It's a fish eat fish world out there. Wild fishes face daunting lives in nature; everything in the ocean either wants to eat you or outcompete you for territory or mates. Collection for the aquarium is only the beginning of a hectic and stressful time in their lives....
As some of you may know, there has been a big pushback on the collection of fishes from Hawaii for many years now. Legislation has been written to fully close down the Hawaii fishery (meaning no more Hawaiin fish collection), greatly limit the Hawaiian fishery, and...
Earlier this year we shared a DIY Alkalinity Monitor created by David Cheng. Since then we have been keeping a close eye on this unit, along with other similar devices for monitoring alkalinity. Fast forward to today and we now have a production model of David Cheng's...
These tips aren't secret, but it's come to my attention that some of the larger retailers in our industry don't talk about a few simple things that can greatly extend your filter life reducing costs long term. Many retailers offer standard four stage systems with...
Most hobbyists never have interactions with marine life collectors. Our LFS rarely do either. It can almost seem that these fish appear in tanks out of the blue. Of course, we know the animals are collected somewhere, and shipped; but have you ever thought about the...
The captive bred Zebrasoma flavescens we've all been ogling over from the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii Pacific University have hit wholesalers Quality Marine and Segrest Farms. The initial shipments of 300-400 fish are almost all spoken for, heading to new homes at...
We all know the inherent risks that come with using live rock. Sometimes we'll even be gifted hitchhikers on new coral. One of the most undesirable pests has to be a giant worm from the Eunice genus, commonly labeled a 'Bobbit worm'. Some of these worms can grow to...
A recently announced new exhibit at California Academy of Sciences is slated to open June 10th, 2016, "Twilight Zone: Deep Reefs Revealed". For this mesophotic reef nerd nothing in a zoological setting could be more exciting. Very little has been shared regarding the...
There's a plethora of choices that comes with setting up a new marine aquarium; these days the seemingly simple task of adding rock provides no break in the daunting decision making process. Boat, plane, aquacultured, maricultured, man-made, hybrid, ceramic... all...
At one point or another all reef keepers have dreamt of this device. A constant alkalinity controller that keeps carbonate hardness (KH) rock solid. David Cheng made this dream a reality by building his own "KHG". "It took me two years to complete it and one year to...