The importance of pH in the reef tank

Over the years a number of different aspects of reefkeeping have either become a hot topic or have been forgotten by the hobby. When I was starting out one of the parameters that was focused on was pH, which stands…

The Basics of Minor Trace Elements in Reef Aquariums

As the hobby has continued to expand and the knowledge to be successful with it, some aspects have been found to be more important than originally thought. Foremost among these is water chemistry and specifically minor trace elements. While the…

Red Sea Launch Reefer Max Fully Equipped Aquarium Bundle

Red Sea has completed the last piece of its Eco-system puzzle by offering its latest G2 version Reefer aquariums with all its compatible equipment combined. The Reefer concept started off life as a stripped-down but reef-ready tank, sump, and cabinet…

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…

Finding Nemo is 20 years old. Here’s how it changed reefkeeping forever

It’s hard to believe it’s twenty years since Pixar launched the computer-animated adventure of clownfish Nemo, his dad Marlin and the forgetful Blue Regal tang Dory. We think we’ve watched it 50 times since then, first on DVD and a…

Mechanical and Chemical Filtration

Back when I started keeping fish, filtration consisted of angel hair or glass wool as the mechanical filtration and charcoal as the chemical filtration. Now there are a multitude of ways to perform these types of filtration, but rarely are…

Why Flow is So Critical in a Reef Aquarium

If you shut off your skimmer for a day or two there is usually no problem. I have also shut off all my lights for four days to kill algae and again there was no issue with the corals. But…

Why Every Reefer Needs a Hole In The Wall

Ongoing renovations to my house have given me a rare opportunity to improve how I run my tanks by utilizing a hole in the wall. When it comes to suitability for tanks my place isn’t brilliant. It has raised wooden…

Paletta on Protein Skimming

Through the years I have seen marine aquarium filtration go from under gravel filters through canister filters and then trickle filters, all producing various levels of success. But the only filtration method that truly changed filtration was when the hobby…

Improving Carbon Dioxide and pH Management

During the early years of the hobby, some of the factors that were most intently looked at were calcium levels, pH, and salinity. Over time these have kind of faded from being thought of as critical and have been replaced…