The time has finally come to prepare your new reef biosphere for life. The first question is what you want your reef tank to look like. In the early days of reef keeping most aquarists essentially built a “live rock” wall along the back section of their tank, eventually attaching small corals or frags to that wall.…
As you can see from my video of my freshwater tank (below) it is progressing well and my interest in my freshwater aquarium is, if anything, growing. My video is far from expert; it is my first attempt at working with video, so bear with me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p0N7rOkHiU…
There are essentially three types of filtration that the marine aquarist need be concerned with: particle, chemical, and biological. For the marine fish only or the reef tank, biological filtration is essential.…
Dear Reader, I have two confessions to make: the first is that I can’t do things in a small way, and second, low tech is not compatible with my personality. As you know from my last editorial I decided to make my old 500-gallon tank into a freshwater planted tank and that I was going to do it low tech with only two 4-foot fluorescent bulbs and a large canister filter.…
There is considerable controversy regarding substrate in closed system reef tanks. The controversy ranges from substrate to no substrate, depth of substrate, size and composition of substrate, and to the utilization or utility of a false bottom — called a plenum.…
The times, financially speaking, are rough for many of us, and for Advanced Aquarist it is also tough. I know that you know this, but what you may not know is that we pay our professional writers well.…
For this month’s editorial I’m providing a link to a very interesting video with sound depicting Montipora polyps at dawn. For those of you that don’t recognize the music, it is a jazzed up version of Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra (This speaks Zarathustra).…
Irony: Before getting to this column’s subject – temperature control – I think it important to tell readers about what happened to me regarding plumbing two weeks ago, when I came home to find about 90-gallons of water on the floor by my reef tank.…
Water circulation is undoubtedly the most important parameter for the successful fish only or reef tank. Without water circulation life will not exist; it provides oxygenated water, removes toxic gases like CO2, and transports nutrients throughout the man made biotope.…
Several weeks ago I gave a talk at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, NY. The invitation was given to me by Manhattan Reefs. The occasion for the talk was what has become known as a “Frag. Swap.”…