I succesfully maintain a small reef systems a few years back and have just recently decided to revisit this passion. I enjoyed it a great deal and only wish I had access to this wonderful site back then. My question is this; has reef keeping changed since I was involved or dopeople on this site just chose a different method? When I was into reefing the popular setup was HUGE wet/dry filter, HUGE bags of activated carbon and if you wanted to get fancy a little bitty protein skimmer.lol. Now it seems protein skimmers have moved to the four front and wet/dry filters are a no-no. I have'nt even heard much about activated carbon use. I hope we are just perfecting our hobby and the new methods are more effective. I always had nitrate problems and along with it algea problems. Any way it is interesting to see the hobby progress in my absence.
trends in reef keeping
- Thread starter Mark75
- Start date
sir_dudeguy
Active member
ya wet dries are pretty much a no-no in a reef...some still use them obviously, but they'll cause more problems than good in my opinion.
Skimmers are not a must, but they're highly recommended, lets say
The smaller the tank, the less important they are though.
Carbon is still used. Helps with different types of corals fighting each other (sucks up the chemicals they release)
The reason you had nitrate problems was more than likely your wet/dry filter...thats why they're not used much. Live rock is your best filter since it is able to break down nitrates one step further, therefore not letting them build up (as much as bioballs anyways).
And ya the algae came from the nitrates
Skimmers are not a must, but they're highly recommended, lets say
The smaller the tank, the less important they are though.Carbon is still used. Helps with different types of corals fighting each other (sucks up the chemicals they release)
The reason you had nitrate problems was more than likely your wet/dry filter...thats why they're not used much. Live rock is your best filter since it is able to break down nitrates one step further, therefore not letting them build up (as much as bioballs anyways).
And ya the algae came from the nitrates
Frick-n-Frags
New member
once the game of removing nutrients(including NO3) was realized, it was also realized that a remote oxygen-rich nitrifying bacteria bed(the wet/dry) ONLY puts NO3 into the water column, so yeah, lose the wet/dry. these are now called commonly "nitrate factories".
refugiums have the intent of processing nutrients with a DSB or binding them in a crop of algae that then can be removed manually to actually get the NO3 out of the system vs pumping the water column full of it.
med sized gravel in anything but a thin, easily cleaned layer, is generally avoided now - nutrient trap and potential nitrate factory
so, the dolomite/crushed oyster shell etc is out
yeah, a big honking skimmer pulls additional particulates etc along with the protein foam.
so I think the game has become "nutrients out = nutrients in"
Also, most corals that eat, eat meat and they can be fed with great success
and spend a lot of time in the chemistry forum reading those articles pinned at the top.
the water chemistry dance has been pretty refined and with a few key pieces of test equipment/kits and a few key target values, and waterchanges, a whole ton of water quality mystery has been solved.
Life is way better now, for sure.
