Tag Archive
NP-Biopellets, the story so far
After a couple of months I still had some measurable nitrate (2.5 ppm) and phosphate (0.04 ppm) and I decided to really go “overboard” and ordered 3 more liters of NPBs. »
Coralscience.org is building a mesophotic reef system
Tim Wijgerde et al. are starting a very interesting project at Coralscience.org: they are building a low light reef tank (modelling “mesophotic” reef system) using equipment and foods available to all aquarists. I’m sure we “hobbyists” can learn and benefit from this work by marine scientists. Read all about it here. »
Special Diseases of Aquatic Organisms journal issue: The Role of Environment and Microorganisms in Diseases of Corals
A special issue of Diseases of Aquatic Organisms titled “The Role of Environment and Microorganisms in Diseases of Corals” has been published online. And the best part is that all articles are Open Access! From the title page: “This DAO Special contains papers based on presentations made at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (2008,... »
The best advice you’ll ever get
I was reading the popular Reef Builders blog the other day when I noticed this sentence in an excellent post by Scott Fellman titled Thoughts on Reef Aquarium Husbandry: “Good things done in small measures, with frequency.” : The key to ultimate long term success in the hobby is not just having the ultimate system... »
ULNS is not really L and far from UL
I’m annoyed when I see people boasting about their “ULNS” reef aquarium. Typically the “ULNS” crowd seem to think that their aquariums are at the very edge of complete dissolved inorganic nutrient elimination and that the corals they keep can barely cope with the underwater desert they’ve managed to create. All kinds of pseudoscientific... »
Weapons of Nutrient Destruction: cone and pellets with sugar on top
I have recently added two new components to my nutrient export methods, a cone shaped skimmer and a new filtration media called Biopellets. I also continue to use my old and proven CaCO3 slurry filtration and DOC (dissolved organic carbon) dosing. I’ve also experimented with another method based on microscopic clay particles. Here is... »
It foams. I’m back.
After months of problems I think I’m finally back on path to a nice reef aquarium. The problems started when I made the stupid decision to replace a well working nutrient export strategy overnight to something I had no experience with. I stopped vodka and sugar dosing and started dosing moderate amounts of Tropic... »
Let it foam: Selecting a skimmer
I have always held the opinion that foam fractioning is one of the most important ingredients for a successful reef aquarium. This is probably mostly because of my obsession with water quality, always trying to find methods to more closely imitate natural waters over the coral reefs. Probably one of the most difficult decisions... »
Sometimes half full is more than full
One common discussion between hobbyists is “how you skim? Wet or Dry?”. Most aquarists don’t have strong opinion, probably because the decision between two is not easily backed up by any data. Instead, we just use a setting we are used to – maybe because our mentor recommended one or other when we were... »
Charted waters
Sometimes we hobbyists can’t see the forest from the trees when we discuss and worry about the fine details about reef aquariums. It might be useful to remember why we spend so much time trying to find that optimal protein skimmer or argue about the merits of different additives: the ultimate goal of almost... »