Trials and Tribulations of a Reef Aquarium

I have LOTS of pics coming soon. Stay tuned for pics of our recent additions: 1. Spike, the Sea Urchin 2. Feather Duster Worm 3. Tiny Tim, o...

The algae problem seems to be s.l.o.w.l.y. going away. I'm still doing the 20% weekly water changes (at which point I vigorously scrub a...

I've noticed more algae growth as of late. Sigh. Looking back at my notes, I think I'm feeding too much and the lights are on for to...

I need to upload some new pics. After the tragic loss of 3 fish, a shrimp, and a starfish, all within a week or two, for no apparent reason,...

Greg and I visited the Scripps Birch Aquarium ( http://www.aquarium.ucsd.edu/ ) a few weeks ago. The trip made me hungry for a tour of the n...

Here's a brief overview of what to stock in your fish medicine cabinet and how to use it, should your fish become sick: Cupramine (coppe...

We've gone over how to do a freshwater dip and how to set up a hospital tank. But what about the meat and potatoes? What does a sick fis...

I'm a big believer now in a quarantine tank. It allows your new fish to rest and de-stress before putting him in the new tank. It also ...

Bessie, here, is demonstrating how to do a freshwater dip. Why Dip? This is a very effective way to remove external parasites, like ich, flu...

Ugh. It's been a very bad week for our aquarium. Three fish dead in less than a week. Phillip died due to my negligence (I took out a ro...

A tang with Ich. It's been a bad week for our aquarium. Almost immediately after the loss of Phillip, we noticed white spots covering th...

Ever since I dismantled the aquarium the other day in a futile attempt to catch one of the Banggai's ( http://reefaquariumtrials.blogspo...

This is Elton, our new Helfrichi Firefish Goby. Very similar to the commonly seen Firefish Goby (or dartfish; see pic at bottom of post), un...

We got another fish! This is Casey, the African Flameback, a dwarf angelfish. Most angelfish are not suitable for reef aquarium. These guys ...

Catching a fish from your aquarium is like chasing a rainbow. After last night's experience, all I can say is be verrrrry, verrrry caref...

Echinoderms, or sea stars, in general, are such amazing creatures. They have no brain and no blood. They propel themselves slowly via water ...

I did something rather foolish. I bought a coral that looked pretty, not really knowing anything about it. It sort of resembled clove polyps...