Keeping it simple? Going more complex ? what say you?

[Meista_Flya]

Ever since getting back into the Hobbie a few years back I've debated on how simple to keep my aquarium set up. Due to the fact that I travel for work, a neptune apex system was a must for me in my Hobby. I've since added and subtracted numerous of reactors and components to make my aquarium work easier for me.

What has worked or what hasn't worked for you in this hobby? keeping it simple ? The bare essentials? Maybe going all out with the best controllers and reactors? what about substance ? Ab+ reef roids ? or maybe letting the fish do their jobs to feed corals ?

I would love to know what has worked for everyone and what hasn't! can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions !

Happy Reefing!

 

[Stoney]

I've been obsessed with simplifying things ever since I saw this tank:

TLDR: No controller, no doser, no autofeeders, and no ato. Pretty much just a skimmer and media bags with gac/gfo. Feeding nori, flakes, and reef roids once a day. Dosing esv 2 part manually twice per day.

I don't agree with her theories, but she's clearly onto something in practice. Really healthy fish/coral and that RBTA is cartoonishly inflated. Literally the best looking BTA I've ever seen. I'm a total gear junky too, but always feel silly seeing what some people can do with just lights, pumps, and heaters.

 

[Meista_Flya]

I've been obsessed with simplifying things ever since I saw this tank:

TLDR: No controller, no doser, no autofeeders, and no ato. Pretty much just a skimmer and media bags with gac/gfo. Feeding nori, flakes, and reef roids once a day. Dosing esv 2 part manually twice per day.

I don't agree with her theories, but she's clearly onto something in practice. Really healthy fish/coral and that RBTA is cartoonishly inflated. Literally the best looking BTA I've ever seen. I'm a total gear junky too, but always feel silly seeing what some people can do with just lights, pumps, and heaters.

I hear good and bad stories and opinions on both! Due to my work I have to have controllers and reactors to make things work but at times I have had to take things out because it seemed to make things worst for me so through time I've tested with items that worked and items that didn't.

she does have An amazing tank!

one of the things I do agree with her is to not have things so stable if you do the corals will get used to that stability and the moment something strays from that stability the corals freak out !!

 

[WallyB]

Ever since getting back into the Hobbie a few years back I've debated on how simple to keep my aquarium set up. Due to the fact that I travel for work, a neptune apex system was a must for me in my Hobby. I've since added and subtracted numerous of reactors and components to make my aquarium work easier for me.

What has worked or what hasn't worked for you in this hobby? keeping it simple ? The bare essentials? Maybe going all out with the best controllers and reactors? what about substance ? Ab+ reef roids ? or maybe letting the fish do their jobs to feed corals ?

I would love to know what has worked for everyone and what hasn't! can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions !

Happy Reefing!

That's a pretty broad question, however I've tried all kinds of setups and done few rebuilds. I've learned over 2 decades that key to successs is patience, stability (no tinkering) and hands and Coral Food additives out of tank. All setups will work if run properly (Proper monitoring and maintenance) I've learned after many slap on the hands, that adding magic potions may work for the short term but in the long run it's a ticking timebomb for a cyano, or algae outbreak.

My 110G SPS-only tank is tech-complex in the respect of total automation. That's because SPS are unforgiving for water quality, and stability.

However a year ago I setup a very simple 35 gallon tank (below) a bit differently. I wanted to start a frag tank hooked into the main tank but plumbing was impossible to achieve. So I went standalone. I started with a bunch of hand me down rocks and not so heathy pale corals (Hand me down).

I added Couple of fish, CUC, lots of live rock, and corals. Daily automated water changes (2%), a 2 Part Doser for Alk/Calc. A mini Algae Scrubber Chamber. (Black box-Left corner) Nothing else except ATO. No skimmer.

I've tried this before without fish and it failed each time. Adding "fish poo" = "Natural Coral food" was the secret potion for thriving corals.

A year later. Nutrients was feeding 2 Fish once a day frozen food.

Doesn't take much food to get corals to grow. The Planned Frag tank turn into a mini reef unexpectanly.

On other tanks, I've used Reef Roids and a ton of other things (amino's) to boost my corals growth and colors. I stopped all additives since it always ended up giving problems. I prefer to feed fish and fish feed the corals. No poluting water. If you do use Reef Roids don't broadcast feed like I did (lazy). Best way is to target feed each coral a small amount while tank flow is turned off.

If you want simple. Go Natural in your tank and equipment. Little bit of automation make your life easier. Adding an Algae was the best thing I ever did for my tanks. My algae scrubber doesn't grow Hair Algae like others do. It's just a chamber that grows Cheato from flow thru return water. This is my monthly harvest on the 110G tank.

For the SPS tank I still use GFO. RowaPhos. Small amount, but changed every two week. Keeps phosphates on target.


When I learned simple worked for my Frag Tank, I applied the exact same approach to my SPS tank, and within a year it turned into this.

From this..

Simple and stable works best. TOOK me 25 years to figure it out.

Hope I answer at least part of your question.

 

[resortez]

As simple as possible. Less equipment to maintain, lowering the chances of drastic fluctuations when reactors, probes or controllers fail to function properly. I’m old school so I still stick to Home Depot timers, plumbing, keep it very simple with my ATO, I keep an Eheim autofeeder because of work hours, everything else is standard & done manually, I like getting my hands wet. Simple does not mean easy nor permission for laziness. I’m strict on tank routines & having a more “analog” tank means there’s more physical labor involved but I enjoy being physically involved with my tank, it’s how I find zen. A simple system also requires a keen eye. It’s very essential in being available to recognize the slightest shift, know exactly what is about to start happening & know how to take immediate action to correct the incoming problem before it gets out of hand. Gotta know how to be patient & keep your cool if things start going south. Having that foresight is what leads to those strict routines, best prevention money can buy.

 

[Meista_Flya]

That's a pretty broad question, however I've tried all kinds of setups and done few rebuilds. I've learned over 2 decades that key to successs is patience, stability (no tinkering) and hands and Coral Food additives out of tank. All setups will work if run properly (Proper monitoring and maintenance) I've learned after many slap on the hands, that adding magic potions may work for the short term but in the long run it's a ticking timebomb for a cyano, or algae outbreak.

My 110G SPS-only tank is tech-complex in the respect of total automation. That's because SPS are unforgiving for water quality, and stability.

However a year ago I setup a very simple 35 gallon tank (below) a bit differently. I wanted to start a frag tank hooked into the main tank but plumbing was impossible to achieve. So I went standalone. I started with a bunch of hand me down rocks and not so heathy pale corals (Hand me down).

I added Couple of fish, CUC, lots of live rock, and corals. Daily automated water changes (2%), a 2 Part Doser for Alk/Calc. A mini Algae Scrubber Chamber. (Black box-Left corner) Nothing else except ATO. No skimmer.

I've tried this before without fish and it failed each time. Adding "fish poo" = "Natural Coral food" was the secret potion for thriving corals.

A year later. Nutrients was feeding 2 Fish once a day frozen food.

Doesn't take much food to get corals to grow. The Planned Frag tank turn into a mini reef unexpectanly.

On other tanks, I've used Reef Roids and a ton of other things (amino's) to boost my corals growth and colors. I stopped all additives since it always ended up giving problems. I prefer to feed fish and fish feed the corals. No poluting water. If you do use Reef Roids don't broadcast feed like I did (lazy). Best way is to target feed each coral a small amount while tank flow is turned off.

If you want simple. Go Natural in your tank and equipment. Little bit of automation make your life easier. Adding an Algae was the best thing I ever did for my tanks. My algae scrubber doesn't grow Hair Algae like others do. It's just a chamber that grows Cheato from flow thru return water. This is my monthly harvest on the 110G tank.

For the SPS tank I still use GFO. RowaPhos. Small amount, but changed every two week. Keeps phosphates on target.


When I learned simple worked for my Frag Tank, I applied the exact same approach to my SPS tank, and within a year it turned into this.

From this..

Simple and stable works best. TOOK me 25 years to figure it out.

Hope I answer at least part of your question.

awesome post ! it was meant to be a broad question as I wanted to know what worked for anyone and everyone !

and you have an amazing tank!

I have also had cyano issues as well but i think mine were flow and light related more then using any type of coral food .... I've been trying to target feed more often because like you I was lazy and didn't want to so I broadcast fed. it has since gone away but what help me was deff chemi clean and some good elbow grease !

on the stability aspect of things I defff had to get a chyller I could never keep my temp at 78 it always raised to 80 everyday. once I got the chyller and kept temp stable I seen an almost immediate increase in growth and color! but how stable should we go?

I appreciate you post man! thanks for your input!

 

[LRT]

As simple as possible is how I like to keep things. Atm my tank consists of glass, ocean rock, a cpl skimmers, heaters and gravity fed ato.
From day 1 of tank set up. It really doesn't get any easier than getting and keeping major params as stable and close to the best known data the pros passed down to us and doing our due diligence to maintain that.
Reefs pretty much grow themselves from there

 

[Meista_Flya]

As simple as possible. Less equipment to maintain, lowering the chances of drastic fluctuations when reactors, probes or controllers fail to function properly. I’m old school so I still stick to Home Depot timers, plumbing, keep it very simple with my ATO, I keep an Eheim autofeeder because of work hours, everything else is standard & done manually, I like getting my hands wet. Simple does not mean easy nor permission for laziness. I’m strict on tank routines & having a more “analog” tank means there’s more physical labor involved but I enjoy being physically involved with my tank, it’s how I find zen. A simple system also requires a keen eye. It’s very essential in being available to recognize the slightest shift, know exactly what is about to start happening & know how to take immediate action to correct the incoming problem before it gets out of hand. Gotta know how to be patient & keep your cool if things start going south. Having that foresight is what leads to those strict routines, best prevention money can buy.

I have a friend who thinks just like you everything was simple and hand done. timers notes everyday ! very very particular with set schedules and feeding times....

but he eventually caught the controller bug and at this point uses a doser a trident and uses the controller for timers and such. he still is there manually testing the tank and still takes notes but feels as the controller assist in helping him keep things stable and simple.

he loves his tank and this hobby and even tho he has his controller he never stop being as involved with his tank as he was prior too. it just given him some opportunity to work on other aspects of his tank!

 

[Meista_Flya]

As simple as possible is how I like to keep things. Atm my tank consists of glass, ocean rock, a cpl skimmers, heaters and gravity fed ato.
From day 1 of tank set up. It really doesn't get any easier than getting and keeping major params as stable and close to the best known data the pros passed down to us and doing our due diligence to maintain that.
Reefs pretty much grow themselves from there

how long have u had your tank running ? have you ever forgotten to do something to your tank? dose, feed, check parameters etc? have u ever thought of getting more complex?

 

[LRT]

how long have u had your tank running ? have you ever forgotten to do something to your tank? dose, feed, check parameters etc? have u ever thought of getting more complex?

This tank has been set up for a year and 3 months now and has been packed how you see it since the day after I put water in it
Yes I forget stuff all the time and to be totally honest I haven't really done much with the tank besides a 10% water change in about 6 months.
The more I stay out of it and let the tank do its thing, the happier my critters and corals seem to be
It's also much easier to diagnose and fix issues with minimal moving parts and pieces to troubleshoot when something goes wrong.

That being said I am getting ready to fully automate as much as I can with Apex/Trident/Dos system. These 12-16 hour days real life work has me working has me looking forward to it nowadays lol.

 

[Meista_Flya]

This tank has been set up for a year and 3 months now and has been packed how you see it since the day after I put water in it
Yes I forget stuff all the time and to be totally honest I haven't really done much with the tank besides a 10% water change in about 6 months.
The more I stay out of it and let the tank do its thing, the happier my critters and corals seem to be
It's also much easier to diagnose and fix issues with minimal moving parts and pieces to troubleshoot when something goes wrong.

That being said I am getting ready to fully automate as much as I can with Apex/Trident/Dos system. These 12-16 hour days real life work has me working has me looking forward to it nowadays lol.

I completly understand !!! I'm gone 4 to 5 days out the week ! controller was mandatory for me I tried the waterchange only thing for my smaller tank before I swapped into my tank now. but ultimately for me that never worked and was never able to keep things alive =(

controller with a trident and a calcium reactor and a chyller is at lest for right now is the keys to my current success with a little additives here and there !

 

[LRT]

I completly understand !!! I'm gone 4 to 5 days out the week ! controller was mandatory for me I tried the waterchange only thing for my smaller tank before I swapped into my tank now. but ultimately for me that never worked and was never able to keep things alive =(

controller with a trident and a calcium reactor and a chyller is at lest for right now is the keys to my current success with a little additives here and there !

It will feel good to be able to go on vacation and not have to think about the tank outside of watching things grow on the wyze cam. It's not going to hurt my feeling not to have to dose and check params either. I figure I can check an app to see how things are doing while I'm watching the tank on cam. Half the time I'm doing that from the couch either way hahahaha But yeah I'm definetely feeling the pros out weigh the cons atm.

 

[Meista_Flya]

It will feel good to be able to go on vacation and not have to think about the tank outside of watching things grow on the wyze cam. It's not going to hurt my feeling not to have to dose and check params either. I figure I can check an app to see how things are doing while I'm watching the tank on cam. Half the time I'm doing that from the couch either way hahahaha But yeah I'm definetely feeling the pros out weigh the cons atm.

what controller system you plan on going with?

 

[Dav2996]

Ever since getting back into the Hobbie a few years back I've debated on how simple to keep my aquarium set up. Due to the fact that I travel for work, a neptune apex system was a must for me in my Hobby. I've since added and subtracted numerous of reactors and components to make my aquarium work easier for me.

What has worked or what hasn't worked for you in this hobby? keeping it simple ? The bare essentials? Maybe going all out with the best controllers and reactors? what about substance ? Ab+ reef roids ? or maybe letting the fish do their jobs to feed corals ?

I would love to know what has worked for everyone and what hasn't! can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions !

Happy Reefing!

Well what do you define as simple? As least work possible but complex? Or most basic setup but most work possible?

My tank is setup to do the least amount of work possible.
UV sterilizer keep algae at bay and less diseases to
No water changes ever.
Dose everything.
ATO for topping up water.
Oversized skimmer keeps nitrates very low for less water changes.
heater controller so if heater breaks it won’t cook my fish and coral
2 Heaters in case one fails
2 Lights in case one fails
2 Pumps in case one fails
Battery back up with MP10 so fishes don’t die from power outage
Auto feeder

I believe in failsafes for my critters. A lot of things can fail when you are least expecting it. I clean pumps monthly just in case.

Hands in water to only move fish coral or clean glass. Also to change filter floss.

 

[Meista_Flya]

Well what do you define as simple? As least work possible but complex? Or most basic setup but most work possible?

My tank is setup to do the least amount of work possible.
UV sterilizer keep algae at bay and less diseases to
No water changes ever.
Dose everything.
ATO for topping up water.
Oversized skimmer keeps nitrates very low for less water changes.
heater controller so if heater breaks it won’t cook my fish and coral
2 Heaters in case one fails
2 Lights in case one fails
2 Pumps in case one fails
Battery back up with MP10 so fishes don’t die from power outage
Auto feeder

I believe in failsafes for my critters. A lot of things can fail when you are least expecting it. I clean pumps monthly just in case.

Hands in water to only move fish coral or clean glass. Also to change filter floss.

that's why I asked =) I want to know everyone's opinions ! what is simple or complex to you!

coming from a background that requires redundancy I am completly with you that failsafes are an absolute must !

as u stated I also set up my tank to do the least work possible ! I would love to just stare at my tank rather then constantly work on it every day! hence all the equipment I have gives me the opportunity to do so!

but it also begs the question on how much equipment is too much equipment !

as for no water changes my experimentation latley has seen the need to do at least 1 big water change every so often as there maybe the need for some trace material that may be depleted in thw tank! for example my euphylia wasn't doing good at one point in time. upon an icp test ( which takes absolutely forever to get results ) resulted in my tank having low iodine. I did a water change and added some iodine back in and torches started doing welll again. how can we test for trace materials tho? besides an icp test how much of that material should we put in? for someone who wants less work would that give you th opportunity to purchase a reef bot? will a reef bot give u all tge Parameters u need to know what to dose ? manually test ? or would someone who keeps in simple just do a weekly 10% water change each week?

 

[Dav2996]

that's why I asked =) I want to know everyone's opinions ! what is simple or complex to you!

coming from a background that requires redundancy I am completly with you that failsafes are an absolute must !

as u stated I also set up my tank to do the least work possible ! I would love to just stare at my tank rather then constantly work on it every day! hence all the equipment I have gives me the opportunity to do so!

but it also begs the question on how much equipment is too much equipment !

as for no water changes my experimentation latley has seen the need to do at least 1 big water change every so often as there maybe the need for some trace material that may be depleted in thw tank! for example my euphylia wasn't doing good at one point in time. upon an icp test ( which takes absolutely forever to get results ) resulted in my tank having low iodine. I did a water change and added some iodine back in and torches started doing welll again. how can we test for trace materials tho? besides an icp test how much of that material should we put in? for someone who wants less work would that give you th opportunity to purchase a reef bot? will a reef bot give u all tge Parameters u need to know what to dose ? manually test ? or would someone who keeps in simple just do a weekly 10% water change each week?

I just follow the bottles directions for trace elements. I use salifert trace elements for soft corals and LpS corals. They have different trace elements for both those species and I put 40 drops of each per week in the instructions. I don’t have Sps. I like Iodine because it makes the corals open. Don’t know how the iodine works but it makes the corals open. If you iodine dip anything they spread open. Everything is happy in my tank.

 

[WirelessMike]

Ever since getting back into the Hobbie a few years back I've debated on how simple to keep my aquarium set up. Due to the fact that I travel for work, a neptune apex system was a must for me in my Hobby. I've since added and subtracted numerous of reactors and components to make my aquarium work easier for me.

What has worked or what hasn't worked for you in this hobby? keeping it simple ? The bare essentials? Maybe going all out with the best controllers and reactors? what about substance ? Ab+ reef roids ? or maybe letting the fish do their jobs to feed corals ?

I would love to know what has worked for everyone and what hasn't! can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions !

Happy Reefing!

I am in the frame of thought that simple is always best. I do like the new technology and the insight that I have into my tank at any time, but I don’t run dosers or reactors or any of that. I have a Hydros system to know my tank is at temp, there’s no leaks, and control the timers on my T5’s and skimmer. I think this hobby is like any other. You can spend a ton of cash on flashy cool things that are supposed game changers for your reef. But in the end I’ve seen some folks on here with tanks that have been around for over a decade without any of that equipment. Lol

 

[Dav2996]

that's why I asked =) I want to know everyone's opinions ! what is simple or complex to you!

coming from a background that requires redundancy I am completly with you that failsafes are an absolute must !

as u stated I also set up my tank to do the least work possible ! I would love to just stare at my tank rather then constantly work on it every day! hence all the equipment I have gives me the opportunity to do so!

but it also begs the question on how much equipment is too much equipment !

as for no water changes my experimentation latley has seen the need to do at least 1 big water change every so often as there maybe the need for some trace material that may be depleted in thw tank! for example my euphylia wasn't doing good at one point in time. upon an icp test ( which takes absolutely forever to get results ) resulted in my tank having low iodine. I did a water change and added some iodine back in and torches started doing welll again. how can we test for trace materials tho? besides an icp test how much of that material should we put in? for someone who wants less work would that give you th opportunity to purchase a reef bot? will a reef bot give u all tge Parameters u need to know what to dose ? manually test ? or would someone who keeps in simple just do a weekly 10% water change each week?

In my opinion I had the most success without water changes. I think people fail to realize you need to do 8 test kits on the new batch of water and match it to your old tank water for there to be no swings of any kind. I think most hobbies are lazy and don’t do that then find somthing wrong. I have gotten the most growth leaving stuff alone. Done pick up coral get better growth. Don’t do water change better growth but I add supplements for it the same amount daily for months. Whatever you do it the same all the time.

 

[LRT]

what controller system you plan on going with?

Ive been looking at the Apex Trident bundle for awhile now.

 

[Kfactor]

i went simple on my new setup just less stuff to break and to maintain