A Bacterial Balancing Act and Microbiology's Crucial Role in Reef Aquarium Health | #83 

Man can’t help but to think how much Salem reminds me of Jake… great job man keep it up.

Amazing episode guys! Loved "getting into the weeds" with this one, and got my mind turning for my new system at home! Shoutout to Salem for coming on and dropping that knowledge! -Blaine

Salem looks like he's 14 years old, but sounds like he's 75!!! What a cool dude to have on the show, really enjoyed listening to him and Raj banter back and forth on their points of view... that part reminded me of the Jake and Mark days... nice show gentlemen!!!

Bravo Salem! Nice to see Reefing's next generation starting out strong in STEM. And your degree field looks wide open for future applications or applied research if you want to stick with it. The Reefing hobby could certainly benefit from it. Regardless, I hope you publish your findings once your research project concludes. I also loved learning about the Sea School on Sanibel. I had no idea it existed. Something I'll happily send my son to once he gets a few years older.

Hey great show guys! 1st of all I love the regular chatter and talk, THEN you bring out a guest who is so friggen knowledgeable on his craft it's crazy. Imo yall have the perfect balance between friendly chat and in depth discussion. Keep up the good work and let the haters hate, because that's what they do. Please just keep doing what YOU do!

Super cool talk. Salem sounds like a really knowledgeable and passionate guy. Would love to listen to him on more podcasts in the future. Thanks again guys ps. Really liked the back and froth between Raj and Salem when it came to filtration equipment. Good stuff

My wife and I were so impressed with Salem.

This is the best episode as of yet post Jake of course. Definitely enjoyed tuning in. Great job gentlemen! ❤

Salem is awesome! Has been since he worked with Aquarium Wholesale! Wish him the best!

Loved this episode!

This was awesome! This young man rocks! Would love Salem to be reoccurring.

(From UK) Had a 10 day holiday in Naples Florida and drove over to Sanibel and along the way visited the Shell Museum so it was nice listening to you guys chat about it. Salem's input was fantastic very knowledgeable at a young age. Great episode chaps 😊

❤ so awesome to see Salem here. I used to mod a fb group with him, and seth who he mentioned, until a dogfight😂😅 i learned so much tonite. Bravo salem. Cant wait to see where you go next.

Well done! Super interesting!

Sounds like i have a cryptic sump in both of my corner overflows. Lol

Wow, this was one of your best discussions recently. I’ve been trying to absorb as much information about bacteria and corals and Salem is giving me a lot to think about. I’m heading off to read his article on ReefBuilders right now, has Salem written anything else?

Well done boys. Great discussion once you got to it! Some seriously exciting topics and back and forth. Looking forward to more talks with Salem.

Hands down, my favorite episode since we all lost Jake. Amazing young man that is the future of the hobby. Absolutely fantastic discussion, Salem. I so look forward to following your work. @Raj, stop cursing Remy with the scabies! 🙈😂

Amazing episode would like to see Salem again! Loved it

Great episode, loved that discussion

Salem is awesome. Definitely going to help change the hobby. I’ve got some nice corals from him also!

Loved this episode - a blend of laugh and learn! Salem was awesome, and I would love to see him back on again. I’ll admit that (post Jake) this channel hasn’t been personally engaging, since I prefer to learn especially in advance reefing topics. I hope you can do more episodes like this or maybe another ReefBuilder sister channel where advance topics are discussed (I’ve seen other reefers feel the same way).

Awesome episode. I look forward to hearing more from Salem.

It is a bit ironic that a couple episodes ago was the “How to Not Overthink you reef tank Episode” Ha ha We are officially in the overthinking age of almost every subject and overlooking fundamentals. The more research we do the closer we get to fundamental truths, but we also can get swept up into thinking we understand causation, data, and relationships when we are really only scratching the surface. Then Technology increases, academia finds a new paradigm or theory to explore and deeper we go, only to realize the deeper we have to go . . . What we forget is when we try to control or understand everything, we get this massive web of interconnected esoteric variables that learning about gets us really nowhere closer to where we want to be than before. Again . . . this is where we have to step back from specifics, analytics and being data driven to get to more qualitative fundamentals and best practices. Like Salem says the 90s; Metal Halides, Live Rock, Live Sand. Our aquariums are not the ocean. Each reef tank is its own meta ecosystem. We can take high level academic research and help it guide our best practices, but I am sure we are better off keeping things simple for success. Simple husbandry, filtration, feeding and maintenance. This is very inline with what hobby experts agree on; Jake Adams, BRS, Than and others I mean it’s not rocket appliances!

Jake would of LOVE this, good job guys.

Hey Remy, freshwater Mollies are a great seed fish... I'm SURE you already know this but reef builders has a Jake video on how to acclimate them to salt water. They will not bully any other fish, and they consume algae...

My bare bottom would have been much harder maybe near impossible (it was still a challenge) without Tampa bay saltwater. I'm sure this was due to enhanced micro-biome...and tenacity.

Hi, I have a question. I have an established tank running for almost 2 years starting with dry rock and I feel like I need more biodiversity, because I struggle a lot to get a balance system. Would it be beneficial to add some life rock to introduce some more diversity?

RAJ at 58 minutes.....maybe this is what we observe with trial and error. I can grow some corals that others can't and vice versa.

What strain of phyto was used for phosphates?

Salem and Raj should be the third iteration of Reef Therapy.

Yoooo Saleemmm LFGGGG

Brawndo the thirst mutilator

I'd love to know if there is benefit to using NSW in terms of microbiology, I use natural sea water for water changes, and have found my corals always look far more healthy (looks wise) compared to synthetic water.

only 130 people liked this including me people need to listen to this episode

25 min in and waiting on the bacteria talk

Man I miss the old reef therapy, love you guys, but all the unrelated chatter and beer discussions and non reef related chatter bores the fire out of me...

Missing the good old days. New format is just low quality in my opinion. Unsubscribing.