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Much to my displeasure, my Sequence Dart started gushing water out of the area where the pump's drive shaft was located. After contacting Sequence Dart for assistance, they quickly shipped out replacement seals free of charge.http://www.reeflopumps.com/

Installing them wasn't as easy as I'd hoped, and thus I decided I might as well document the process for others that wish they had some pictures to go along with the instruction sheet provided.

After years of running Metal Halide (MH) lighting over my tanks, I really wanted to take some measurements to find out what type of intensity (PAR) the bulbs would give off. Dr. Sanjay Joshi recommends better reflectors, stating that they will increase lighting output by 300% compared to the standard 'spider' reflectors I've been using.

Lighting consists of three parts: ballast, bulb, and reflector. The combination of these three makes the difference between good lighting and great lighting. The following information should give you a better grasp of the choices involved.

Some basics:
Electronic ballasts are smaller, run quietly, and reportedly save money in electricity usage (~10%).
Magnetic ballasts are larger, have an audible hum to them, and get pretty hot.

To create flow in your tank with minimal visual distraction, the VorTech pump is a very nice option. The pump has a wet side that fits inside the tank and a dry side that aligns on the outside, and using magnets it drives the impeller right through the wall of the tank. I've been using the VorTech since January 2006, and liked it enough to get two more to replace my other pumps. I'm a huge fan of these pumps, and here's why:

A HOB (Hang On Back) overflow or weir is a device used to drain water from the aquarium safely into a sump.

You need to prepare yourself, as this is about 30 seconds of your life that will get your heart beating faster than you'd expect.

With the new set up, I've tried to avoid holding anything back and went "all in" so to speak. So I got busy one night, wiring up this ultra safe system by Aquahub. The way it works: You have two float switches wired in series, which are powered with a 12v DC power supply. When the switches are down, a relay opens the flow to a 110v power cord to supply power a pump that can push top off water from a reservoir into the sump. As the water level rises, the float rises and cuts power to the relay, which stops power to the 110v cord shutting off the feed pump.

A calcium reactor is a piece of equipment that helps maintain alkalinity and calcium in a reef tank. For years, I didn't buy one mainly because they are expensive, and dosed my tank with B-Ionic daily. That worked fine for a 29 gallon and a 55 gallon reef, but if your tank is larger than those, you may decide that a calcium reactor is the better choice long term.

I'm based in Texas and have been in the hobby since 1998.  In all that time, I've never used a chiller for my tanks.  I prefer to keep the room temperature comfortable for me around the clock, and thus my aquariums have never gotten overheated.  However, in the summer months it always helps to use cooling fans.  They are economical, relatively silent and take up little space.

Fragging corals is a big part of the hobby. Being able to acquire frags from others has benefits. Corals are shared rather than the constant harvesting of wild colonies in the ocean, and they are already accustomed to dwelling in a closed ecosystem. The giver prunes the colonies in their reef, allowing for better flow. They are able to 'bank' a coral with you in case theirs perishes for whatever reason. The receiver enjoys watching the little piece grow into something beautiful over time, and then will one day be a giver as well.

For over a year, I'd been using a small spiral compact fluorescent bulb that only cost $7, with an output that was 75w of 6500K lighting. Under this 'daylight' color, my macro algae grew steadily. While shopping at Home Depot, I came across a new sealed-floodlight bulb that caught my interest. This new bulb costs $10, and also uses 19w. The one thing the package didn't mention was what Kelvin (color temperature) the bulb was. Please read this entire article, as a better bulb became apparent during 2005.