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…

Reefing from Afar, Part 3: The Bare-Bones Basics of Automation

In Part 2 of this series, I discussed some of the possibilities for automating your reef system based on your needs. Now that you have a few ideas of what you can automate, I’d like to offer a simple recipe…

Reefing from Afar, Part 2: Automation Options

In Part 1 of this series, I laid down some of the expectations for success, and now we are ready to dive into the functions that we can automate. Automation can range from low-tech to high-tech and fit various budgets,…

Beware Marine Aquarium Complacency!

A funny thing sometimes happens to marine aquarium hobbyists who have a few years’ experience under their briny belts—they have a tendency to become complacent in their methods and attitudes. Once they’ve mastered the basics of aquarium keeping, it can…

Tank Profile: Joe Garza’s SPS-dominate Reef Savvy Rimless Aquarium

The blue thumb behind this beautiful reef, Joe Garza, is a U.S. Navy veteran who spent years traveling the oceans, exploring the globe, and admiring the beauty of the aquatic world. He kept aquariums filled with all sorts of colorful…

Stop overfeeding your fish to reduce nutrients and prevent fat fish

Over the past few years there have been significant advances in just about every aspect of taking care of the inhabitants of our reef tanks. There has been a significant increase on providing the proper nutritional requirements of our corals and other…

Marine Aquarium Terminology: “Nutrient Export” Defined

Among the myriad mysterious terms that might give neophyte marine aquarists a migraine (okay, I’ll stop with the gratuitous alliteration now) is “nutrient export.” What does this term mean? Is it just a fancy way of saying “filtration”? Well, not…

The 20,000 gallon reef tank relies on a diversity of filtration techniques

If you thought that the lighting for Joe Yaiullo’s 20,000 gallon reef tank is eclectic, just wait until you get a load of the various filtration devices that are employed on this behemoth reef aquarium display. From filtration devices, to…

Skimz releases Skimz PurBio pellets

Skimz PurBio is a biodegradable polymer released by the company to help increase the beneficial bacteria that eliminate unwanted nitrate and phosphate in your aquarium. Although nothing revolutionary in this product versus other solid carbon dosing products on the market, Skimz…

A reef tank is not a piece of a natural reef

I have to chuckle when I hear someone say that their reef tank looks just like a reef in the ocean, or that their tank is like a small piece of the reef. It may sound like sacrilege to fellow reefers, but despite…