By: CRAIG BINGMAN, Ph.D. For some aquarists, one of the advantages to having a reef aquarium is that one gets to play the role of a minor god. The fate of a mesocosm of organisms is in your hands, as…
‘Sundried tide’ — silent, natural disaster
Their analyses have revealed for the first time that these are highly predictable events that can seriously impact the state of coral reefs at a time when they are preparing for the stresses of summer. In a paper published in…
Water Too Hot? Reefs Hope for a Hurricane
A hurricane can destroy a coral reef. The fragile superstructure created by millions of marine microorganisms does not fare well when slammed by high winds and powerful waves. But coral reefs worldwide have bigger fish to fry, so to speak,…
Mac Dashboard Widget: Salinity for your saltwater tank
Mark over at his blog, made a nice handy Mac widget called Salinity. It is used to calculate approximate salinity based on your hydrometer reading. It takes into account the current water temperature and the hydrometer’s calibration temperature. Pretty nifty…
Colossal Squid Caught off Antarctica, length 43FT!
In Antarctica’s Ross Sea, a fishing boat has caught what is likely the world’s biggest known colossal squid (yes, that’s the species’ name), New Zealand officials announced today. Heavier than even giant squid, colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) have eyes as…
Week In review of June 2007 for saltwater aquarium news and articles
Coral Reef Fish Starve Themselves to Maintain Social Order Indian Ocean sailfin tang, Zebrasoma desjardinii Buying an Aquarium a how to guide 24″ 2×24W Tek 2 T5 High-Output Retrofit Kit w/ Bulbs Released Giesemann 54W T5 Professional Retrofit Kit What!…
Reef Builders 100% uptime since Launch
Reef Builders is still growing strong thanks in part to our current members informing everyone they can about this site. We appreciate that very much, also it does help that we have had 100% uptime with no unscheduled downtime since…
Why Reverse Osmosis is a must when keeping a saltwater aquarium
Maintaining good water quality is a foregone conclusion in fishkeeping, but it cannot be stressed long and hard enough when it comes to keeping corals. Perhaps it is not surprising then that some enthusiasts adopt almost clinical levels of cleanliness…
Shark pregnancy baffles aquarium
Veterinarian Bob George sliced open the dead shark and saw the outline of a fish. No surprise there, since sharks digest their food slowly. Then George realized he wasn’t looking at the stomach of the blacktip reef shark, but at…
Coral Reef Fish Starve Themselves to Maintain Social Order
Some coral reef fish starve themselves to avoid getting into fights with their larger, dominant neighbors, researchers have found. Emerald coral gobies live in small groups in which social rank is strictly determined by body size. Within each group only…