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IMO a drop in chiller would be more efficient at cooling the tank and more cost effective than the AC as long as you keep it a few feet from the tank. The AC would help keep the tank temperature from becoming outrageously high, as well as keep you cool, but may be more expensive to run. How...

I agree with BigMac, you really should consider an inline placed some where else. The basement, the garage, etc. I have my Aqualogic in the garage and I am very happy it's there. It is big, loud, and puts out a lot of heat, not something I would want in my living room.

Tim, one more thing; In my tank my PO4 levels are some where between .01 and .05 and I still have a lot of micro-algea growth, but the clean up crew, macro-algeas, and weekly glass cleanings keep up with it. IMO these micro-algeas are a good thing (natural food for various critters) and you...

Typical phosphate concentrations in natural sea water are very low, sometimes as low as 0.005 ppm., and diatoms are still one of the most abundant phytoplankton in the sea. Your level of .1 could be considered more than 100x's that found in natural sea water. At concentrations below about...

4.5 years is a little disturbing. I have come across theories reguarding the 'old tank' syndrome and think that I may have experienced it a few years ago, but I had not heard of sandbeds crashing only after a few years. I guess it is hard to say with it being a relatively new trend. I guess...

Have either of you known or heard of anyone having problems with hydrogen sulfide being released into their tank or outrageous nitrate spikes? I'm a tad worried. How long would it take for hydrogen sulfide to build up in the sand?

Thomas, thanks for the reply. I was going to say that I had read some where that toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide were not likely to form in the sand bed and after reading through the article that barracuda gave me I realized that was the one. So is this really a concern or more of a myth? It...

I love my DSB. In my previous system I used crushed coral for years and could never get my nitrates lower than 20. Now with my DSB and a pretty heavy bioload the nitrates never go above 2. The reproduction of all of the micro-organisms has been amazing, I even have hundreds of baby snails and...

I use an AquaC Ev http://www.proteinskimmer.com/ and I love it. It's powerful, quiet, and easy to clean. I've used it in the sump and outside of the sump.

Another thought on leaving your tank alone; A few years ago I had a small reef tank that I had been keeping nearly ten years. It always had small managable amounts of algae that I would have to clean off the glass as well as some other problems, and I was always trying different things to fix...

Some times it is best to leave things alone and let nature take it's course in your tank. If you add nothing to your tank that may raise phospate, silicate, nitrate,etc. and leave your tank alone then consumers of these things will use them up and bring them down to levels so low that they...

Diatoms use silica to form their cell walls, so high silica levels in your aquarium water can cause them to grow very rapidly. Read this if you are interested: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...03/feature.htm Your phosphate sponge should help reduce silica as well. Are using RO/DI water?

Your sump should be a big as possible which usually means as big as you can fit under your tank. A 30L or a 20 would fit well under a 55. The cheapest and easiest way to build a sump is to find a rubbermaid container that fits under your tank and use that. check out Brommer's site for an...

Some info on sumps http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.htm

The Kent Aqua-Dose system is cheap and easy to use for top off water. It needs to be placed above the tank or sump so that the water can drip. It will take you some time to figure out the drip rate for your tank, but once you have learned that it is simple.

Reef & Fin in Stamford and Coral Reef Imports in Milford are both great.