Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
We used our dremel to do it (which you're welcome to borrow if you need). A hole saw might be hard to keep in place unless you build a tall outline with tape. Jose (JF2381) had a thread up here with a link to where he picked his up at, if I'm not mistaken. I'll see if I can dig it up.
We have one, purchase from Premium Aquatics in a group buy. It is the Hanna Meter. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it is easy to use and gives predictable results as long as you're following the directions.
Our overflow box uses an aqualifter to keep air out of the "tube" to ensure that the box doesn't fail. It works great... until the aqualifter fails. We always have an extra handy.
Re: AC 3 or ReefKeeper
The second PH port is most useful when you're using a Ca reactor so that the other one can be watching the tank PH. The orp depends on your likelihood to use ORP.
Comparison Chart
You just look down the list of check marks and see which ones you think you're likely to...
The Junior is a fine controller, but it doesn't do everything that a AC3 can do. It only has 1 PH port, doesn't have an ORP port... there is probably a comparison chart on Neptune for them.
A LOT of people in the club have the Neptune line of controllers from the AC Jr to the AC3 to AC Pro...
Drill into the wall and feed the pipes down into the basement through the wall. The water that spills will now be on your basement floor. You're not as likely to spill large amounts of water on the hardwood if the sump is in the basement. It also gives you more room for the equipment that you...
The only thing that they eat are starfish. You need to be committed to the purchase of a chocolate chip starfish once week or so for their consumption. Without that food source they will die.
They are cool to watch, but at 15-20$ every two weeks, they're an investment.
Ammo is the first step in the cycle. You can have ammonia AGAIN because of the system starting a new cycle due to a change in the feeding or bio-load. With a 30g tank the water is very sensitive to changes. My guess is that you'll see the trites & trates begin to rise next. Just because a tank...
You could wait until next year... not all corals require skimmed water... and you could just change a lot of water between now and then to make up for it!!