The Hanna Phosphate Checker allows you to get a digital reading instead of having to judge the color of the mixed reagents in a vial.



I've used a number of test kits over the years to measure Phosphate, and my default has been Salifert. The kits costs about $25, and you can test about 50 times before needing a replacement. I test PO4 (Phosphate) all the time, so I know how to use that kit by heart. If the vial is clear, I'm good. If it's blue, oh no! If it is slightly blue, grrr. Yes, those are my reactions to seeing 'algae fuel' show up in a test kit.

At MACNA, I went to the Premium Aquatics booth to buy a new kit, and Jeremy was all out. He recommended the Hanna Checker to me. It's about $50, and includes a few tests. I was told 10, but I didn't get 10 in mine. Knowing how much I test, I asked for two additional boxes of 25-each to have enough for a full year.



In addition to the test, you'll need a plastic syringe, a dry towel and ...

When Hurricane Sandy slammed into the New Jersey area in 2012, power outages abounded. People were evacuated and homes were washed away or simply destroyed. Most people were able to stay safe due to repeated warnings, but had to abandon their homes and their livestock.



Time has passed, tanks have been set up anew, and would be able to accept new livestock. The Atlanta Reef Club has stepped up and organized a donation to the victims using funding from their own 2008 MACNA earnings, teaming up with Proaquatix. They posted those details today:

The Atlanta Reef Club will be in NYC to share some love with ...

A new resource is now available to help aid in routine fish tank maintenance such as checking water parameters, monitoring livestock behavior and growth, and keeping track of your aquarium's monthly and fixed expenses. This new resource is a free online program called Reefware.



The official site URL: www.reefware.com

I spent about 45 minutes on the website to see what it can do and where it is going. The first thing you'll need to do is log in.



Once your email activation has been confirmed, you'll be able to start entering whatever data you know now, and you can log back in for future entries. I created a tank profile for the 400g as well as another profile for the 10g frag tank. Profiles ask for name, gallons, dimensions, fresh/saltwater, and the date of inception.

Entering water parameters is easy, and for precision use the Up and Down arrows on your keyboard. ...

Saturday, November 2, 2013 - Salt Lake City, Utah



The Mountain West Reef Fest is a family friendly full day of fun and education. If you've never attended, you're missing out. I went a couple of years ago and had a great time. Not only are the speakers providing knowledgeable answers to questions posed, not only are the vendors' booths filled with live coral and wares you need, you'll get to enjoy a workshop or two.

I don't know why other than the location, but this is the only reef event that feels the most kid-friendly out of them all. When I attended, a ...

Aquascaping is a challenge in itself. The ability to place rocks in an aquarium in a way that looks appealing, that provides plenty of surface area for the planting of corals, that offers hiding spots for the fish, and that doesn't look unnatural -- it's almost too much to consider. If all else fails, I'd strongly urge you to find a female to add her perspective because for some reason they have an incredible knack for this task. Ask your spouse, your significant other, or even a female friend for their input... trust me. You want to avoid a man-made pile (brickwork looking), as well as straight horizontal lines since these aren't common in nature. With your counterpart chiming in, you may only need to make a couple of tiny changes to get a great looking reef.



Once the aquascape has been perfected with nooks, crannies, tunnels, overhangs and interesting structures, it is possible that all your hard work can come crashing down. It may be a slow collapse, or it might just tumble down at once. Corals ...

Until now, I've had at least nine different regulators in my mouth since I began SCUBA diving. Some have been incredibly uncomfortable, some were unwieldy making me reposition it or bite down harder, one was a bit cantankerous but not one left with without air. Reading a lot on this subject and keeping my eyes open to all the choices on the market, it really didn't take me long to decide upon the one that would make me happy and fit my budget. That being said, how do you know which one to buy? A friend of mine went on a dive with a brand new Mares regulator and it failed, canceling his dive. Seriously?! It was new!

Before I took my first class, I felt every diver should own their own regulator since it is how you breathe. Can you trust rental gear? How often is it serviced? When was the last time? How was it treated previously by everybody? Regulators vary in price and in quality. It allows you to suck in a breath of air from a storage tank strapped to your back, and exhale air out the vented port off to the side. The internal diaphragm keeps the flap open or closed as you breathe in and out. It shouldn't let in any water, and the front of all the ones I've used is soft allowing me to depress it to force out any water before an inhalation if it was knocked out of my mouth. The hose that runs to this piece of gear is rigid - I had one of my instructors actually grab hold of it and tug me the direction he wanted me to head once. That hose can affect how the regulator feels in your mouth throughout the entire dive.

Like anything you use, it needs to be maintained. After being told I'd have to give it ...