Articles
Guides and in-depth articles written by the community, sorted by topic.
Chemistry and biomineralisation
KH, calcium and magnesium are not just numbers to keep stable: they are the bricks, the cement and the additive on…
Light. Why your eye is a liar
If you run the whites at 100% to see your Acropora better, you are looking at the tank through the eyes of a land…
Metabolism. The coral is a holobiont
Acropora are not just light-dependent: they are predators, and they are not even a single individual. Chapter 5: the…
Snow in the tank: four clarifiers compared
ATI Easyvital, KZ Coral Snow, Modern Reef BIOReef-Snow and Resolve look alike, but they work in different ways:…
Nutrients. Producer or consumer?
Acropora do not live on light alone: they are a cooperative between an animal and an alga. Chapter 2: why nitrogen…
The science of heterotrophic feeding in Acropora
Acropora are not just light-dependent: they are elite predators. Why light is not enough, the three ways an Acropora…
Trace elements and metals
Elements we weigh in micrograms per litre but that govern entire biochemical reactions. Chapter 4: what they are for,…
The feeding mash: the bio-reactor for our Acropora
The feeding mash ("pappone") is not a recipe, it is a biochemical process: powders, amino acids and live bacteria…
Plankton on the menu: the dynamics of plankton feeding
The coral is not just autotrophic: it is a facultative mixotroph. Sorokin's data on reef bacteria, the Island Mass…
Plankton on the reef: it is there, but it is eaten at once
"There is no phytoplankton on reefs": false. What Sorokin and the studies on the Island Mass Effect say, why the…
Bacterial growth: what really happens
"We dose bacteria to lower nitrates and phosphates" is only the end result, not the process. What really happens in…
The refugium: the biological lung of the reef
The skimmer removes organics before they become nitrate; the refugium absorbs what has already formed. How it works,…
Equipment. The protein skimmer
The skimmer is not a dirt filter: it is a physico-chemical reactor that exploits the polarity of molecules. Chapter…
Treatment against Valonia
A spot method against Valonia and other algal infestations: hydrogen peroxide and Coral Snow applied with a pipette.…
A guide to my first tank with the Zeovit method
What the Zeovit method is, how the zeolite reactor works, why it is shaken every day, how the corals are fed and how…
Euphyllia: parasites, treatment, husbandry
A garden of Euphyllia is very rewarding, but these corals suffer from swings and parasites. The values to keep, how…
Trace elements and the Balling system
Why two-part dosing makes sodium chloride rise, what solution C of the Balling Method really does, why a water change…
Using clay mineral compounds in the marine aquarium
What clay mineral compounds are, the difference between physical and chemical adsorption, how the product is prepared…
RTN, STN and coral bleaching
The three most feared problems of SPS and LPS corals: rapid tissue necrosis (RTN), slow tissue necrosis (STN) and…
Fluconazole and Oodiniasis
English version of the article Fluconazolo e Oodiniasi: the reports of three reefkeepers, the ergosterol hypothesis…
Oodiniasis, or Marine Velvet Disease
What velvet is, where it attacks the fish, how to recognise it and which remedies have been used, with notes on…
Fluconazole and marine velvet (Amyloodinium)
Some second-hand experiences suggest that fluconazole may fight marine velvet. The parasite, the ergosterol…
Starfish in the Reef Aquarium
How starfish are built, which species adapt to the reef aquarium and which do not, how they regrow, how to…
pH, total alkalinity, KH and how they interact
A refresher on pH, total alkalinity and KH, then what you learn by combining the three measurements: the role of CO2,…
Using turf algae in modern ATS (Algae Turf Scrubber) filters
What turf algae are, how an ATS filter works, why the carpet must be harvested and why it is recommended to run it at…
Fireworm and Eunice
Who the fireworm is, what it eats, when it becomes a problem, what to do if you get stung, how to reduce its numbers…
Unwanted pest animals
Aiptasia and majano are small anemones that get into the tank on rocks and frag plugs and multiply fast. How to…
Euphyllia
Ancora, Parancora, Glabrescens, Divisa and Paradivisa: the types of Euphyllia, the sweeper tentacles, the two…
Nuisance algae in the aquarium
What algae are, which animals graze them, why they grow too much in the tank, the role of water changes, salt and…
Cyanobacteria: Causes and Remedies
What cyanobacteria are, why they appear after a period of neglect, the fourteen precautions to prevent them and the…
Dinoflagellates: Causes and Remedies
Why dinoflagellates seem immortal, what favours them when values go to extremes and how to attack them from several…
Giant clams (Tridacna)
The mantle and its zooxanthellae, the five species easiest to find, predators and the fish that eat their parasites,…
My first marine aquarium guide - Part three
Which animals to avoid when starting out and how to recognise, group by group, a healthy coral or invertebrate before…
The natural method
The natural method explained by Pietro Romano: the Triad, nutrients and water changes, matching lights and skimmer…
Managing the Triad: calcium, magnesium, KH
What the Triad of the reef aquarium is, which values to keep for calcium, magnesium, KH and pH, what happens outside…
Guide to my first marine aquarium - Part two
The first inhabitants of the 90-litre cube: the snails, hermit crabs, shrimps and urchins that keep the tank clean,…
Guide to my first marine aquarium - Part one
No filter, no sand and home-made water: what you need for a 45 cm marine cube, how to start it step by step and how…
Reverse Osmosis
Why tap water must be treated before it goes into a marine aquarium: pre-filters, osmosis membrane, resins and water…
Using an LED light fixture
The experience of someone who has used LED fixtures on stony corals for years: the differences between LEDs and T5s,…
Fish diseases in the marine aquarium: Cryptocaryon irritans
One of the most common diseases of marine fish: how the parasite Cryptocaryon irritans lives between the fish and the…
Iodine, iodide and iodate in fishkeeping
The forms of iodine in the sea, who uses it up, how it gets into and out of the tank, when supplementing is not…
Basic guide to the Balling method
The guide for beginners: what the Triad is, what the three containers and the dosing pumps are for, which values to…
Advanced guide to the Balling method
The follow-up to the basic guide: why sodium and chloride build up, how to prepare the KH, calcium, magnesium and…
Introduction to live phytoplankton
Live phytoplankton as food for corals, filter-feeders and benthic fauna. Everything you need to culture it: starter,…
The importance of the protein skimmer
Why the skimmer has become the heart of the filtration: the nitrogen cycle, the parts it is made of, the work of the…
Fluconazole against algae
How the use of fluconazole against Bryopsis and Derbesia came about, the protocol described by the author and the…
ORP or redox potential
The introduction to the article on ORP in the marine aquarium: what redox potential measures and why it does not…
Light in reef aquariums
The introduction to the article on light in reef aquariums: zooxanthellae use light to feed themselves and the coral.…
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