Reef Blog

You end up with some loose frags. Here's how to secure them to frag plugs. If you haven't heard of pegging, you'll find this interesting.

What can you do to assure a BTA in your aquarium will live for years? Here are my thoughts, based on person experience. My original BTA is over 12 years old, and my original Sherman RBTA is 8 years old.

This week's video is about the new laser I purchased to kill aiptasia and majanos in my reef tanks.  

Each day, my reef gets food several times. My livestock seems to love it.  Here are my thoughts.

How long is too long?  Is there a peak of the day, and how do you program that?  MH vs LEDs... moonlighting... refugium photo period.  It's all explained in this week's video:

A lot of hobbyists own RO/DI systems but they don't seem to have a method to making water, and often run into issues.  This video shows how I use it each week, and explains my reasoning. A few helpful tips are included, just for you.

Every Thursday a new video releases on the melevsreef youtube channel.  This week is the "Tools I Use" overview that discusses my favorites.

For about 3.5 years, I've run a small frag tank tied into the main reef to hold small coral fragments, interesting NPS corals and other recent acquisitions.  It's badly in need of being replaced. Not only is it full with corals from end to end that have grown into serious colonies, but there's an onging algae issue that I'm attributing to the aged light fixture hanging above.  A new one will replace it, and it will be stand alone with all the filtration that entails.  Each day I see this mess and I can't wait to replace it, but I need the time to build...

The calcium reactor needed a refill badly, and the media finally arrived today. I'm using TLF's Reborn media this time. I cleaned it out and refilled it tonight and here it is, ready to go. I've had this reactor since 2004 and it has served me well.

Here's my "How to set up a calcium reactor article: https://melevsreef.com/articles/how-set-calcium-reactor

Day 335 commemorates the 11 month period the 400g and 60g have been running.  During that time, I've watched corals grow into colonies and fish get fatter.  The biggest hurdle was a big setback about eight to twelve weeks ago when I realized the tank was overdosed with bacteria.  Corals faded, green pigment vanished in many corals, SPS died back.  I've discussed this in detail in my blog on ReefAddicts.com, and will do a video on Youtube to talk about it to help others avoid similar fates...