Yi-Kai Tea returns to Reef Builders!

Reef Builders is thrilled to welcome back ichthyologist extraordinaire Dr. Yi-Kai Tea. Kai is a Chadwick Biodiversity Research Fellow and systematic ichthyologist at the Australian Museum.  His research interests combine the use of cutting-edge next-generation sequencing techniques with traditional methods…

Windsor Adams Joins Reef Builders Leadership Team

Reef Builders is thrilled to announce shareholder Windsor Adams to our new leadership team. Windsor will be an integral part of our journey forward and will continue her role as Social Media Director. Reef Builders, like our community of professional…

How do I know if my tank’s too clean?

Stand in your LFS and about one in ten reefers will say their tank is too clean. Compared to temperate and cold waters, the tropical waters that our corals inhabit are nutrient-poor, hence the symbiosis between photosynthetic corals and zooxanthellae,…

Giesemann Aurora V12 is the new Hypercar of LED

Germany used to make some of the best aquarium lights in the world, and for some, they still do, but the best-selling high-end aquarium lights now come from America. Premium lighting brand Giesemann wants to change that, however, putting everything…

The New Octocorallia: Scleralcyonacea (And A Few Remaining Mysteries)

Having now fully explored the Malacalcyonacea Part 1 and Part 2, it’s time to turn our attention to its sister group, the order Scleralcyonacea. These clades are roughly equivalent in terms of species-level diversity, but whereas the malacalcyonaceans included many…

Aqua Illumination launches new Blade LED Light Fixture

Aqua Illumination has taken a big leap with the launch of an all-new light fixture called Blade. A change in form factor from the well-known AI fan-cooled models, Blade is a slimline passively cooled LED striplight that can be used…

Do blue LEDs narrow our reefkeeping choice?

I’m lucky enough to be able to dive some of the best reefs the ocean gods have given us, but there is not a single dive that I pass a coral or a fish, and wonder why they are not…

Cairns Marine’s Yellow Mottled Hammer Coral has us going Bananas

We’ve handled a lot of hammer corals over the years, both Branching and Walling, but this Yellow Mottled Aussie Ancora from Cairns Marine stands out for its color, mottling pattern, and its uniqueness.   “This one came in a few weeks…

Thor and Thor X are MicMol’s mythology-inspired lighting fixtures 

Lighting manufacturer MicMol has come up with two new iterations of its G4 Aqua Mini and Aqua Pro Series lights, the Thor, and Thor X. The Thor is a 60-watt fan-cooled compact and slimline light fixture made from a single…

Gloomy Octopus throw things at each other, study finds 

Octopuses deserve way more intellectual respect than we give them credit for, and films like My Octopus Teacher and Octopus: Making Contact, has only made us love them more. We’ve seen Octopuses open screw-top jars, dream, and even punch fish,…