The Top 5 Tips for Beginner Reefkeepers

I started the hobby before the internet became widely used, and information was sourced mainly through local fish stores. I was lucky enough to have some decent ones, but it was limited, no doubt. Today, beginning hobbyists have to deal…

Salty Q&A: Is RO/DI Water All It’s Cracked Up to Be?

Question I’ve been keeping saltwater aquariums for five years, and in all that time I’ve never used RO/DI water for top offs or mixing up clean salt water. I just use tap water treated with a dechlorinator / dechloraminator, and…

Specialized Care is Key to Success with Sun Corals

When ascribed to the various species of the genus Tubastraea, the common name “sun coral” is both fitting and ironic. It’s fitting when you consider that the spectacular polyps of many Tubastraea species can quite justifiably be described as sun-like…

Neptune WAV pump review: a shakeup of the way things have been

The WAV pump from Neptune Systems is the first big shakeup in powerful, controllable aquarium propeller pumps in way too many years. The last decade has seen a huge surge in the availability of water movers for the aquarium market.…

Top 10 crazy clownfish collected in the Philippines recently

Over the last few months, RVS Fishworld has been crushing it with their offering of awesome Filipino reef fish. This high level of quality fish is particularly evident when it comes to collecting rare, aberrant, hybrid and otherwise really unusual clownfish…

Aquarium Technologies Borrowed from Other Industries

We marine aquarists use a variety of tools to help keep our tanks healthy by either changing or removing the waste products of the animals we keep. But did you know virtually all of the devices we use were originally…

Need Help from Fellow Hobbyists? Don’t Spare the Details!

We’ve all been there at one time or another: A major problem arises that’s causing livestock losses—and/or loss of sanity—and we need advice from local fish store staffers, the members of our favorite forum, website moderators, or just friendly local…

Top 10 Traits of a Successful Reefkeeper

As marine aquarium hobbyists, we can buy a lot of things to make our experience better and easier, but when it comes to long-term reefkeeping success, the “right stuff” doesn’t come from a store. In addition to a genuine love…

Red Sea REEFER 250 Review part 1

For some of us, planning an aquarium system is a joy. It’s a process that allows us to makes list and complete tasks and people love making lists and checking off those tasks. For the rest of us planing an…

Reef Builders Editor’s Choice: 10 best new products of 2015

Another year has come and gone and we’ve seen a slew of new and interesting products introduced to the aquarium hobby. Like so many tech gadgets these days, some of these new productshave been incremental improvements to what we’ve enjoyed…