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After finishing up my cup of coffee, I decided to tackle some needed reef tasks:

Cleaned the skimmer collection cup. It was filled with standing foam, and my tank sitter told me the waste collector and filled to the shut off point during my recent trip to Arizona. I'd imagine the anemones probably spawned one night. The Skimmer Swabbie is such a wonderful device, I don't know how anyone can run a skimmer without one. It keeps the neck completely clean so the skimmer operates at peak ...

Hello everybody!,

So this Christmas I decided to treat my reef with a needed piece of equipment: the AquaMaxx Biopellet Reactor. I got the XL reactor as it was only an extra $40 or so and for when I upgrade to a larger system in the future. I went with the AquaMaxx brand mainly due to Melev's advice/review and bc I was impressed with AquaMaxx's quality, price, and customer service. For pellets I went with Ecobak, for no reason in particular, getting the 1000ml package.
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For some reason, no matter what tank I set up, people invariably ask me "where is the woodwork" or "when are you going to do the woodwork" or any other compilation of such words... it's almost a running joke going way way back to 2005.

Woodwork is nice, and hides all the equipment. The bright lights are shuttered behind panels or doors, and the finished look is quite appealing. That being said, it never has been a pressing issue to me. Perhaps my reasonings are merely excuses but ...

I have been using API test kits since I began my first reef 4 yrs ago. I trust the API for yrs. I recently bought a red sea pro test kit. Well I did a alk test last night and the red sea read alk at 9.8 dkh....Well I decided to test with the API and see how far off it is well it read alk at 7 dkh... I don't know which to trust far as which is correct...need a little help on this matter plz an than you..

A good friend recently bought a house that has a pretty sweet Reef setup, including a refugium.

The big issue is the owner completely neglected the tank for almost 2 years.

No skimmer, lights, water changes (just top off).

There still a few fish in there...but I see no coral growth but over all the equipment looks functional.

The tank & refugium TTL size is about 300 gal.

Long story short, what should I do to get this tank up and ...