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Generally the power outages you are going to get are going to be less than 12 hours. For that I have several small air pumps that run on a D cell and run a single airstone. In the event of power failure I'll add them to the tank. A computer type UPS is nice, but usually not a solution, since...

The "old [style] berlin method" is still the basis of most reef systems today. So your really not that "out of date". Most of what has occurred is that people build on the basic system. Many add a refugium to grow pors or macro algaes. You can add a lot of high tech equipment, but I would...

As pointed out in previous posts, the product does work. However, I suspect that long term you'll end up with an outbreak of some other problem algae. Please follow up in a few months with a post about what the ultimate results were.

I would recommend that you go with putting the second tank on it's own sump. Yes, there are advantages to having a combined system, but there is one big disadvantage. If the system crashes, you loose everything. Keeping two separate systems gives you some backup in case of disaster to one or...

I do not recommend the use of any red slime remover products. Yes, they do work, see the above posts. However, if you have a problem with with it, the cause is excess phosphates and/or nitrates. Unless you correct the cause, all your do is get rid of the cyano, only to have it replaced with some...

Metal halides generate a lot of heat. This is why you usually see them suspended above the tank, usually at a distance between 10 and 18 inches. You could use any fixture that you can easily suspend. You could also use MH pendants. However, like anything else, some are better quality than...

In looking at your sump build, I see two possible problems. First, I would want a much larger return chamber for the pump. You may be sucking air because this final chamber gets drained too low. You may need to remove the "refugium" section and build an external refugium. Second, get rid of...

These kind of problems can be difficult to track down. First, look at the water in your sump, and make sure your not getting bubbles from a skimmer or other device there, or from the water coming into the sump. If that's the case, the return pump will simply "recycle" them to the main display...

My choice would be a royal gramma. A geometric pixie hawk might be a good choice also.

The big problem with using a product for snow melting is that you never know what your getting. Even with a brand someone else used without a problem, you could still have one if you got a different lot. Remember this product was intended to melt snow, and as such doesn't need to be especially...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this it not correct. For electrical work on printed circuit boards you want a low wattage iron, about 25w, with a fine point. For flux you must use rosin flux. Usually this is supplied as a core inside the solder. Do NOT use ACID flux with is usually...

As pointed out you can take scrapeings from the coraline algae you already have. However, once it starts growing all over everything, especially filtration components, you will consider coraline algae to be just another nuisance algae, almost as bad as green hair algae, or red slime (not a...

Since you have a 28 gal tank, and are on a limited budget, I recommend that you forget about a sump, and get a decent hang on tank skinner and filter. Your old canister filter could also be used.

For a 30 gal tank, you can do quite well using hang on the tank equipment. That being said, some people do like to use a sump, even with it's more complex plumbing. The plumbing itself is actually rather easy, and once you get the hang of it, goes quickly. About all you need to do is cut the...

I've tried the product in a hang on the tank refugium (read small). I didn't see any big difference. I'd say go with normal aragonite sand, unless you have some specific reason for wanting a mud based refugium.

I use a Lifereef overflow. While I would not want to say you can never have an overflow problem with a Lifereef overflow, I can say that I have had no problems with it, even after several years in use. It replaced a CPR overflow which had given me quite a few serious problems, including some big...

There are several different species of mangroves, and each one has slightly different requirements, especially in the area od how deep you place them in their SW bog. IMHO, unless you have a sump on the floor and about 8 feet over it, forget mangroves. Remember you are growing a large tree...

The tank being shown is one of the most fantastic reef systems you'll ever see. You just can't take that away from them. However, as pointed out by others, it's beyond the means of most of us. I'd like to see great tanks done that are within the sizes most of us could hope to obtain, say below...

I wouldn't want to trust it. It's just not worth putting your tank at risk to save a few dollars. You savings in only a few dollars over typical aquarium grade silicone, and put your tank at risk.

I tried it at one time in a small refugium. I felt it was more of a dirt trap and nitrate factory. However, there are people that swear they got fantastic results from mud bottom refugiums. This is one of these try it and see what it does for you cases. Should it not work out, it's easy enough...