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One additional thought. As much as I like GFI, especially on equipment around a reef system, they do tend to be a bit flakey and trip when they encounter various forms of electrical noise. Assuming this is your main pump, and that your system depends upon it, you may want to run that from a...

More to the point, what kinds of corals are you working with? Different corals, especially the soft corals, use different methods of mounting them. Also, if your using LR to mount the coral, it works best if the area you want to mount the coral on is clean. I usually go over the mounting...

DE bulbs are really held in tight by their "socket". Get a thick cloth terry towel, and fold into several layers. Then grab the bulb in the center and pull straight out. You may need to pull hard, and the towel protects your hand, just in case you break the bulb. Replacement is just the...

I must admit that my personal experience with calcium reactors is limited, in that I have never used one on my reef. However, when I look at the King Kong Calcium Reactor, I can't help but think that it's overly complex, and far larger than anything most of us are ever likely to need. I see a...

I tried crystal sea salt, and wile it did dissolve ok, I found the magnesium readings to be very low. This made it impossible to maintain a good pH/alk/calcium balance. This I one of the few salt I specifically don't recommend. If you are going to switch to a new salt, initially go slow. Make...

There are kits available to remove scratches in glass. Here is an example of one for auto glass, but I don't see why you couldn't use it on an empty aquarium. (offsite) - http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/glass.htm Keep in mind that this stuff really makes a mess when your using it. It's best...

Product evaluation actually needs to go a lot deeper than how much energy it uses. While this is an important factor, you first need to make sure it's going to do the job in the application. For pumps you need to consider how much water you need to move and how high you want to move it, and if...

Yes, I've had a heater go bad that way also. I didn't get shocked, but it was a mess. In any case, the electrical flow sure wasn't any good. Because it is possible to release some unwanted stuff into the water, I would recommend that you do some major partial water changes over the next couple...

300,000 lbs of live rock is mentioned in the article. That works out to 150 tons. If you had a modest truck that could haul 2 tons, you'd have to make 75 trips to haul it away. I don't see how anyone could easily have done that with out being seen at some point. Remember it's not legal to...

To answer the original question. Electronic ballasts either work or they don't. They usually don't fail half way. So as long as the ballast is firing the lamps, it can be considered ok. Coil and core ballasts are not quite the same. Since they usually have a starting capacitor and a...

Generally I have found that if I'm going away for less than 10 days, the best thing to do is to just leave the system alone, rather than try a automatic feeder or trust someone else to feed the fish. Feed the day you go away and the day you get back and generally you'll be fine. Remember some...

Before you spend any money on tank software, make sure you really need it. Most of us can get by with a word processing program and a spreadsheet program. Of course there are the very expensive Microsoft products, but there is also Open Office, which is free under GPL, and is open source, and...

Yes, live black worms are a fantastic food. I have also use them to feed mandarin gobies and scooter blenies. Both fish usually require a large pod population to support them, so I don't think you could feed black works in place of that. The only downside is that live black worms die quickly...

This is an interesting thread. I can only state the results I got over the years. Personally I found that for me a DSB gives me better results than a SSB or bear bottom. Yet, I would not call anyone using another method wrong. There are many ways to get from point A to point B in this hobby...

It is possible to use UV light on a reef system. I have used it before, but I do not currently use UV. I recommend you use UV only if you have some specific problem that UV will solve. Don't run out and get one because you want another piece of gear or the LFS told you it was a good idea. UV...

It's been my experience with my RO/DI unit that durring the winter months, the amount of water produced is far less than it is in summer. It seems that the very cold water being used is the cause. You could try using hot water, but it's more expensive since you need to heat it, and hot water...

I've tried two different types of check valves. I considered them to be of good quality, and I did test the end result. Initially they did work. However, like anything in a reef over time they develop heavy bacteria films and collect other material passed through the filtration system. The end...

This is one of the great times where you don't need to spend any additional money on your reef. If you see a color you like in a tank, ask the owner for a few scrapings. Most people I know would be happy to give you some. Additives such as "Purple Up" are IMHO a waste of money, and are not needed.

Like everything else, fixing the low levels means figuring out what the source of the problem is. First make sure your water is at the proper salinity. I highly recommend using a refractometer for this. If your SG is at 1.020 verses 1.025, your water will have 20% less salt in it, and your...

Re: New to the Hobby? Read this... I would also suggest that anyone new to the hobby obtain several books on state of the art reef systems. Then read and study the material. To have success with a reef requires a lot of background knowledge. While the information is on the net, it's not all...