About two years ago a thread1 started up on the SPS (small-polyp scleractinian) Coral Keepers sub-forum on Reef Central. I read through the thread and suddenly felt rather ill. The thread described a species of small ‘bug’, almost like a ‘mite’ that infected genus Acropora corals and basically sucked the life out of them.…

In an endeavor to save a few dollars in this very expensive hobby, several years back I tested some alternative calcium reactor substrates ¹ to determine their elemental profiles using an analytical technique known as inductively coupled plasma.…

Here’s a tip I learned a while back to minimize the possibility of minute bubbles from a skimmer making it back into a tank and obscuring the view. I cut the bottom off an old salt bucket (or any appropriately sized bucket) to make the bucket short enough to fit in my sump.…