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Re: Eagle Reef Systems, Inc. I'm sorry to hear about your problem. I think you'll get your tank problem fixed one way or another. It's always rough when you buy something from a LFS, and they soon go under. At least you got the tank. They could have gone under after taking your deposit, but...

What you have is typical for a new tank with now live rock. With a lot of die off, you have a lot of ammonia to process, and that gets processed into nitrite and then nitrate. Just because you didn't see a big spike doesn't mean no ammonia was processed. It simple means that there was enough...

I fail to see how this could be true. Two 250 watt bulbs are going to produce somewhat more light that an single 400 watt bulb, all other things being equal. While you might get a brighter spot directly under a 400 bulb, the overall amount of light in the tank is going to be greater with two...

As you can see, there are a lot of ways people use carbon, from all the time to not at all. It's kind of like the old politician speaking.... "I'm glad you asked that question, and every voter should know where I stand on this issue. Some of my friends are for this issue. Some of my other...

The idea behind "cooking" live rock is in effect to allow it to cure for an extended period. What is supposed to occur is that the denitrification process is allowed to run it's course, and in the process the rock gets all the nitrates eliminated from it. The process is done almost like cureing...

400w MHs would give great light, but you are going to be consuming a lot of power and producing a lot of heat. On an extremely deep tank, there might not be any other good choice. However, on a 28" deep tank, I'd go with 250w MH. Remember you can always add another bulb or two over the tank.

I have tried Crystal Sea in the past, but will not use it now. I found that the magnesium levels were very low, and this made it difficult to maintain the alkalinity, calcium, pH balance. However, it's always possible they changed their formula, and corrected this problem. I recommend getting...

The ballast you found seems to be similar to ballasts supplied by Ice Cap or ARO. The thing is you never know exactly what is inside. It might be better or it might be worse. I'd look at it this way. With lighting, if it fails, your tank is still going to run ok for at least several days, more...

My take on all these companies the seem to offer budget prices is save your money. If the price is a lot better than what you see from well known net vendors, or even your good LFSs, the product will be junk, not might be, it will be junk. Even from established manufacturers you can have...

In my opinion there are no "deals on salt". The water is the key component in your system. While there is a lot of disagreement on which salt is best, in my mind you should always get top quality salt regardless of price. It's about the lest expensive thing in this hobby. You'll get much better...

Re: NOAA Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Protections for Threatened Elkhorn Cor Personally, I see this as another over restrictive rule proposed by a government agency. Does this mean we can't trade frag, or sell captive raised corals? What about corals grown in the ocean specifically for...

First, save your money on the CPR HOB refugium. It's among the worst pieces of equipment I ever owned. On my reef it literally broke off and landed on the floor creating quite a mess. Avoid at all costs. On top of that, it's really too small to be very effective. My nitrated and so on were lower...

The price sounds good, but if it's got a chip in the glass, it may be best to avoid it. I don't know of any way to actually repair a chip, but if it's on the outside, and small, you might be able to filled in.

Standard answer number 1 ... It depends. Has your refugium become a dirt trap, due to it's design or other factors? In that case it may be desirable to clean it. If I felt it needed cleaning, I'd do only about 1/4 to 1/3 of it at a time, and it it's got a DSB I'd only clean the top 3/4 of an...

In addition to the fact that pumps run 24 hours a day, which has already been pointed out, for lighting you also need to consider the types of ballasts in use. A coil and core ballast is usually only about 65% efficient. So if you are using 325 watts of MH lighting, and using coil can core...

When I hade to make a similar choice I went with the Tunze streams and their multicontroller. As pointed out, you can angle the pump. To be fair, at the time the Vortech pumps were brand new, and I felt Tunze had a better reputation in the hobby. I will say it paid off. I messed up the...

Like a lot of possible projects, the correct answer is, it depends. Putting multiple tanks into a single system has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages are a larger volume of water, all the water is the system is more or less the same, and you only have one system to deal with...

It sure looks like a good reactor, and if you got a bargain price on it, that would be great. OTOH, a reactor like that could easily handle a 500 or 1000 gal tank. For a 125, you don't need anything that big. In fact, you may not even need a calcium reactor at all. Since the initial outlay...

Carlo made an excellent post on what to do to get a nitrate reactor going again. However, you also might want to test your water and see if you really need one. If the system can maintain nitrate levels close to zero with out the reactor, you don't need it. It will then be one less thing you...

In addition to what Carlo stated, inspect the bulbs. Sometimes you bend or break a pin and don't know it. Also try swapping bulbs and see if the problem follows the bulb.