Tip of the Day – 9/2/2010
Leveling your aquarium is often a step that is overlooked, especially when building your own stand. Many people try to do it themselves and don’t always have the proper tools to do the job right. An aquarium that does not sit level on a stand is prone to cracking or leaking over the long term. [...]
To Those Considering Getting Out of the Hobby
Very recently, a friend contacted me and told me he was getting out of the hobby. He had a stunning 90-gallon SPS tank that was packed full of ORA corals and other rarities. He and I both started our most recent aquariums around the same time, each of us experimenting with the ZEOvit dosing system [...]
Tip of the Day – 9/1/2010
Impeller blades on powerheads can wear down over time, decreasing the flow of the pump. For most pumps, this issue isn’t much of a problem. But for return pumps, or pumps that frequently get sand and other material tapped in them, this can be a serious issue. Additionally, some impellers can wear out more quickly [...]
Tip of the Day – 8/31/2010
You don’t have to have a $1000 camera to take good pictures. Even some cell phone cameras can take quality pictures. All you need to do is have patience and play with the various settings on your camera. Point-and-shoot cameras, especially newer models, have a lot of features that can lead to great pictures. They [...]
Tip of the Day – 8/30/2010
Don’t want to shell out the dough for pelletized carbon to keep your bacteria populations elevated? An alternative thos this media is rice. That’s right, regular old rice. The rice, like the bio pellet media, will slowly build up a film on its surface and release carbon into your aquarium to feed bacteria. Be careful [...]
Tip of the Day – 8/29/2010
Saturday and Sunday mornings are a great time to perform aquarium maintenance, more specifically water changes. The kids are usually still asleep because they stayed up really late the night before and it’s usually pretty quite so you can focus on the task at hand. Mix up a batch of fresh saltwater the days before [...]
Tip of the Day – 8/28/2010
Having phosphate problems? Maybe it’s your food. A lot of frozen food contains a binding agent that contains phosphates. To remove this from the food, simply place the frozen cube in a coffee filter, or some other filtering device, and run freshwater over it. After the food has thawed out, feed it to your tank. [...]
Tip of the Day – 8/27/2010
When battling ich, hyposalinity is a great tool. The fish will adapt to the lower salinity, but invertebrates like Cryptocaryon irritans (aka saltwater ich), cannot. The proper specific gravity for the treatment is 1.010 (normal specific gravity is around 1.025 – 1.026). Be careful when dropping salinity though. If you drop it too fast, not [...]
Feeding Your Harlequin Filefish
A friend from a local aquarium club has recently had quite a bit of success with a pair of Harlequin Filefish, and he wanted to share his adventure. The bonded pair was purchased from LiveAquaria, one of our favorite online livestock retailers. The usually finicky eaters were then coaxed into taking prepared foods. This was [...]
Tip of the Day – 8/26/2010
Ozone and UV sterilizers are great reef keeping tools, but they can be detrimental to your bacteria populations. For these reasons, it is recommended to not use this equipment when dosing ZEOvit or using pelletized carbon, which are both meant to increase bacteria populations. The UV sterilizer will only kill what physically passes through it, [...]
