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Marine Aquarium Water Changes: Don’t Postpone the Personal Payoff!

by | Nov 11, 2015 | Corals, Fish, Reef, Science

Part of my clan rejoicing in their “dose” of clean waterYesterday, I finally got around to performing an overdue water change in my 125-gallon tank. Admiring the fruits of my labor afterward, I couldn’t help wondering, “Why on earth do I wait so long to do these when the result is always so rewarding?” Actually, I know exactly why I wait so long, and it’s probably the same reason many of you do as well—sometimes life just gets in the way. Writing and editing projects begin to pile up, deadlines loom one after another, and I just don’t have enough time or energy left by the end of the day to squeeze in yet another project. Weekends usually find me catching up on articles or SWS posts or at least trying to squeeze in a little relaxation, so I don’t exactly relish the thought of doing water changes then either.Still, whenever I discipline myself to push through and tackle this essential maintenance chore (which actually doesn’t have to be as challenging or time-consuming as I make it out to be in my head), not only do my fish and corals reap the benefits, but my enjoyment of the tank is significantly enhanced as well. How so? First off, the dilution of all the bad stuff in the water and replenishment of the good stuff—like a rush of fresh air into a stuffy room or that first warm spring day after a cold winter—seems to bring out the very best in my fish. Never are they friskier or more vibrantly colored than right after a water change.

Paul “Paul B” Baldassano Pens Unique Book on Marine Aquarium Keeping

by | Oct 5, 2015 | DIY, Fish, Science

What do supermodels, the Vietnam War, and the right front fender of a 1955 Oldsmobile have to do with marine aquariums? Absolutely nothing—that is, of course, unless you’re hobby pioneer Paul “Paul B” Baldassano and you’ve just published a book on your six decades of aquarium keeping.Well, he is and he just did! Paul’s new tome, titled The Avant-Garde Marine Aquarist: A 60-Year History of Fishkeeping and produced in collaboration with your friends here at Saltwater Smarts, is anything but your typical aquarium reference book. With his signature tongue-in-cheek style, familiar to anyone who follows his posts here or on other sites around the web, Paul offers his unique, eye-of-the-beholder, and possibly hallucinogen-inspired thoughts on: His earliest encounter with marine organisms (hint: it wasn’t in the ocean) The history of our hobby How to buy fish in good health and keep them that way Fish biology, including his revolutionary insights on fish immunity Methods for maintaining healthy aquarium water How to manage algae, pests, and common diseases How to succeed with certain hard-to-keep species How he would set up a tank from scratch today A whole host of easy-to-construct, cost-cutting DIY projects And much, much more! A section of Paul B’s 44 year old reef aquarium Paul, a resident of Long Island, New York, has been immersed in aquarium keeping since the 1950s. In fact, his current 6-foot-long, 100-gallon reef tank has been in operation longer than many of today’s hobbyists have been alive—44 years as of this writing. Much of Paul’s remarkable long-term success can be attributed to his ever-curious, self-reliant, innovative nature, which has led him to create a wide range of ingenious inventions and DIY projects to make the aquarium-keeping experience easier and cheaper