Author: Blenny

There is quite a bit of equipment that goes into a saltwater aquarium. They broadly fall into 3 categories: Flow, filtration and lighting. Flow The ocean is constantly moving, and moving a lot at that. In the tank we simulate that by adding powerheads, which are, broadly, just things that push water. You can, and… Continue reading Cleaning the Water

I added a few more fish buddies to the tank today. Three Firefish Gobies, one Lettuce Nudibranch and 20 Trochus Snails. Unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to get a stable population of snails and a number of critters in the tank consider them to be prey. Trochus and Astrea snails will both reproduce in… Continue reading New Additions

The Nicks are our paired Yellow Watchman Goby (Nick Snider) and Tiger Pistol Shrimp (Nick Sniderer). I don’t know if this could be called a “bond” or not since I have no idea if they care about each other in particular. What they do do is share a large system of tunnels. The pistol shrimp… Continue reading The Nicks

The tank is a constant balancing act. Food added is converted to waste, either through digestion or decomposition. If that waste builds up too much the inhabitants of the tank will start suffering. I can’t very well just stop feeding the tank though, so what to do about the waste? There is a whole class… Continue reading The Cleanup Crew

Blenny is a Lawnmower Blenny, aka: Jeweled Rock-skipper, Algae Blenny, and others I’m sure. We had already added a few hermit crabs and snails, but he was the first fish addition to the tank. While I will refer to him as “he” throughout, his sex is unknown to us. There are no methods by which… Continue reading Blenny

I recently added several fish to my aquarium; three Banggai Cardinalfish and a tiny Firefish Goby. The cardinals have been doing great. They love frozen mysis shrimp and live brine shrimp. They haven’t taken prepared foods yet but that may change over time. The firefish has presumably died now, a couple weeks later. She was… Continue reading Emergency Tank Maintenance

The short answer: Several hours a week.The longer answer is quite a bit more complicated than that. The question itself makes the assumption that the maintenance tasks are work. I, personally, have found them to be a way to connect with the tank, rather than something unpleasant that needs to be done. Your mileage may… Continue reading How Much Work Is It Anyway?

For most people, I would say probably not! Saltwater tanks take a lot of time. You’ll need to be actively spending time with it for at least 2-3 hours a week, spread unevenly throughout. Some weeks will require even more time in order to perform needed maintenance. Aquariums require a lot of equipment, which means… Continue reading Should I Start a Saltwater Aquarium

What Even is This? So you want to get into aquariums? Well, then you’ve certainly come to a place! I’ve only been in the hobby for a year, but I’ve learned a lot and hope to pass that knowledge on. Many of the places I learned about keeping an aquarium focused on intense technical details.… Continue reading Introduction