Vacations are awesome but for a reef keeper they can be a bit stressful. Here are some tips on how to prepare a reef tank before leaving on vacation.
When fish or corals are shipped via an overnight service, I am a BIG believer in having that livestock delivered to either a UPS or FedEx customer center.
When is it time to add corals to a reef aquarium? A good sign a tank is ready for corals is the presence of coralline algae.
I have been tending to reef tanks for many, many years and in my view reef keeping has become harder. How is this possible?
Over the years I have not used coral food or amino acids too often with my reef tanks. I feed my fish a lot and believe fish poop is beneficial to corals.
During the summer it is time to keep an eye on the temperature of your reef tank. Based on my past experiences, here are some tips to keep a tank cool.
Maintenance is really important for a reef tank and I do not always look forward to it. But I know in the long run it increases the chances for success.
When I start a new tank I like to come up with what I call a fish stocking plan. It is a list of the fish I would like to add to the tank.
I always try to stay away from too much automation with my tanks. However, I do believe aquarium controllers and automated monitors are very important.
Peninsula reef tanks can present challenges when it comes to providing sufficient circulation for corals, especially SPS.
Over the years I have used both two-part dosing and calcium reactors for calcium & alkalinity supplementation. For this tank I decided to go with a reactor.
I keep a slightly “dirty” tank for SPS and to do that I rely on a high import/export system. I prefer 2-5 ppm for nitrates and .03 to .07 ppm for phosphates.