How to Overcome a Total Tank Wipeout

We hate to hear about it happening to someone. We hate to see it when someone posts about it happening to them. But more than anything we hate to experience it. Sadly, almost everyone I know who has been in…

The Five Best SPS Corals For Beginners

Small Polyp Stony Corals are some of the most popular aquarium corals, and the most populous on natural reefs, famed for their spiky branches, flat tables, or swirling plates. Not all SPS corals are the same, however, or as easy…

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…

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,…

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…

Lobophyllia robusta is the easiest “Symphyllia” available

We are often asked to recommend which LPS species are the most suitable, but when we gazed into our tank today the answer had been staring us right in the face. Lobos! Sold as Spiny brain corals, Lobed Brain corals,…

How to properly Treat and Dip Newly Acquired Corals

As we have gotten better at keeping our corals and especially propagating them, we have also gotten better at recognizing the many pests that feed on them. As a result, it is now necessary to manage these pests lest they…

Old and New Reef Tank Pests

It seems that when we take two steps forward we often have to take one step back. Such is the case with the success we have had in the hobby. In the early days of the hobby, we were preoccupied…

The Ten Most Annoying Things About Reefkeeping

Sometimes reefing can really get on our nerves! Here are just ten of the things we really hate about our hobby right now.   When fish jump out Unfortunately, we’ve all been here, whether it’s a newly purchased tank-bred clownfish, a…

Simplicity Coral Dipping Container is an evolved vessel for pests

The importance of dipping corals cannot be underestimated these days as we covet and culture evermore expensive coral variants, yet pass them from owner to owner, tank to tank, in frag form. We all know what it’s like to find…