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…
My musings from MACNA
As usual MACNA meant so many corals and friends and equipment but so little time. Due to family commitments I was only able to spend Saturday in DC at MACNA, but it was a well-spent 8 hours. As usual, the…
How to Remove Unwanted Fish from a Reef Tank
Okay let’s admit it, we all make mistakes. And sadly I must admit that I probably make more than most. As we all know there are two types of mistakes: omission where we don’t do something we should have, and…
Common Coral Reef Pests and some ideas on how to remove them
In the early days of the hobby, we paid little attention to the many small animals that came in with our corals. We had such a difficult time keeping our corals alive that little thought was paid to the potential…
Unsung pioneers in the reef aquarium Hobby
After attending last year’s MACNA in Denver and a couple of the recent Reefapaloozas, I have come to the realization that the majority of the people now in the hobby have been in the hobby for less than ten years. …
Women in the Hobby, and the lack thereof
With it being Mother’s Day Weekend I thought it would be interesting to discuss a topic dear to my heart: The relative dearth of women in the hobby. While reefkeeping has been around for approximately 30 years and the advances…
Shipping livestock is the weakest link in Aquatics
The hobby has made remarkable strides over the last 30 years; almost everything in the hobby is now superior to how it was in the early days of the hobby. Sadly the one thing that really has not improved is shipping. I…
Pros and Cons of the aquarium hobby being so expensive
Recently I became involved in something I hadn’t done for a long time: helping a total newbie set up his first reef tank. Initially he wanted to set up a 300-gallon reef, but after we came up with the list…
What traits make a great reefer?
While sitting around with Julian, Jake and Sanjay, an interesting discussion developed as to what traits make a great reefer. It was a lively debate as each of us had our own ideas of what traits really differentiate great reefers…
Common little lies we’ve told our significant other about reef tanks
Since my intention to stir debate and ignite discussion has apparently occurred from my past couple of articles, I thought I would try and be little more light-hearted this week, especially with today being Valentine’s Day. For those of you lucky…
