Freshwater planted tanks, something completely different

As those of you that know me or have seen me speak or have read my stuff or watched my videos know, I love the saltwater side of the hobby, and especially anything to do with reefs. I consider myself…

Sarcophyton Leather Corals: Attractive, Toxic, and Tough as Nails

When it comes to hardiness, ease of care, and general adaptability, few corals can compare to those of the genus Sarcophyton—the so-called toadstool, or mushroom, leather corals. Despite their lack of chromatic brilliance, they’re also pretty neat looking to boot.…

Reefing from Afar, Part 4: The Wong Solution

The last article discussed some of the quick and simple ways to take care of your reef while being away for just a short period of time. Due to my work responsibilities, which require travel around the world for two-…

What a Difference a (Good) Protein Skimmer Makes!

Here at Saltwater Smarts, we’re not, generally speaking, in the business of writing product reviews. But when we have positive personal experiences with products that we think can make your life easier—and are available at a reasonable cost—we want to…

Marine Aquarium Acronyms: SPS and LPS Defined

It’s been far too long since I last attempted to dissect the dizzying “alphabet soup” of acronyms we marine aquarium hobbyists use to simplify our terminology. So, for today’s post, I’d like to clarify two particular acronyms that arise early…

2.2 Fairy Wrasses: The cyanopleura group

The cyanopleura group is the next collection of fairy wrasses from the second major Cirrhilabrus clade (whose member taxa share the trait of mid-length pelvic fins) and is sister to the scottorum group. In the latter, certain traits that were diagnostic to the members will be…

Reef Reboot Phase 4, “Just Add Salt!”

So where did I leave off? Oh yeah, a tank full of RO water ready to become a reef! Now the fun part.. Salt was added and the pumps were fired up. I was thrilled that the new tank was…

The Marine Aquarist as Environmental Scapegoat

Some years ago, I read a rather unflattering feature article in a local newspaper about the reefkeeping hobby and its impact on the natural reefs. To say this piece was biased, wretchedly researched, and wholly unsupported would be putting it…

The demise of reefing road trip

With summer being upon us and life being a little less stressful and gas being cheap, I decided to go on a reef keeper’s road trip. My friend Jim Gintner of Eye Catching Coral and I visited Brett and Todd…

Next Reboot Phase 3, “Let’s put this new tank together..”

So reboot phase 2 was all about the tear down. It wasn’t an easy time. A lot of corals were lost in the holding tanks despite my best efforts. It was definitely a low point. I would say there were…