With ICP (ICP-OES / Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy) testing becoming commonplace for a well-kept reef aquarium, the methods for interpreting the results and putting these numbers to good use are becoming quite varied and potentially confusing. One method…
advice
How to keep Algae from Becoming Problematic
Whether you are starting out or have been keeping a reef tank for a long time the number one worry that most hobbyists still seem to have is how to keep algae in check. Since the start of the hobby…
How to Manage the Ugly Stage of a New Reef Tank
There are few inevitable things in life and even fewer in this hobby. But the one inevitable that everyone encounters when they set up a new tank is that there will be an ugly phase. It does not matter if…
How and Why to Dose Your Reef Tank
We’re asked more questions on dosing than virtually anything else. Here’s a Beginner’s Guide and our most Frequently Asked Questions on Reef Tank Dosing. What is dosing? Dosing is when you add buffer to your reef tank to keep water…
How to Aquascape a Reef Aquarium
Once the live rock has been cured and cycled one of the most fun aspects, at least to me, of setting up a new reef tank has finally arrived. Aquascaping a tank, that is designing and positioning the live rock…
How to Cure Live Rock
Up until now, everything that has been necessary to do has been relatively easy. This next step in setting up a reef tank properly is what starts to separate those who will be successful long-term from those who will not.…
FAQs on Phytoplankton Part 1
You wanna know how Phytoplankton really works in your aquarium? We asked Phycologist Taras V Pleskun. Which reef aquarium corals and other animals can ingest, and benefit from Phytoplankton? Microalgae are the nutritional foundation of all marine ecosystems. They are…
The History and Evolution of Live Rock
When Georg Smit and Alf Nilsen introduced live rock to American hobbyists in the 1980’s the keeping of saltwater animals changed forever. Up until this time, undergravel filters were the main means for biological filtration and most tanks were decorated…
How to Control Reef Tank Temperature and Excess Humidity
In terms of simple things about the hobby, at first glance, it would appear that understanding temperature would be at the top of the list. It is simple, in that since the average temperature on natural coral reefs ranges from…
How to Select a Reef Salt
When someone finds out that I keep saltwater aquariums they often ask where I get the saltwater from. Obviously, since I do not live by the ocean it is not from there, so they are surprised when I tell them…