by ReefBum | Nov 21, 2018 | Corals, Equipment, Fish, Reef, Science, Supplements, Tanks, Video
What? Dosing nitrates to get rid of cyano? A common piece of advice when battling Cyanobacteria or cyano is to lower nutrients since cyano can be fueled by high phosphates or nitrates (cyano can also pop up due to elevated organics). So wouldn’t it be counter-intuitive to raise one of these elements? Let’s dig into this a bit. If both nitrates and phosphates are high then one can use Granular Ferric Oxide or GFO to lower phosphates and carbon dosing to lower nitrates. I used to run GFO on my reef tanks and it was certainly easy to use, but there were some downsides. If used too aggressively GFO can shock corals and cause SPS to fade. Another downside with GFO is that it will not by ReefBum | Aug 7, 2018 | Corals
$500 for a frag? Well, today there are a number of frags out there fetching this price but years ago this sort of price point was not as common. An exception was the $500 Efflo. According to reeffarmers, the original owner of this Acropora efflorescens did not want to part with the coral since it had turned a beautiful purple color under his care. Everything has a price and ultimately it was put up for sale at $500 and purchased in 2004 by Steve Weast, a master reef tank aquarist in Portland, Oregon. The colony didn’t make it but frags cut before Steve had it survived and over the years this much sought after piece found it’s way into the reef keeping community via online retailers and hobbyists by AquaNerd | Jul 21, 2018 | Equipment, Science, Technology
Finbit is a compact water quality tester that promises more functionality and features than anything before by ReefBum | Apr 18, 2018 | Fish
So you have a reef tank and you also have an affinity for keeping marine angelfish, a potentially bad combination since many angelfish have a reputation for snacking on and destroying corals. But wait, options do exist! As I mentioned in a prior blog post, many reef keepers, including myself, have successfully kept Regal Angelfish in reef tanks, although it can be a roll of the dice since some individuals will snack on corals. If you are not the gambling type and want more piece of mind you should consider a Masked Swallowtail Angelfish. Also known as Japanese Masked Swallowtail Angelfish, this critter is part of the Genicanthus genus, a group that includes Bellus and Watanabei angels. All of these fish feed in the wild above the by ReefBum | Mar 30, 2018 | Equipment
For the last 4 weeks I have been running my 187 gallon reef tank without a skimmer as sort of an experiment. A few months ago I lost a number of corals due to what I believe were very low levels of phosphate in the tank. I run an ARID algae reactor and it does a great job pulling out nutrients. With the ARID you do have to dose nitrates to keep the chaeto growing and lately I have been dosing phosphates to keep levels from going too low. Ultimately, you want nitrates and phosphates at a 100:1 ratio to maximize chaeto growth. With the ARID you can either use a skimmer or go skimmerless and let the ARID be the sole form of filtration. Ultimately, I decided to pull
