Nanocustoms prototype is not messing around

Nanocustoms decided to test the boundaries of a new heatsink along with some badass new Bridgelux N1203 LEDs and came up with one monster of an LED lighting fixture. The four Bridgelux N1203 LEDs are neutral whites running around 4,500K…

Pylopaguropsis keijii from Hawaii

This beautiful hermit crab is called Pylopaguropsis keijii (McLaughlin & Haig, 1989). The body is golden color and claw and legs are really bright purple. I got this hermit crab from famous rare fish diver Robert Lower in Hawaii who…

Seaweed fossils may be Earth’s oldest plants

An abundance of fossils resembling seaweed uncovered in southern China may prove to be some of the oldest plants ever discovered. Previously the earliest uncovered evidence of creatures resembling what we would consider modern organisms was dated around 580 million…

AlgaeBase a great online reference for aquarium macroalgae identification

AlgaeBase is an often overlooked resource available to hobbyists looking to identify and gain more information on macroalgae in the marine aquarium trade. Macroalgae identification can be tough once you get outside of the caulerpa and chaetomorpha varieties most common…

ReefStock 2011 speakers will be Sharon Ram, Matt Wandell and Julian Sprung

ReefStock is a fun aquarium conference held in Denver Colorado, at the Denver Downtown Aquarium. One month from today, on March 12th, the 4th annual ReefStock will go down once again, featuring some of the best livestock, hottest new products,…

The Pinnatus Batfish producer steps forward with answers!

First time we heard about Indonesian Pinnatus Batfish, they were rumored to be captive-bred.  Then, as time went on, vendors started using “tank-raised” to describe these fish, and by 2010’s marine breeding year-in-review, we were all thinking they were likely…

Fish Heads’ Real Reef line adds Shelf and Nano Live Rock!

A couple weeks ago we brought you the battle royale between Walt Smith’s Fiji Cultured Live Rock and Fish Heads new Real Reef Live Rock.  What we didn’t know at the time was that the folks at Fish Heads already…

2nd Annual Marine Breeding Initiative Workshop Announced

It’s official – arguably the only event of it’s kind in the country (oh heck, let’s just go big and say the only one in the WORLD), the 2nd Annual Marine Breeder’s Workshop has been announced for Saturday, July 23,…

New bill threatens to ban commercial reef fish harvest in Hawaii – updated

On the heels of Ret Talbot’s January 2011 CORAL Magazine article on the Hawaiian Marine Aquarium Fish Trade comes a bill in the Hawaii State Legislature to amend Chapter 188 of the Hawaii State Statute.  Specifically, revisions to marine life…

Walt Smith’s Fiji Cultured Live Rock and Fish Heads’ Real Reef Live Rock Go Head-To-Head

Online saltwater livestock retailer Drs. Foster & Smith’s Diver’s Den at Live Aquaria caught our attention over the past couple weeks with a new product quietly “snuck in” to the daily Diver’s Den emails.  Listed under the invertebrates category, there…