Eliminating harmful and ugly dinoflagellates remains one of the most common and challenging tasks for the marine aquarist. Many of these problems are directly associated with excessive nutrient concentrations. Natural coral reefs are typically nutrient-poor and free from smothering forms of benthic…
Algae Buster: FIRST reef aquarium algaecide registered with FDA
Next to fish diseases and power failures, algae outbreaks are the bane of existence for many aquarists. Besides good practices and plenty of algae grazers, we have a good number of tools in our fight against the dreaded green growth…
The Lawnmower Blenny: a Funny, Fascinating Fish of Unpredictable Utility
The lawnmower blenny, aka the jeweled blenny, jeweled rockskipper, or sailfin blenny (Salarias fasciatus), is commonly purchased not just for its comical behavior and only-a-mother-could-love looks, but also for the utilitarian purpose of controlling algae in marine tanks. While you…
5 Ways Hobbyists Misuse Grazing Marine Snails
Of all the fascinating invertebrates available to marine aquarists, grazing snails are perhaps the most misused. Too often we treat them like expendable little lawnmowers, plopping them in our tanks with the express purpose of preventing or eradicating algae and…
Does the Emerald Crab Earn Its Algae-Eating, Reef-Safe Reputation?
Among the various and sundry marine life commonly sold to aquarium hobbyists for utilitarian purposes is the emerald crab (Mithraculus sculptus). Oft touted for its propensity to gobble up bubble algae and other irksome algal forms, M. sculptus has become…
What exactly is the Twinstar and how does it work?
The Twinstar is an interesting, yet headscratching, product we recently encountered. The product hails from Korea but a lot of what the product does exactly seems lost in translation. From pictures, a YouTube video and reading through the company website,…
Algae Control Test kit from Red Sea gets unboxed and tried out
The Algae Control Test Kit from Red Sea is a phosphate and a nitrate test kit. If the Algae Control test was just a combination pack, we wouldn’t have much left to say about it but this new product from…
Red Sea’s Nitrate Pro, Phosphate Pro and Algae Control test kits
Nitrate pro, Phosphate Pro and Algae Control are new test kits from Red Sea which are aiming to spice up your aquarium chemistry set. Nitrate Pro does 100 test in the range of 0.06 to 15 ppm with an accuracy…
What Gives When Herbivores Won’t Graze Nuisance Algae?
The practice of adding herbivorous fish and/or invertebrate species to marine aquariums for the purpose of nuisance algae control is quite commonplace. Hence the popularity of those herbivore packages known in hobby parlance as “cleanup crews,” or CUCs. But almost…