Rappin' With ReefBum
Rappin' With ReefBum is a weekly talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community.
Guests Kevin Burda, TSA & Dr. Alex J. Hall, Aquatic Vet; Topic - Coral Pests

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with hosts Keith Berkelhamer and Dong Zou with guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode we chat with Kevin Burda from Top Shelf Aquatics and Dr. Alex J. Hall, who is an aquatic veterinarian. The topic is identifying, managing and preventing coral pests.
Guests Kenny Wayne, Ali Atapour & Cris Capp - Role of LFS in Reef Keeping Hobby

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with hosts Keith Berkelhamer and Dong Zou with guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode we chat with Kenny Wayne, owner of High Tide Aquatics in Oakland, CA, Ali Atapour, who owns Amazing Aquariums & Reefs in Orange, CA and Cris Capp, owner of Aquatic Art in Highlands Ranch, CO. We discuss the role of LFS in today's reef keeping ecosystem.
Guests Sanjay Joshi, Mike Paletta & Andrew Sandler - Future of Reef Keeping

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with hosts Keith Berkelhamer and Dong Zou with guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode we chat with Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Mike Paletta & Andrew Sandler. We will discuss what the future holds for reef keeping.
Guests Chris Meckley & Chris Wood - Using ICPs to Dial in Trace Elements

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with hosts Keith Berkelhamer and Dong Zou with guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode we chat with Chris Meckley and Chris Wood. Meckley is the owner of ACI Aquaculture, a coral wholesaler in Plant City, Florida. Wood is a marine biogeochemist and the Chief Science Officer of Captiv8 Aquaculture. He is also the founder and sole owner of Captiv8. We will discuss how to use ICP testing to dial in trace elements.
Guest: Chris Meckley, ACI Aquaculture

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Chris Meckley, who is the owner of ACI Aquaculture in Plant City, Florida. ACI is a coral wholesaler and Chris runs the business with his wife Amanda and their staff.
Guests: Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Mike Paletta & Claude Schuhmacher

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dr. Sanjay Joshi, Mike Paletta & Claude Schuhmacher.
Sanjay has written many articles about reef keeping, he has been a speaker at several national marine aquarium society meetings and local clubs. In "real" life Sanjay is a professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State University.
Mike too has written a lot of articles for many publications. He has also published two books and has also been a speaker at...
Guests: Julian Sprung & Colin Foord

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Julian Sprung and Colin Foord. Julian is the owner of Two Little Fishies, co-author of a revolutionary series of books called The Reef Aquarium, a frequent speaker at reef keeping conferences and a legend in our hobby.
Colin is a marine biologist and has a website called Coral Morphologic that provides a unique perspective on the hobby by combining science and art to help convey was it going on with endangered reefs...
Guest: Dong Zou, AcroGarden

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dong Zou from AcroGarden.
Dong has a PhD in chemistry and worked for several pharmaceutical companies in various therapeutic areas including anti-inflammatory, cancer, pain management and anti-infectious diseases.
He developed his first interest in marine invertebrates when he was working as a post doc at the University of Virginia. He has been in aquarium hobby since he was in college and he got into the saltwater hobby in 2004 after setting...
Guest: Walt Smith, Walt Smith International

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Walt Smith, who is the founder of Walt Smith International.
The company’s operations are based in Fiji and they have played a pivotal role in supplying ornamental coral and fish to aquariums and hobbyists worldwide, while advocating for the preservation of Fiji's rich marine ecosystems.
Many of you probably have heard of Walt, he has been a pioneer in the Marine Ornamental industry since 1972, and thus he has quite an...
Guest: Doug Dorrat, Frag Farm UK

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE/recorded talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Doug Dorrat, who is the owner and operator of Frag Farm UK.
Guest: Paul Allen, Boston Reefers Society

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Paul Allen, who is the President of the Boston Reefers Society.
Guest: Will Bramucci, Epic Aquaculture

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Will Bramucci, who owns Epic Aquaculture.
Guest: Phil Gilbert, Polyp Lab

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Phil Gilbert from Polyp Lab. Phil is the CEO of Polyp Lab.
Guest: Joe Muscat, Tusi Corals

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Joe Muscat from Tusi Corals.
Joe’s incredible tank has been a Reef2Reef tank of the month a couple of times. The tank was also featured on the World Wide Corals YouTube channel as well as on Mok-Yi’s Innapropriate Reefer’s channel. The tank was also featured in the September/October 2023 edition of CORAL Magazine.
Guest: Rey Riveron, Pirates Reef Corals

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Rey Riveron from Pirates Reef Corals.
Guest: Steve Weast, a.k.a. OregonReef

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Steve Weast, a.k.a. OregonReef.
Steve’s 1000 gallon reef tank was one of the most iconic reef tank of its time. Very inspirational tank. He took a break from keeping reef aquariums but is now back with a stunning 400 gallon tank. His website, oregonreef.com, chronicles his reef keeping journey.
Guest: Jeff Turner, Reef Aquaria Desig

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Jeff Turner from Reef Aquaria Design.
Jeff has been involved with coral reef conservation, marine aquariums and ornamental aquaculture for a lifetime. Some accomplishments include being a member of the Florida Marine Aquarium Society since 1962 and President/Owner of Exotic Aquaria, Inc. from 1980 through 1998, which is when he merged his company with Oceans, Reefs, and Aquariums, Inc. or ORA.
He designed, built, installed, and provided all aquacultured corals and marine...
Guest: Dr. Alex J. Hall, Aquatic Veterinarian

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dr. Alex J. Hall, who is an aquatic veterinarian.
Alex practices in New York. He is interested in all facets of aquatic medicine, with a particular focus on tropical fish and coral disease. His personal tanks include a 180-gallon mixed reef, 55-Gallon Bubble-tip Anemone tank, with 3 additional frag tanks attached.
Guests: Julian Sprung, Charles Delbeek, Dr. Sanjay Joshi & Mike Paletta

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Julian Sprung, Charles Delbeek, Dr. Sanjay Joshi & Mike Paletta.
All of these gentlemen have made major contributions to the hobby over the years, yet they don’t necessarily agree on everything when it comes to keeping and maintaining a successful reef tank. And that’s cool because there are many ways to reef, right? There is no single blueprint for having a healthy, thriving reef tank.
One thing that sparked this...
Guest: Vincent Chalias, Coral Farming Pioneer

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with coral farming pioneer Vincent Chalias.
Vincent is a marine biologist, a diver and a passionate underwater photographer who has helped to document corals by contributing photos and articles to a number of publications in Europe and the US.
He set up the first Indonesian Coral mariculture farms at the beginning of the century and spent over 20 years in Indonesia running these operations. These days Vincent is more focused on reef...
Guest: Andrew Sandler, Polo Reef

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Andrew Sandler from Polo Reef.
Andrew is the creator of the famous 17,000 gallon reef tank in his home and is the Founder & CEO of Polo Reef.
Guests: Claude Schuhmacher & Mike Paletta, Fauna Marin Bolus Method

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Claude Schuhmacher and Mike Paletta.
Claude is the CEO of Fauna Marin while Mike Paletta has written reef keeping articles, books and is blogging now for Polo Reef. Mike is also a frequent speaker at reef keeping conferences. We are going to be talking about the Fauna Marin Bolus Method.
Guest: Tony Vargas, Author, Lecturer, Consultant & Reefaholic

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Tony Vargas.
Tony is an author, lecturer, consultant and an admitted reefaholic.
He started his aquatic adventures at the age of seven with Guppies in a pickle jar. In the early eighties he assembled his first salt water aquarium (fish only). Moving on to more challenging waters, in the mid 1980's he experimented with marine invertebrates and corals. In the late eighties a handful of aquarist including Tony were among...
Guest: Leng Sy, EcoSystem Aquarium

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Leng Sy from EcoSystem Aquarium.
In 1979, Leng, who is of Chinese descent, fled Vietnam with his family, through Cambodia, to a refugee camp in Thailand to pursue freedom and find opportunity. In early May, 1981, Leng and his family arrived in the United States, speaking broken English and with not a penny to their name! Thanks to the kindness and support of the people of Cambridge, Wisconsin, the U.S. government, and his...
Guest: Ty Ta, Black Label Aquatics

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Ty Ta from Black Label Aquatics.
Ty has been keeping reef tanks since 2004. He spends his days collecting and propagating the choicest acros and is a huge advocate of aquacultured corals. His education in Ocean and Coastal Resources at Texas A&M University at Galveston prepared him for the task of running a coral propagation business and helped him move forward with the creation of Black Label Aquatics, which was formerly known...
Guest: Greg Carroll, Hobbyist & President of SCMAS

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Greg Carroll. Greg is a very accomplished reef keeper who has won tank of the month honors on Reef Central, is president of the Southern California Marine Aquarium Society, and is one of the founders of Reefapalooza.
Guest: Chris Meckley, ACI Aquaculture

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Chris Meckley, who is the owner of ACI Aquaculture in Plant City, Florida. ACI is a coral wholesaler and Chris runs the business with his wife Amanda and their staff.
Guest: Chris Wood, Captiv8 Aquaculture

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Chris Wood from Captiv8 Aquaculture.
Chris is a marine biogeochemist and the Chief Science Officer of Captiv8 Aquaculture. He is also the founder and sole owner of Captiv8. The company’s R&D draws from Chris’ experience and two additional scientists, with a total of four PhDs.
Chris entered the aquatics industry in 2000 as a marine scientist and product development and support specialist, and since that time has worked with aqua...
Guest: Dong Zou, AcroGarden

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dong Zou from AcroGarden.
Dong has a PhD in chemistry and worked for several pharmaceutical companies in various therapeutic areas including anti-inflammatory, cancer, pain management and anti-infectious diseases. He developed his first interest in marine invertebrates when he was working as a post doc at the University of Virginia.
He has been in aquarium hobby since he was in college and he got into the saltwater hobby in 2004 after setting...
Guest: Dr. Gregory Barord, Des Moines Public Schools’ Marine Biology Program

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dr. Gregory Barord, who is a marine biologist and the head of the Marine Biology Program at Des Moines Iowa Public Schools.
Guest: Jim Graham, a.k.a Telegraham

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Jim Graham, who is also known as Telegraham.
Jim has been a reef keeping hobbyist for about 11 years. He likes to take equipment apart to study build quality and to better understand how things function. He has operated on a number of products from GHL, Neptune and other manufacturers. The data from his tests have yielded some very unique and un-biased insights.
Jim is retired Air Force, formerly assigned to...
Guest: Todd Gardner, College Professor & Aquaculture Specialist for Biota Inc.

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Todd Gardner.
Todd is a professor of Aquaculture at Carteret Community College in Morehead City, NC, and an Aquaculture Specialist for Biota Inc. which specializes in sustainably cultured marine fishes and invertebrates for aquariums. His life and his career have been shaped by his passion for marine life and he has written numerous scientific and popular articles about his research and experiences collecting, keeping, and culturing marine organisms.
Todd’s pr...
Guests: Dr. Sanjay Joshi and Mike Paletta

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with reef keeping legends Dr. Sanjay Joshi and Mike Paletta. Sanjay has written many articles about reef keeping and has been a speaker at several national marine aquarium society meetings and local clubs.
In "real life" Sanjay is a professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State University. Mike has also written a lot of articles for many publications and has published two books: The New Marine Aquarium and Ultimate Marine Aquariums...
Guests: Dr. Eli Meyer, AquaBiomics/Dr. Andrew Bouwma, Science Educator/Hobbyist

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Dr. Eli Meyer from AquaBiomics and Dr. Andrew Bouwma, a science educator and hobbyist.
Eli is a coral biologist and aquarium hobbyist and he owns AquaBiomics. AquaBiomics can analyze the microbiome of an aquarium using DNA sequencing. So they can diagnose issues & identify strategies for promoting a healthy microbiome.
Andy has a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has published research on tropical ecology and science...
Guest: Salem Clemens, Coral Researcher & Reef Builders Contributor

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Salem Clemens, a coral researcher and Reef Builders Contributor.
Salem has been in the hobby for a decade and has worked in the industry for the last five years. He has worked with numerous fish stores and now farms coral, phytoplankton, and copepods on his own. Salem is in his senior year pursuing a degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology with a minor in Chemistry.
He is researching coral pathogens...
Guest: Adam Derickson, Battlecorals

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Adam Derickson from Battlecorals.
Guest: Tim Kelley, Purple Monster Corals

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Tim Kelley who owns Purple Monster Corals, which is a coral export business in the Solomon Islands.
Guests: Julian Sprung & Charles Delbeek

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with reef keeping legends Julian Sprung & Charles Delbeek.
Julian and Charles are very well known for co-authoring a revolutionary series of books called The Reef Aquarium…there are 3 volumes.
Julian has published other books and written numerous articles about the hobby. He co-founded his company, Two Little Fishies, with Daniel Ramirez back in 1991. Julian is also a frequent speaker at aquarium conferences and club events.
Besides being an author an...
Guest: Duane Oestreich, Hobbyist

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with hobbyist Duane Oestreich. Duane has been a SPS fanatic for over 18 years and he is an old-fashioned coral butcher and wholesaler for several local Seattle, Washington area locations. Duane was the treasurer and president of the Puget Sound Aquarium Society. He is currently running a SPS-dominated reef with a total water volume of 450 gallons.
Guest: Ken Colby, High Tide Aquatics

Rappin' With ReefBum is a LIVE talk show with host Keith Berkelhamer and guests from the reef keeping community. In this episode I chat with Ken Colby (a.k.a. Kenny Wayne) from High Tide Aquatics.
Ken has been keeping saltwater aquariums for over thirty years. He is the owner of High Tide Aquatics (HTA) in Oakland, California. HTA offers saltwater fish, coral, inverts, and aquarium supplies and specializes in selling fully quarantined fish. HTA is currently the only local fish store (LFS) in the nation certified by Humblefish. Ken is passionate about sharing knowledge with beginner...