Need QUICK Response...going to buy equipment

[STARFYRE]

I'm headed down to Lancaster to That Fish Place today (got a 30% off coupon!). I have some questions before I make any addition purchases......
I put a piece of sponge on the end of my skimmer to stop micro bubbles from going in the tank. It's pretty effective, however, it seriously cut back my water flow in the tank. I've seen spraybars attached to skimmers. If I took the sponge off and attached the spray bar, this would give me my water flow back. But will it still shoot bubbles through the tank???
So, my dilema is....
choice #1 Do I buy the spray bar? OR
choice #2 Do I just keep the sponge on the skimmer and buy a maxi jet PH???
Question #2
If I do get the PH, it has an option to hook up a venturi injector to aerate along with the water flow. or not. If I hook it up with the aerator, won't this throw those "harmful micro bubbles" throughout the tank?? If I use the aerator, it cuts back the water flow. So I need to know if I'm going to use this feature in order to decide if I go with the 400 or 600 model. So my question is.....
Do I use the aeration feature on the PH or not???
One last question...
I'm looking into buying a refractometer. Is expensive the better option? I was looking online and the store has 2 listed. One was marked at over a hundred bucks and is on sale for $80. The other one is priced at $60. They seem to have the exact same features. They both have the ATC.
Soooooo.....
Is there really a difference between the two other than $20 out of my pocket???? (p.s. It's at www.thatpetplace.com if you want to check em out)
I'm heading out in about an hour, so if you have ANY input, please post it right away! Thanx!!

 

[loyalrogue]

No advice on the first stuff, but as for the refractometer check out http://cgi.ebay.com/Salinity-Salt-R...9QQihZ002QQcategoryZ11876QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
That's the seller and the refractometer I bought about 6mos ago, and I'm loving it.
The auction usually get up around $20-$25 plus the $8 shipping.
There's absolutely no difference between this one and the $100 model my LFS uses.

 

[Dr.Nate]

I can't help you with the spraybar question, but I sure know the answer to the other two!

You definately DO NOT want to use the venturi attachment on your PH. This will throw microbubbles in with the flow and could affect PH in the long run.

Refactometers are almost all created equal, as long as you are able to calibrate it properly and keep it there and it has ATC. I would go with the cheaper one.

HTH

 

[roka64]

On the refractometer, they both look similar. The only difference I could see, was one says it measured at 20degrees. I bought mine from drsfosterandsmith for $42.
For the spraybar, you may want to PM Hara. She is the only one, that comes to mind, that uses a spraybar.

 

[STARFYRE]

You are the BOMB Dr. Nate!!!!! That really helps! So no aeration on the PH. That's what I figured. My tank is a 20 gal high. It's going to house seahorses, a yellow fiji leather, a blue mushroom, polyps, and a red finger. I'm assuming I go with the 106 gph flow for the PH, rather than the 160 gph. From what I've read, my corals are low to med flow, and I def don't want excess flow with my ponies in there.
So the 106 gph, right?

 

[Hara]

I like spraybars, keep in mind that flow does not always equate with "current". With a spraybar, you use a much larger powerhead and the disbursement is such that there can be very minimal current. For example, my eel tank has 20 times the turnover in it, but the spraybar outlets are very large and numerous, so you can put your hand in front of it and barely feel water coming out. Yet in another of my coral tanks, I use the exact same set up with smaller holes in the spray bar and yes, it feels like a finger over a garden hose when you put your hand against the holes.

As far as the statement the leather likes low to medium flow, they like a nice current, not tsunami, but definitely not so low as to seem non existent.

I hope this helps.