Ultimate Saltwater Aquarium

My favorite was the use of an emersion coil looped within an old chest-type soda vending machine. Be very careful of contamination if you choose to "build your own".

Modern units come in two formats, either with a chilled coil you immerse in your system, or an external exchanger with a transfer fluid that the systems water is re-circulated through.

Whats that Latin saying? "Cave aquaristum", let the aquarist beware; there is a very wide range of quality, functionality and life-span amongst available units. By all means, compare warranties/guarantees, but do not purc

Nitrification occurs principally through bacteria (e.g. Nitrosomonas) metabolizing ammonia to nitrites (NO2-) and other groups (e.g. Nitrobacter) in turn converting nitrites to nitrates (NO3-). Lets look at this in another way (refer to Figure 3); an "idealized" time line for establishing nitrogen cycling in a new marine aquarium:

At mark "0" youve just set up your system and placed all new (read that as sterile) marine water (synthetic). In most cases, the hobbyist will shortly thereafter ("1") introduce either A) Some hardy (nitrogenous waste resistant) fishes, such as damsels to help "pop" t

I believe in gravity, its always let me down. Either provide real (as in large) overflow lines should the worst happen... or do away with silly notions of pumping to and from system containers to keep them balanced. Wont work.

About Quieting Down Overflow Lines:

A few things can be done to lessen the gurgling, sucking noise in open plumbing lines...

1) Oversiz

There are many hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species that will not only survive, but will thrive in aquaria, often longer than they would in the wild, due to a lack of predation and parasites. There is simply no reason to trade in, or display, species that do not have a good record of survival in aquariums.

Why wont these fish survive in an aquarium?

Some species may have special requirements that we cannot provide, such as a special diet. The Moorish Idol and almost all Parrotfish, for instance, feed almost exclusively on live coral, a resource too precious to be used as fish food. Other species may

This can take days or weeks depending on if you want to take steps to "speed it up" just want to wait for the beneficial microbes to "fall in" and situate themselves.

"Used" filter media, substrate from a disease-free "clean" system may be used to bring in these bacteria, as well as numerous commercially prepared cultures for sale through pet-fish outlets.

As a provision for preventing poisoning from "new-tank syndrome" is use

Nova Extreme T5 Ho?!?!
For my birthday my daughter bought me the NOVA T5 light.... Well it did not come with any true directions(Just How To Instail It)!! So if anyone ... ANYONE at all knows about this light and knows how to work wi.

Blue Algae , cyanobacteria

Blue Algae ( cyanobacteria )

Most aquarium hobbyists know and fear .

best hang on back skimmer bak pak?
what do you guys recoment for my 55g i need a HOB skimmer due to space restrictions. i hear/see the red sea prizm skimmer and bak pak are both great skimmers, which is more reputable/powerful/useful and actua.