I have been keeping aquariums for over 40 years. In 1990, I began the long journey of learning how to keep a reef aquarium. I share my successes, failures, and insight in hopes of making marine aquarium keeping experiences more enjoyable for those who can benefit from what I have learned. Currently I maintain a 200-gallon hard coral reef tank, a 125-gallon soft coral reef tank, and a multi-tank breeding and experiment system. I am an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer.

My early enthusiasm for reef keeping made me seek out more information and I found CompuServe's Fishnet. I served as section leader of the marine section in 1993 and 1994. After my stint as section leader I was asked to stay on as a consultant for the Marine sections. I am a member of the International Society for Reef Studies and have dived the Caribbean, Florida Keys, the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, the Solomon Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Philippines. Experiences in diving have had considerable impact on my reef keeping philosophy.

I have spoken to the Houston Aquarium Society, Desert Marine Society (Phoenix), Las Vegas Marine Aquarium Society, San Francisco Aquarium Society, Dallas-Ft. Worth Marine Aquarium Society (which I am a member of), Western Marine Conference (San Francisco, 1996), Marine Aquarium Conference of North America (MACNA) VIII (Kansas City, 1996), MACNA IX (Chicago, 1997), Western Marine Conference (Seattle, 1998), MACNA X (Longbeach, 1998), Next Wave Conference (Dallas, 1999), Carolina Aquarium Workshop XV (Raleigh, 1999), Florida Marine Aquarium Society, 24th Annual Convention of the Northeast Council of Aquarium Societies (Hartford, 1999), Omaha Marine Society, Oklahoma Marine Aquarium Society, MACNA XI (Louisville, 1999), the Annual CMAS Seminar (Chicago, 2000), MACNA XIII (Baltimore, 2001), Brooklyn Aquarium Society, and Mid-West Marine Conference (Ann Arbor, 2002). At MACNA X II (Ft. Lauderdale, 2000). I was presented an award of the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America "For Outstanding Contributions to the Marine Aquarium Hobby."

ABSTRACT:

Most marine aquariums and reef systems are just an hour or an incident away from a crash. Designing a little safety margin into a system is not difficult and can provide a margin that will allow the system to continue unharmed. I would also like to share with you some images of creatures I have seen on recent dive trips.