AAOLM: Advanced Aquarist Online Magazine, electronic magazine
AB: Aqualine Buschke, lighting manufacturer
acro: Acropora, a type of SPS coral
AC: Activated carbon, chemical filtration media / alternating current
AC: Alternating current
Acan : Acanthastrea
AC II: AquaController II, all-in-one monitor & controller
ADA: Aquatic Design Amano
AEFW : Acro Eating Flatworms
AF: Aquarium Frontiers, online magazine
AFAIK: As far as I know
AFM: Aquarium Fish Monthly, magazine
AGA: All-Glass Aquarium, aquarium manufacturer
AL: Aqualink, aquarium bulletin board
ALK: Alkalinity, measure of buffering capacity of water
AM: Aquamarin
AM3K: Ampmaster 3000, a model of water pump made by Dolphin Aquarium & Pet Products, Inc.
ARS: Aquatic Reef Systems, RO/DI mail order place
AT: Achilles tang
ATM: At the moment
AISI: As I see it
ALK: Alkalinity, measure of buffering capacity of water
AOL: America Online, internet service provider
ASAP: As soon as possible
ATC: Automatic temperature compensating, a feature on some refractometers
ATS: Algae turf scrubber, reef setup technique
B
B4: Before
BA: Bartlett's Anthias.
BB: Bare Bottom
BBS: Baby Brine Shrimp
Blasto : Blastomussa
BLH : Blue Leg Hermit Crab
BO: Bulk Order
BOD: Biological oxygen demand
BR: Base rock
BS: Brine Shrimp / Brittle Starfish
BT: Blue Tang
BTA: Bubble tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor) / bubble-tipped, bulb tentacle, bulb tip
BTW: By the way
Bfly: Butterflyfish
C
C328 : Clementi 328 LFS
Ca: Calcium
CA: Custom Aquatic, mail order place
CaCl2: Calcium chloride
CaCO3: Calcium carbonate
Ca(OH)2: Calcium hydroxide
CB : Coral Beauty Angelfish (Centropyge bispinosus)
CBB : Copper Banded Butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus)
CBS : Coral Banded Shrimp
CC: Counter current, type of protein skimmer
CC: Crushed coral
CF: Coral Farm LFS Map
CFL: Standard Compact Fluorescent
Cl: Chlorine
CL : Closed loop
CO2: Carbon dioxide
CO3: Carbonate
CF - coral farm ( Local farm in the west )
CPR: Creative Plastics Research, manufacturer of fresh and saltwater products
CTA: Cellulose triacetate, type of RO membrane
CR: Calcium reactor
CRI: Color Rendering Index
CSD: Carlson surge device
CSL: Custom Sea Life, lighting manufacturer
CTA: Cellulose triacetate, type of RO membrane
Cu: Copper
CUL: See you later / catch you later
CUL8R: See you later / catch you later
CYANO: Cyanobacteria
D
DC: Direct current
DE: Double ended metal halide metal bulb
DFS: Drs. Foster & Smith, Inc., mail order place
DD: Downdraft, type of protein skimmer / can also mean diver's den in liveaquaria
dH: degrees of hardness
DI: Deionisation, type of water purification
DIY: Do it yourself
DT's: Brand of refrigerated living phytoplankton
dKH: Degrees of carbonate hardness, measure of alkalinity
DO: Dissolve oxygen
DOC: Dissolved organic carbon
DSB: Deep sand bed
E
EC : End Cap
ER: Euro-Reef, skimmer manufacturer
F
FA: Flame Angel / Failure Analysis
FAMA: Freshwater and Marine Aquaria, magazine
FAQ: Frequently ask question
FB: Face Book
FCFS: First Come First Serve
Fe: Iron
FFE: Flying Fish Express, mail order company, United States
fH: French Degree of Hardness
FIFO: First In First Out
FO: Fish only, type of marine aquarium
FOC: free of charge
FOWLR: Fish only with live rock, type of marine aquarium
FS: For Sales
FW: Freshwater / Flatworms
FWD: Freshwater Dip
FWIW: For what its worth
FYI: For your information
FYM: For your misinformation
G
GAC: Granular activated carbon
GAL: Gallon
GBP : Green Button Polyps
GBR: Great Barrier Reef
GBTA : Green Bulb Tip Anemone (E. quadricolor)
GH: General Hardness
GFO : Granular Ferric Oxide
GO: Golden Octopus
GPH: Gallons per hour
GSM: Gold Stripe Maroon Clownfish (Premnas biaculeatus)
GSP : Green Star Polyps
H
HA : Hair Algae
HCO3: Hydrogen carbonate
HO: High output fluorescent light
HOB : Hang on Back
HOT : Hang on Tank
HAS: High speed aeration, type of proteins skimmer
HITH: Hole in the Head
HLLE: head and lateral line erosion
HMA : Heavy Metal Axe (water purifier methods)
HTH: Hope this/that helps
I
I: Iodide
I2: Iodine
Ich: infestation of Cryptocaryon irritans or other common marine parasite
ID: Indentify/indetification
IE: Internet Explorer, WWW browser
IM: In my
IMCO: In my considered opinion
IME: In my experience
IMEO: In my expert opinion
IMHO: In my humble/honest opinion
IMNSHO: In my not so humble/honest opinion
IMO: In my opinion
IO: Instant Ocean
IO3: Iodate
IOW: In other words
IR: Infrared, type of light of longer wavelength than visible light
IRC: Internet relay chat
ISP: Internet service provider
K
KALK: Kalkwasser, German for calcium hydroxide solution or limewater
KH: carbonate hardness
KI: Potassium iodide
KISS: Keep it simple stupid
kW: Kilowatt
L
LA: liveaquaria
L8R: Later
LCK: LCK 201 (LFS in neo tiew)LFS Map
LED: Light Emitting Diode
LFS: Local Fish store/shop
LHS: Local hardware store
LMB : Lawnmower Blenny (Salarias fasciatus)
Lobo : Lobophyllia
LOL: Laughing out loud
Lord : Acanthastrea Lordhowensis
LCK - LCK 201 (Local Fish shop in neo tiew lane)
LPH: Litres per hour
LPS: Large polyped Scleractinian (stoney) coral
LR: live rock
LRB : Little Red Bugs
LS: live sand / Life Stock
LT: Liter
LTA : Long Tentacle Anemone
LA - liveaquaria
MA: Milliamp
MACNA: Marine Aquaria Conference of North America, held annually
MACO: Marine Aquaria Courses Online
MASA: Marine Aquarium Societies of Australia
MASNA: Marine Aquarium Society of North America
MAA : Marine Aquarium Association
MASS: Marine Aquarist Society Singapore (http://www.sgreefclu...ety-singapore/)
MEQ/L: Milli-equivalents per litre, measure of alkalinity
Mg: Magnesium
MgCl2: Magnesium chloride
MG/L: Milligrams per litre
MH: Metal halide light
MIA: Missing In Action
Micro : Micromussa
Milli : Acropora millipora (not genera Millipora)
ML: Marine Life Hobbielist
MN : Montipora Nudibranch
MO: Mail order
MP: Market Prawn
MPA: Marine Protected Area
MRT: Mass Rapid Transit
mV: Millivolt
MV: Mercury vapour light
mW: Milliwatt
MWTG: Might Want To Give
MWTS: Might Want To Sell
MWTT: Might Want To Trade
N
Na: Sodium
NaCO3 / NaHCO3: Sodium carbonate
NaOH: Sodium hydroxide
NCM: North Coast Marine, mail order company, United States
NG: Usenet newsgroup
NO : Normal Output
NH3: Ammonia
NH4: Ammonium
NNR: Natural nitrate reduction, reef setup technique
NO: Normal output fluorescent light
NO2: Nitrite
NO3: Nitrate
NP: No problem
NRN: No reply necessary
NS: Netscape, WWW browser
NSW: Natural seawater
NTS: New Tank Syndrome
O
O2: Oxygen
O3: Ozone / trioxygen
OBTW: Oh by the way
ORA: Oceans Reefs & Aquariums
ORP: Oxidative redox potential
OT: Off Topic
OTOH: On the other hand
OTS: Old Tank Syndrome
P
PAR: Photosynthetically Active Radiation
PAR LED: Parabolic Aluminized Reflector type LED
Pasar Malam : Bazaar / Night Market (Malay language)
Pathogen: an organism that causes a disease within another organism.
PBITAWA : Pour Bleach in Tank and Walk Away
PC: Power Compact light
PLS: Please
PBT : Powder Blue Tang (Acanthurus leucosternon) or Powder Brown Tang (Acanthurus japonicus)
PC: Power compact fluorescent light
pH: Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, equal to -log[H+], <7 acidic, =7 neutral, >7 basic
PH: Powerhead, water pump
Photosynthesis: process by which plants manufacture their own energy from the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll. Oxygen is a photochemical byproduct of photosynthesis.
PO4: Phosphate
PM: Private Message
PPF: Photosynthetic Photon Flux
PPM: Parts per million, equivalent to mg/l (milligrams per litre)
PPT: Parts Per Thousand (Specific Gravity)
PSB: Photosynthesis bacteria
PSI: Pounds per square inch
PUR: Photosynthetically Usable Radiation
PVC: Poly vinyl chloride, used for piping / plumbing
Q
QT : Quarantine Tank
R
RAG: Reef Aquarium Guide, website
RAMR: Usenet newsgroup rec.aquaria.marine.reefs
RBTA : Rose Bulb Tip Anemone (E. quadricolor)
RC: Reef Central, website / Reef Club / Reef Crystals (salt)
RD: Reefdepot
RDO: reefs.org, website
RG: Royal Gamma
Rics : Ricordea
RLH : Red Leg Hermit Crab
RO: Reverse osmosis, type of water purification
RO/DI or rodi: Reverse osmosis, followed by deionisation, type of water purification
ROFL: Rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLOL: Rolling on the floor laughing out loud
ROTFL: Rolling on the floor laughing
ROTFLMAO: Rolling on the floor laughing my ###### off
ROTFLOL: Rolling on the floor laughing out loud
RSS: Red Sea Salt (salt)
RTAW: Reefing the Australian Way, Australian discussion board
RTN: Rapid tissue necrosis
RUGF: Reverse flow undergravel filter
S
SAL: Salinity
SB: Sandbed
SSB: Shallow Sand Bed
SD: Surge device
SG: Specific gravity
SHO: Super high output fluorescent light, equivalent to power compact fluorescent
Shroom : Mushroom
Si: Silicon
SiO2: Silicon dioxide
SITD: Still in the dark
SL: SeaLife (LFS)
SMS: Short Message
SO: Significant other
SO2: Sulphur dioxide
Softies : Soft Corals
SOx: Sulphur Oxides
SPAW: Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (Protocol of Cartagena Convention)
SPS: Small polyped Scleractinian (stoney) coral
Sr: Strontium
SRC: Singapore Reef Club
SST: Sea Surface Temperature
STN: Slow Tissue Necrosis
SW: Saltwater / seawater
T
T(#) : measurement of fluorescent bulb thickness in 1/8", i.e. T12 = 1.5", T5 = 5/8".
T95: LFS farm at Seletar Farm plot 95
TAT: Thiel Aqua Tech, mail order company, United States
TBS: Tampa Bay Saltwater, mail order company, United States
TCSS: Talk Cock Sing Song
TDS: Total dissolved solids
TFC: Thin film composite, type of RO membrane
TFN: Thanks for nothing
TIA: Thanks in advance
TIC: Tongue in cheek
TM: Tropic Marin (salt)
TMCRA: The modern coral reef aquarium, book by Alf Nilsen and Svien Fossa
TOTM: Tank Of The Month
TRA: The reef aquarium, book by Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung
TS - thread starter/topic starter
TTYL: Talk to you later
TWP: Tap Water Purifier from Aquatic Pharmaceuticals
U
UGF: Undergravel filter
ULNS: Ultra Low Nutrient System
UV: Ultra violet, type of light of shorter wavelength than visible light
V
V: Volts
VHO: Very high output fluorescent light
W
W: Watt
WI - wrought iron (butterflyfish)
WC: Water Change
WGMAFC: Working Group on Marine Fish Culture
WH : Wiring Harness
WI: wrought iron (butterflyfish)
WMC: Western Marine Conference, United States
WSM: White Stripe Maroon Clownfish (Premnas biaculeatus)
WSP : White Star Polyps
WTB: want to buy
WTG: want to give (or get)
WTS: want to sell
WTT: want to trade
WWF: World Wide Fund for Nature
WWM: WebWebMedia.com
WWW: World wide web
WYSIWYG: What you see is what you get
Y
YMMV: Your mileage may vary
YCG: Yellow Clown Goby
YT: Yellow Tang
Z
Zoa: Zoanthids (soft corals)
Zoos : Zoanthids (soft corals)