General Saltwater Aquarium

Old Tank Syndrome Is this a myth? Something we heard about in the deep abbesses of when the hobby started (I think it was on a Tuesday) Is this something we need to worry about. Like we don't have enough to worry about with the heartbreak of psoriasis and wondering if we will be accepted into...

How and when this hobby started (for me at least) in 1971. I think it was on a Tuesday about two or two fifteen in the afternoon. I know because I was there. Here in New York where I live there used to be a very large aquarium store in Manhattan a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center. I...

A Discussion of US and European Reefkeeping I do not consider reefkeeping to be a competitive activity, but during my recent trips to Europe and then travels around the states the most frequently asked questions I got were “Are the states better than us” or “how far ahead of us are the...

This week's video is about rejuvenating live rock. DISCUSS THIS VIDEO HERE

So what is the best test kit to check your water parameters? A question often asked and even more often debated. Most have their favorites, are not bashful about sharing, and will argue and stomp their collective keyboards in defense of their choices. The fact is we all have our opinions and...

Everything is getting smaller. Laptops are thinner, lighter and overtly smaller than ever. Our phone’s screens sometimes get bigger, but their overall body shrinks in size. The X-Box slim is simply a smaller version of the X-Box One, with enhanced performance features. While marine aquariums...

Not long ago, I bit the bullet and ordered one of the nano-jellyfish tanks currently on the market. For those unfamiliar, these tanks are a kreisel design. Kreisel is a German word for sphere or gyro and kreisel aquariums with built-in, yet independent filtration, have revolutionized our ability...

Moving... Moving your reef aquarium can be a daunting task. Like that meeting or test you have tomorrow that you didn’t prepare for – but you know if you buckle down for the evening and work hard, you’ll be ready to go in the morning. Either that or you'll just call in sick! Well, calling in...

I've had the pleasure of helping many people grow in this hobby. I typically advocate starting off small & easy, and then work up to something bigger & better as skills get sharpened and finances allow. The way I see it, the smaller tank can always be repurposed into a QT or frag tank down the...

All images are either public domain photos uploaded to various forms of social media, or used under Fair Use guidelines, as they best illustrate the article's content. When my daughter was first born, I wasn’t sure how it would affect my ability to maintain a reef tank. Suddenly, in addition to...

Social media images shared with permission from Joe Yaiullo. Video shared publicly available to watch via YouTube, uploaded by Melev's Reef. It can be argued that one of aquaria’s greatest attributes is that it opens the oceanic world up to those who otherwise would be unable to experience it...

Images used are either public domain images from morgue file or images taken from National Geographic and used under fair use purposes. Christine Tod-Whitman, the former governor of New Jersey and former administrator of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was quoted as saying, “President...

Diving Back Into the Reef Flippers on. Mask secure. Breathing tube feels good and I'm ready to go – over the side and into the water. I've found my way back into a reef for the first time in over 13 years, and it's a whole new world down here. The light is so bright and everything is much more...

All images unless otherwise noted sourced from morguefile.com: free photos by creatives, for creatives. All other images are public domain photos. Many aquarists know the name Snorkel Bob. He once served as Sea Shepherd Conservation Societies’ (SSCS) vice president. He owns a network of...

Photo courtesy of Pinterest. I’ve had two major disasters in my reef tanks over the past 15 or so years. The first one was in 2003 during an un-expected October ice-storm. The second one was on Friday of last week. Disaster number one caused a massive livestock loss and nearly put me out of the...

Fish is a term that aquarists are intimately familiar with. However, it’s a broad term that groups 60% of planet Earth’s entire population into one basic category. Roughly 30,000 species fall under the moniker “fish” and many are so different from one another, it would be difficult for the...

Many of us today get started in this hobby by purchasing a tank that is already up and running. This can be great as you get all the equipment needed for a reef tank along with the rock, sand and even sometimes coral and fish! You can get a great deal from somebody who is just fed up and ready...

Water changes are one of the best maintenance practices that can be performed on any marine aquarium. They remove nutrient laden water and replace it with fresh, nutrient free water. When RODI purified water is employed, a good salt mix is able to strike a perfect balance of elements, simply by...

I guess it just kind of hit me, I can’t really say exactly when, but my friends - it is true that I have reached a point in my life, be it as a hobbyist or vendor, where in the things I do, and the methods I employ to keep my inhabitants happy and healthy, are often the subject of discussion...

I think we've all seen an alarming number of threads talking about electrical fires. Some the power-cords have caught on fire, others a power-strip was at the heart of the issue, and others the wall outlet shorted and flared up. While some of these seemingly had no major or catastrophic issues...