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That's a genius idea Greg. I never thought of that.

The pump gph should be as close as much as possible with overflow gph. Otherwise the pump will create noise when choking it so much. A 30 % reduction of capacity is fine but a 60 % reduction is not recommended. in other words a 400 gph pump when limiting it to 300 gph is fine. While using a 900...

I kept my 3" yellow tang in my 60 gal long for a couple of years with no problem. Now she is in my 150 gal sharing with brown powder. I can say that its the level of stress they are exposed to and not enough food supplements that cam give you a problem. See her on my link below.

The CPR with 300 gph has a 3/4 bulkhead. You can increase it to 1" if you want. The bigger the overflow pipe size the better. Your sump pump of course must not exceed the CPR gph rating but you can install a ball valve at the pump discharge so you can be flexible with the amount of flow you...

As you notice your magnesium dropped after dosing with calcium. Your alk might have dropped as well. It's what we call the "balancing act". I would leave it that way for now but you need to monitor the calcium. Raise mag only when its time to dose calcium with an alk of 9 dkh.

The alk on your last reading is ok but you need to raise your mag first to at least 1300 before raising your calcium. I notice your alk fluctuates a lot. When it drops to 7 the balancing of the other would be difficult. In other words, maintain 9 dkh before dosing mag and calcium. Raising...

In my previous 60 gal I used this HOB overflow with a 300 gph. It works pretty good. CPR CS Overflow Boxes

Whenever you dose calcium it will pull down magnesium together with alk and vice vesa. You can dose mag to 1300 and let your calcium be at 420.

+1 I was about to say everything you said.

I have the powder brown, blue and yellow tang on my 150 gal long with soft corals. The brown was added last but it still show some mellow aggressiveness that my blue is starting to have some ich. I am battling it with herbal medicine and none stop sea wed. I just can't get rid of the brown for...

Yes you bought a refractometer used for brewery and not for salt water aquarium. You can still use it but it will only give you a few usable graduation on its scale. The 1.020 spec. grav will be at 5 brix, while 1.024 is 6 and 1.028 is 7. So you end up with not so accurate refractometer. It will...

They said it all but the first step is to manually remove them and after changing water just use a minimal of light to slow down algae growth. Fish just need enough light to see what they eat.

I would leave the sump alone if DT is doing fine. That is how sump should be. The algae absorbs the nitrate while the cyano produces oxygen when lights is on during the night.

Anaerobic bacteria are also present inside porous live rocks. You can have more of them if you pick the right LR in your tank. While deep sand bed as Greg mentioned can be tricky. You can have a DSB on a separate tank next to your sump. That way you can be flexible with your tank maintenance...

Yes you are doing it wrong. Although the salt mix manufacturer says their salt is a quick mix, it does not mean that you only have to steer the water several times and you're done. After steering, you still need to mix it continuously with a circulating pump for hours or even better overnight...

The salinity of newly mix salt water dictates the content of calcium on it. Meaning the higher the salinity the more calcium you will get. A low grade salt mix wont give you enough calcium at 1.024 salinity. Most reef keepers prefer it to be at 1.026.

+1. For a small tank the WC is the safest way of bringing your water parameter back on track. Then you need to figure out how to control your phosphate. You could be over feeding your acan. Too much waterflow is also a possibility. Once you are on track, I would do 10% weekly rather than 25%...

I tested the same water with a refractometer a few minutes apart and the reading is not consistent. Can anyone explain why?

A bad test equipment doesn't justify a conclusion that they are all bad and unreliable. A bad swing arm hydrometer is as bad as a defective refractometer.

Refractometer needs to be calibrated so often and it will also give you false reading at the wrong temperature. I never have a problem with swing hydrometer. In fact I switched from refractometer to swing. The trick is to swing it several times until it stabilizes and settles down.

Let's assume one doesn't know how to use a salinity tester regardless if it's a notorious one or accurate one and the salinity of new salt water has a difference of 0.001 with the tank (which is by the way a worse case), what do you think is the effect when you replace 10% of it?

A reef keeper can make a choice to set his tank salinity between 1.024 to 1.026. If one uses a swing arm hydrometer and he reads the salinity of the tank exactly the same as that of the salt water to be added would that really matter as far as accuracy is concerned?

I have read quite a bit on the links posted by some regarding Chemipure and I have to say that its effectiveness may have something to do with its application. As Greg had mentioned it is recommended for small to medium tanks. Just like any other products the right ratio has to be adhered to...

+1 Andy is right. The pH, kH, Mg and Ca interact with one other. Without adding anything, kH will go down gradually when topping off with ro water having 6 dkH. Due to the "balancing act" effect, pH will also be affected by kH and Ca. While Mg in your case is minimal without corals. Raising the...

Our outer skin has more resistance than the inner flesh in our body. So when you have a cut and you stick in the salt water with some voltage stray from electrical cord insulation of heaters and pumps you will feel that sensation.