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Are we over complicating tanks?


ninjamyst

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47 minutes ago, specore said:

Sex toys and animal abuse...did I accidentally wander into the lounge again?

 

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Noooooo! Dont mention the lounge or else they will come crawling out😉 .. oh shoot I just said it for the second time, one more time and ... 

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Just now, Weikel said:

Noooooo! Dont mention the lounge or else they will come crawling out😉 .. oh shoot I just said it for the second time, one more time and ... 

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It's a zoo out there 

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DSFIRSTSLTWATER
Just now, RayWhisperer said:

Locked? Why would it? Also, I’m not sure if many of you realize it, or not, but I’m a lounge rat. So, our presence has been felt for several pages now.

It does feel a little lounge like huh lol

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3 minutes ago, RayWhisperer said:

Locked? Why would it? Also, I’m not sure if many of you realize it, or not, but I’m a lounge rat. So, our presence has been felt for several pages now.

Yes we know that's how this thread started down the path to destruction.. lol  actually that's why I like nano reef I feel like there is a good sized group that can take a joke and likes a little rough sarcasm from time to time.. 

 

On keeping with the theme of this thread though I was thinking it would be cool to make a collaboration of how to start a basic nano with out the over complicating stuff. For example a simple cycle with out adding skimmer and throwing in all these chemicals like chemipure blue etc. But then again I'm lazy and I am sure it has been done. 

 

That being said @RayWhisperer I believe I read a thread that you wrote a long time ago that talked about this same subject of setting up a nano with out all the fuss and explaining other options.. do you know what I am talking about and could you link it? 

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1 minute ago, RayWhisperer said:

If you really want to go through a dead thread...

here you go.

 

Ahh yes this is exactly the thread I was talking about. I feel perfect to the theme and just the right amount of assholery for my liking... 🤗

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Shut down?! This has been the best thread all month! It has a little bit of everything: engagement, actual reefing discussion, drama, bad jokes, and sex...err... toys! If I could nominate this thread for an award I would!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I disagree, for me. 7 years into a heavily-stocked 34 gallon mixed reef, happily growing everything including acros. There’s no way I could pull that off without automating. Prior to dosing  pumps, ATO, and the ease of running everything with an Apex, my little reef wasn’t stable enough to pull this off, and I had 2 bad crashes. Now that it’s super teched out, it’s so much easier and thriving. Could I do water changes all the time and maintain such a small mixed reef? Maybe, but I wouldn’t. I’m down to water changes every 3 months and my tank has never been better. I’ll keep all of my tech, thanks!

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One of the tanks that originally got me into the hobby was c est ma's beautiful little 5.5.  It was so simple and so beautiful and I still love it and go back occasionally to read through her thread all these years later.  It was a great example of how very basic equipment can make a very lovely tank.

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Someone mentioned one of my favorite tanks.  :)  NaturalWonders was another that inspired me when I first started.

 

So for my big tank, 150 gallons, it's about as simple as it can be and I can grow everything.  I do have dosers, due to the volume and amount I have to dose, and I do have a Matrix (Seachem rocks) reactor to help with nitrates, but I never touch it.  I use PhosphateRx to reduce PO4 when I need too.  Does this equate to simple?  No GFO, no carbon, basically as lazy as I can get.

 

I'm not so sure this can be applied to smaller tanks though.  My 40, while a cool tank, is infested with algae all the time because I don't care to do anything about it (algae, at reasonable levels, doesn't bother me).  It's very simple, but the smaller the tank the harder it is to keep simple AND attractive IMO.  I have a lot of algae eaters in my big tank, which makes simple easy.   How do you all keep a tank looking good and keep it simple?

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3 hours ago, markalot said:

How do you all keep a tank looking good and keep it simple?

Controlled feeding and the immediate removal of any excess food (small brine shrimp net is great for this in a small nano tank).  Regular detritus removal with the weekly water change (turkey baster, gravel vac and sock over the outflow to catch particles).  Scrape biofilm off of walls.  Keep pump flow at optimum with regular cleanings.

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3 hours ago, markalot said:

Someone mentioned one of my favorite tanks.  🙂 NaturalWonders was another that inspired me when I first started.

 

So for my big tank, 150 gallons, it's about as simple as it can be and I can grow everything.  I do have dosers, due to the volume and amount I have to dose, and I do have a Matrix (Seachem rocks) reactor to help with nitrates, but I never touch it.  I use PhosphateRx to reduce PO4 when I need too.  Does this equate to simple?  No GFO, no carbon, basically as lazy as I can get.

  

I'm not so sure this can be applied to smaller tanks though.  My 40, while a cool tank, is infested with algae all the time because I don't care to do anything about it (algae, at reasonable levels, doesn't bother me).  It's very simple, but the smaller the tank the harder it is to keep simple AND attractive IMO.  I have a lot of algae eaters in my big tank, which makes simple easy.   How do you all keep a tank looking good and keep it simple?

 

+1. Favorite hobbiest tank, and favorite thread. The 150g shows the high points and lows of reefing, different strategies over time, overcoming problems, and you reply to all questions.  

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@markalot, I think @Nano sapiens nailed it. Your 40B tank is overstuffed with more full grown corals than most of us could ever hope for. I wonder what a lot bit of pruning and the resulting improved flows around the tank would do to help combat with your algae issue. Not that I promote you to trim it down, haha, cuz that tank is amazing in its own right. 

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6 hours ago, markalot said:

Someone mentioned one of my favorite tanks.  🙂 NaturalWonders was another that inspired me when I first started.

 

So for my big tank, 150 gallons, it's about as simple as it can be and I can grow everything.  I do have dosers, due to the volume and amount I have to dose, and I do have a Matrix (Seachem rocks) reactor to help with nitrates, but I never touch it.  I use PhosphateRx to reduce PO4 when I need too.  Does this equate to simple?  No GFO, no carbon, basically as lazy as I can get.

 

I'm not so sure this can be applied to smaller tanks though.  My 40, while a cool tank, is infested with algae all the time because I don't care to do anything about it (algae, at reasonable levels, doesn't bother me).  It's very simple, but the smaller the tank the harder it is to keep simple AND attractive IMO.  I have a lot of algae eaters in my big tank, which makes simple easy.   How do you all keep a tank looking good and keep it simple?

I think when you get to 150g, what you describe is simple. That's a much larger system with usually more fish. I wouldn't consider that over complicated.

 

Some algae in your tank is not really a horrible thing. It is natural. If it's not causing problems with corals and taking over, then I wouldn't even worry.

 

 

With a small system, less bioload, less dosing of products, regular maintenance has worked for me. 

 

When I see a problematic algae like gha, i take care of it immediately. 

 

Out of my current tanks and my old vase, the tanks I did less with, had better growth, ran smoothly and looked the best.

 

I'm still a bit surprised myself that my 5.5g which I have a cheap light on, upgraded pump(it was necessary), do a 1.5g waterchange every 2 weeks, no dosing, no testing, looks great and runs really well...I also have a bicolor blenny in it.

 

I call it breaking rules tank.😊

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Thanks Harry for the very nice post a above.  Don't let it happen again please.  :lol:

 

Reason I'm becoming more involved with smaller tanks is that I want to put water in a 29 gallon and run a simple softie/LPS tank.  I know what will happen though, it will get algae, I'll ignore it, and then it will be a mess.  lol  I have never managed to keep a good looking small tank.   The 40 is borderline IMO, a little too big for a nano.

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On 9/11/2018 at 7:22 AM, Subsea said:

While my reefkeeping style is simple, the microbial community is not.  It is complex, interconnected and dependent on each other with cross talk between microbes and coral.  The community of the “coral holobiont” is complex and in a constant flux of “Dynamic Equilibrium”.

Hi Subsea, can you recommend some further reading on this topic?

 

Thanks,

  Shireen

  Baltimore, MD

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11 hours ago, shireen said:

Hi Subsea, can you recommend some further reading on this topic?

 

Thanks,

  Shireen

  Baltimore, MD

Welcome to the hobby and for me a passion of 47 years.  Perhaps an addicted reefer?

 

Check out the first hit on coral holobiont:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286716/

 

we can discuss particulars on this thread in order not to hijack this thread.

 

For certain, the above thread shows how simple reef tank set up can be, but when you look deeper into the physics, chemistry & biology it gets complex fast.   John Tullock said it best, “Less technology / More biology.

 

For me, biofiltration involving  three tiers of interaction to produce food webs to support diverse filter feeders is basic:

bacteria, algae and sponges.

 

 

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On 9/8/2018 at 10:01 AM, paratiddies said:

I’m glad to see so many people touting the simple approach. I’m starting up a tank for the first time in about 4 years and plan to keep it extremely simple - a standard 5.5 gallon, ABI par 38 bulb, 25w Cobalt Neotherm heater (fixed at 78  degrees), and a Koralia Nano 240

 

That’s it for equipment, no mechicanical or chemical filtration and no dosing whatsoever. I’ll only be testing salinity when mixing water and topping off by hand

That's the same setup I have. 5.5g tank 12w light, 25w neo, and oversized wave maker tank is doing amazing.

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