Ask Yourself These Questions Before Starting Your First Saltwater Aquarium

One of our primary goals here at Saltwater Smarts is to give budding marine aquarists all the insights and information they need to embark upon this challenging hobby with their eyes wide open. Encouraging prior research on techniques, equipment, and…

Is colorimeter testing finally ready to breakthrough in the aquarium hobby?

Of all the advancements that marine aquarists have enjoyed over the years, general testing of aquarium water has been one of the most stagnant areas of improvement and development. If you’re testing the chemistry of your reef aquarium water at home,…

The Use of Negative Space in the Reef Aquarium Aquascape

One of the more interesting developments in the reefkeeping hobby, in my opinion, has nothing to do with the latest, greatest gadget or advance in water-quality-management methodology. Rather, it’s an evolving aesthetic in aquascaping. Bored with the traditional monolithic stack…

The Qualities of a Good Aquarium Cleaning Brush Kit

While there are certainly sexier marine aquarium topics I could be writing about, I’d like to dedicate today’s post to one of the more mundane, albeit essential, elements of our hobby—aquarium brushes. This subject came to mind recently after I…

The Hammer Coral: A Sizeable Stinger with Showpiece Potential

Several of the so-called large-polyp stony (LPS) corals offer the advantages of being very hardy, adaptable, and beautiful and, thus, make excellent reef aquarium candidates, even for relatively new reefkeepers. The hammer coral (Euphyllia ancora), however, I would characterize slightly…

Another look at the captive-bred emperor x annularis angelfish hybrid

Bali Aquarich is far and away the world leader in breeding marine angelfishes in captivity. With that experience they’ve offered at least seven full blooded species of large angelfishes from the Pomacanthus, Holacanthus and Chaetodontoplus genera, but they’ve also gotten really lucky…

Neptune WaV pump, hands on and first impressions

The WaV pump was first announced by Neptune Systems just over a year ago. After a lengthy period of development incubation, Neptune has finally started to ship this interesting new pump. Despite the wait, the WaV has some fairly exciting and…

Cool video shows the whole process of exporting fish from Mauritius

We like to promote the marine aquarium industry, and particularly the export of tropical marine fish, as a force for sustainable harvest of marine fish, sometimes undertaken by tight knit families living in coastal island communities. Nowhere is all of…

Aquaforest products now available through Deepwater Aquatics

For the first time Poland’s quality Aquaforest products will be available in the U.S. thanks to a exclusive distribution partnership with Deepwater Aquatics. The Aquaforest Company was established in 1995 in Poland and began with manufactured substrates and aquatic plants fertilizers…

The Striated Frogfish: a Great Choice for the Oddball Fish Aficionado

Marine aquarists who are drawn to cryptic species with unusual morphology rather than bright colors might want to give the striated frogfish (Antennarius striatus) a second look. Actually, depending on the system it’s kept in, it may be necessary to…