General Saltwater Aquarium

I am absolutely serious when I say that there is a full blown "psychological journey" that I go on every time I happen upon the simplest malady in one of the pieces of my collection. More often, a small bit of exposed skeleton somewhere at the base, or somewhere on the body. Or it could be...

Keeping it Simple Building A New Tank While it still looks good, keeping this tank at its best has been difficult do to poor planning on not keeping things simple, especially during the last two years. KISS, the acronym, not the band, has often been touted as a key part of being successful...

My New Tank: By Mike Paletta As I wrote in my last article for ReefBuilders last December, I am planning on setting up one last tank for myself. Over the years I have set up a fair number of tanks for myself as well as assisted on over 100 more for others. As a result, I am confident that with...

Smart Aquarium is Coming “Then I will choose to quit reefing first.” Background Not too long ago I asked a senior reef hobbyist how he deals with long vacations and his answer shocked me. His words inspired me to create a “smart aquarium.” What I need is a hobby to enjoy and to unwind from...

Everything you wanted to know about how scientists are getting corals to spawn in captivity!

Algal Filtration In Reef Aquariums By Bryan of Santa Monica Filtration With modern reefkeeping, more people are wanting to filter their tanks the same way that all natural reefs (and lakes and rivers) are filtered, which is by using algae. We are going to look at the main types of algal...

Tenji is pleased to present a series of exclusive articles for Reef2Reef members. We will be delving into the various aspects of reef keeping, focusing on tried and true methods that can be implemented by aquarists of all levels. _____________ Our first installments will be concentrating on the...

BANNED! But Is There Still Hope? Having a tank like this resplendent with full colonies will take longer in the future since if the bans continue most new tanks will need to start off with frags. The collection of ornamental fish in Hawaii: BANNED. The collection and sale of live rock and...

Thinking about Reefapalooza and Orlando A happy camper about to attend her first Reefaplaooza. While sitting here in the gray of Pittsburgh, it has rained or snowed almost every day this Spring, I started thinking about my trip to Reefaplaooza in March and went back and looked at my notes...

Let’s start off by establishing what a Poking Stick is: It’s a stick that you poke, prod, move, touch, stir, and/or point at stuff in the aquarium with. It has a humble reputation initially associated with it, but its functionality is immense and practically unlimited. Now, you’re probably...

We all get them occasionally, those little unidentified critters that magically appear in our tank even after we’ve been so careful to source good quality, clean live rock (sometimes even starting with dry rock) and dipping our corals on top of carefully inspecting everything going into our...

So you are in the security line at the airport with well over 4oz of water and some coral in your carry-on luggage.. You inform the first TSA agent you encounter and get raised eye brows. This article will take you through my experience traveling within the United States (Orlando to Chicago)...

Jamie Craggs’ Game Changing Work at the Horniman Museum Over the years I have witnessed a lot of breakthroughs in the hobby. In terms of propagating corals we have gone from barely being able to keep most corals alive to the point where we can now propagate most corals through some form of...

Has the hobby gotten too expensive and how does it compare to the past? I have been in this hobby for a long time, but I am not going to act like an old codger and say I remember when Flame Angels were a quarter and corals were a dollar. Nor am I going to get into a discussion of how a frag...

Things I Miss About the Hobby Being with some of my long-time friends a bit ago, we started reminiscing about the early years of the hobby and some of the things that used to be common or major parts of the hobby and how many of them were gone. I am typically not someone who dwells on the past...

(NOTE: This is a repost to “fix” the original thread.) The primary appeal of a reef tank is visual. We want to see a piece of the living ocean from the comfort of our favorite spot on the couch. For that reason it is beneficial to consider color in our aquaria. To start we can look at a...

Reefing After Dark – Bioluminescence in the Reef Aquarium By Alex Gawura Introduction In all the years that I have been an aquarium hobbyist, there have been a few moments that have put me in awe of nature and the wonders contained within our oceans. Recently I have experienced one of these...

This Article is Sponsored by With the constant debates about different lights and which is better, I figured I'd share a recent experience. Many people believe lighting is everything, and expensive lights will keep expensive corals. Many other people believe that water parameters and...

Tips and Tricks (No Secrets) One of the most frequently asked questions I get are what are the secrets of the people who are really good at doing this. I would love to tell you that there are a bunch of secrets and I am writing a book that you have to buy to get them, but that is not the case...

This article is sponsored by For those who are unaware, there is an alternative dipping method out there using Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer for Turf and Soil Concentrate. It has been heralded as a more gentle alternative to things like Revive and Coral RX, yet just as effective. I...