Reef aquarium FAQ
Straight answers, checked against ReefPicker’s compatibility engine rather than general advice.
Fish & livestock
How do I know what fish fits together?
What ReefPicker actually checks before it calls two fish compatible.
How many fish can I put in my tank?
Bioload isn’t just a headcount — how ReefPicker weighs it against your volume and filtration.
What are the best beginner saltwater fish?
Auto-generated from every species’ beginner-suitability rating — not a fixed, aging list.
Hardware & equipment
What size return pump do I need?
Delivered flow, not the box rating — and why head loss changes the answer.
Do I need a protein skimmer?
What a skimmer actually does, when a tank genuinely doesn’t need one, and how to size it if it does.
Will my equipment fit in an all-in-one tank?
The constraint is the rear chamber, not the tank’s volume — measured on all three axes.