General Saltwater Aquarium

This 180-gallon display tank has 15,000 gallons per hour total tank turnover. This tank belongs to, and the photo is courtesy of @fabutahoun, ©2019, All Rights Reserved. This is an article that I’ve been wanting to write (or get someone else to write) for quite a while. Tank turnover is...

A photo for inspiration: a shot of Michael J. Cuttone's Reef2Reef January 2019 Reef of the Month. This photo is from the Reef2Reef archives, courtesy of Michael J. Cuttone, ©2019, All Rights Reserved. Some time ago, I asked forum members about their feeding routines. I was interested to see...

10,000L, 5-year-old, display tank at the Maritime Museum & Aquarium. A build thread for this tank is linked in my profile & at the bottom of this article. Photo is courtesy of @Sallstrom, ©2019, All Rights Reserved. Running a reef tank might be a walk in the park for some, but for others it’s...

This article is sponsored by @Triquatics Images are courtesy of @Triquatics. ©2019, All Rights Reserved. The Nitrogen Cycle, as it applies to the greater natural world, is a series of chemical reactions that support all life on earth. Through these reactions, non-reactive nitrogen gas (N) and...

15 Steps to Starting a Saltwater Aquarium: The Lasse Method Display Tank. Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved. INTRODUCTION There are many methods to start a saltwater aquarium--each major aquarium product manufacturer has its own. Common to most, however...

Live rock. This photo is a royalty-free image courtesy of Adrianna Calvo from Pexels This is an article for beginners. Since I didn’t see a sticky or article on this topic, I decided to tackle it myself. There are lots of differing opinions on how to cure live rock, and I’m going to explore...

Beginner Series #2: How and Why Do Water Changes Work? What Happens If They Don't Work? Or How to Attain Majchrzak Status This article is to provide beginners with baseline knowledge of why and how water changes work and when they fail in restoring critical water parameters, so that dosing...

The author's 90G reef aquarium. Photo is from the Reef2Reef archives and courtesy of Greg Gdowski, ©2019, All Rights Reserved. We put a lot of chemicals into our tanks. Many manufacturers tell you to base additions of these chemicals on your tank's volume – but what is that anyway? What is...

Water This photo is a royalty-free image from Pixabay. “Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. For the benefit of beginners, I think it's time for a Water Change...

This tank was Reef of the Month in January 2018. Pretty spectacular, eh? Photo from the Reef2Reef archives courtesy of forum member robert s. b. ©2018, All Rights Reserved. At R2R, we suspect there are plenty of freshwater aquarists contemplating a change to saltwater. There are likely...

So, here's our first crossword. I recommend printing it out and enlarging it if possible, both the puzzle and the clues. If you see two numbers in a box, separated by a dash (-), the first number is across and the second number is down. The puzzle was started with a simple (free) crossword...

The Pacific Ocean Photo is a royalty-free image from Pixabay. Okay, one more time. If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. Some years ago, Uninja, with the help of forum members Raggamuffin, Wy Renegade, Swannyson, Skinz78, Tabasco 1, Jordan 3548, fsu1dolfan, Stray40, and Rayzback...

Macroalgae in a refugium Photo from the Reef2Reef archives courtesy of AlexG, © 2018, All Rights Reserved In the beginner section of our forum, there is a sticky on top, written by David Hammontree, that's very very good. The article is called, The Supreme Guide to Setting up a Saltwater Reef...

Or, What Rock Can I Put in My Saltwater Tank? In Part 1 of this article, we talked about live rock, and most reef aquarists use at least a little of it in their tank. Spontaneous generation does not exist, and if all of your rock is dead, then it will not magically come alive just by putting...

Or, What Kind of Rock Can I Put in My Saltwater Tank? In the broadest of terms, there are basically two types of rock for saltwater aquariums: live rock and dead rock. So, we're going to look at them one at a time, and try to explain the differences for the benefit of beginners. Live rock from...

Reef2Reef is here to help aquarists with all levels of experience. But we especially want to look after the beginners. Most beginners are chomping at the bit to fill their tanks with livestock. In reefkeeping, William Congreve's quote from 1693 is applicable: "Marry in haste, repent at leisure."...

A reef aquarium with a black sand substrate. Photo is from the Reef2Reef archives, 2018. It’s time for some FAQ’s. I’ve said before, but it bears repeating, there are often many different ways to do things when you have a saltwater aquarium. This document will by no means be an exhaustive...

Some years ago, Uninja, with the help of forum members Raggamuffin, Wy Renegade, Swannyson, Skinz78, Tabasco 1, Jordan 3548, fsu1dolfan, Stray40, and Rayzback, prepared a list of acronyms. We thought we’d kick it up a notch, update it, expand it, and post it as an article. ~~~~~~~~~ Looking to...

Zoanthid close-up. Photo is from the Reef2Reef archives. We think there are plenty of readers out there who are considering starting a reef tank but who hesitate to move forward for a number of reasons. So, this article is intended for those who have never had any kind of aquarium, or those...

Learning something new can feel complicated. We're going to help you. Photo is a royalty-free image from freerangestock.com. We have many readers who are complete novices. Total newbies. Zero experience. And these aquarists deserve regular articles destined for them. Because, let’s face it...