Alright, fess up! Are you old school?

skinz78 · Jan 23, 2013

There is a current thread going on that has me thinking "Am I an oldschool reefer"? It makes me wonder if there are any of you out there who have sworn by something through thick and thin and then one day realized "hey maybe there is a better way"?

IE "Bio balls is the only way to go".

If so fess up and tell us your old school moment!

Pkunk35 · Jan 23, 2013

Well, i remember arguing with my buddy for days as well as the LFS guy warning them that LEDs weren't a proven tech, blah blah blah and now I have LEDs on my tank. :bigsmile:
My only saving grace was that this argument happened several years before i got LEDs.

falconerr · Jan 23, 2013

I've got a buddy that still runs bio balls and the spinner bar. Yes i said spinner bar. He's as old school as they come!!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

pnavarro170 · Jan 23, 2013

what the heck is a spinner bar ? lol. i argue with the lFS owners still about them thinking leds are not proven yet, when all they have tried is a crappy chinese fixture one time and it didnt work well on their corals so its not proven. but no im not old. LaFishguy = Oldschool !!!

Pkunk35 · Jan 23, 2013

I think he means bio wheel for spinner bar? Those are very old school.

skinz78 · Jan 23, 2013

I use crushed coral in my tank, just a thin layer and then fine sand over the top. One of the best looking tanks I had was 100% CC, my cal never fluctuated and I had 34 clams in there.... Now a days people talk about crushed coral like it's the devil...

Steviereefs · Jan 23, 2013

skinz78 said:
I use crushed coral in my tank, just a thin layer and then fine sand over the top. One of the best looking tanks I had was 100% CC, my cal never fluctuated and I had 34 clams in there.... Now a days people talk about crushed coral like it's the devil...

So the CC supplied all the cal? Did you have SPS in there also?

Nano sapiens · Jan 23, 2013

Pkunk35 said:
I think he means bio wheel for spinner bar? Those are very old school.

He means a spinner bar (plastic bar with small holes drilled in it) driven by tank water/gravity that was placed above the dry portion of the 'Wet/Dry' sump, which typically had Bio-balls. It provided an even stream of oxygenated water to the Bio-balls, but tended to 'stick' and stop rotating occasionally.

I used the alternative, foolproof method which was a 'drip plate'. This was basically an acrylic plate with lots of holes drilled in it which trickled oxygenated water all over the 'dry' portion of the Bio-balls.

Before Bio-balls were available, I used a series of stacked plastic trays with drip holes drilled in the bottom and filled with either lava chips or crushed coral. Some of the trays were 'dry', some were 'wet (submerged) in a sump. At the time, there were even a few people using masses of plastic toy Army Men as stand-ins for Bio-balls.

Today, I don't use any filtration at all on my Nano...which is goes back to Leng-Sy and the 'Natural Method' in the 60's (just missing the airstones)

'Old school' enough for ya all

budissy24 · Jan 23, 2013

Def stilll staying old school, still using hang on back filters, no sump or anything and everything is fine in the tank, and t5 no leds melts the lps, great for sps

WesF · Jan 23, 2013

I'm hoping that everyone doesn't jump on the led bandwagon and put the metal halide bulb makers out of business...

secretreefer · Jan 23, 2013

Nano sapiens said:
He means a spinner bar (plastic bar with small holes drilled in it) driven by tank water/gravity that was placed above the dry portion of the 'Wet/Dry' sump, which typically had Bio-balls. It provided an even stream of oxygenated water to the Bio-balls, but tended to 'stick' and stop rotating occasionally.

I used the alternative, foolproof method which was a 'drip plate'. This was basically an acrylic plate with lots of holes drilled in it which trickled oxygenated water all over the 'dry' portion of the Bio-balls.

Before Bio-balls were available, I used a series of stacked plastic trays with drip holes drilled in the bottom and filled with either lava chips or crushed coral. Some of the trays were 'dry', some were 'wet (submerged) in a sump. At the time, there were even a few people using masses of plastic toy Army Men as stand-ins for Bio-balls.

Today, I don't use any filtration at all on my Nano...which is goes back to Leng-Sy and the 'Natural Method' in the 60's (just missing the airstones)

'Old school' enough for ya all

baymm. My 180 was running with the bold and it worked like a champ. Plus i ran a DSB about 5 inches deep!

Pkunk35 · Jan 23, 2013

Nano sapiens said:
He means a spinner bar (plastic bar with small holes drilled in it) driven by tank water/gravity that was placed above the dry portion of the 'Wet/Dry' sump, which typically had Bio-balls. It provided an even stream of oxygenated water to the Bio-balls, but tended to 'stick' and stop rotating occasionally.

I used the alternative, foolproof method which was a 'drip plate'. This was basically an acrylic plate with lots of holes drilled in it which trickled oxygenated water all over the 'dry' portion of the Bio-balls.

Before Bio-balls were available, I used a series of stacked plastic trays with drip holes drilled in the bottom and filled with either lava chips or crushed coral. Some of the trays were 'dry', some were 'wet (submerged) in a sump. At the time, there were even a few people using masses of plastic toy Army Men as stand-ins for Bio-balls.

Today, I don't use any filtration at all on my Nano...which is goes back to Leng-Sy and the 'Natural Method' in the 60's (just missing the airstones)

'Old school' enough for ya all

wow, that invention just sounds terrible (spinner bar), never was aware of that one.

I too used a drip plate for my first DIY sump/wet/dry filter. I made the drip plate out of a rubbermaid lid and used loofah sponges for the "bio balls" and no LR in the tank.

reefkoi · Jan 23, 2013

I am so Old School I remember when no forums existed, the internet didnt even exist and we relied on our LFS and books by Sprung to learn everything!

Reef Pets · Jan 23, 2013

^^ same here ^^

Ike · Jan 23, 2013

reefkoi said:
I am so Old School I remember when no forums existed, the internet didnt even exist and we relied on our LFS and books by Sprung to learn everything!

Sprung is new school... Spotte, Wilkens, Moe, and Eng are old school

I still haven't seen an LED light impressivley display blues and purples. Once I see an LED light make corals look as good as Radium does I'll make the switch!

fragmatic · Jan 23, 2013

Ike said:
Sprung is new school... Spotte, Wilkens, Moe, and Eng are old school

I still haven't seen an LED light impressivley display blues and purples. Once I see an LED light make corals look as good as Radium does I'll make the switch!

LOL, watch out, you may want to sneak out and buy some chocolate shoes and have them ready. Some of us guys can mix LEDs to make about any color mix you want. "wink" You just baited yourself to someone LED smart in your area.

But maybe that is what you wanted to happen.

I still argue that we must maintain a tight temp tolerance. I just went to one of my LFS today and I ask about the temp in a tank and they said they have no idea, "We open the doors if it is nice outside and it is what it is in our coral holding tanks." The corals always look great.

Ike · Jan 24, 2013

fragmatic said:
LOL, watch out, you may want to sneak out and buy some chocolate shoes and have them ready. Some of us guys can mix LEDs to make about any color mix you want. "wink" You just baited yourself to someone LED smart in your area.

But maybe that is what you wanted to happen.

I still argue that we must maintain a tight temp tolerance. I just went to one of my LFS today and I ask about the temp in a tank and they said they have no idea, "We open the doors if it is nice outside and it is what it is in our coral holding tanks." The corals always look great.

I'd love for it to happen... I would make the investment rather quickly once I saw color rendition I like across a range of colors.

Nano sapiens · Jan 24, 2013

Ike said:
Sprung is new school... Spotte, Wilkens, Moe, and Eng are old school

Don't forget Albert Thiel. One of his books was the first I ever had on reefing.

NanaReefer · Jan 24, 2013

I first started using it back in the early 80's. I still swear it is the best way to polish, and rid your water column of bacteria, algae spores and free swimming parasites. Yup I still use it today. Diatom Powder the Old school way using my Magnum 350 canister filter

Ike · Jan 24, 2013

Nano sapiens said:
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Don't forget Albert Thiel. One of his books was the first I ever had on reefing.

I'd like to forget a couple of his books, the ones that were more like an advertisement than a book... He was a good thing for the hobby for the most part, I just don't like some of the methods he used the hobby to make money. I have a bit of a problem with just about all the people in the supplement business though...

How about this... I'm old school because I can remember paying $15 for a few teaspoons of calcium hyroxide and then $20 for a nonsensical supplement called liquid gold.