“Refugium” is a hobby term that resists easy definition. This is probably so because, unlike most aquarium accoutrements—heaters, powerheads, protein skimmers, lights, etc.—there’s no single, readily identifiable purpose for a refugium. Ask 10 different hobbyists what a refugium is for,…
The Many Means of Nutrient Export in Marine Aquariums
Dissolved nutrients. Sounds like a good thing, right? After all, every organism needs nutrients in one form or another in order to grow and stay in good health. So why are marine aquarium hobbyists—particularly reefkeepers—seemingly so fixated on keeping the…
Good Reasons to Use a Refugium in Your Reef System
A refugium is a safe haven for algae and invertebrates in a separate tank from the main display aquarium. These organisms provide some distinct advantages to the overall health of a reef aquarium. First off, the critters breeding in the…
Blue Hypnea algae is a macroalgae worth growing for its looks
Blue Hypnea is a new macroalgae from ORA which is interesting and colorful enough to be cultured in aquarium for its own sake. Not to be confused with more purple colored Ochtodes from the Caribbean, the blue Hypnea algae is an attractive algae which…
Nano-reef user Metrokat’s display refugium is an awesome collection of macroalgae
Marcoalgae is awesome, and not only because of their nutrient removal abilities. We love macro algae for its ease of maintenance, cool growth forms and colors and we’re even more fond of macro algae displays. This display refugium of nano-reef…
AlgaGen MacroAlgae Plugs might usher new era of saltwater planted tanks
We’ve seen some slivers of info about AlgaGen’s MacroAlgae here and there over the last year but seeing them in person totally caught us off guard. The small flat plugs are populated by attractive, neigh gorgeous species of red MacroAlgae…
Halophila’s Seagrass tank is a prime example of simple beauty
This Halophila-dominated seagrass aquarium is built and designed to take care of itself. No protein skimmer, no calcium reactor, no sump, no biopellets, carbon or GFO. No automatic water changes or a super controller with email function. Heck this system…
At Pitcairn Island, macro algae are one of the main reef builders
At Pitcairn Island in the Southern Pacific Ocean, a plethora of beautiful and unique macro algaes are well represented in myriad forms. Beautiful fleshy algaes, branching coralline and leafy brown algaes are extremely well represented according to a new survey…
Simple, low tech reef tanks can be bliss
My home office is down in the basement of our house. There are weeks where my job has me working late nights down there and at some point, I figured a little aquatic life would make my work environment more…
Marine Plants in the Aquarium is a comprehensive website on captive marine botany
When we first heard of Marine Plant Book we raced to the website to seek the details of where this book could be purchased. After poking around the website for a while, we realized that the website is the book.…
