January 2006 Edition Introduction By: Scott Zachow & Gene Schwartz Welcome to the January 2006 Edition of Reef Hobbyist Online – Wishing You A Happy New Year!Wow, already another year passes us as we enter 2006. The Staff of Reefland.com hopes that you had a wonderful holiday and wish you the very best in 2006! This month in Reef Currents,… [Read More]
Equipment ReviewProtein Skimmers – How About A Little Bubbly? By: Scott Zachow To skim or not to skim? That has been a highly debated topic by many aquarist; both have factual reasoning behind their arguments. As with many other things in the hobby, people can be successful with and without skimmers; that is as long as there is an aggressive… [Read More]
Featured Member – Patience is Virtue By: Mike LaPorte Featured MemberPatience is Virtue – Poseidon Tank Size: 135 Gallon Glass Aquarium Lighting: 2-250 Watt Metal Halides CoralVue 10K Bulbs. 0ne on at 11:30 AM off at 11:00 pm, bulb 2 on at 11:45 am of at 11:15 pm. 1-140 Watt VHO Actinic for color only which is on a regular… [Read More]
Beginners Journey: Overflows and Sumps By: Scott Zachow Most aquarists use sumps on their marine tanks for various reasons. The two main reasons are to add water volume to the system and to provide a place to keep vital equipment out of sight. For the seasoned aquarist, a sump is useful for most setups. For those new to the hobby,… [Read More]
Nuisance Algae in the Reef Aquarium – Part III By: Scott Zachow Nuisance Algae in the Reef Aquarium – Part III By: Scott Zachow Well here we are, 5 months after the first article was published in this series on removing nuisance algae from my own reef aquarium. The task has not been easy, and I wasn’t expecting it… [Read More]
Nuisance Algae in the Reef Aquarium – Part II By: Scott Zachow In Part I of this series I began by talking about some of the fuels that feed nuisance algae and described the nuisance algae that is present in our 75-gallon reef tank. The problems started in early spring of 2005 with the development of the unidentified brown wafer-like… [Read More]
Nuisance Algae in the Reef Aquarium – Part 1 By: Scott Zachow At one time or another every aquarist experiences problems with nuisance algae. It’s not just a problem that plagues new hobbyist; the most seasoned aquarist can experience the dreaded hair algae or cyanobacteria outbreak. As Steven Pro points out in his “Use, Misuse and Abuse of Biological Controls”… [Read More]
Looking For The Small Things In Life – Microscopy And Reef Aquaria Part 2. Observation With A Compound Microscope. By: Ronald L. Shimek, Ph. D. Bells, Whistles And Knobs: So, Bucky, you read my last column on microscopy and you thought that, maybe, it might be neat to take a look at little things. Besides, microscopes look really cool sitting… [Read More]
Identify This…Conchs and Whelks By: Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. Introductions: For the average reef aquarist, some of most easily confused and misidentified animals are the snails called either “conchs” or “whelks.” Because these names have been derived from years of common usage, mostly at fish markets, there is often good reason for the ambiguity and confusion that occurs when one… [Read More]
Identify This… Rissoid And Pyramidellid Snails By: Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. Figure 1. The bane of many aquarists: a pyramidellid snail that parasitizes trochoidean snails such as Astraea species. Introduction: For many aquarists the appearance in their systems of tiny white to tan snails, much smaller than a rice grain, is a cause for concern. This concern is definitely warranted… [Read More]