by ReefBum | Mar 18, 2022 | Invertebrates, Supplements
For many years I used Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer as a dip to kill AEFW on SPS frags. Bayer is a garden insecticide and it will not only kill AEFW, but Red Bugs as well. But here is the thing, Bayer is hazardous to humans and, thus, you must be extremely careful when using the product as a dip. To be on the safe side it is a good idea to use latex gloves, a mask and protective eye wear. Another downside to using Bayer is that the liquid is milky white. This makes it extremely difficult to spot any AEFW that may fall off a frag during the dipping process. Fortunately, other options besides Bayer exist. One is potassium chloride. If you own a water by Felicia McCaulley | Dec 13, 2021 | Invertebrates
Did you find a bristleworm in your aquarium? Don’t panic. They are scavengers of meaty foods, but common aquarium bristleworms do not prey on living animals or corals. They perform a necessary function in most aquariums, eating leftover foods and decaying... by ReefBum | Apr 30, 2016 | Corals, Fish, Reef, Science
Ok, first of all, what are they? Well, diatoms are a brown algae that typically appear in a reef tank that has just completed its cycle but they can also appear in an established reef tank. They can cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, you name it. Diatoms look ugly but in most cases they are harmless so the key is to not panic when they appear. Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a by Saltwater Smarts | Apr 19, 2016 | Corals, Fish, Reef, Science
The marine aquarium hobby is second only to the US military when it comes to the number of acronyms its members throw around. (Quite fittingly, this past Monday was the 27th anniversary of my DOE. Shortly after that date, I entered BMT as an A1C and did lots of PC under the direction of a TI before going on to AIT where I got an LOR for violating the UCMJ in advance of my PCS.) For today’s post, I’d like to address a somewhat common hobby acronym mentioned in an email I received from one of our readers. He quite succinctly queried, “What the heck does ‘PE’ stand for? I see it used in online forums a lot.”The acronym “PE” has the distinction of representing two terms in our hobby. If you read it in the context of a discussion on foods and feeding, the acronym likely refers to Piscine Energetics, a company headquartered in British Columbia that supplies PE Mysis®, a popular brand of Mysis relicta, among other products. But in hobby parlance, “PE” can also stand for “polyp extension,” which is exactly what it sounds like—the degree to which a coral extends its polyps. Why does this matter by ReefBum | Jan 23, 2016 | Fish, Reef, Science, Tanks
Starting and maintaining a successful reef tank is not an easy task, even for veterans of the hobby. There are many curveballs out there capable of bringing a reef keeper to their knees that can cause them to “cry uncle”, especially during the early part of a tank’s life. For my latest tank I encountered a few bumps in the road, forcing me to endure what I would term a rough start. Now mind you, I have been in the hobby for over 20 years so the knowledge I accrued has certainly made it easier for me to steer clear of past problems. For instance, in an old tank I had a wicked type of invasive algae that hitchhiked in on some live rock, forcing me to shut
