Is Ammonia Dosing a Possible New Way to Provide Coral Nutrition? 

Understanding Coral Diseases as well the nutritional needs of corals has been one of the shortcomings of science and the hobby since Jacques Cousteau introduced us to the coral reefs in the 1960s. We have made extensive progress in improving…

Top Tips for Beginners and New Reef Aquarium Hobbyists

During my early years in the hobby virtually everyone I came into contact with, from shops to other hobbyists all said the same thing: “Keeping a saltwater tank is too difficult so don’t even bother trying”. Looking back I can…

Gracilaria vs Vibrio: The Antimicrobial Properties of Red Macroalgae

Bacteria of the family Vibrionaceae are some of the most universally present microbes in aquatic environments. Even well-established reef aquariums, exhibiting no apparent problems, likely contain a number of Vibrio bacteria species. This is because many species and strains of…

Setting Up an Aquarium Log

As the old saying goes: The details are in the paperwork. This is especially true when keeping a reef tank where you can’t know where a tank is going unless you know where it’s been and you can’t really know…

Five Simple Ways to Increase pH in your Reef Aquarium

A pH monitor may reveal reef tanks with a pH as low as 7.6 at night. Employ these five simple pH hacks to raise your pH to 8.2 and above, and watch your corals survive and grow much better than…

The Importance of Coral Nutrition

As we have noted in previous articles most aspects of the hobby have some controversy associated with them. Needless to say, coral nutrition is one of them. For many years the general consensus was that all corals needed to thrive…

Are Fish Necessary in a Reef Tank?

After keeping reef tanks for almost forty years, and having viewed literally thousands of successful tanks, including a few recently sans fish, it got me to thinking are fish necessary in a reef tank.  Now before you think I have…

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…

Are Reef Tanks Stress-Reducing or Stress-Inducing?

Since we are in the midst of the holiday season, we are all familiar with how the family get-togethers, shopping, and hustle and bustle can be both stress-relieving in some ways and also stress-inducing. I have come to realize that…

Saltwater Beginner Series: Can I convert my freshwater tank to a saltwater tank?

Yes, virtually any aquarium can be converted to saltwater, as long as it doesn’t contain any parts that might rust like iron or steel. Glass and acrylic aquariums are the best for saltwater conversion but if you run an aquarium…