Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel to the New York
Metropolitan area from the tip of Cape Cod. The trip allowed me to visit fellow
reef keepers and a wholesaler who specialized in reef animals. Naturally, I took
a lot of pictures, most of which I will make up most of this editorial.

The highlight of my trip was spending a day with one of our
columnists, Greg Schiemer. Greg is certainly the equal of any reef keeper when
it comes to husbandry, along with his ability to create truly beautiful
artificial reefs. Although there are probably as many theories about the right
way to create and maintain and artificial reef as there are reef keepers, for
me the proof of the “pudding is in the tasting.” Greg’s reef pudding is about
as good as it gets. Following are a few new pictures of Greg’s reef tanks that
I took on my recent trip.

Next issue I’ll show new pictures of Randy Donowitz’s tanks
at Pratt Institute, and some of the stock at Reef Splendor. The photo for the
cover of this issue was taken at Reef Splendor.

This
is a photo of a large section of Greg’s 500-gallon reef tank.

Greg’s Catalaphyllia
jardinei. Greg has had this
beautiful coral for many years. Once thought of as beginner’s coral it has
recently proven to be very difficult to keep healthy. It appears to be very
subject to bacterial infection.

Greg’s T. gigas
has grown so large over the years that it now has a tank of its own, and is
threatening to break open the walls of that tank. Greg told me that the clam
when expelling water can dump close to a gallon of water onto the floor, or in
your face if you’re too close.

This is Greg’s grow-out tank. Many of us would love to have
a display tank as beautiful as his grow-out tank.

Greg’s
purple acro.  This is a coral of
Greg’s that he had for many years, and fragments of which have found homes in
many reef keeper’s tanks. Like Julian Sprung, Greg has supplied over the years
fragments to numerous reef keepers.

Greg’s regal angel is very a very colorful specimen.

These
are more of Greg’s SPS corals. The Acropora
millepora is especially beautiful, although my picture of it does not do
its colors justice.