Dakota

I have been working in the ornamental fish industry full-time for over a decade now. And, I have always dreamed about building a coral propagation greenhouse since the first day I stepped foot into Anthony Calfo's greenhouse. The impetus for doing it now was that almost two years ago a natural gas exploration company approached us about the family farm and last summer they drilled an oil and gas well. While that well produces a substantial amount of natural gas and actually even a little bit of oil and sends a nice monthly check, the big thing for me is that it produces free natural gas for use for the greenhouse. I cannot emphasize this enough, this is a tremendous cost savings! (Is there a smiley for cha-ching? ) Additionally, the rest of the utilities in my area are quite reasonable. Electric is just under $0.07 per kilowatt-hour, water is dirt cheap, and there is no sewage. So, my overall utility costs are going to be very low.

I have no protein skimmer for my 5gallon tank.. Is there any problem if i dont have it? How to maintain my tank without protein skimmer? Is there any alternative way rather than using protein skimmer?

On the soft corals, depends on what it is. I've used everything from a toothpick and rubber band for xenia, to rock rubble and letting mushrooms and others settle on the rock of their choice (in a breeder type enclosure monted inside the tank), to bridal veil. For lps and sps i use super glue gel. I have sewed leathers to a piece of rubble when nothing else worked and also like austinsdad said a toothpick and a rubber band for other softies.

All of this is myopinion but... Main advantage of astandby is ease of use. Residential models usually use LPG/NG as a fuel source,so you don't have to worry about filling the tank every few hours. They arealso quieter than portables, and harder to steal. And of course they are hardwiredto your house, so no mucking around with extension cords. And I would think astandby generator would be a selling point for a house, especially if poweroutages are a frequent occurrence in your area..