Top 6 New Species of Corals & Crabs of 2017

This year gave us a bumper crop of new neat little crabs and hermit crab species although it was kind of mild on the new coral species front. Any given year it’s impossible to compare the number of new reef…

My Corals are Dying: Why?

    Over the years I have been asked a lot of questions. Some have come and gone over time, like what is the best whatever or what fish or coral can I add to my tank. Some, however, have…

This Huge Soft Coral Reef Tank in Taiwan is Incredible!

The National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium in Pingtung Taiwan is fulled with lots of great coral reef science, and some incredible saltwater aquariums. One of these has to rank among one of the most impressive soft coral displays…

Bangka Island Has A New Dive Site, And You’re Gonna Love It!
Tanjung Merah Earlier this month we had the chance to dive around Bangka Island with Sulawesi dive guru Danny Charlton, and he made sure to pick out the cream of the crop for our exploration dives. What really keeps me excited…
Bad Things We Add to Our Tanks

     As St. Bernard wrote “The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions”. With the meaning of this is that we often do things with the best of intentions, but invariably they often lead to suffering. Unfortunately, this is…

Old Tank Syndrome Revisited

In the mid-1990’s I wrote an article about something I was experiencing in one of my tanks and which I had seen in a few other tanks and dubbed it “Old Tank Syndrome”. This is actually kind of funny now,…

Beyond the very beginning…stocking your reef for success

If you ask most level-headed reef hobbyists, one of the most enjoyable parts of the game is stocking our systems with corals and fishes. Now, on the surface, this seems like just a super-fun thing to do- and it IS-…

How To Fill Out Your Reef Tank When You’re Just Getting Started

Filling Out Your New Reef Tank One of the biggest challenges for new aquarium hobbyists is patience. It’s not uncommon to have a rock garden in your living room for two months before your aquarium is cycled and ready for its…

Reef Tanks Can Suffer From Too Much of a Good Thing

By now we have all probably heard the quote from St. Bernard that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That seems to be an especially appropriate quote for this hobby where it seems that often when we…

How to Care for Soft Corals

Are you just getting started on your first saltwater aquarium and looking to dive into your first corals? If so, soft corals are an excellent group of corals that are easy to care for and are pleasing to the eye.…