advice

How to Properly Place Corals in a New Reef Tank

The difference between a successful reef tank and one that fails is often a matter of the little details. One of these little details that cannot be overlooked is proper coral placement. With a new tank, you basically have a…

How and Why to Dip Newly Acquired Corals

After getting corals via the internet or from a local shop they need to be treated for parasites, infections, and other maladies that we do not want to introduce into a tank. I know that shops and online stores will…

What Size Aquarium Can I Have in My House? 

A question I deal with daily at MRC can be summarized as “What size aquarium can I have and where should I put it?”. As a hobbyist, I would see this discussion often on the forums and as was normal…

FAQs on Phytoplankton Part 3

We continue our deep dive into Phytoplankton with our resident phycologist, Taras Pleskun. Should I feed phyto as well as amino acids? As with all things, it depends on the general goals of the aquarium. Assuming the goal is to…

Ask The Expert: TRITON CEO Ehsan Dashti 

With 16 years of experience and over 500,000 aquarium ICP tests under his belt, we spoke to global pioneer Ehsan Dashti and got his take on ICP testing, important trace elements, algae refugiums, overdosing, N-DOC, and more. How often should…

Which Corals to Add to a New Tank

There are many fun aspects to setting up a new tank, from planning and getting the equipment and then on to aquascaping the tank. But to me, the most fun aspect is selecting and adding the corals. This is when the…

Acropora speciosa – what you need to know

We’re seeing quite a few lovely examples of Acropora speciosa turn up in stores lately, including the coveted “Flaming Sunrise.” Here’s a montage of everything we have on them, written by experts, to aid in our knowledge, and their aquarium…

Seven Ways to Reuse Dead Hard Coral Skeletons

Don’t throw away those dead coral skeletons as we have seven useful ways for your aquarium corals to live on: 1. Use as home decor In the 1970s and 80s coral skeletons made popular home decor items, especially in bathrooms.…

How to select a Local Fish Store and How to Buy Online

During the last forty years things have changed dramatically, and with the pandemic things changed even more. In terms of the hobby, from the pandemic until now have been the best of times and the worst of times, for virtually…

Five Mobile Invertebrates To Avoid

Many mobile inverts like crabs, shrimp, and snails can make great clean-up-crew, while others can eat corals and even fish. Here are five mobile invertebrates to leave out of your reef aquarium. Blue Starfish The Blue starfish, Linckia laevigata, is…