If You Ain’t Testing, You’re Just Guessing!

Aquarium Water Testing By: Scott Davidson I always remember this phrase from my earliest days of reef keeping.  Although I can’t remember who coined the phrase, it has always stuck with me.  It would always conjure the image of someone standing in…

Saltwater Aquarium Maintenance: Water Testing and Reef Parameters

Aquarium Maintenance Water testing can be one of the more timely aspects of maintenance, but without testing, it’s difficult to know what’s going on inside your tank. Every time you test your water is a chance to correct any imbalances in…

Reef Kinetics Reefbits New Automatic Water Testing Device

Reefbits is a new automatic water testing device which promises to automate much of the water testing for our aquariums. We’re generally way too optimistic about cutting edge technologies and promising new products but somehow the Reefbits really fell short of…

The 5 Most Common Mistakes Experienced Marine Aquarists Make

Ever notice that there are lots of articles and posts out there with titles like “The Top 10 Mistakes Novice Marine Aquarists Make”? Considering that newcomers are generally much more susceptible to making major errors than their experienced counterparts are,…

Labor Test: Fauna Marin launches its mail-in water testing service

The Labor Test is Fauna Marin’s answer to the growing popularity of mail-in water tests, especially the elemental diagnostics provided by ICP pioneer, Triton Lab. In stark contrast to the Triton double-vial water testing envelope, the Fauna Marin Labor Tests…

The importance of testing reef aquarium water

During the first semester in my biochemistry class the professor started the class by bringing out two clear beakers into which he appeared to pour two identical clear fluids.  Once they were full, he pulled out a worm and placed it…

SpeedStir magnetic stirrer because mixing by hand is for suckers

The SpeedStir is a very interesting miniature magnetic stirrer for better and easier testing of water quality. However this novel contraption comes to us not from the aquarium hobby, but from the pool water testing division of Taylor Technologies. Home water…

Mindstream Aquarium Monitor is alive and coming soon

The Mindstream Aquarium Monitoring System is a groundbreaking new device that was first announced in late 2013, but then went completely radio silent for all of last year. The Mindstream Monitor turned a lot of heads by promising to be…

6 Steps to Stable pH in a Saltwater System

Stability of water parameters is essential to success with marine aquariums, especially when it comes to keeping sensitive invertebrates. Among the various parameters that hobbyists often struggle to maintain at an appropriate level is pH, essentially a measure of how…

Thrive Aquatics sets firm timetable for Beta release of Thrive Water Lab

The Thrive Water Lab has been a long way coming but for those of you who kept the faith, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for this machine to become a reality. As you…