So, you’ve set up your first tank and it finally finished cycling and you’re just starting to stock it with fish and invertebrates. What now? Well, now it’s time to learn how to perform solid aquarium maintenance and see what your weekly ritual is going to consist of. The scariest thing for beginners isn’t always …
Beginners Education
Arguably, there are few “pastimes” as challenging and all-consuming as marine (and especially reef) aquarium keeping. Longtime hobbyists might forget the relative ease with which they likely got “into” reef aquaria–very possibly with a lot of freshwater aquarium keeping experience behind them. While it is true that the foods, equipment and methodologies of today are greatly improved from those of yesteryear, there is now so much more to learn from the get-go. Definitely a lot of choices to make! With the massive amounts of (often contradictory) information out there, beginner reef aquarists might feel more intimidated now than ever before.
That’s totally cool. You’ll get “there” soon enough. The most important thing is to move forward step-by-step, and to have fun along the way. The whole point of spending all that money and time on this (or any) hobby is to relax and maybe learn something, right? The vast majority of saltwater aquarists who throw the term “newbie” around don’t really mean it as a pejorative; if anything, they recall that period with nostalgia (and maybe even a bit of envy), for it is the fleeting beginner stage where aquarium keeping is especially exciting and the animals so incredibly fascinating.
No one here would suggest that a beginning aquarist should avoid challenges, but we certainly would advise one against making some of those beginner mistakes. In reef aquarium keeping, there is no bigger virtue than patience!
In this section, you will learn how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls for novice aquarists as well as how to build the foundation of knowledge you’ll need to master the art.
An Overview of the Mandarin Goby
The mandarin goby (or mandarin dragonet) is one of the most vibrant and sought after fish in this hobby. There are actually two different species referred to as mandarins, each exhibiting its own beautiful color variations. There is the psychedelic mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) which offers a tie dye appearance featuring blue, green, red, yellow and …
3 Beginner Saltwater Aquarium Fish
When you first set up your aquarium the first thing that comes to your mind is “What are good beginner fish?” Before jumping to that, always ensure that your tank has been properly cycled and ready for livestock. It’s easy to rush into things due to our excitement but it is very important to consider …
4 Captive Bred Fish For Beginners
As years go by, more and more fish in this industry have been successfully captive bred, by incredible companies such as BIOTA . This is not only great for conserving stock in our oceans but also for hobbyists that have always wanted a specific fish but never got it due to its trouble acclimating to …
When to Choose Poseidon’s Feast
Back in “the day,” to acquire a seed culture of copepods, aquarists would typically have to resort to scooping a couple cups of gravel from the bottom of a fellow aquarist’s tank. In these cases, you could only hope to have nabbed a few viable pods–and not any pests (like juvenile aiptasia anemones)! If you …
4 Great Saltwater Aquarium Substrates
Sure, maybe substrates are the last thing we dream about when we’re planning our next big tank build. Maybe some of us quite frankly don’t put much thought into it at all. But in the end, when you’re snapping those full tank shots for Facebook, you might be surprised how much the color and even …
Pom Pom Macro as a Replacement for Chaeto?
It appears that the chaeto macroalgae (Chaetomorpha spp.) has become what Caulerpa was around the turn of the millennium: The predominate go-to refugium macro. And it really can be great for this purpose. That being said, it has (like Caulerpa) its own set of advantages and disadvantages. In reviewing both the pros and cons of …
CADE Reef 1800 S2: Ultimate Aquarium System, Ultimate Value
Over the last three years, the aquarium industry has witnessed huge advancements in so-called All-In-One aquarium system design and technology. There are actually a number of manufacturers that fairly deserve credit for this development, and we applaud all of them. However, one of them in particular–CADE Aquariums of Melbourne, Australia–really caught our eye last year. …
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Are Water Changes REALLY Necessary?
We are asked this all the time: “Is it absolutely necessary to perform regular water changes?” Let us waste no time in answering that question: Yes! Yes, water changes are certainly necessary. While some tanks need them more often than others, there’s no denying that regular water exchange improves water quality. And it accomplishes this …
Four Great Nano Saltwater Fish
Keeping nano saltwater fish tanks is challenging due to their inherent complications. For example, it is much harder to keep the parameters stable in a small saltwater aquarium due to the tiny amount of water volume, leaving little room for error. Then, there are the challenges of finding fish species that are appropriate for a …
Corals in a Box of Water: Creating a Natural Reef Tank
We’ve come a long, long way in advancing natural marine aquarium keeping. Those of us who started out in the 80’s with barren “aquascapes” dead coral skeletons and crushed coral bottoms might look back with amazement at how so much has changed so fast. Just recall how many developments have taken place over the last …
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Types of Aquarium Lighting
Aquarium lighting has come a long way. There are now many, many different types to choose from. For sure, different lighting systems have different capabilities. The one that is best for you all depends on what you plan on keeping in your tank. If you don’t plan on keeping any photosynthetic organisms (corals, tridacnid clams, …
Reef Now: Financing Your New CADE Aquarium System
No one said that reef aquarium keeping is a cheap addiction (hey, at least it’s a healthy one!). The hobby is rife with stories of reefkeepers playing shell games to keep their spouses unaware of their aquarium expenditures… of reefkeepers eating raman so their fish can eat fresh seafood… of reefkeepers taking up a second …
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Diary of a Shopkeeper – Tank Buying Tips from a Pro
When someone new to the hobby comes in to my shop asking about setting up their first tank, one of the first questions I receive is, “What size do I need?”. This is a very loaded question that considers weighing many variables. My response is always “As big as you can go”. This is because …
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Glass vs. Acrylic Aquariums
Starting a new aquarium requires hobbyists to make a lot of choices. What kind of corals, if any will be kept in the aquarium? Where is the aquarium going to go? What size will it be? How much will be spent on equipment? Will the aquarium be glass or acrylic? All of these questions could …
What Tank Size Should you Choose?
Aquariums come in many different shapes and sizes. It really depends on your situation to determine which size is best for you. You have to consider things like where you will put the tank, what fish you want to keep, and your skill level. In this article, I will explain why you may want to …
Gutloading Live Microcrustaceans
In the sense that very, very few animals specialize to eat only one thing, all animals are omnivores, and prefer live foods. For example, when herbivores graze on turf algae, they’re not just eating algae but rather the entire “epilithic algal matrix” which includes those bacteria, protists, etc. that live on the algae. Similarly, in …
Dosing Iodine in the Reef Aquarium
Reef aquarium hobbyists already have enough on their plates trying to keep levels of minerals such as calcium and magnesium levels up while keeping levels of nutrients like nitrate and phosphate down. That, and obsessing over all those other parameters… And now, all the sudden, everyone is saying we should be “chasing numbers” for iodine …
Should I Use a UV Sterilizer?
The two most hated things for a saltwater aquarium keeper are fish diseases and “bad” algae. Some hobbyists make an attempt to go all out against these threats by using an ultraviolet sterilizer. At least in some cases, a properly sized and properly installed sterilizer unit can indeed help to reduce the incidence of disease …
Why EcoPods are the Best Live Copepod Product Ever
Earth is a planet of pods. Wherever there is water, there are amphipods, isopods, branchiopods, and so on. Pods are an integral part of pretty much every freshwater, brackish and marine ecosystem. But even among all these big players, the tiny copepod is a giant; in terms of both biomass and sheer number, copepods (subclass …
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