Lighting affects how we visually enjoy the hobby and, more importantly, the vast majority of the corals in our tanks are photosynthetic. In this two-part article, we will first cover some of the basics of the light itself and then discuss the various lighting technologies people use to light their reefs.…
Question: I have a volitans lionfish that’s been in my 200-gallon tank for over two years, and lately it has begun to act like it can’t see. At feeding times, it makes an effort to grab food that’s drifting by but usually misses—like it can tell that food is in the water but can’t see it well enough to get it in its mouth.…
Pseudocheilinus ocellatus, the mystery wrasse (aka the tail-spot wrasse, white-barred wrasse, or five-barred wrasse), is somewhat uncommon in the hobby and usually priced accordingly. But if you can get past the sticker shock for such a modest-sized fish, you’ll find this species can be a worthy aquarium candidate.…
I always say that you only really need three things to be successful in this hobby: good water quality, good water flow, and good light. All of those things are pretty involved, but lighting in particular gets a lot of discussion because of the three, it is the most expensive and the thing that is going to most dramatically affect how the fish and corals in your tank will look.…
Question: This is probably a silly question, but should I rinse frozen food before feeding it to my fish? I usually just thaw the food in a cup full of aquarium water and pour it right in.” – Submitted by GMan
Answer: Here at Saltwater Smarts, the only silly question is the one left unasked (well, that and “What can I take to cure my kleptomania?”).…
If you are ever visiting NYC and have time for a day trip out on Long Island, I would highly suggest the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center out in Riverhead as an excellent family destination. The center is about a one-hour drive from Queens on the Long Island Expressway.…
When it comes to keeping hawkfishes in aquaria, one of the more common admonitions is to avoid housing these predators with fish or crustaceans small enough to swallow. For most of the hawkfish species that grace our tanks, which generally have a maximum size somewhere between 3 and 5 inches, only very small tankmates are truly at risk.…
Regular Saltwater Smarts visitors may recall that back in the spring of 2015, I closed down my 75-gallon reef tank and converted my 125-gallon (then) FOWLR tank to a reef system with the addition of some invertebrate livestock from the 75 and a Current USA metal halide/T5 combo light fixture donated by Caribbean Chris.…
Question: I just introduced an Acropora to my 65-gallon reef tank, and it’s already starting to bleach on me. I’d say about one-quarter to one-third of the colony has already bleached, and it’s been in the tank less than a week.…
Aficionados of freshwater planted aquariums have long understood that observing certain rules of composition when aquascaping with plants, rocks, driftwood, and other features can have a tremendous impact on an aquarium’s overall aesthetic impression.…