Captive Aquatics: An Aquarium and Ecology Blog

The Care and Breeding of Cherry Shrimp

As many hobbyists have noticed, invertebrates are making a comeback in the hobby.  Many hobbyists are keeping invertebrate tanks only due to their interesting characteristics and funny behavior.  The popular invertebrate on the scene are the cherry shrimps, Neocaridina heteropoda.  These fun little shrimps are creating a storm around the globe along with other color morphs.  This is a simple guide to highlight the care and requirements of these intriguing shrimp and to give key points on how to breed them. (photo from: http://www.smartblue.net/akvateam/card_images)

  

How to Frag Branching SPS Coral

This guest post by My Reef to Yours Coral Frags will teach you all about fragging branching SPS coral!

Fragging live SPS is easy and is a great way to share coral frags with your friends. This article will cover most branching SPS such as Acroporas, Birdsnest, and others. If it has branches, we can frag it safely.

Re-homing Fish?

We have all done it.  Just had to drop in on your favorite fish store to see their new stock and you end up purchasing a fish you knew nothing about and now the "cute litte fish" is 15 inches, eats everything in the aquarium and is messier than your kids.  Where do you go from here?

Refractometer Calibration: the Myth and Risks of using RO/DI Water

I recently got a new refractometer over the holidays, and immediately after my first water change my tank began having problems.  Well, to be fair my wallet was what immediately had a problem being that those have gotten ridiculously expensive in my area, especially when combined with California's seemingly 3,000% sales tax these days.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong, I mean, my water was at 1.025-1.026, my refractometer came with instructions that said to zero it out with distilled water, and they wouldn't give out bad information would they?  Turns out yes, yes they would.

An Aquarium as a Christmas Present! Now What?

Christmas is one of the best times to purchase an aquarium for any interested hobbyist.  Especially since many aquarium providers offer special deals on entire aquarium packages that are a great start for any hobbyist to be able to geat into the magnificent aquarium hobby.  But, once having all the materials to setup an aquarium can be overwhelming especially if you are not complely sure how it all works.  Well, lets clear up that confusion and I will add some tips too!

 

Looking to Purchase LED Lighting?

Looking to purchase LED lighting for your reef or nature aquarium  during the holidays?  Before you do, ensure that the manufacturer provides the spectrograph for the unit you are about to purchase.  PAR measurements are virtually useless for comparing LED lighting, one can only compare using PUR. 

Holiday Vacation? 6 Ways to Prepare Your Aquarium

Getting away for awhile is one of the best things anyone can do for themselves. After enjoying our vacations, we hobbyists want to come home without any troubles from our tanks. They bother us enough when we're around!

You'll find many horror stories of people finding their tanks crashed after a short trip. Take that trip. Simple steps can help save your investment.

Hitting the 'Wall': What Causes it and How to Avoid it

Regardless of how enthusiastic, or excited you are, you  will eventually hit what I like to refer to as "the wall".  This is where either you don't care about the hobby anymore, or any maintenance, or spectating of the tank is no longer out of enjoyment, but out of habit.

I myself have hit this wall a couple times myself.  I am now able to recognize the signs ahead of time, and find ways to prevent it.

 

College Reefing Tips

I’ve noticed that the reefing community has had a major surge of teenagers and college students in the past year. I, myself, am college student that has been unable to find a job to work around my schedule. In order to continue my love for the hobby, I looked for ways to maximize what I can do for my tank while minimizing how much I was spending. Here are just a few of the tips that greatly reduced the amount I was spending on my tank.

Ozone Use in Aquariums: 5 Reasons to Use Ozone

For some reason, ozonizers and ozone usage has never been as discussed or as widely used as other equipment in the home aquarium, and most definitely not because it doesn't yield great benefit to your aquarium.  Widely used in commercial aquatics applications, ozone doesn't get much love from hobbyists these days, and it should.  Perhaps it's not as easy to 'itemize' and sell as other aquarium products?  Maybe due to lack of information? 

Whatever the reason, Ozone use has many benefits, and I recommend its use in most aquariums.   Captive Aquatics uses ozonizers in every system we install, and I use ozone in my home aquariums, as well!  Here's why: