I have been doing research forever now about saltwater aquariums, and I currently have several high tech freshwater planted aquariums. Funny how I can never get enough nutrients into my tanks and saltwater is the opposite where you struggle to maintain all 0ppm. If I could only desalt the water, run it through my freshwater tanks, then add the salt back and put it back into my reef lol.
So it seems like all the specialized equipment needed in reef tanks all achieves the same goal just in various different ways, those 2 goals are reducing nitrates/phosphates and maintaining a level of calcium and alkalinity (magnesium seems to be manually added during water changes).
Unlike dosing ferts in freshwater in high concentrations and allowing them to drop over the course of a week it seems like the calcium and alkalinity need to be done in finer windows where they can fluctuate within 24 hours? I see this is why people run slow release media in reactors.
The reduction of nitrates/phosphates is also what additional media rectors are about if you are using a chemical approach. Then the protein skimmer is another method of removing sources of nitrates/phosphates because I see some people not even using one if they bump up other methods of nutrient export and personally it seems like the grossest thing to clean in the entire maintenance process is that catch cup. Filter socks or rollers are also reducing the physical waste before it has a chance to break down into nutrients in the water column aka nitrates/phosphates. Mangroves and refugiums are also doing the same thing.
From a lot of pico/nano tank research it seems like the way people get away without using ANY of this equipment is for one only keeping simple coral as not to require steady and high levels of calcium. The second is religious large water changes that export nutrients along with very frequent floss pad replacement? I see so many good looking established 5 gallon reefs with nothing more than a HOB with filter floss that gets changed weekly with the water change along with the bio-sponge being replaced with a nutrient exporting chemical such as ChemiPure.
Am I getting the right idea here with requirements and how to achieve them? I have SUCH clean, balanced and well maintained tanks that I feel I could make a nano reef thrive at the cost of my time however I am thinking about just being patient so I can achieve all my saltwater goals in a single larger tank someday.
I really like the idea of an aquascaped refugium using a variety of colorful and effective algaes, this is something I can appreciate from a high tech planted side. I would like to use this as my main source of nutrient uptake so I can save money in the long term on chemical costs. I could run minimal reactors and potentially no skimmer if the refugium was large enough which is kind of the only way they are effective anyway. I was thinking of something like a 15 gallon refugium on a 20 gallon display or something within that ratio so the refugium was more than half the size of the display, with of course really good bright lighting which is one of the most underestimated factors in good nutrient exporting. Not only is the large refugium a natural method but it also stabilizes the pH if I run the lights opposite of my display to continue the photosynthesis as well as pump out pods so I can successfully stock a Mandarin.
So it seems like all the specialized equipment needed in reef tanks all achieves the same goal just in various different ways, those 2 goals are reducing nitrates/phosphates and maintaining a level of calcium and alkalinity (magnesium seems to be manually added during water changes).
Unlike dosing ferts in freshwater in high concentrations and allowing them to drop over the course of a week it seems like the calcium and alkalinity need to be done in finer windows where they can fluctuate within 24 hours? I see this is why people run slow release media in reactors.
The reduction of nitrates/phosphates is also what additional media rectors are about if you are using a chemical approach. Then the protein skimmer is another method of removing sources of nitrates/phosphates because I see some people not even using one if they bump up other methods of nutrient export and personally it seems like the grossest thing to clean in the entire maintenance process is that catch cup. Filter socks or rollers are also reducing the physical waste before it has a chance to break down into nutrients in the water column aka nitrates/phosphates. Mangroves and refugiums are also doing the same thing.
From a lot of pico/nano tank research it seems like the way people get away without using ANY of this equipment is for one only keeping simple coral as not to require steady and high levels of calcium. The second is religious large water changes that export nutrients along with very frequent floss pad replacement? I see so many good looking established 5 gallon reefs with nothing more than a HOB with filter floss that gets changed weekly with the water change along with the bio-sponge being replaced with a nutrient exporting chemical such as ChemiPure.
Am I getting the right idea here with requirements and how to achieve them? I have SUCH clean, balanced and well maintained tanks that I feel I could make a nano reef thrive at the cost of my time however I am thinking about just being patient so I can achieve all my saltwater goals in a single larger tank someday.
I really like the idea of an aquascaped refugium using a variety of colorful and effective algaes, this is something I can appreciate from a high tech planted side. I would like to use this as my main source of nutrient uptake so I can save money in the long term on chemical costs. I could run minimal reactors and potentially no skimmer if the refugium was large enough which is kind of the only way they are effective anyway. I was thinking of something like a 15 gallon refugium on a 20 gallon display or something within that ratio so the refugium was more than half the size of the display, with of course really good bright lighting which is one of the most underestimated factors in good nutrient exporting. Not only is the large refugium a natural method but it also stabilizes the pH if I run the lights opposite of my display to continue the photosynthesis as well as pump out pods so I can successfully stock a Mandarin.
