Salem Clemens
Salem Clemens
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Salem Clemens is an aquarist that's been obsessed with all aspects of the hobby fresh and salt for a decade. He worked for around five years in the retail side of the industry and recently graduated with a degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and a minor in Chemistry. During his time in college he studied coral pathology working closely with his universities Biology and Chemistry programs where he gained experience in microbiology, biochemistry and analytical techniques such as GC-MS. Salem has a passion for rare and oddball corals, fish and inverts, experimenting with new methods and attempting to solve problems in the trade. He hopes to utilize an objective lens to help elute the best information and practices in the industry.

What is Coral Polycropping?

In this new series, I will discuss strategies you can use with current technology to help mitigate the risk of coral disease in your reef tank. In this first installment, I will cover the benefits of polycropping. Polycropping vs Monocropping…

Weekend Watch – Facebook Live, with Salem Clemens

This week we debuted a pilot episode of a live session of Q and A with Reef Builders resident Microbiologist Salem Clemens. Salem is a mine of information about the inner workings of corals and how external stressors can affect…

Reefing Hot Takes Part One: Organic Nutrients and N-DOC Testing

I’ll discuss my “hot takes” on the reefing industry in this new series. In this first installment, I will cover N-DOC testing and the importance of measuring organic nutrients for our tanks.  What is an N-DOC test? N-DOC is a…

Reef Microbiology Part Two: The Immune System

In this installment of the microbiology series, I will provide a more technical explanation of the coral immune response.   Introduction to Immunology Immunology is the study of the immune system. There are two broad categories of immune responses – innate…

Reef Microbiology Part One: The Holobiont

In this series, I hope to bring a magnifying glass to the invisible world populating our tanks – the microbiome! The first installment of this series will focus on the microbes living in and on our corals. What is Microbiology,…