After a long debate and serious hesitation I finally decided to retire my tried and true double ended metal halides (Phoenix 14K's powered by a PFO 250W HQI ballast) and VHO actinics (icecap 660 ballast) in exchange for an ATi setup. My old setup was just proven and provided great growth and coloration over a few years now with zero problems. The reasons for the swap were because:

• I needed new bulbs
• I wanted to reduce my electric bill to below $200 a month
• I wanted to keep the house cooler

...

Well, i'm off for 5 weeks on a business trip to Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and China) and catching the red-eye tonight. The tank will be in the hands of my wife during this time.

The last time i took a business trip (about 3 weeks ago) it was for only 2 days and all hell broke loose. The top-off reservoir ran low on water which resulted in the return pump running dry for about 12 hours and one of the GFCI's tripped when she hit feed mode on the AC3. Thankfully...

Well....sort of. My clowns decided to spawn today for the 1st time since i got them about 18 months ago. I had a feeling they were up to something as they had spent the last week or so, cleaning, rubbing, biting the area where the eggs were finally laid. Although i don't plan on raising the fry, its still nice to see. Looking forward to many more spawns in the future.

But i was lucky....i have an Aquacontroller 3 that kept things from getting out of control. Like most people i also like topping off my tank with kalkwasser saturated water. My AC3 will top-off with kalkwasser or freshwater based on the tanks pH. If pH goes over 8.15, 2 solenoids activate. 1 solenoid activates to shut off the kalkwasser supply, and the other solenoid activates to open a bypass which allows freshwater to top-off the tank instead. Once pH drops back down below 8.15, it reverses...

Soaked the skimmer today in some muriatic acid and water (mixed at a 10:1 ratio) for a couple hours while the pump was running. First time i did it since i setup the tank. Amazing how much crud collects in only 18 months time. While the skimmer was out i also vacuumed the sump.

Plugged everything back in a couple hours ago and the skimmer has pulled out some pretty nasty crud since then. Now i'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.