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 Move a Reef Tank and Cabinet

We reefkeepers are a fickle bunch. We achieve a thriving healthy tank full of corals and then we break the tank down so we can go bigger as we never seem to have enough. I say this from experience as…

The Reef Builders’ Big ICP Test Review, by Sanjay Joshi

Initially introduced to the hobby market by Triton, ICP tests have been around for several years now and have become a staple in the hobby. The allure of these tests has been the relatively cheap ability to get a reading of…

Water Chemistry Part 1: Salinity and Temperature

There are a lot of sexy aspects of having a reef tank including planning and setting it up, aquascaping it, and then selecting the fish and corals to go in it. And you can also get excited about choosing the…

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…

Watch Than Thein’s ReefStock Presentation

When Than Thein from Tidal Gardens and Jake Adams met at the Reef Builders Studio, it was one of our most-watched videos, so it goes without saying that we just had to have him speak at ReefStock Denver back in…

What Ozone and UV do on a Reef Tank

When you are starting a new tank there are always a lot of lists of different things. There is a definite need to have a list that includes things like a protein skimmer, lights, etc. Then there is a list…

Goniopora-eating nudibranchs: A Goni Gardener’s Worst Nightmare!

As if reefkeeping wasn’t hard enough at times, and keeping Goniopora spp. Flowerpot corals in particular, we must now treat Gonis like we would treat Zoanthus or Montipora, and treat, and inspect them for predatory nudibranchs.  Goniopora naturally inhabits turbid,…

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…