Ultra Low-Maintenance Tank Setup (Make your vote!)

[Spencer7]

Tank is ~22 gallons at 24"x18"x12". Would likely light it up with a couple par 38's and run a canister or HOB filter (+heater, ATO, tiny circulator).

 

Experienced reefer, have an empty tank sitting on a nice stand and it's time to run it. Any fish that go in will be flake-eaters or survive off of microfauna. Fish not the focus. 

 

Think outside the box!

[Muraki]

Macro, softie, LPS build with inverts. Enough macro, water changes would only be needed to replace elements and not for nutrient reduction. 

[Spencer7]

2 hours ago, Muraki said:

Macro, softie, LPS build with inverts. Enough macro, water changes would only be needed to replace elements and not for nutrient reduction. 

Yea, that will be the case for most of these. Run a little bit of carbon and WC once a month to replace nutrients and suck up detritus (i.e. from cleaning all sides of algae).

 

I'm surprised #3 is winning! I thought people would jump on the tidal pool. Not that they couldn't be together but a field of 10 feather dusters + seagrass would be pretty dope. 

 

I would like to resist combining everything because I see this as a themed (almost species) tank. Naturally, some stuff will find it's way in but at least in planning and early days I want to have some discipline ;P 

 

 

[Muraki]

I see number 3 as winning because Macro Algae is a huge nutrient exporter when cultivated and removed from the tank. Making it far simpler in keeping Nitrates below 5ppm with little to no water changes depending on the bio load. I personal run a Macro, soft, LPS tank with inverts and 6 fish. Most of my macro is in the sump, but overall I have not done a water change in over 18 months. Nitrates read 0 on an API kit. Dosing is a must though. I'm a lazy low maintenance person my self. I spend 15 minutes each day on the tank. Dose, Feed, Top off. That is it. Once every three months I scrape the glass, or clean the sandbed of debris. Overall I love doing things with the tank, but water changes are something i'm experimenting to avoid entirely.  Maybe your definition of Low maintenance may be helpful in the voting process. : )

 

Most of your other options will still require far more maintenance in comparison to a macro tank because there isn't much in place for nutrient export other than water changes. Votes may change depending on more detailed scenarios for each theme you are requesting votes for. Without these details most will take on the more general definition of each option you have provided.  NPS corals require heavy feedings normally which means more maintenance, so in all honesty, I don't for see that ever being a "Low maintenance" option. 

Side note: Most avoid canister filters with the pain of cleaning them out. 

 

The only options I would even consider to be potential low maintenance would be the below 4 options. 

Mangroves <-- Normally takes a fair sized tank to make an awesome setup, there are a few on this forum. Mangroves get large, and the root system is what makes them interesting in my opinion. 

Softies <---- They flourish in nutrient rich water, With little to no fish, maintenance can remain low.

Macroalgae + Sea Grass + Feather Dusters <--- Have nutrient export, pH stability, and many other benefits. A macro oriented tidel pool could be included in this category. 

Anemones + Hosting Invert(s) <---- Once the tank is mature, normally fairly simple. Loved my RBTA and porcelain crab combo in my Fluval Spec V. 

 

[Spencer7]

Appreciate your comments but just for some context...I worked in the industry for seven years and have done seahorses/pipefish systems, ULN Zeovit, high maintenance ADA and much in between. Not saying I'm a god but I know what a soft coral is lol. Just wanted to hear if people had any intriguing creative input that I hadn't considered. (i.e. brackish biotope with archer fish or mud flats with crabs (not low maintenance, but cool)). If the tank was taller, a cave/overhang reef would be fun. And I agree that conventional NPS, if your focused on i.e. blueberry gorgs and sun coral, are not low-maintenance but there are still plenty of viable filter feeders. 

 

Also, I know how the community feels about canister filters  -- they're babies. Probably will do HOB anyways since that is what I have spares of lying around. 

 

 

[Muraki]

Haha I could tell you had more experience than me for sure. But now I know what you would want, and I would vote for Tidal pool or even a mudskipper setup.  

[Spencer7]

11 hours ago, Muraki said:

Haha I could tell you had more experience than me for sure. But now I know what you would want, and I would vote for Tidal pool or even a mudskipper setup.  

Yea, sorry, wasn't trying to sound like a d-ck.

 

While I don't "have to" comply with the forum's decision lol...I think I will go with the tidal pool! Will be fun to aquascape and have some rock come out of the water. Also, I can slap a few mangrove pods in the back and have them grow as well. They'll take an eternity. 

 

Couple Maxi-Mini's, feather dusters, some macroalgae/grass, an urchin, shrimp, maybe a starfish after a year...I have some thinking to do! 

 

As far as tides (low priority)...I'm not going to do a Carlson flow surge device in my bedroom...might just have two small pumps running opposite of each other (one pumping into a 5g bucket, other pumping out) on a timer. I can have the intake mounted so that if the pump somehow kept draining, it wouldn't drain the tank. We'll see. 

[Tmr8188]

My Lagoon 25 is very simply ran with 5 mangroves and some carbon.  I only keep softies though...  high end softies.  I took my skimmer offline a month ago.  Last water change was 6 weeks ago.