Low maintenance - Socks, fleece, something else?

[NancyFish]

Socks, fleece, something else - what’s your preference?

Looking for the lowest possible maintenance that’s still high success for beginners.

I was potentionally looking at the Fijicube and trigger with the fleece rollers but heard conflicting reviews - any thoughts?

 

[FernFish]

I use a hob with a sponge and cemi blue and matrix, that’s it , haven’t changed the sponge in 3 years

 

[Sump Crab]

Low maintenance system from the start! All ocean liverock, no dosing, no sps, no mechanical filters, skimmer, refugium, and water change once a month. Hard to get any more low maintenance than that!

 

[NancyFish]

Low maintenance system from the start! All ocean liverock, no dosing, no sps, no mechanical filters, skimmer, refugium, and water change once a month. Hard to get any more low maintenance than that!

How do you stat out like that and keep everything stable? Lots of ugly phases?

 

[FernFish]

uglys take care of themselves, also having a good cleanup crew is essential. Be patient is the most important part

 

[LosGatosMax]

I put in one of these fleece rollers. It has significantly reduced the build up in the protein skimmer, in fact I could actually go up to a month now between cleaning of the skimmer. Previously the skimmer would be full at the two week point.

 

[NancyFish]

uglys take care of themselves, also having a good cleanup crew is essential. Be patient is the most important part

I put in one of these fleece rollers. It has significantly reduced the build up in the protein skimmer, in fact I could actually go up to a month now between cleaning of the skimmer. Previously the skimmer would be full at the two week point.

Awe Maine Coon baby! What’s the rest of your maintenance looking like?

 

[LosGatosMax]

Awe Maine Coon baby! What’s the rest of your maintenance looking like?

Yeah that's Winston, he keeps a cloooose eye on the fish

I might have gone a little overboard ... I have two display tanks a 6' x 2' x 2' rimless and a 10' x 30" x 31" peninsula.

 

[exnisstech]

My new build has two 5 inch socks, cryptic zone in the sump and ATS. Fairly low maintenance.
I have other tanks with skimmers and one with a roller. I don't think I would put a roller in a new tank, they do too good of a job. I ended up having to put mine in manual mode and let it over flow for a while because it was removing too much and corals weren't happy.
I think simple is how everyone should start off. Get the basics like testing down, let the tank mature a bit. Learn how to tell when coral or not happy etc. Then start adding gadgets and tech that you want later. I see so many systems on here that I swear the owners are more into tech than they are reefing. Which is fine if that's what your into but I don't think it's a good way to start of in the hobby. JMO

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Yeah that's Winston, he keeps a cloooose eye on the fish

I might have gone a little overboard ... I have two display tanks a 6' x 2' x 2' rimless and a 10' x 30" x 31" peninsula.

is this the back up to Monterey Bay?

 

[NancyFish]

My new build has two 5 inch socks, cryptic zone in the sump and ATS. Fairly low maintenance.
I have other tanks with skimmers and one with a roller. I don't think I would put a roller in a new tank, they do too good of a job. I ended up having to put mine in manual mode and let it over flow for a while because it was removing too much and corals weren't happy.
I think simple is how everyone should start off. Get the basics like testing down, let the tank mature a bit. Learn how to tell when coral or not happy etc. Then start adding gadgets and tech that you want later. I see so many systems on here that I swear the owners are more into tech than they are reefing. Which is fine if that's what your into but I don't think it's a good way to start of in the hobby. JMO

Totally get that, i felt insane thinking I’d dump 200 on a sump then overnight considering $600 for one with a fleece roller that looks nice.

My only mindset is getting the right gear now, so I’m not having to replace equipment when I want to upgrade — or decide I hate doing something.. like filter socks, I don’t see myself wanting to deal with them. Which leaves me questioning each piece of tech lol

 

[VintageReefer]

Low maintenance system from the start! All ocean liverock, no dosing, no sps, no mechanical filters, skimmer, refugium, and water change once a month. Hard to get any more low maintenance than that!

I gotcha beat

All ocean liverock, light sps, no mechanical filters, no skimmer, no refugium, no water changes. Turf scrubber + cryptic zone

1x week add fw top off with all for reef
1x week grab handful of algae from scrubber and throw out

 

[exnisstech]

like filter socks, I don’t see myself wanting to deal with them

Reef diapers are what I run in my bedroom tank. Not quite as convient as a roller but no socks to wash and way cheaper than a roller. No skimmer in that tank.

 

[NancyFish]

Reef diapers are what I run in my bedroom tank. Not quite as convient as a roller but no socks to wash and way cheaper than a roller. No skimmer in that tank.

What’s your overall maintenance look like, like how often hands on?

 

[darrick001]

I only use a refugium. No waterchanges or mechanical filtration for 7 years. Minerals are added by dosing pumps daily. Slightly more expensive in the beginning but very low maintenance. Trim the algae every 2 weeks and clean the glass as needed. I grow and add iso phytoplankton daily but it's not necessary needed.

 

[X-37B]

Mesh socks are what I use.
All live rock. Only uglies will be on the glass until the coralline takes over.
A diverse cleanup crew will keep the rocks clean.
150lbs and im at day 15.
Have a plan and keep it simple.

 

[exnisstech]

What’s your overall maintenance look like, like how often hands on?

I'm not too strict on maintenance. The two five inch filter socks in my new tank are on day two of overflowing. I may clean them today. They're mesh so easy to clean. I just changed my dirty diaper, it was overflowing for 3 days. Water changes I do 10% every week or two. Normally no longer than 2. The only thing I do on pretty regular basis is clean glass. I hate cleaning it but not as much as I hate looking at it covered in algae. One skimmer running which I empty but I skim dry so that doesn't fill up too fast. No sump cleaning and I couldn't tell you the last time I cleaned a return pump. I'm a lazy reefer. I should probably clean power heads once in a while too

 

[NancyFish]

I'm not too strict on maintenance. The two five inch filter socks in my new tank are on day two of overflowing. I may clean them today. They're mesh so easy to clean. I just changed my dirty diaper, it was overflowing for 3 days. Water changes I do 10% every week or two. Normally no longer than 2. The only thing I do on pretty regular basis is clean glass. I hate cleaning it but not as much as I hate looking at it covered in algae. One skimmer running which I empty but I skim dry so that doesn't fill up too fast. No sump cleaning and I couldn't tell you the last time I cleaned a return pump. I'm a lazy reefer. I should probably clean power heads once in a while too

I often wonder the difference of people with dirty sumps vs clean. I couldn’t tell if it was beneficial or lazy lol. I do love the look of a clean sump but hate cleaning so I guess I’ll see how that goes

 

[rcreightonb]

I often only see my tanks in person every other weekend. I was using 75 micron mesh filter socks that would last 3 days before overflow. I ended up leaving 1 of 2 filter socks out whenever I was away. My refugium was handling the other half of mechanical filtration. I would possibly just leave filter socks out, but my sump is setup such that the chaeto would tumble much more consistently with both filter socks in place.

I bought some 300 micron mesh filter socks and they work well for my situation. They easily last 2 weeks without getting clogged up. Smaller copepods, brissle worms and other creatures can work there way through this size mesh. I think a lot of the waste accumulating in them over time breaks down and goes through. There's surprisingly a similar accumulation of gunk between the 75 micron after 3 days and the 300 micron after 2 weeks. So far I can't see or detect any negative effects of not filtering out smaller particles with filter socks. Possibly, my refugium and or skimmer have been picking up the slack.

My refugium with sand bed has kept nitrates and phosphates steadily low. Leaving my filter socks(supposed nitrate factory after 3 days) for 2 weeks had no noticeable effect on my nitrate/ phosphate levels.

I love the idea of a fleece roller, but I think I'd want one that had fleece rolls available that filtered the same as my 300 micron mesh socks. Then much of my clean-up crew could freely move between sump and display. The rolls might last a year each. Maybe, this is why there's nothing like this available yet. Those replacement fleece rolls good source of repeat income for manufacturers.

 

[exnisstech]

I often wonder the difference of people with dirty sumps vs clean. I couldn’t tell if it was beneficial or lazy lol. I do love the look of a clean sump but hate cleaning so I guess I’ll see how that goes

All the nastiness in my sump is food and home for worms pods and other critters so I consider filth benificial. I love the look of a really nice clean organized sump but just don't have it in me. It's one of the reasons I decided to do a cryptic fuge in my new build. I'm thinking at some point I'll remove the socks but I'm still getting everything moved over from my 180g that will be coming down so leaving them in for now. This is my new sump. I figure it will get cleaned when I'm gone and someone is settling my estate