Keeping it simple..and it works (part 2)

mixed reef isn't really defined.. but a 95% softies, an lps, and 2 sps frags doesn't really make for a mixed reef imo ;)
 
Mishri said:
mixed reef isn't really defined.. but a 95% softies, an lps, and 2 tiny sps frags doesn't really make for a mixed reef imo ;)
Click to expand...

I guess I am going to have post all of my lps and sps pics again?

Lets see here..do you consider a stone-building candycane a softie? I have a large colony and two frags I've taken off it already, with another 12 head one coming up. Do you consider digitata's softies? I have two of those. Do you consider stylo's softies? I have 4 of those. Do you consider seriatopora a softie? How about my orange sps? Do you consider octo's softies? I have 2 lovely examples of those. Do you consider poci's softies? I have a nice pod of those going.

Thats 18 by my count, not 3. You were only off by a factor of 6.




In addition to those named above, I also have:


PrTDVv0.jpg

Is that a softie?

How about these three, softies?:
qMHnTHJ.jpg



How do you classify corals pls? It certainly does not match up to the standards everyone else uses.
 
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This is amazing.

Such a beautiful tank and yet no real hi-tech gear I honestly didn't know this was possible.

I may have missed you say this when I read through but what size litre/gallon tank is this? I saw you post the lights and skimmer you use but what do you use for circulation? A wave maker of some sort?

Ive just had a tank crash and lost my fish. Seeing you can get a result like this gets me smiling again.

Cheers,

Jonny.
 
Who said you can't keep a reef tank without the equipment? I don't run my skimmer for
a week at a time if my SPS need nutrients.
 
I've slowly come around to a KISS approach with some modifications. I do dose two part and everything is on a controller. But, really the controller is there to do things I don't like to do. It's really easy to set up my lights, dose two part, top off the tank, and turn everything off when I do maintenance. I can't remember the last time I looked at the ph reading (don't really care so long as kH stays in a stable range).
 
ComforablyNumb said:
In the first pic? 2 are Aquaclear 500's I ran during cycling for the first 3 weeks. The other two are the inlet and output of the skimmer. It cycled quickly (about a week actually) because I was fortunate enough to have 70lbs of decent live rock available to me from a guy in Charlottetown, PEI who was shutting down. I asked for pics of his entire tank before I bought it to make sure it was decent. He also assured me it had no pests, and it didn't, except for some minor aiptasia..but I knew the cure for that, thus the matted filefish. I got it all for $140, fresh, here in about 4 hrs and ready to go. Very lucky.

When starting, if you are using live rock as your main filter as was my intention with this reef, it is very important to start with good rock.

Re: Berlin method..probably best to google it for full explanation, but it is basically a simple system from the '80's that relies on live rock, bare bottom, basic water changes and foam fractionalization (skimming) to maintain water quality. It works.

I had a couple of tanks with all the bells...but after a disastrous sump seam failure, I went back to sumpless and got rid of my dosing stuff and ato's etc.
They often turn out to be things that eventually fail, sometimes causing mayhem. Don't need it, didn't want it..so didnt do it with this tank.

The only other things in the tank now are the skimmer, a big powerhead and a good heater. I also replace my heater every two yrs, no matter how well it is working.

Here's a couple of pics of my previous tanks throughout the years. I got moved every 5 yrs or so with my company, so there were more than one, and the first reef pic is from 1990:
(edit note: I removed the pics to simplify my comments)

Cheers..and keep 'em coming, I enjoy answering. -Tim
Click to expand...

Beautiful tank.

Those new to the hobby should read this thread and take notice. A mixed reef is possible without the bells and whistles and expensive gear (aside from good lights and a decent skimmer) and since we all basically start off with softies, we end up with mixed tanks as we graduate up the coral ladder.

Nothing wrong with automation and testing but I do think it's important that you "read" your corals. I haven't tested in about six months as my tank is quick to remind me a missed a water change or I'm overfeeding.

I presume with the bare bottom, you don't get much in the way of detritus build up and and thus no algae issues - without any downside to the lack of microfauna that would otherwise live in the sand bed.
 
Even a SPS dominant tank will thrive with very minimal setup. I run mine without a skimmer, no refugium, GFO or whatever chemical resins/media for nutrient control. In fact the simpler it is, the better, a well established tank with good biological filtration system will run perfectly fine. I don't do WC as well.

Be patient is the key, learn all the basic and intermediate water chemistry, buy all the essential test kit and make sure you don't rush yourself. A lot of us wants a TOTM at very short time, without tons of money it won't happen for sure.
 
Bronx19 said:
Who said you can't keep a reef tank without the equipment? I don't run my skimmer for a week at a time if my SPS need nutrients.
Click to expand...

That is a good comment. And a topic of interest to the Berliner's... as the original goal of that method was to keep dissolved organics to a minimum. We now know that some nutrients in the water are necessary for many corals to grow. Your water can indeed be too clean..that is one reason I no longer mechanically filter my tank. The other thing to bear in mind is even the best skimmers removes less than half of all organics in a typical reef aquarium.
 
Stolireef said:
I do dose two part and everything is on a controller. But, really the controller is there to do things I don't like to do.
Click to expand...

I must confess...I have the kessil spectral controller on my lights. I sometimes keep irregular hrs and that thing keeps my lights and coral photoperiod regular. It would not be disaster if it failed (thats another reason I use it), but with some other things.. like even a sump, its pump or its seams.. or an ato, those things CAN wipe out a tank.
I am also reconsidering using kalk in my top off water (very simple procedure)..but I will never use an ato again. Or if you do, make sure it cannot draw enough water to change all your tank parameters if it fails to shut off, cause an overflo, etc

The other most common wipeout cause is a failed heater. That is why I replace mine every two yrs regardless. I have a small Blue Bird overheat protection unit on mine. They are about $35 and cheap backup against over heating. Or you can use two smaller heaters. That mitigates the overheat risk somewhat as well. But only somewhat.
 
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Jonny3009 said:
This is amazing.

Such a beautiful tank and yet no real hi-tech gear I honestly didn't know this was possible.

I may have missed you say this when I read through but what size litre/gallon tank is this? I saw you post the lights and skimmer you use but what do you use for circulation? A wave maker of some sort?

Ive just had a tank crash and lost my fish. Seeing you can get a result like this gets me smiling again.

Cheers,

Jonny.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jonny. That one comment made this whole thread worthwhile for me from my perspective. Stay in the hobby if you enjoyed it. You will enjoy it again I'm sure. I took a short sabbatical after my sump seam failure..but back into it when I realized I did not need a sump for a smaller tank.

My tank is a standard 55gal 4'. A narrow tank makes the scaping more of a challenge (!) but I also have a standard 90gal 4' tank in storage when I want more room or water volume for stability..and everything I have on the 55 will work on the 90. Even the wall opening. lol

For circulation, I just use a big powerhead pointed down the tank and across the surface. Most oxygenation occurs on the surface and my powerhead provides ripples on the surface that allow the famous Kessil shimmer to appear.

We all have had crashes (well most of us that have been doing this for awhile anyway) and my goal was eliminate as many of the possible causes for a crash as I could.

Did you find out the reason for your crash?
 
ComforablyNumb said:
I must confess...I have the kessil spectral controller on my lights. I sometimes keep irregular hrs and that thing keeps my lights and coral photoperiod regular. It would not be disaster if it failed (thats another reason I use it), but with some other things.. like even a sump, its pump or its seams.. or an ato, those things CAN wipe out a tank.
I am also reconsidering using kalk in my top off water (very simple procedure)..but I will never use an ato again. Or if you do, make sure it cannot draw enough water to change all your tank parameters if it fails to shut off, cause an overflo, etc

The other most common wipeout cause is a failed heater. That is why I replace mine every two yrs regardless. I have a small Blue Bird overheat protection unit on mine. They are about $35 and cheap backup against over heating. Or you can use two smaller heaters. That mitigates the overheat risk somewhat as well. But only somewhat.
Click to expand...

I use the Tunze ATO which, by itself has multiple redundancies (yeah, I'm a lousy speller). I also have a float valve as a last resort. It also shuts off if it runs more than a few minutes. Frankly, it's the one piece of equipment I wouldn't want to live without.

As far as heaters go, I only use titanium and I agree that changing them out every couple of years is a very good idea.
 
NS Mike D said:
Those new to the hobby should read this thread and take notice. A mixed reef is possible without the bells and whistles and expensive gear (aside from good lights and a decent skimmer) and since we all basically start off with softies, we end up with mixed tanks as we graduate up the coral ladder.

Nothing wrong with automation and testing but I do think it's important that you "read" your corals. I haven't tested in about six months as my tank is quick to remind me a missed a water change or I'm overfeeding.

I presume with the bare bottom, you don't get much in the way of detritus build up and and thus no algae issues - without any downside to the lack of microfauna that would otherwise live in the sand bed.
Click to expand...


Hi Mike. Yours is the 2nd comment that made this thread worthwhile. Thank-you.

Barebottom has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The advantage of course is easy removal of detritus and I have never had an algae problem of any kind with this tank.

The advantage of an aragonite bottom is SOME minor added stability in pH and ca (in theory anyway) and sometimes, if it is thick enough, it can act as a built in way to reduce to nitrates. But herein lies the pitfalls too. To reduce nitrates, an oxygen-free region must develop and you may often smell a sulphur odor if it develops...especially if you disturb the oxygen-free zone. They can also act as nutrient traps, allowing for more possibility of problematic algaes to develop.

Both pH and nitrates are not usually a problem in most tanks, thus why they are unnecessary parameters to chase imo...but are still a risk to attempt to adjust. I know of a guy who wiped out many of his corals trying to adjust pH.

Many of the fish we keep, gobies in particular, should have some sand to burrow into. Best solution if want to keep a goby in a barebottom is to provide a dish of sand for it to make a home in. That sand will not usually stay in the dish for very long tho. ;) They LOVE to shift sand. The other thing that will often happen to gobies in a barebottom..they will make a small cave near the bottom their home. I do not keep any gobies or fish that are known to jump out of tanks on a reg basis, because I did not want to bother with a tank-covering net.
 
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Stolireef said:
I use the Tunze ATO which, by itself has multiple redundancies (yeah, I'm a lousy speller).
Click to expand...

German Tunze always had a great rep for reliability for all their products. Tend to be expensive tho and many beginners may opt for a cheaper brand that would not have the backups the Tunze does. You did the right thing imo in getting a premier brand for this function, along with a failsafe backup.
 
Awesome thread! I've had a tank for about 5 years now an with my own the tank has taken the back seat. I like the idea of a simple tank. Nice to see that its doable.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
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