Reefing

Does your tank talk to you?  Mine does to me all the time; you just need to be able to interpret what it is trying to tell you. Just recently, I noticed a problem: all of my Bubblegum Digitatas were retracted, but everything else looked just fine. When you have 1000+ frags, some will be closed whenever you take a look at your tank, but in this case 30 of one specific type of coral had all of their polyps retracted.  All my other Digis were perfectly happy, as well as everything else – but those 30 frags were telling...

Starting a saltwater aquarium is very different from starting a freshwater aquarium where you can set up the tank, add dechlorinator and immediately add fish, a saltwater aquarium has to be cycled before you can add fish. Cycling a saltwater aquarium is a process in which the water goes through several biological changes that results in it being chemically balanced to sustain life. It's a tedious process that usually takes about a month complete. But, it's necessary process to keep your marine life healthy and alive.   There are several different methods that you can use to cycle a new...

Frags are fragments from a coral colony and it is a great way to add life to your reef aquarium without spending an arm and a leg for a full size colony.  The Coral Frags are babies that will grown into full size colonies if you do the give them the right love a care.    When picking out new frags, pick ones that are well healed and show signs of new growth after fragging.  You don’t want something that was fragged yesterday and is stressed.  Depending on the coral itself you should start seeing growth within two weeks to...

Another challenge that you will face when keeping a saltwater aquarium is acclimating new coral frags you purchase.  Without acclimating them properly you risk hurting or even killing your new coral frag.   Here are some procedures you can follow that will help in acclimating your new coral.   Your new frags will usually come attached to a small rock or frag disk.  Avoid touching the coral itself, and handle it by the disk or rock.   Turn off aquarium lights.  You coral have been kept in the dark while traveling to your home so you don’t want to shock...

The ultimate goal of reefers is a crystal clear tank, with vibrant coral throughout the tank, and thriving fish whisking from one side to the other.  Oftentimes this is easier said than done, but are you really doing everything you can to achieve this goal?    If you get a film on your glass daily, have hair algae growing on your rocks, or your sand bed just looks dirty, you know what I’m talking about.  The tank just doesn’t look clean, but there are things we can do to alleviate these issues.   Algae is one of the most common...