Ogcocephalus sp., RARE Batfish

Good morning friends, this is what you call an OMG fish!! This is another “possible” New Species of Batfish Ogcocephalus sp. found 2.5 miles off the coast of St. Eustatia with the use of a mini-submersible on loan from Substation Curacao and found by scientists from the Smithsonian Institution. In Statia we were anchored around a quarter mile off shore in about 35-40 feet of water with nothing but sand and sea-grass below filled with sting-rays and giant flying gurnards. Unlike Curacao where the reef drops off immediately St

How I Hit The Live Rock Mother Lode!

How I Hit The Live Rock Mother Lode! I was down in Florida on vacation for a few days and I had an opportunity to visit a LFS in Orlando, Florida and cherry pick some Haitian live rock for my reef tank reboot.  It was nothing short of the mother lode of live rock! Check out what happened! [embedded content] If you are looking for additional insights and information, please explore my many other reef tank and SPS related articles. And you can see all of my reef tank videos online now as well as my Live HD Webcam. Happy reef keeping! reefbum Related Posts

Fish Spotlight – Anampses lennardi

This week our featured fish spotlight is A. lennardi.  This extremely rare and beautiful wrasse is seldom imported into the United State but if you are lucky enough to find one of these fish and it’s in your budget then this is a wrasse you might want to consider for your reef aquarium.  This week in fact, Quality Marine received in some of these fish for the first time in several years.   A. lennardi, also known as Lennard’s wrasse, has neon blue and yellow horizontal lines and it ranges from the Eastern Indian Ocean to Northwestern Australia but it is seldom available in the US aquarium trade.  It’s not that the fish is so rare in the wild.  The rarity has more to do with where the

Day 1247: Three years, 5 months

If you follow my youtube channel, you've probably heard how I have to get my arms wet and really cull the 400g reef because the growth at the top is shadowing everything beneath, and those things beneath have little chance of living. I hate to have to rip out these big colonies, but there's no choice. Here are a bunch of pictures of the tank today. I've also included some images of the Anemone Cube. Biggest thing to happen recently was an alkalinity dip. When I see some coral turn white and bleach, I always think it's because of shadowing instead of being a smart guy and testing alkalinity, and yet it again I was wrong and water quality has dropped somewhat. Alkalinity was measuring 7.5 dKH and the big acro at the top took a hit. I was able to correct that mistake, and dosed some buffer to bring it up while adjusting the calcium reactor's melting point a bit lower to increase the total alkalinity of the tank. The effluent coming out of the calcium reactor measures 20 dKH which is perfectly good

Reef Threads Podcast #315


Robert LaFlure’s towel.

This week’s topics are Robert LaFlure’s new towel and algae. Robert’s towel is an entertaining story and Christine cooks up an idea that can help spread the word about our hobby.
Algae is a problem for everyone at one time or another. In response to a listener request, we address algae growth in our aquariums and what to do to keep it in check.

Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

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Reef Threads Podcast #314


Craig Bingman talks about alkalinity, Ca, and Mg in this week’s podcast.

Craig Bingman returns to us this week for an extensive look at calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, and how they work together to make coral skeleton. If you want a better understanding of the chemistry that’s happening in your reef aquarium, this is the show for you.

Download the podcast here, or subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes. Also, follow us on Twitter at reefthreads.—Gary and Christine

Sponsor: Rod’s Food
Rod’s Food website

NameEmail *