Activated carbon is a porous form of carbon that can be used to absorb or remove dissolved organics that give water its yellow tint. Removing these materials will help with biological filtration and increase water clarity. In theory, better clarity will aid light transmission through the water [...]
When starting a reef tank it is always a great idea to lay out your plans for how you want to plumb together or connect all of your equipment. I call it a plumbing roadmap. I start by breaking out a pad of paper and doodling some sketches to see what works and what doesn’t work. Once I am happy [...]
There are only a few things about the reef keeping hobby I dread and one of them is moving a tank. Oh boy…..what a pain! One of my most memorable tank moves was when my wife and I left the big city lights of New York City for the leafy suburbs of Westchester, New York. At the time I had a 90 [...]
SPS Deep Dive – ORA Red Planet The ORA Red Planet is one of my favorite SPS for a number of reasons. Number one, it is red and who doesn’t love a splash of red in their reef to color things up. Number two, it is a tabling acropora so it looks like it is a natural part of a reef and number [...]
Minimizing stress is the name of the game when acclimating fish to a reef tank so it is important to follow some some basic rules to ensure fish have a healthy transition to their new environment. Step one is to equalize the temperature of the water in the bag with the temperature of the tank. This [...]
There are a lot of variables that can impact the health of a reef tank and temperature is something that should be watched carefully during the warm summer months. A chiller is the best way to keep things cool but they are high ticket items. Budget conscious reef keepers do have options such as [...]
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 [...]
Top 10 Tips For Keeping a SPS Reef Tank Let’s face it. Keeping a reef tank is not a simple chore but there are some basic tenants one can follow to optimize the chances for success. With over 20 years in the hobby I have learned a lot from both my successes and failures. Below are My Top [...]