sera guide - Marine aquariums

44 Many metabolic processes in animals and plants require catalysts. They activate reac- tions of single components and lead to the formation of certain substances required within the organism. These biological cata- lysts are called enzymes. Rare metal ions play a key role in some of these enzymes. They originate from the marine water and are taken up by the animals either from the water or with the food. The trace elements are present in the sera marin COMPONENT 3 trace elements Anionics and sera marin COMPONENT 4 trace elements Kationics solutions. Regular addition is by all means necessary as these trace elements are consumed by animals and plants. Trace elements are not only important in en- zymes, but they are also present in certain color pigments. They can be found in the coral tissues of stony corals, especially in parts of the colony that are exposed to direct sunlight. It is likely that they reduce the influ- ence of aggressive sunlight. Keepers of stony corals wish to achieve the same color intensity of the animals kept in the aquarium as in nature or even enhance it. This is pos- sible, even under aquarium light, which is weak compared to natural sunlight (approx. 5,000 Watt/m2 ). An elevated level was found to lead to enhanced color intensity of stony corals under aquarium conditions. Accor- dingly, some brown Acropora corals turn into violet ones within only a few weeks! Trace elements++