In this section, I've displayed some different items that I find essential for every day reefkeeping. In Figure 1, I've displayed a turkey baster, tweezers, and a toothbrush, which are great utilities for curing and cleansing live rock. The baster also has extreme functionality for direct feeding, which I will demonstrate later. The hypodermic I use for spot killing aiptasia anemones. And finally, call me a wussie if you will... The gloves are to protect my hands from dry skin *and* myself as I have been sensitized to coral stings. I had an incident where a large frogspawn "grabbed" me and penetrated a crack on my finger. I swelled to my elbow. I don't ever want to do that again.

In Figure 2 I've displayed scissors, heavy duty wire cutters, and a razor blade. These are excellent tools for making coral divisions. A ball peen hammer and smaller sized chisel are also excellent tools to have on hand for divisions of more robust SPS colonies. Corrosion can become a problem after divisions. I've found that a quick rinse in fresh RO water greatly increases the lifespan of the tools. An extensive demonstration of these tools will be given in just a bit.

Ahh... And the coral farmer's necessities. Figure 3 shows plumber's epoxy, gel super glue, rubber bands, toothpicks, and rose stem containers. All have their place in some aspect of getting various types of coral mounted in a stationary position to allow for optimum growth. Fishing line can also be useful in positioning different corals in odd places or in the case of SPS, to the mounting substrate. I just happened to forget to grab my Stren ;)