Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

Feeding your Reef Aquarium

Certain sea stars, such as this Nardoa spp. in the author's aquarium, are excellent scavengers

I often hear the phrases “In the wild, reefs are nutrient poor” and “a reef aquarium should have a low nutrient level”.  Seeming in contrast to these statements is the necessity of feeding the coral and other inhabitants of the reef aquarium.  What do these phrases really mean, especially to the hobbyist? 

Visiting the Monterrey Bay Aquarium

Editor's Note: this post introduces our newest contributing author and photographer, Nate Bernardo.  All images in this post are © Nate Bernardo, 2009.

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning when I decided to head out to Monterey. I packed my bag with water, food, and a book to read on the bus and left my house with my SLR camera.

Four Anemone Tips

The author's purple S. haddoni carpet anemone, in a species biotope aquarium

1.  Anemones are not reef crest animals, meaning they do not live in the same area as most corals.  Anemones fare much better in species aquariums than they do in a reef aquarium.  Anemones will move around, sting and/or kill corals, and can consume your fish!

5 Quarantine Tank Tips

What's all the fuss about a quarantine tank, you ask yourself?  Do I really need one?  These are some of the questions I hear often from many beginner hobbyists.  The simple answer is yes, and here are a few reasons:

ADA Gallery Video

Here is an awesome video courtesy of Aqua Design Amano in Japan displaying their incredible showroom!  In this video you get to check out amazing planted aquariums, as well as reef aquariums and nano aquariums.  Enjoy this neat prequel to Merritt's full ADA coverage!

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JBJ Announces 28g LED NanoCube!

JBJ contacted me and let me know all about the new 28 gallon, LED-lit NanoCube a few weeks back, but I wasn't able to say anything until the official announcement today: offering the PAR rating of a 14k 150w halide, the new NanoCube touts twenty-five 3w, 14k daylight LEDs, as well as four actinic and two moonlight LED's, for a total of 89 watts - much more efficient at a 150w halide, and without the heat! 

In addition to the improved lighting, the system also offers a re-designed filtration compartment with a refugium, and dual return pumps with an included wavemaker.  For more information, read JBJ's announcement here.  The 28g LED won't be widely available until February, but I've been provided with a review unit, so stay tuned for the actual review in December!

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New! Blue Zoo Video

This informative new video is brought to us by my buddy Frank from Blue Zoo TV.  As a hobbyists, it's tough to get an insider's view of the supply chain that provides us all with fish and inverts, but Frank did an awesome job filming a 'behind the scenes'.  This video also introduces a new category to the Captive Aquatics™ blog, the new Video category.  We hope to bring at least one new video to the blog every week for your viewing pleasure!  Before you watch, sign up via RSS or e-mail on the right for free updates!

The videos featured on the Captive Aquatics™ blog are either the intellectual property of Captive Marine Aquatics, LLC, or are posted with permission, and are not to be re-posted or embedded without permission from their respective owners

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Tips for a Healthy Nano Reef

Here are a few things I've learned in my decade of nano reef aquarium keeping that I thought I would share!

1) Pay attention!  If something is amiss, there will be a subtle signs during the crucial first few hours: zoanthids not opening fully, LPS looking listless or not inflating, etc.  If for some reason things don't seem "right" when they were fine yesterday, it's time for investigation, and our next tip,

Boxfish in High-Res!

Check out this cool video of a spotted boxfish at 2,000x magnification!  The spotted boxfish is a difficult-to-keep saltwater fish that should only be kept by those willing to meet it's needs of a large aquarium, specialized feeding, and docile tankmates, but they sure look neat magnified!

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Saltwater Aquariums: Taking the Plunge!

 Okay, so there you are staring at the amazing, interesting, and fascinating fish in the saltwater section of your local fish store.  You ask yourself, am I ready for a saltwater tank? Many freshwater hobbyist find themselves at this position after keeping freshwater aquariums for awhile, but are unsure if they should take the plunge into keeping and maintaining a saltwater tank.  Well, ponder no more because I have compiled a great check list for you, the freshwater hobbyist, to see if you are a ready to tackle a saltwater aquarium.