How smart are you?

[Misled]

So my next tank is going to be a 50 gallon cube. It will not be using any controllers but it will use a kalk stirrer. I don't have the tank yet but it's coming.

What have you done to make life easier or help your tank remain stable? Let me pick your brains.

 

[Uncle99]

Stability is simply water chemistry. When chemistry is stable, the good guy bacteria populate faster, outdoing the pest types and reducing the “ugly stage” significantly.

ATO without question. This will keep salinity pinned which is essential for stability.

PH, ALK CA will be serviced by the stirrer, need to keep MG levels constant.

Test, test, test, work towards keeping all levels both as close to your salt mix as possible and with as little change as possible.
Tons of surface area via rock and sand.

Nutrient management, whatever things you employ to keep nitrate and phosphate both constant and available in trace amounts for use by corals and other micro-fauna.

I always reccomend a separate controller on heaters, if they fail, can be catastrophic.
It will be great to watch this come together.

We wish you luck!

 

[Genetics]

Sump? Protein skimmer? How simplistic are you willing to go? I think without a controller for the auto topoff on the kalk stirrer you will run into some issues.

 

[Misled]

Not really going simple. A skimmer comes with the tank I'm looking at, but may not be used after a few months as I will be using a lot of macros. I won't use an auto top off for the stirrer, (though I'll have one to top off), but I'll use a dosing pump for it. I've gotten tired of too many things to deal with. While most of my older tanks had skimmers, some didn't and were just as nice. I'm just looking for things the brains around here can come up with. I don't want a technical marvel. I want one of the minimal tanks we had 15 years ago.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Honestly Jesse, when I had my 30 cube I eventually went all elaborate and built a sump with an HOB overflow and I had nothing but problems, overflows, wet floor, etc. It was so much simpler when I just had a HOB filter that I ran GAC and a polyfilter in. I then went to a 40B with no sump and a HOB filter and HOB skimmer. Keeping it simple with minimal equipment and regular water changes was so much easier. Manual dosing and manual top off as well.

 

[Paul B]

I want one of the minimal tanks we had 15 years ago.

How about 50?

Reverse undergravel filter run very slow. Throw in some mud and you are good to go.

 

[Timfish]

Water changes and maintain alaklinity, calcium, magnesium and pH. Wild or maricultured live rock goes a long way to establishing an initial healthy microbiome. (Aquabiomics has an article floating around showing significant reduction in the "uglies" during the maturation process using maricultured live rock.) FWIW the microbial processes in reef systems are dynamic, what may look like a "stable" system in reality has a lot of fluctuation. Here's some links looking at microbial prcesses and nutrients:

"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching
Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching / Curr. Biol., May 21, 2020 (Vol. 30, Issue 13)

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"
What's up with phosphate? by Richard Ross | MACNA 2014

 

[Reefing102]

Hmm…I’d at least do a smart power strip for easy on off and or timer necessities. That’s just my thought