I have been searching the forum for a conclusive description of miRNA serum extraction, but I haven't found anything beyond references to "Trizol extraction, the usual, you know".

I have already tried 2 kits (Ambion miRVana, Qiagen miRNeasy) and for the Qiagen kit I have tried some extra wash steps and also precipitation. I have however never reached sufficient RNA quantities, even when starting with 1ml of serum.
So now my questions:
0) What kit / reagents do you use for totalRNA extraction from serum and what modifications do you apply to the manufacturer's protocol?
1) I tried precipitation with glycogen during extraction, but I never saw anything close to a pellet! Since the original kit instructions (Qiagen, miRNeasy) don't include a precipitation step, I went ahead and proceeded with the entire volume and added it to the column. What effects do you expect when not getting the pellet and therefore not washing it? What could be the reason for my missing pellett?
2) Has anyone ever used serum samples for miRNA microarray?
3) How do you determine your RNA concentration? I was told that neither photometer, nor nanodrop are able to deliver remotely useful data. I've read that some of you spike in C. elegans RNAs to normalize with (which I think is pretty cool), but still: not everyone does this...
4) How much serum do YOU need to produce 1µg of totalRNA?
Thanks for your help and insight, I know that there are partial answers to these questions in the forum and I have read these, but I'd be grateful if a number of people posted their collective experience here so we can get a general picture.
I added a nanodrop bioanalyzer pic of my serum samples. There is a faint band in the miRNA region. These samples were analyzed by microarray. 8 samples in total, derived from 2 biological samples. So in all, we have 2x 4 replicates, but they totally failed to cluster appropriately.

Thanks a lot & cheers!