, and I am eagerly awaiting followup research based on the work that Atkinson/Bingman and now Shimek have done.
-Alfred
