Focus Reefing

Eight months ago, every coral in Mike's 50 gallon cube was a frag. Now he takes me on a full tour. 🚀 NEW: FocusReefing.com Is Live The Focus Reefing website just launched. 👉 https://focusreefing.com 🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen to every episode. 👉 Apple Podcasts ▶️ Watch on YouTube Watch the full video episodes and subscribe. 👉 YouTube 📸 Focus Reefing on Instagram Short clips from t...

One batch of live rock sent phosphates from 0.03 to 0.3 and nearly wrecked a thriving acro tank. Matt Smoyer of Carolina Reefing Community had acros growing faster than visitors could believe, until extra live rock in the sump shocked the whole system. I talk with him about rebuilding stability, why his tank eats phosphate instead of building it up, and why he skips filter socks and runs a skimmer...

CJ gave up on SPS in his current tank, then built an entirely new one just to chase it again. I got CJ from CJ's Aquariums on to talk through both of his reef tanks, and the story behind why he has two running side by side. His 75 gallon softy tank is closing in on four years old and runs on a lighting schedule most people would call overkill for soft corals. Right next to it sits a brand new...

I sat down with a reefer who almost gave up his 90 gallon tank until one coral store visit changed everything. On this episode of Focus Reefing I talk with Adrian, a saltwater reef hobbyist who built his entire SPS heavy 90 gallon reef tank almost completely off Facebook Marketplace deals. We get into his DIY rock scaping, his simple dosing routine with no controllers involved, and the honest mome...

I sat down with a reefer running his 200 gallon tank almost entirely on autopilot, and he still isn't sure his dosing method is worth the cost. I talk with Jaytee about the three tank transfers he pulled off in his first year, the dinoflagellate outbreak that nearly wrecked his sandbed, and why he moved to the moonshine method to cut water changes out completely. We also get into his lighting...

JT's first tank was a peninsula build. Six months later, it's a completely different system. JT comes back to talk through why he walked away from his original peninsula reef and rebuilt into a custom 225 gallon tank instead. He gets into the sand debate that trips up a lot of reefers during a rebuild, how he reworked flow without a peninsula's tricky far side, and what it took to self-plumb a sys...

He walked away from a mixed reef because it stopped being fun, and rebuilt everything around one species: anemones. In this episode I sit down with Karam, known as @kreefer2, to talk about his 40 gallon Water Box anemone tank built around a Chandler's Rock centerpiece he saved for months before he even had a tank to put it in. We get into how he dialed in lighting and flow specifically for ane...

I talked with Mallory, who started reefing in high school with a used one gallon tank and never left small tanks behind. She tells me why she started ignoring blanket advice online, what changes fast in a nano reef that doesn't in a big one, and how she turned her own obsessive water testing into an app she built while still in school. We also get into what it's like running a tank remotel...

SPOTIFY DESCRIPTION I broke my usual format for this one because the story was too good to pass up. A reef hobbyist built his own modular LED light out of pure frustration, and now he's about to bring it to market. I talk with Ariel, founder of NextGen Reef Tech, about the years he spent designing a fixture where every bulb swaps out individually instead of forcing a full upgrade when one chan...

A seam failure. A tank about to explode. One week to fix it before everything was lost. Sergio Sanchez (@themolarcoral) built a 110-gallon mixed reef into the wall of his family room — his first saltwater tank ever. He walks through the emergency swap that nearly ended his reef, why he skipped small and went straight to 110 gallons, and what it's really like to manage hammers, torches, gonis,...

Is your 3D-printed gear secretly leaching toxins into your water? Chris from @rhinosreef joins the Focus Reefing Podcast for our milestone 10th episode to share his journey from a casual hobbyist to building a powerhouse manufacturing brand. We cover the emotional reality of having to tear down his personal system, the viral Star Wars Stormtrooper head that launched his business, filament types li...

Kevin from @reefing_amsterdam joins the Focus Reefing Podcast to discuss his custom SPS-dominant reef system built in the Netherlands. We cover quarantine protocols, automated water changes, Hydros automation, bare bottom reefing, coral growth strategy, and the reality of handling major tank mistakes while away from home. Kevin also shares how he designed his system around long-term stability, eas...

In this episode, JV sits down with Julio Rangel (@tacoboutcorals) to talk about how reefing became more than just a hobby. After getting started with a small 10-gallon tank, Julio quickly scaled up and now runs an 80-gallon lagoon-style reef focused heavily on LPS corals and gonis. He shares how reefing helped him find structure and focus, and how the hobby continues to shape his outlook on life....

In this episode of the Focus Reefing Podcast, JV sits down with Shaun (@somdtanks) to break down a nano reef that goes against a lot of what the hobby typically promotes. No testing. No dosing. Minimal equipment. And somehow it works. Shaun walks through his LPS-dominant nano reef, how it evolved from an anemone tank, and why he’s intentionally kept things simple after decades in the hobby. The co...

Welcome to the Focus Reefing Podcast. In this episode, I sit down with Dean, also known as @irishshrimpguy, to break down his 120 gallon mixed reef and how he’s transitioned from LPS into SPS over the last year. We talk about what actually drives success in reefing, consistency, testing habits, flow, lighting, and how to avoid getting overwhelmed by too much advice early on. Dean also shares his a...

What do you do when your brand new reef tank shows up and it doesn’t even fit in the freight elevator? In this episode, JV talks with Jonathan aka @social_reefer about running a 200 gallon peninsula reef in a New York apartment and what it takes to keep a big system stable without overcomplicating it. Jonathan shares how he got into reefing during COVID, how he scored most of his setup secondhand,...

Follow Focus Reefing on Instagram and Facebook ⁠@focusreefing⁠ . ⁠YouTube @focusreefing⁠ Follow Danny on Instagram ⁠@britosreef⁠ . Danny (@britosreef) literally walked a Waterbox 20 across NYC and took it on the subway to get it home — and that was just the beginning. In this episode of Focus Reefing, JV talks with Danny about how his first saltwater tank became a thriving 20g nano mixed reef with...

Follow Focus Reefing on Instagram and Facebook Subscribe on YouTube. In this episode of Focus Reefing, JV sits down with Mike (MK_Reefs) to break down what makes nano reefs succeed or crash fast—from “when in doubt, water change” to why he skips protein skimmers on nanos, how he runs a surprisingly simple 10g Waterbox setup, and how his bigger frag system supports constant growth, trades, and tank...

In this episode of Focus Reefing, I sit down with Jamie, also known as @EmpireReefer , to walk through his reef system and the mindset behind it. Jamie shares his transition from freshwater into saltwater, how he approached building his first reef tank, and the lessons learned along the way. We talk about coral placement, flow, lighting decisions, aquascaping with growth in mind, and how experienc...

In this episode of Focus Reefing , JV sits down with JT (@Hardy_reef) for a deep dive into his 210-gallon peninsula reef. JT shares his reefing journey, system philosophy, and the lessons learned from building and maintaining a mature SPS-dominant tank. We cover automation, flow, lighting, redundancy, and the mindset required to keep a large reef stable long term. YouTube — @focusreefing Instagram...