Is it this easy for anyone else? Thoughts please

[ReefBum]

The K.I.S.S. principle of reef keeping has always worked for me. Weekly 10% water changes, strong skimming and feed the fish a lot (fish poop is a good thing). Stability with parameters is another key, especially with Alk. And as SunnyX mentioned, strong flow and lighting.

 

[Crystalsreef]

I keep it very simple. I dont skim, only minimal water changes, and dont dose anything.
I do about a 10% water change maybe once a month or two, depending on if i see an influx in algae. Everything is growing like crazy. I dont even check any levels besides salinity. I do top off with ro or di water every few days because of evaporation. But i honestly noticed better results when i quit doing all the recommended dosing, and checking, and running the numbers. I am about to start dosing calcium, but thats only because i want my duncan coral to branch more instead of growing more and more heads in a ball type formation. I use instant ocean salt mix, and the water i purchase either purified or distilled store brand from my local grocery store or walmart. I do have a pretty decent bioload. I feed my fish and corals almost daily. I do the fish daily, and the corals every other day, but add marine snow daily for my filter feeders. I run a Fluval canister filter, and thats it, and even that doesnt get much maintnance. Its been about 5 months since ive cleaned any of the filter media in it, so im actually due for a basic rince out of it.

 

[Webslinger]

I run a skimmer, cheato and carbon every other month. Change 10% of water every Sat. morning. Run a diatom filter for a day every few months. My tank has been flawless for the last 2 years. I can't remember the last time I tested but my corals tell me not to. Simple simple simple

 

[Crystalsreef]

Imo...OPINION.....maybe different ways work for dffierent people simply out of routine. Our systems become accustomed to the routine of either simplicity, or over-maintnance, or middle ground. More than likely just the stability of any choice.

 

[aereaus]

Ive experimented with several different salts and i agree RSCP is harder to mix but its the only salt ive found that seems to not tick my coral off after doing changes.

 

[s2nhle]

I agree that stability is more important for SPS tank. I also do water change every 2 wks. Kalk via top off and 2 part dosing.

 

[tautog83]

i agree , however onces stuff starts to grow out water changes alone wont keep up with calc/alk . as stated before let the corals speak for you and regular maintance is the key. Ive never tested for anything besides salinity , calcium and alk in 8 years .

 

[Crystalsreef]

I have a mixed tank. Sps, lps, and softies. That may also be why everything is happy. Im not over dominant in any one thing.....well, except pulsing xenia, that stuff grows like crazy. Lol.

 

[Crystalsreef]

Ive experimented with several different salts and i agree RSCP is harder to mix but its the only salt ive found that seems to not **** my coral off after doing changes.

Ive used instant ocean since day 1, i mix it in a 10 gal rubbermaid with a power head to stir it for 30 mins to an hour. When its clear i start adding it in the tank. I pour it over the running power head, nothing seems to even slightly get upset when i do this. My little clown does play in the flow though. He also does this when i pour the unsalted water in. He also plays in the flow from the powerhead all the time. I think he likes the current.

 

[aereaus]

Man, instant ocean would make my LPS lose their minds. Even bleached some SPS from alkalinity swings. This has been some years ago but I am not a fan of their product personally -- I say go with whatever you have success with.

 

[AdamNC]

With the sps and lps in my tank, not dosing daily or automatically as I have would be impossible. On average I auto dose 20ml alk daily and about 24ml ca daily. Bi monthly water changes of 5 gallons(25%) with IO but before changing water I measurement match the water to be changed with. i.e. dose alk and/or ca as needed. I'd rather have the wc water be too low where I can adjust it rather be too high.

 

[Oceansize]

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that all of our gizmos and fretting over this and that is ALL due to us not wanting to do water changes as frequently as necessary. Regular water changes basically prevent or fix just about every problem. As I've been saving up for an Apex, I've been seriously considering not using the doser for Alk and Ca supplements at all, and instead using the doser for regular automatic water changes. Of course, that would require getting a couple of garbage cans (one empty, one full of brand new SW) and figuring out where to put them, and how to get them inline to the tank. Imagine a water change happening automatically while you're at work, lol.

Granted, I don't have a ton of Ca and Alk eaters yet, which is why the Ca reactor is in the mail...

 

[justjes45]

Thanks everyone. This us what I wanted to read, it is how I had my tank going strong, and when I thought "it can't be this easy", and started listening to others... I messed it all up.
I am going back to simplicity.
Thank you.

 

[aereaus]

Everything is a balance -- ratios are more important than exact numbers in my experience and even more than that stability. Long term success, in my opinion comes from finding what works and staying with it. That is gonna differ in every tank.

 

[reefwiser]

Best to use what works for you and then see where you are at in a year and then see where you want the tank to go. If you are happy with your color and growth. Then you are on a successful maintenance schedule. If you want more color you might need to dose some to achieve the results YOU are looking for.

 

[john.m.cole3]

I have 20 or so small sps frags and some other mixed corals and my Alk and Cal will for sure not keep up with a weekely WC. I use Kalk in my top off to keep up. Dont dose anything else.

that's what I'm shooting for in my next tank, kalk only in ATO. What kind of salt are you using?

 

[sticky polyps]

When I first joined this site I mentioned that I got rid off a lot of my coral after a tank move/ re-setup. I wanted to focus on an acropora dominated reef with success being measured with growth and ability to keep colors despite the fact that I have cheap and outdated led lights. My methodology was the idea that stability and feeding would provide these results.
I dose two part daily, feed fish daily(LRS reef frenzy), carbon dose daily, dose aminos once a week, feed a dehydrated coral food twice a week, turkey baster blow off live rocks and sump once or twice a week, and 15% water change with reef crystals once a month which does not seem to upset my corals at all even though it has a much higher DKH than my system runs at...
Luckily I have seen great results..

 

[maroun.c]

My old tank ran for 3 yrs with simple skimming DSB fuge and carbon reactor with periodic GFO. It grew frags to colonies in 18 months colors were fine. I did experiment with few Zeo and other additives and they did give a slight color improvement (at that time my lighting and flow wasn't optimal maybe to get the colors pop I desire) still don't think that a 10-20 percent color improvement is worth all the hassle and cost.

 

[jetmaker]

I don't do water changes little kalk in ato good skimmer chaeto and micro bubbling. That's it except for a little trace elements now and then.

 

[cb684]

Although I believe all the experiences are valid and work for each of you, some only make sense in specific situations. For example, if I say that I keep all my parameters with only water changes, in my opinion that can only mean one of two things. Either my corals are not growing at all (or I have very few small frags), or I am spending an absurd amount of money on water changes. The last one, is likely not even possible unless I am continuously pumping new mixed salt water in the tank because of swings (mostly ALK). Now, the reason I am saying that is because as you can se in the footnote of my post, I keep a 400gallon system that have mostly small to medium SPS colonies.
In my case I cannot not test anything. ALK needs to be tested every few days (I test daily) because my system requires me to increase dosing every 1-2 weeks. That means that my corals are going somewhat exponentially. I usually increase ALK and Ca together, but only test Ca every week. Other tests Mg, NO3, PO4 are either very stable (Mg), or I can see if their concentration is changing without testing (PO4 and NO3) with increase of algae growth. I still measure them every 1-2 weeks, but could likely keep my system without them. And this is with a continuous, 11mL/minute (1%/day) automatic water change.
So I believe, unless the size and what is kept in the system are stated, the experiences maybe misleading...