You may not be aware, but Pocillopora, despite being among the less popular stony corals in the reef aquarium hobby, are second only to Acropora in reef-building productivity in the wild. Their skeletons make up a huge portion of the…
Marine Aquarium Photography: Post Processing of Coral Images
Often the subject of heated online debate is the post processing of coral photos—the manipulation of the coral image by software to tweak color and exposure levels. Post processing of coral images is a particularly hot-button issue because it is…
Marine Aquarium Photography: The Basics of Exposure
At its core, the reef aquarium hobby is a pursuit of aesthetics. We seek out visually appealing fish and corals and look for inspiration in other aquarists’ tanks. More and more reef hobbyists want to share their hobby with others…
Marine Technical Concepts MVX protein skimmer review
Marine Technical Concepts has been around for decades over which time they’ve become known for solid product design and build quality. They may not be the best known manufacturer in the hobby but they should be right at the top…
Orphek Atlantik Compact LED, unboxing and first impressions
Orphek has long been a player in the LED lighting game and with their new Atlantik Compact fixture, they plan to compete in the top tier of high performance reef LED lights. Priced at $749, the Atlantik Compact is aiming to exceed…
Antique coral reef illustrations will tickle your fancy
Antique coral reef illustrations In centuries past—an era absent the wonders of Google’s image search—curious naturalists were reliant on published reports for knowledge on the obscure creatures living in the far corners of the world. The scientists of this period…
Oldest Known Sponge Fossil Found In China
A newly published article documenting the discovery of a tiny fossil from Southern China is helping to expand our understanding of the very earliest stages of the evolution of multicellular animal life. (image above is Eocyathispongia. Image from Yin et al…
So Much to Dig about Montipora digitata!
As I grew to love SPS corals, one in particular stood out and caught my eye: Montipora digitata. I have found M. digitata to be a fast-growing, hardy SPS coral that, once established in a well-balanced reef tank, can really…
Top 7 rainbow SPS and Acropora corals
As stated in a previous post on rainbow corals, a plethora of colors are not too difficult to find in the LPS corals of today. It is evident that this is an exciting time to be in the marine aquarium hobby. What…
Prognathodes: more than meets the Aya
The following is a guest contribution from Joe Oliver, a resident Marine Biologist for the Curacao Sea Aquarium and Substation Curacao. The Banks Butterflyfish (Prognathodes aya) and its relative the French or Three-Banded Butterflyfish (Prognathodes guyanensis), are both striking deepwater butterflyfish that…