General Saltwater Aquarium
Food for Thought
Or
Potential Pitfalls of Using Utility Organisms (CUC) in Aquariums
Jay Hemdal
Aquarists often add “utility organisms” (animals not just for use in a purely decorative sense) to their aquariums to serve some beneficial function. These are often called CUC (Clean Up...
The Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) is a term used within the reef tank community when talking about lighting. Lighting is one of the most importing aspects of the reef aquarium, partly because many aquarium organisms require lighting to maintain or increase their growth and too high of a...
Brown Jelly Disease (BJD) is an issue many reefers have run into. Like most coral diseases, the pathogen causing BJD has not been conclusively determined. Here I will share some observations and test results supporting the idea that its caused by a bacterial pathogen, and so may be treatable...
This file is a PDF copy of the book, "Aquarium Careers" written by Jay Hemdal
It offers some advice to people interested in aquariums as a career. What is a “Job”, what is an “Occupation”, and how might they differ from a “Career”? To me, a job is something distasteful that you must do in...
Best Fish Stores around the world: Why do reefers love them so much? Hong Kong Edition
2020-10-11 stevenliu9
Hello Everyone, Steven here! Today we are starting a new exciting series by interviewing fellow reefers from around the world and compare the livestock, pricing, and some different...
Aquariums - as good for our well being and state of mind as they are for the millions of creatures that inhabit it's seemingly small, and at the same time, unendingly vast and bountiful landscape. To us giants, we see the glass box with rocks, and coral, and it's torrents of water swishing...
Teaching tangs to eat nori is relatively simple. If one fish in a tank know how to eat nori, the rest of the herbivores will learn in short order. However, if this is a new tank, and none of the tangs have seen nori before, they need to learn how to see nori as food. I normally put the nori clip...
Big or Small? Picking Out Your First Reef Tank
So you’ve decided you want to join the hobby of reef keeping…Now what? Whether you are new to the hobby or adding your 15th tank, tank size is something every reefer needs to consider before making a new purchase. Tank size is more than just the...
Hello Everyone,
Over the years, I have had a lot of questions about my tank. The most frequently asked question is not about lights, equipment, or about chemistry. The most frequently asked question is about how and what I feed my corals. When I got into the hobby in 2010, I used to spot feed...
Hi everyone,
One of the biggest challenges, for me as an amateur reefer is the numbers. Numbers are my downfall (among others). Why, do fish and coral float in nothing but numbers, and water? Po4 .03, No3 5, SG 1.027, Calcium 440, Ph 8.1, DkH 8.3, etc. I mean really, what language is that...
The Psychology of Reefing, part 2 "The therapeutic effect".
Expanded upon the first article "The Psychology of Reefing" that I wrote some time ago, there are other emotions and physical effects that we go through keeping an aquarium in our homes, that is just as important and touches upon a...
The Microbial Community in a Professional Coral Aquaculture System
A discussion with Adam Derickson of BattleCorals
Eli Meyer, AquaBiomics
EM: Ever since I started trying to grow corals, I’ve been awed by some reef-keepers’ abilities to duplicate a coral reef ecosystem in their living rooms...
About this article
This article describes an experiment documenting the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium. While I’ve tried to tell the story as briefly as I can, it’s the story of a month-long study of replicated tanks, with analysis of both water chemistry and the microbial...
Introduction:
This article covers the planning and preparation that I refer to as "The Big Picture Approach". Volume one of this three-part series specifically covers big picture planning and the tools that everyone should know before tackling a new aquarium and mitigating problems early on...
Note: This article about PTSD and reefing is largely based on my own personal experience. I'm not a qualified physician nor do I have all the answers in combating this mental illness. Any of the "tips" I give in this article should be read as coaching rather than medical advice. If you are...
This is a controversial topic in the reefing community and often draws fervent responses from reefers supporting one method or the other. In this article, we are going to examine some of the claims made by both camps, highlight the main differences, and help you make up your mind.
Manual...
What is it that drives an average person to go and buy a glass box, fill it full of water, rock, and sand and turn it into a marine aquarium?
Of course the aesthetics of seeing a tank in person, a reef tank for that matter, strikes in some of us some kind of primordial-DNA urge to have that in...
A few days ago, we published an article on Choosing an LFS. After that article was published, @Mr Fishface asked if we could do a follow-up article on choosing an online vendor. Well, here it is.
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For inspiration: a beautiful mature reef tank.
This photo is from the...
Note from the Editor:
David Kimutai (@Davidangelfish) had the good fortune to connect with a major livestock supplier based in Africa for the marine aquarium trade. Below is David's interview with Kenya Tropical Sealife LTD, and all photos included in the article are courtesy of René Jorgensen...
One of the first things that new members of the forum will learn is that we generally advise new aquarists not to rely solely on what their LFS* tells them.
Note: LFS is a reef acronym for "local fish store" or the store where you can buy aquarium supplies for your saltwater tank. Sometimes...
