It has been a great reefing year for me, in that I have set up two new tanks for myself, been to MACNA and all three Reefaploozas and the topper, I have been to the facilities of the four enterprises that…
Longevity in the coral reef aquarium
Recently while perusing the web, I came across an interesting post by Paul B regarding his reef tank now being 44 years old. And while I have been doing this a long time none of the tanks I have ever…
Where do corals come from?
For anyone who is a parent we all remember when we had to have “the talk” with our children. Similarly for everyone new to the hobby as well as for the many visitors we all have invariably the question arises:…
Old Tank Syndrome Revisited
Continuing with my theme from last week, I thought it might be a good time to revisit what has come to be known as “Old tank Syndrome” – or as Joe Yaiullo dubbed it “lazy old hobbyist syndrome”. Actually there…
Breaking Up is Hard to do
There’s a dirty little secret that no one in the hobby will tell you, but I will. Once you get good at this, corals grow, and no I don’t mean the “1cm per year” that your dive boat captain will…
Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach California
When I’m traveling for business or when giving talks I usually try to visit everything I can that is hobby related. I stop at shops, wholesalers and manufacturers to see what is new and interesting. Truth be told, I rarely…
Survival of the Fittest of Aquarium Corals
To paraphrase what Charles Darwin wrote approximately 150 years ago, survival of the fittest is the process of natural selection that allows living things to have the greatest likelihood for producing successful copies of itself in the future. So I’m guessing…
Reef Tank Aesthetics: A forgotten Aspect of the Viewing Experience
Over the years I have been spoiled in that I have had the good fortune of viewing hundreds of tanks all over the country and the world. I cannot thank the people in this hobby enough in that they bring…
No Need For Speed
As we have all undoubtedly been told Patience is a virtue and all good things come to those who wait. However, when every piece of information we could ever want is at our fingertips and we can have anything we…
How to grow the most colorful SPS corals
During the course of history men have always searched for the unobtainable. The knights of King Arthur searched for the Holy Grail, Captain Ahab obsessed about a white whale, in similar fashion we hobbyists have been searching for how to…