The holidays are just around the corner and we at ReefBuilders thought we would help you out with some great ideas for inexpensive, yet really useful gifts. Sure we all probably add a new controller, lights or skimmer to our wishlist but sometimes it’s the little gifts that can make as much of a punch. If your better half or kids are looking for some smaller-budget gifts, steer them to this article. Have a reefing buddy or club party to go to and want to take a gift for someone? These are all useful items every reefer should have. For the most part these are items that we have, so we can attest to their utility in our systems. We encourage you to add to the list in the comments and tell us all about your ideas of reefy “Stocking Stuffers.” The items should be low cost, of use to most hobbyists and readily available. Enjoy the great ideas after the break.

Doberman Water Alarm ($14.99 at Home Depot) –Paul had the great idea to start this post and brought this handy little item to the table. The Doberman Water Alarm detects the presence of water at the terminals of a small round probe that is on a cord. Should the probe contact water, or vise versa, the alarm sounds and emits a really loud (110 db) alert siren. The unit requires 3 AAA batteries (not included) and is ideal to hang on the side of water barrels or sumps or even the back of tanks, to alert you that a potential disaster is in the making. Thanks Paul!

Sonic Scrubber Pro Detailer ($14.99 at Wal Mart) – Something I got for Father’s Day and a handy tool I use all the time. The battery operated Sonic Scrubber Pro Detailer is a must-have tool for scrubbing things inside or outside your tank. Use it to clean algae off the glass, powerheads or rocks and is much easier than a toothbrush. The Sonic Scrubber has oscillating brushes and sports a waterproof design allowing you to us it inside the tank or around running water without risking electrocution. Uses four AA batteries which are included! You can sometimes find these under $10 in the automotive section.

Sonic Scrubber Pro Detailer Brushes 4-Pack ($9.99 at Wal Mart) – Now that you have your Sonic Scrubber, why not get some extra cleaning heads in unique shapes for specific duties: a soft brush for delicate items, a come for tough crevices, and two larger brushes that can make getting rid of tough algae on the glass or rocks much easier.

Kevin Kohen Photography T-Shirts ($20.99 to $35.99 at CafePress) – LiveQuaria’s Kevin Kohen is a pretty darn good photographer to boot and you can get a custom Kevin Kohen design on a shirt from CafePress. A small selection online now but maybe Kevin could release a few new designs in time for the holidays! Thanks Jake!

Glass Squeegee (under $10, available everywhere) – This product is a great gift. You’ll get water on your aquarium all the time and instead of wiping it off with an old-school towel, which just smears the glass, a squeegee is the smarter route to go. Squeegees don’t need to be washed and can be used again and again. Just spray some RO water and use the squeegee and you’ll be all set. Best of all, the squeegee is a low $8. Plus you can always make some extra frag money on a busy intersection cleaning car windows (bum outfit not included!). Thanks Ryan!

Silent Air Battery Operated Air Pump by Penn Plax ($17.99 at Petsmart) – An inexpensive insurance policy in case your power goes out giving you some coral and fish saving oxygen. Connects to an AC outlet and turns on when the power goes out. When the power comes back on, the unit shuts off. Thanks Rich!

Plastic Kitchen Utensils and Tongs (under $20 available at most major stores) – We got this one from Paul’s wife Lynn who wrote in saying, “When he told me his idea of blogging good stocking stuffers for reef hobbyists I immediately thought of all of my kitchen tools he constantly keeps stealing.  I can never find my spatulas, salad tongs and ladles.  They have been stolen and lost to his fish world.  So here is my suggestion, a cheap set of tools or a pair of tongs from Target.  I like these since they look nothing like the ones we use in our kitchen and, maybe for once you will not have to use two forks to drain the pasta because your kitchen tools are MIA in a tank somewhere.” Great idea’s Lynn!

Keep it safe! Goggles and gloves (Under $15 at hardware stores and online) – Christine Williams has some great ideas for general safety when fragging or working around corals. You don’t need to make a trip to the hospital with a shard of rock or toxic coral “juice” in your eyes so get some inexpensive but invaluable goggles and disposable gloves. The AO Antifog Safety glasses run around $6 at Amazon.com and are well worth saving your vision to enjoy your tank! For your hands to prevent stinging when working around your cnidarians friends, these powder-free, purple nitrile gloves are textured for better grip in wet applications and can run you just under $15 for 100. Thanks Christine!

Fragging tools (under $10 at hardware/houseware stores and online) – Another great round of ideas from Christine! We do our parts to try and prevent alleliopathy inside our tanks, how about outside? Get a set of color coded kitchen cutting mats to save your workspace and corals when you are fragging. Use one color for a certain type of coral to help prevent inadvertent chemical warfare and stress when fragging. We all know saltwater doesn’t play well with metal so now is the time to get an inexpensive set of tools like chisels to dedicate just for fragging. Put away that gnarly old screwdriver you’ve used in the past, Stanley makes a great set of three chisels to give you choices next time your are fragging. Another great pick Christine!

Other items you might enjoy:

• Neo Nano aquarium fleshed out in video
• My Reef Creations puts some smooth touches on polypropylene sumps
• Brighter colors of male reef fish are now closer to being understood by new research
• ReefBuilders Online again, server move completed.
• Sohal Tang Species Acanthurus sohal of saltwater fish
• Colts Win, Superman Coral Dies, and other ramblings of the past week
• Deltec’s AP1004 is a monster of a protein skimmer
• Aquarium Stimulus Program: Prodibio Biokit Reef
• Tunze Silence Pumps, shhh what was that?
• San Francisco Bay Brand Releases Cyclops

Post from: Reef Builders

From ReefBuilders to you — extremely useful and inexpensive gifts for every reefer on your list

From ReefBuilders to you — extremely useful and inexpensive gifts for every reefer on your list

One of the most important pieces of equipment to any saltwater aquarium is a Reverse Osmosis Unit. This piece of equipment greatly increases your chance for success. One of the main reasons why people leave the hobby is because their aquarium was overtaken by green hair algae.

Why Should I Use RO/DI Water?

Tap and well water contain impurities like phosphate and nitrate. Phosphates and nitrates can lead to algae blooms and headaches down the road. Even if you have well water with no chemicals, it will still have these impurities.

How Does a Reverse Osmosis Unit Work?

A Reverse Osmosis Unit pushes pressurized water through sediment and carbon filters and then through the Reverse Osmosis membrane. The Deionization stage occurs when water leaving the membrane passes over a special resin. The filters are placed in the RO Unit from largest to smallest, so the largest particles are removed from the water first. Running the water pressure at 60 PSI and an occasional membrane flush can greatly increase the life of most filters. Depending on the amount of water you use and the cleanliness of your tap or well, most filters last six months and most membranes a year.

How Clean is RODI Water?

TDS or total dissolved solids, is one way to test water purity. It measures how much stuff is in your water. This includes copper, chlorine, phosphate, silicate, iron, zinc, lead and nitrate. Typical tap and well water has a TDS of 250-500ppm. After RO purification the typical TDS is between 5 and 10ppm, and after RODI purification it is between 0 and 5ppm. As a result, algae has 25 to 50 times less nutrients that it can use to grow.
In summary, using Reverse Osmosis water is one of the keys to success in the saltwater aquarium hobby. Combined with proper filtration, this can dramatically reduce algae growth and aquarium maintenance. This will also save you from hours of frustration and wasted money. Besides a filter, this is by far the most important piece of equipment for a reef aquarium.

What is a sump? A Sump is another aquarium or container plumbed in beneath or to the side of the main display tank where Filters, Pumps, Heaters and other equipment can be stored out of sight. Another purpose of a sump is to add water volume to the aquarium system to increase stability.

A sump is recommended for aquariums larger than 55 gallons, as it becomes increasingly difficult to find adequate and affordable equipment for larger systems. Most hobbyists purchase a reef ready or pre-drilled aquarium with holes to incorporate a sump into the aquarium. Others use a Hang on the Back Overflow Box which is not recommended as it will eventually fail and flood your floor. If you would like to have a sump, but your aquarium is not drilled, you may also consider drilling the aquarium yourself or purchasing a new tank.

Until you see how a sump works, it can be a bit confusing. Imagine two aquariums, one above the other. The top aquarium has two holes housed in an overflow box. One hole acts like a drain and moves water from the top aquarium to the bottom aquarium. The other hole acts like a return and moves water from the bottom of the aquarium back up to the top aquarium. When a pump located in the bottom aquarium is turned on, water from the bottom tank moves up to the top tank. The top tank begins to fill with water and drains into the overflow box. Eventually, the overflow box fills and begins to drain water back into the sump. Neither the top or bottom tank will flood because the system relies on gravity and equilibrium is maintained.

Most aquarists house a Wet/Dry Filter or a Protein Skimmer in their sump. This provides for greater filtration than any filter that could hang on the back of the aquarium. Some hobbyists also create a Refugium to grow macroalgae and copepods for added filtration or to a feed a Mandarin Dragonet.

When selecting a light bulb for your saltwater aquarium, you have most likely run into terms like 6,700⁰K, 10,000⁰K, 14,000⁰K, 20,000⁰K, Actinic, Daylight, 420nm and 460nm.

The numbers 6,700⁰K, 10,000⁰K, 14,000⁰K, and 20,000⁰K make reference to the Kevin Scale. Lower Kelvin degrees, like 6,700⁰K are more yellow and higher Kelvin degrees, like 20,000⁰K are bluer. The most important factor when selecting a bulb is to consider its color and intensity. A 6,700⁰K bulb will give the aquarium a yellow tint, but will promote faster coral growth than a 20,000⁰K bulb. Some aquarists prefer the blue look of a 20,000⁰K bulb as it brings out fluorescence in some corals. Most aquarists find that a combination of 10,000⁰K and actinic bulbs will provide strong coral growth, a crisp white look and coral fluorescence. Although finding a balance between daylight and actinic bulbs can be difficult.

Daylight Lighting usually refers to bulb temperatures between 6,700⁰K and 14,000⁰K. Actinic Lighting refers to bulb temperatures between 14,000⁰K and 20,000⁰K. You may also see abbreviations like 14K or 20K. Actinic lighting has many different names. Each manufacture has their own set of terms, like super actinic, actinic plus, actinic blue, blue plus, etc. The key is to determine where a bulb’s color spectrum peaks on a wavelength chart. If the wavelength peak is not already specified, a spectrum chart is usually provided by the manufacture. For example a 420nm actinic bulb will have a deep purple hue and encourage coral fluorescence, whereas a 460nm actinic may be a brighter blue and only provide some coral fluorescence.

Unless you are extremely concerned about coral growth, select a combination of bulbs that is visually appealing to your eyes. It may take a few tries to get it right, but it will be rewarding when your aquarium and corals look stunning. Remember that higher Kelvin bulbs are bluer and have less intensity than a lower Kelvin bulb of the same wattage. Daylight bulbs are also more intense than actinic bulbs.

The Best Salinity for a Saltwater Aquarium is open to debate. The level of salt in an aquarium is measured in salinity or specific gravity using a Hydrometer or Refractometer. The ocean has a salinity of roughly 35ppt or specific gravity of 1.026. In general, maintaining specific gravity between 1.024 and 1.026 is considered ideal for a saltwater aquarium containing a mixture of fish, corals and other invertebrates like snails and shrimp.

On the other hand, some hobbyists keeping Fish Only aquariums maintain specific gravity between 1.019 and 1.022 because it reduces the number of parasites that can spread disease. Another monetary advantage is that your aquarium uses approximately 20% less salt than a reef tank. As of right now, there is no evidence to prove that a lower salinity is directly beneficial or detrimental to the health of a fish.

Hobbyists keeping nano reef aquariums may maintain their specific gravity at 1.020 to 1.023. In a small aquarium without an auto-top off system, evaporation can cause salinity to rise quickly. Starting with a lower salinity will allow the hobbyist to go a few days without topping off with little risk to their livestock. Although, the less fluctuation in salinity the better.

Whatever salinity you decide to maintain your aquarium at, the most important thing is to keep your salinity consistent. The salinity can fluctuate from everyday evaporation and proper top off solutions should be implemented to keep the salinity stable. For greater accuracy, Get a Refractometer.