About

UltraMarine Magazine is an established and respected resource for reef-keepers of all abilities, providing an entertaining mixture of high quality advice, factual information, opinion, stunning imagery and the latest news and developments in the field – all to fuel your inspiration for marine life! Available in glossy print and stunning, hi-res digital formats, UltraMarine Magazine releases six issues per year, with back issues also available via one-off purchase or with Digital and Premium subscriptions.

Editor

John Clipperton

Our editor is award-winning UK photographer and lifelong aquarist, John Clipperton. John has worked with numerous top marine retailers, publishers and manufacturers on a freelance basis. He has also collaborated on a range of projects with senior experts in the field, and supported organisations such as zoos, public aquaria, conservation initiatives and educational establishments. Acknowledged as a ‘World Class’ aquarium photography expert, his images have featured in, and on the covers of, an extensive range of publications in recent years and he has written dozens of articles covering a wide variety of subjects. With extensive knowledge and an eye for naturalistic aquascaping, his aquaria have won critical acclaim in the reef-keeping community.

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Regular Contributors

Running since 2007, UltraMarine has stood the test of time and attracted the involvement of dozens of the World’s top reef-keeping and marine aquarium experts. In the pages of our back issues you can find seminal works by resepected hobby legends such as Alf J Nilsen, Bob Fenner, Eric Borneman, Anthony Calfo, Jake Adams, Si Garrett, Tony Vargas, Tony Wu, Clayton Smith, Jamie Craggs, James Fatherree, Sharon Ram… and many more. Below are listed some of our more recent, regular contributors.

Mike Paletta

Mike was awarded the prestigious MASNA award in 2022 for his lifelong involvement in promoting the marine aquarium hobby. Throughout the past 40 years he has devoted his time and knowledge to educate all interested in the hobby. Mike has been keeping reef tanks since the mid 1980’s and during the past 30 years he has written over 250 articles on marine fish and invertebrates in both the US and Europe. Magazines he has written for include Aquarium Fish Magazine, SeaScope, Practical Fishkeeping, UltraMarine, Aquarium Frontiers, Coral Magazine, and Freshwater and Marine Aquarium. His first book “The Modern Marine Aquarium” is an attempt to simplify marine fish keeping for the beginning hobbyist while at the same time incorporating advances that have been made due to reef keeping. His second book “Ultimate Marine Aquariums” illustrates how far the hobby has come in the past 15 years. Mike has enjoyed speaking at over 200 marine societies and national conferences in North America, Canada, South America and Europe. Mike has appeared on both local and national radio shows to discuss the hobby and to help new hobbyists become successful. Mike has also done over 20 videos for American Reef. Currently Mike has 300, 120, 90, 75, and 26- gallon reef tanks of various types set up in his home. He has helped in the set-up of over 200 tanks throughout the U.S, including several tanks over 4,000 gallons in capacity. Mike is also currently writing a weekly blog on ReefBuilders and a monthly article for Reef2Reef. Mike also acted as a consultant with the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Zoo Aquarium in Pittsburgh. Mike has a B.S. from Dickinson College and a Master’s degree from Yale University. Mike has also been a technical consultant for several equipment manufacturers and online companies.

Chris Sergeant

Chris holds an Honours Degree in Marine Biology and a Master’s Degree Coastal and Marine Resource Management from the University of Portsmouth. During his studies, and post-graduation, he spent time volunteering on marine conservation projects in Indonesia, local freshwater initiatives in the UK, and at his local public aquarium. Having previously worked with freshwater species in a laboratory environment, Chris is currently the Animal Care and Welfare Officer at the Institute of Zoology. A keen SCUBA enthusiast, he spends as much time as possible underwater diving or snorkeling, both in the UK and abroad. He keeps both marine and freshwater aquaria and is a regular contributor to aquarium publications.

Dr Richard Smith

Dr Richard Smith, is a British award-winning underwater photographer, author and marine conservationist. A marine biologist by training, Richard’s pioneering research on the biology and conservation of pygmy seahorses, led to the first PhD on these enigmatic fishes. Richard is a member of the IUCN Seahorse, Pipefish and Seadragon Specialist Group where he is the focal point for pygmy seahorses. He has named the two most recent pygmy seahorse discoveries from Japan, Hippocampus japapigu, and South Africa, H. nalu. Richard organises and leads marine life expeditions where the aim is for participants to get more from their diving and photography by learning about the marine environment. His bestselling book, ‘The World Beneath: The Life and Times of Unknown Sea Creatures and Coral Reefs’ is out now: www.OceanRealmImages.com

Campbell Robertson

Campbell started keeping both native and tropical marines in 1970 and became editor of the British Marine Aquarist’s Association’s journal Marinews for several years. Having left the hobby at this point he followed a career as a Physics and Science teacher till retiring in 2012. He continued to be active in education writing various publications and teaching material for Physics courses taught in Scottish schools. Having now returned to the hobby he has enjoyed catching up with the changes and advances which have taken place during his absence from the hobby.

Timothy Smith

Tim is a public aquarist by day, freelance aquarium writer by night. Growing up on the warm South African east coast, he took a liking to fish and aquariums some 20-odd years ago and hasn’t been able to look back since. Now holding a Master’s Degree in Ichthyology and Fisheries Sciences, he has taken to the public aquarium world and all the wonderful creatures that come with it; at home, he puzzles the intricacies of fish reproduction, one breeding project at a time.