Reef Central

Reef Central (http://reefcentral.com/) is an English website and vBulletin forums created for the exchange of information centered around the marine aqarium hobby. ReefCentral.com was started in October 1999 by Larry Maras, Mike Andrews, and Henry Schultz. Reef Central was eventually sold to John Link who continues to own and operate the website. ReefCentral has grown from approximately 2,000 members in 1999/2000 to over 250,000 members in 2011. As of March 2, 2011 there are 11,330,771 threads, 12,829,386 posts, and 253,273 members registered on Reef Central.
Mission
Reef Centrals mission reads as the following; "Reef Central is an online community where quality information about the marine and reef aquarium hobby can be exchanged among all levels of hobbyist from beginner to advanced. Our goal is to help educate people about the saltwater aquarium hobby and enhance awareness of the fragility of coral reefs around the world. We hope you will join us and that you find this site useful.".
History
ReefCentral.com was started in October 1999 by Larry Maras, Mike Andrews, and Henry Schultz after being unhappy with the aquarium based websites at that time, mainly AquaLink and Reefs.org. After paying for the site of a few months Mike Andrews decided to give up his ownership of the site, within a few weeks Henry Schultz did the same leaving Larry Maras as the sole owner of Reef Central. Needing help to run the site John Link stepped forward to help Larry Maras for approximately one year until Reef Central was sold to John Link who continues to own and operate the website. At the time the website changed hands there were less than 2,000 members.
Forums
Reef Centrals forums are the largest draw to the website with approximately 250,000 members. The most users ever online was 12,896, on November 4, 2010. As of March 2, 2011 there are 11,330,771 threads, 12,829,386 posts, and 253,273 members registered on Reef Central. The Reef Central forums are broken down into eight sub-forums, each of which has several sections.
Membership
Non-Members
Users who do not sign up for a username can still use the main ReefCentral.com page and view most of the forums, but can not post without first signing up for an account and username.
Members
Users who have signed up for a free account and username have posting privileges are able to view all forums, private message other members, and add photos to their album. As per the user agreement, members must be signed up for 90 days and have accumulated 50 posts before they are able to view the transaction forums, i.e. buying and selling.
Premium Members
Users can become premium members for $24.00 a year. Premium membership provides several benefits including; the ability to create ReefCentral blogs, increased album picture size limits, increased private message mailbox size (500 vs 150), the ability to send private messages to users over their mailbox quota, advanced boolean search capability, the ability to post events on the Reef Central Calendar, and the I support RC logo as part of your profile.
ReefKeeping Magazine
The first ReefKeeping Magazine was released in February 2002. The online magazine would continue with monthly issues until April 2009 when a swtich was made to a ReefKeeping Blog. The magazine was part of ReefCentral.com but was, and continues to be, under the ReefKeeping.com URL. The magazine issues would feature articles on fish, corals, equipment, general aquarium care, and the popular "Tank of the Month". The "Tank of the Month" (TotM) has continued into the ReefKeeping blog aspect of the site.
Tank of the Month
The Tank of the Month, or TotM, is a popular part of what was ReefKeeping Magazine and continues to be the ReefKeeping Blog. Each month a tank is picked to be highlighted for its various aspects that make it exceptional example of husbandry; forethought, planning, implementation, maintenance, ect. The Tank of the Month began in February 2002 and has continued with monthly installments; except in 2009, 2008, and 2005.

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