Keeping it as natural as possible.

[atoll]

There is so much snake oil in this hobby there must be a shortage of snakes in the world. Mind you manufacturers won't make much money out of a DIY ATS and the only thing I add which I make up myself is Iodine. plus I use a calcium reactor and there's not much money to be made in selling me coral gravel. I do a fair bit of tank DIY and make much of my own foods but do buy some frozen and dry foods along with fish oil to add to the foods but again nobody is going to make much out of me. Paul B here has more years under his belt in this hobby, I only have around 36 years but we have found lots of what we do through trial and error. One of the things I like about this hobby as long as you are not putting your animals through too much risk.

 

[CodyRVA]

Am sure your more than capable of finding out Google is your friend, However "Marine Bio Pearls / Pellets work by encouraging the growth of bacteria and enzymes on their surface, by providing essential nutrients required for growth

I honestly meant no offense thus the tone is unwarranted. You seem to be educated on the topic thus my inquiry. I'm already well informed on what bio pellets are made of and how they function; as I have been using them in my display system for some time. I was merely curious as to what your specific opinion on them is/was. As I previously said there are many ways to go about running a system as we're all well aware. I'd find it hard to make a case that pellets are any more un natural than a skimmer or a scrubber. They all provide or assist a "naturally" occurring service. Similar to you mentioning not needing any further means of filtration, i've had the same results with bio pellets. As they say different strokes for different folks, nice to see a variety of methods to the madness. Nice setup on the scrubber by the way!

 

[Paul B]

Paul, although I normally really enjoy your pictures, please don't share one of you while you're feeding the tank.

 

[mikesilverado8888]

Has any one ever had a Red Sea max 250 with a algae scrubber? You know it's the sump in the back all in one system it. It sucks not lot of up grade option.

 

[ReefWithCare]

I have been looking a lot into this - but I'm looking for a hang on side of the sump type setup using an air pump to power it - do you know where I could find projects or specs on something like this?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are 2 things many people constantly fight in their tanks, the main 2 pollutants, nitrate and phosphates. There are of course various ways of reducing them ranging from chemical absorption to biological ways of dealing with them. However IMO you can't beat mother nature's way of dealing with these pollutants in our aquarium and done in a natural way and that is with the use of algae (nature also has other ways of course).



What better way to reduce nitrate and phosphates using mother nature's way of dealing with them after all mother nature has had many millions of years to perfect her ways and with great success of course. She has a way of dealing with just about everything but not always all the man made pollutants and issues we throw at it. She has done many years of research,trial and error and always arrives at the perfect solution for any given problem.

My philosophy with reefkeeping is try and mimic nature as much as is possible and you won't go far wrong. This philosophy and stood me in good stead for around 30 plus years of my 36 years in reefkeeping. I still do the odd water change but not as much as I used to and maintenance of my ATS's is minimal.

.

So by natural means of nutrient uptake, you mean cyanobacteria and green hair algae?

FWIW, nearly every process we use in reef tanks to control nutrients takes place to a substantial degree in nature, but we drive it more strongly to reach our own goals. That includes your preference of algae, but it also includes denitrification, skimming, bacterial growth, adsorbing onto solid minerals, etc.

Consequently, uptake of nutrients by algae can be a fine plan (I used it, along with other methods), but it is not "natural" in opposition to all the other methods being somehow "unnatural".

 

[atoll]

So by natural means of nutrient uptake, you mean cyanobacteria and green hair algae?

FWIW, nearly every process we use in reef tanks to control nutrients takes place to a substantial degree in nature, but we drive it more strongly to reach our own goals. That includes your preference of algae, but it also includes denitrification, skimming, bacterial growth, adsorbing onto solid minerals, etc.

Consequently, uptake of nutrients by algae can be a fine plan (I used it, along with other methods), but it is not "natural" in opposition to all the other methods being somehow "unnatural".

There are many reasons I prefer an ATS over most other methods along with the fact they are so cheap to run, I don't need to buy reactors (I sold my 2 on) they are easy to maintain. They do more than just take up nitrates and phosphates of course, I don't have to feed it anything other than what is in my DT water, there are a number of different types to suit most locations and situations. I have had better growth, colour and health in my corals. Of course other methods may well achieve similar results and I have tried a number of them but for me I found ATS the best. I have not only had GHA and cyno but various colours of slime bacteria/algae which I would assume are consuming other compounds. My corals in DT has never looked so good as per the pic's I have posted. I also use skimming and Siporax media along with my ATS as said

 

[atoll]

I have been looking a lot into this - but I'm looking for a hang on side of the sump type setup using an air pump to power it - do you know where I could find projects or specs on something like this?

Check out Santa Monica HOBs

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are many reasons I prefer an ATS over most other methods along with the fact they are so cheap to run, I don't need to buy reactors (I sold my 2 on) they are easy to maintain. They do more than just take up nitrates and phosphates of course, I don't have to feed it anything other than what is in my DT water, there are a number of different types to suit most locations and situations. I have had better growth, colour and health in my corals. Of course other methods may well achieve similar results and I have tried a number of them but for me I found ATS the best. I have not only had GHA and cyno but various colours of slime bacteria/algae which I would assume are consuming other compounds. My corals in DT has never looked so good as per the pic's I have posted. I also use skimming and Siporax media along with my ATS as said

I do not disagree that they are a good choice. Maybe the best choice for many people. Just picking at the natural claim.

 

[atoll]

I do not disagree that they are a good choice. Maybe the best choice for many people. Just picking at the natural claim.

Am adding nothing but a platform for whatever decides to colonise it. That is what I mean by "natural"

 

[Oceansize]

A dam made by beavers is completely natural. So why isn't a dam built my man also completely natural? Or my denitrator for that matter? I direct some of my tank water into a chamber of sulphur and let "nature" do it's thing. I put some carbon (which exists in every single living thing) in a canister filter and "nature" takes care of the rest. LOL Sorry, couldn't help piling on the 'what is natural' discussion, I do find it fun to contemplate.

 

[atoll]

A dam made by beavers is completely natural. So why isn't a dam built my man also completely natural? Or my denitrator for that matter? I direct some of my tank water into a chamber of sulphur and let "nature" do it's thing. I put some carbon (which exists in every single living thing) in a canister filter and "nature" takes care of the rest. LOL Sorry, couldn't help piling on the 'what is natural' discussion, I do find it fun to contemplate.

Nothing "natural" about a man made dam but the water behind it is natural. Glad your getting some enjoyment out of it though . However, we can agree to disagree you keep buy pellets and running reactors naturally and I will ermmm keep harvesting my algae.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

There are 2 things many people constantly fight in their tanks, the main 2 pollutants, nitrate and phosphates. There are of course various ways of reducing them ranging from chemical absorption to biological ways of dealing with them. However IMO you can't beat mother nature's way of dealing with these pollutants in our aquarium and done in a natural way and that is with the use of algae (nature also has other ways of course).

IMO the best way to cultivate algae is with an algae scrubber for the reasons stated below. Algae use nitrates and phosphates as a food source as it does in the oceans. Since making and using my ATS I have no need for Rowaphos, pellets or Nopox etc etc.

Many years ago our algae scrubbers were simply to grow the likes of Caulerpa in our tanks later in our sumps but the method was not the most efficient. Now we have the much more efficient ATS either DIY or off the shelf units. I have 2 ATS's on my current reef tank a DIY waterfall scrubber and a Santa Monica HOG2 both work very well and are cleaned in rotation.

What better way to reduce nitrate and phosphates using mother nature's way of dealing with them after all mother nature has had many millions of years to perfect her ways and with great success of course. She has a way of dealing with just about everything but not always all the man made pollutants and issues we throw at it. She has done many years of research,trial and error and always arrives at the perfect solution for any given problem.

My philosophy with reefkeeping is try and mimic nature as much as is possible and you won't go far wrong. This philosophy and stood me in good stead for around 30 plus years of my 36 years in reefkeeping. I still do the odd water change but not as much as I used to and maintenance of my ATS's is minimal.

I also retain my skimmer (yes the reefs have their own type of skimmer) but not sure I really need to but it still pulls out skimmate even though it's lighter and not producing quite as much as before I employed my ATS. I have just completed my new A4 sized waterfall ATS which is going on my new 100gallon reef tank. and expect it to give me the same success as the A5 one I currently have on my70 gallon reef tank.

How often do you have to clean your ATS? I like to be able to leave my tank for at least two weeks going to visit family. Don't like to leave much if anything to someone else to take care of.

 

[Gustavo Alvidrez]

Hola gracias por aceptarme En Este foro

Tengo ALGUNAS Cosas en duda Pero es poco a poco

Mi es Acuario funcionando con lo más básico y quiero poder hacerlo funcionar poco a poco y lo mes económico o casero
Lea dejo foro de mi acuario

PD: no me critique tan Feo

 

[Fishnbirds]

Nice! We use a waterfall ats as well and LOVE it...wish i had kniwn about it years ago!! What lights are you running?

 

[atoll]

How often do you have to clean your ATS? I like to be able to leave my tank for at least two weeks going to visit family. Don't like to leave much if anything to someone else to take care of.

I clean the screen most weeks to 10 days but you could push it to 2 weeks as it won't do any real harm. Growth rate of GHA depends on a few factors but mainly light.

 

[atoll]

Nice! We use a waterfall ats as well and LOVE it...wish i had kniwn about it years ago!! What lights are you running?

Am running 2x20w LED grow lights one each side of the screen which is A5 size. I bought them off ebay and they have 16 red 4 blue LEDS. These lights do a great job and are splash proof.

 

[pagokoftis]

Very nice!!! Even though I keep a mediterranean cold water aquarium, I relay on ATS for nitrates and phosphates... I build this acrylic box, that houses the lights and tapped it with aluminum tape internally, so that it reflects the light... Firstly I used the led panels are shown in the photo, but they didn't work well... Then I used the flood LEDs you use, that work just fine!!!
Sorry for my bad English... Greetings from Greece...

 

[atoll]

Very nice!!! Even though I keep a mediterranean cold water aquarium, I relay on ATS for nitrates and phosphates... I build this acrylic box, that houses the lights and tapped it with aluminum tape internally, so that it reflects the light... Firstly I used the led panels are shown in the photo, but they didn't work well... Then I used the flood LEDs you use, that work just fine!!!
Sorry for my bad English... Greetings from Greece...

Yes ATS will work in cold water and even freshwater aquaria. Light being most important of course with the correct spectrum and intensity.

 

[jetmaker]

Lol in the old days we had a algae scrubber it was the back glass