Question I set up a 60-gallon saltwater aquarium in my home last fall, and with my area being very prone to severe weather in spring, I have some questions about aquariums during power outages. Specifically, I’d like to know: How…
Dissolved Gases in Marine Aquaria: Saturation Problems and Solutions
If you’re like most marine aquarium hobbyists, you probably don’t give a great deal of thought to the levels of dissolved gases in your system beyond making sure you’re providing good aeration and circulation. But under certain circumstances, these levels…
Salty Q&A: How Often Should Your Fish Fast?
Question I’ve been told that it’s a good idea to avoid feeding aquarium fish on occasion, for example once every week or once every other week. I guess this stands to reason because fish in nature can’t always get a…
Does a Naturalistic Environment Reduce Stress in Aquarium Fish?
For today’s post, I’d like to elicit your thoughts on an interesting phenomenon I’ve observed in my aquarium, specifically involving an aggravating repetitive behavior exhibited until fairly recently by my pair of blue-throat triggerfish (Xanthichthys auromarginatus). Allow me to set…
Special Considerations for Soft Coral Placement
In discussions of coral placement in reef aquaria, topics such as spacing between colonies, distance from the light source, level of water flow, sweeper tentacles, and coral chemical warfare (allelopathy) often predominate. But there are special considerations beyond these that…
The Yasha Shrimp Goby: A Hardy, Peaceful, Somewhat Rare Nano Reef Candidate
Certain marine fish pack a lot of visual and behavioral interest into a very small package. Such is the case with the yasha shrimp goby (Stonogobiops yasha), also sold under the common names whiteray shrimp goby, orange-striped shrimp goby, clown…
Salty Q&A: Is RO/DI Water All It’s Cracked Up to Be?
Question I’ve been keeping saltwater aquariums for five years, and in all that time I’ve never used RO/DI water for top offs or mixing up clean salt water. I just use tap water treated with a dechlorinator / dechloraminator, and…
Specialized Care is Key to Success with Sun Corals
When ascribed to the various species of the genus Tubastraea, the common name “sun coral” is both fitting and ironic. It’s fitting when you consider that the spectacular polyps of many Tubastraea species can quite justifiably be described as sun-like…
What’s Your Aquascaping Rock of Choice?
Today’s marine aquarists have more options than ever before when it comes to the types of rock used to aquascape their tanks—from live rocks, whether aquacultured or wild-harvested, to all manner of dry rocks and even natural-looking man-made rocks. Each…
Does Your Marine Aquarium Pass the Smell Test?
We marine aquarists depend heavily on store-bought test kits and devices for monitoring water quality and parameters (like the FishBit monitor we discussed here recently), but we’re actually born with some of the best tools available for figuring out what’s…