Coming back... slowly...

[gladiator_sgi]

Greetings,

After a decade long pause I'm slowing massaging the idea of coming back to the hobby. I have lots of questions. Thanks for your answers in advance! :celeb1:

What's new? What changed? What's interesting?

Did LEDs take over T5/MH? Do people measure/control ORT? Are there better alternative to Apex? Anything changed in the water chemistry monitoring or emphasis on one element over another? Are skimmers and growing cheto still big?

 

[RDChris]

T5 led combos are the best now. No more metal halide and Fish as well as coral prices have sky rocketed because of covid.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[Maxmax_025]

Although I’m reefing since 2017 I consider myself an amateur. With my continuous research I’ve learned that technology changes a lot. I use multiple forums such as RC, Bay Area reefer (BAR) , ********* and YouTube videos as my source of info. In regards to lighting LED is becoming popular as well as T5/Led hybrid. Tank automation is also popular especially uses as less maintenance and for redundancy. In the end though it still all about stability and general maintenance to have a success in this hobby. Not to mention it is still a fun but expensive hobby. Good luck.

 

[gladiator_sgi]

No more fish?

 

[sfdan]

T5/MH still very much a viable option, though I wouldn't recommend it unless you had a bigger tank. Otherwise LED/T5 probably the best option.

Nothing better than Apex.

Alkalinity monitoring is probably the biggest change if you are into stony corals.

Yes there are fish. One big change with fish is a lot more captive bred. My tank is almost entirely stocked with captive bred fish. In addition to the obvious clownfish, damsels & cardinals there are now captive bred hippo tangs, yellow tangs, dragonets, dottybacks, anthias, gobies, and filefish. Obviously not nearly the variety as wild caught, but much more than there were even a few years ago.

 

[rostato]

The biggest thing that's changed in 10 years is that the equipment we have actually works really well. What I mean is people have issues with their tanks having low nutrients and have resorted to dosing no3 and po4. In my opinion this is STUPID. Just feed your fish and corals a ton of food and watch them grow.

As far as lighting...LED all the way. I'd rather spend more money up front and have full coverage with all LED's than have to remember to change out expensive and very bad for the environment T5 bulbs.

Bare bottom is much more widespread and I highly recommend it so that you can achieve proper flow.

Speaking of flow, we now have the maxspec gyre pumps to compete with the vortechs.

Also with flow, DC controllable return pumps are great. I highly recommend the RO Varios pumps. Others are out there, but I have one that's been running for over 5 years without a hiccup.

Apex is not the only controller that's worth a damn. I highly suggest looking at the profilux. I have an Apex, and it's great but the profilux gives some choice.

Fish are not more expensive due to Covid. I have shopped at AC for years and their fish prices are pretty much the same as they were before.

Nicer Sps prices have actually come down a bit. Now, LPS from Aussie or indo...those prices have gone up significantly.

 

[sfdan]

Bare bottom is much more widespread and I highly recommend it so that you can achieve proper flow.

Yeah this is a good one. Back in the old old days we all had our 4" DSB with the fine aragonite sand. Then even a few years ago when re-starting I dutifully put in a 1-2" sandbed with coarser sand, as that seemed to be the most popular thing to do. But now the bare bottom tank is probably just as popular as having a sandbed if you are doing a high flow tank.

And over the last year I've been mostly removing my sandbed, as I've come to believe it really is more trouble than its worth if your primary goal is growing SPS corals.

 

[rostato]

Yeah and if you fill your tank with corals you will never even notice the lack of sand.

 

[Wip]

what's this SAND thing your talking about Rostaro? Haha. Yea i ditched my sandbeds like 5 years ago and will never go back. I did have a nice 5in deep sand bed tank with my nem cube and after running it for about 10 years shut it down. probably went the last 4 years without a water change. Super stable if you can get it mature. that 10 year old sand was actually super clean and nice when I pulled it out a few years ago.

 

[rostato]

what's this SAND thing your talking about Rostaro? Haha. Yea i ditched my sandbeds like 5 years ago and will never go back. I did have a nice 5in deep sand bed tank with my nem cube and after running it for about 10 years shut it down. probably went the last 4 years without a water change. Super stable if you can get it mature. that 10 year old sand was actually super clean and nice when I pulled it out a few years ago.

Sand is a 4 letter word in my reefing vocabulary

 

[danreefman]

KISS method. Keep it super simple

 

[rostato]

KISS method. Keep it super simple

[emoji1303]

 

[buddythelion]

What kind of build are you thinking of? Depending on the size of tank and what you want to keep, we can give you suggestions on what's new and awesome for you to use! Lots have changed in the past 10 years. But it's pretty cool to know even more is coming soon.

The pretty big ones that apply to most reefers IMO are:

LEDs - Nano Reefs FINALLY have an option. You can pack so much light into these little diodes. We were limited to a 24" T5 or Power Compact fixture if you wanted something decent. Now you can grow even SPS in a nano tank with no issues, if you know what you're doing. Much slimmer profile and also have controllability. You can set timers and adjust power from your phone, so no more raising your lights and plugging them into outlet timers. The electricity and heat output is also considerably lower. No more changing bulbs either!

Biological Filtration - You can purchase media in the form of porous materials. You don't have to rely on the "lbs of live rock per gallon" rule as much anymore. These porous media do a very similar job, and have much more surface area than actual live rock.

Dry/ Man Made Rock - No more weird little critters and algae. You can now start your tank with man made or dry rock and take your time scaping things. Once you want to start your cycle, toss in some liquid products designed to add beneficial bacteria and you're off!

Temperature Controllers: You can set up an Apex if you want to spend the money, but you can purchase other temperature Controllers like an Inkbird for $30-$40. It takes in two plugs, one for a heater and one for a cooler. It will turn on/off your heater for you when out of your desired range. And it will kick on a cooling method (like a fan) when your tank gets too hot until it goes down to your desired temp. For the low cost and extremely easy set up (seriously took me less than 5 minutes), it's almost a must have for anyone in the Bay Area. They make an aquarium rated one, where the plastic probe is replaceable if it ever goes bad.

There are a lot of other cool toys and gadgets available now, but they're not a necessity and more of a luxury. I might be missing a few other things, but these would have changed how I set up a tank 10 years ago, and I'd recommend these to anyone starting a new reef.

Cheers,
Darwin