Author: Randy Holmes-Farley

Last month I reported on the purity of several brands of calcium chloride, including the relatively inexpensive Dowflake 77-80% Calcium Chloride available at Home... Read more.

Calcium chloride is a compound of significant interest to many marine aquarists. Besides its potential use in formulating artificial salt mixes, it is also useful... Read more.

One of the most common concerns of reef aquarists is pH. Some aquaria have pH that is too high, some too low. Some have pH just right, but don’t know it. The... Read more.

Many aquarists ask whether it is acceptable to use tap water for their reef aquaria. The answer obviously depends on what is in their tap water. We have all heard... Read more.

In previous articles I have dealt in detail with issues involving magnesium1 and strontium2 in reef aquaria.  While information on the amount of strontium and magnesium... Read more.

Much has been written about the need for strontium in reef aquaria. Some authors have described it as an important additive,1 while others have described it simply... Read more.

Magnesium is the third most abundant ion in seawater, behind sodium and chloride. It is also intimately involved in a great many biological processes in every living... Read more.

In a recent article I described in detail various attributes of boron in the reef aquaria.1 These attributes include providing pH stability and the potential for... Read more.