ReefStock Chattanooga is a new Reef Aquarium show happening this September

Reef Builders is thrilled to announce that we are hosting another ReefStock event in 2023. Held in the Scenic City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, this new, latest location offers great road and rail links, hotels, and hospitality, and promises to be…

The Importance of Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium in a Reef Tank

There are many aspects of the hobby that for one reason or another are controversial. But one of the few that isn’t is the need to manage the big three: Calcium Alkalinity and Magnesium. That is everyone agrees that it…

Why Florida Sea Cucumbers Are Champions of Cleanup Crew 

The Reef Aquarium Industry is heavily reliant on invertebrate cleanup crew. Demand for cleanup crew organisms will only continue to sky-rocket with the popularity of the hobby. Economic and environmental criteria define the future of an ideal reef cleanup crew…

Jeff Senske uses Freshwater Design Principles to Aquascape a Reef Tank

In the Aquascaping World, Jeff Senske and his brother Mike need no introduction. They head up Aquarium Design Group in Houston, Texas, and their tank designs have been featured on the covers of books and magazines, on social media, and…

How to Care for Your Reef Tank while On Vacation

There are many terms that we reefers have come to fear: RTN, Montipora eating nudibranchs, wife seeing the credit card bill, and Fedex losing the box. Unfortunately, many of us have come to fear something that we should look forward…

TOMLOV DM602 is the Perfect All-Around Microscope for Reefkeeping

Microscopes are cool and have lots of uses for reefkeeping: looking at the critters in the sand, looking at the details of a coral’s surface, trying to ID pests, and more. But picking a microscope can be daunting. There are…

How to keep your Reef Tank Cool in Summer Heatwaves and Hot Weather

Summertime, wildfires, and the return of El Nino mean it’s time to think not about how we heat our reef aquariums, but how we keep them cool. We need to keep our tanks at a steady 25C/77F with few exceptions,…

The Need for Sustainably Aquacultured Cleanup Crew

Cleanup crew, whether they be gastropods, crustaceans, fish, echinoderms, or polychaete worms, are an integral part of the contemporary reef aquarium. Just like in wild ecosystems, various species of snails or sea urchins provide keystone ecological services by regulating the…

Reef Aquarium Plumbing and Pipework

Having worked in medicine for my entire career I got accustomed to the euphemisms that doctors often employed. One of my favorites was the cardiologists who were sometimes referred to as plumbers in that from other physicians’ perspectives all they…

Mass Urchin Die-off Threatens Reefs in the Red Sea

A species of Sea urchin has undergone a devastating wipeout on reefs off the city of Eilat in Israel. The entire population of Black Sea urchins, Diadema setosum, has died off in just weeks from a suspected pathogen, with their…