Minimalist Reefer

[Fishyj]

I love this. I just got back into reefing after having a 90,75,and a 32 gallon tanks. I am now down to just a 13 gallon aquatop tank running with some foam block which came with it. I shortened the foam and put floss on it as my filtration. I run with a heater , light and ato. I also use an inkbird controller. At this point there is no testing just water changes every couple of weeks. Always believed in the K.I.S.S. method. I currently have a pistol shrimp and watchman golby.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I love this. I just got back into reefing after having a 90,75,and a 32 gallon tanks. I am now down to just a 13 gallon aquatop tank running with some foam block which came with it. I shortened the foam and put floss on it as my filtration. I run with a heater , light and ato. I also use an inkbird controller. At this point there is no testing just water changes every couple of weeks. Always believed in the K.I.S.S. method. I currently have a pistol shrimp and watchman golby.

Glad to have you here.

I'm looking forward to the Frag Swap in Lakeland, Florida this Saturday. I just cleaned a rock out of my locals tank and drill some holes for frag plugs to fit. So the 'local' tank may not be as local next week as it is now!

 

[Doctorgori]

this thread is threatening the entire “ reef automation “ industry

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

This may put me in gross violation of minimalist reefing standards, but I did decide to add some fairly elaborate systems for dosing supplements and carbon:

Supplement dosing system:
- poked holes in bottles
- control rate of dosing by tightening or loosening the caps

Carbon dosing system:
- dropped penne with tomato basil sauce on the floor
- threw it in sump

 

[Macbalacano]

I love this thread, thank you for starting it @Ron Reefman !

I just started a new Waterbox 15 AIO two months ago, and wanting to keep it as simple as possible as well. I currently use:
- Filter floss
- Small bag of GFO and Carbon
- 1 doser that is dosing All For Reef (I tried not having to dose, and just do water changes, but the amount of corals and their growth made this impossible)
- Basic equipment: Prime HD 16 LED lights, titanium heater, thermometer, stock return pump, nano wavemaker

Almost everything I stock for coral is easy to care for. Currently just have 2 clowns in there and 2 shrimp + 1 crab (temporary).

Latest tank shot from today - again its only been running for 2 months!:

Update: I am now trying to set-up an ATO. 2 reasons for this:

1) Trying to minimize salinity fluctuations (harder to do in a nano due to small volume of water) and;

2) My schedule is getting busier and I have some business travel for a few days and I am trying to minimize the amount of work that other folks have to do when they are watching the tank for me.

Can you do any tank/nano tank without a doser and an ATO? Yes of course. You just need to be ok doing it by hand (likely multiple times a day) and have the time to do it!

 

[Doctorgori]

This may put me in gross violation of minimalist reefing standards, but I did decide to add some fairly elaborate systems for dosing supplements and carbon:

Supplement dosing system:
- poked holes in bottles
- control rate of dosing by tightening or loosening the caps

Carbon dosing system:
- dropped penne with tomato basil sauce on the floor
- threw it in sump

obviously a missed sales opportunity and another threat to our industry
BRS 2Part Labels

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Update: I am now trying to set-up an ATO. 2 reasons for this:

1) Trying to minimize salinity fluctuations (harder to do in a nano due to small volume of water) and;

2) My schedule is getting busier and I have some business travel for a few days and I am trying to minimize the amount of work that other folks have to do when they are watching the tank for me.

Can you do any tank/nano tank without a doser and an ATO? Yes of course. You just need to be ok doing it by hand (likely multiple times a day) and have the time to do it!

You could always get a lid made or while out of town just use ceran wrap or make shift.

 

[lil sumpin]

Lately I find myself looking at systems that solely rely on lighting, powerheads and heaters for equipment. It's pretty impressive to see a full fledged reef system thriving just based on import and export instead of sumps, filters etc. You often see it in small pico jars that are maintained by a weekly water change, air pump and a heater and occasionally with slightly larger nano tanks. Seems like peak simplicity to me!

@Alexraptor




(nice tank mate!!)

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Lately I find myself looking at systems that solely rely on lighting, powerheads and heaters for equipment. It's pretty impressive to see a full fledged reef system thriving just based on import and export instead of sumps, filters etc. You often see it in small pico jars that are maintained by a weekly water change, air pump and a heater and occasionally with slightly larger nano tanks. Seems like peak simplicity to me!

@Alexraptor




(nice tank mate!!)

Exactly what I do. Im working on build now. About to pull trigger on an aio. But will only be the pump and heater. Things get complicated. The simpler tge better. But it does, depending on livestock, get complicated and either more water changes or dosing needed as things grow. Automation for water changes can be added like a dosing pump. But its also more to fail.

 

[saltnut]

3 nano tanks with minimal equipment. For around 27years a small piece of scotch tape or the top rim of the tank, keep track of where the water level should be. Topped of manually. 3 or 4 years ago I got my first ATO and absolutely love them. I do have mine on timers.

 

[Seansea]

My question comes in as to what is minimalist?

Is just not having an apex define you as minimilist? I see people say i have led lights on controllers, dosers, ato, skimmers, ats's, wifi outlets and such and say minimilist.

Is just doing away with testing minimilist?

Is just having a cleaner shrimp, a couple mushrooms and a clown fish minimilist?

Minimilist mean no water changes?

Minimilist mean not being proactive (aka lazy)with your reef?

Im not saying any of this to stir pot. Im just asking i dont know what definition of a minimilist tank means.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Minimalist usually refers to using just basic equipment and maintenance. There is no real set in stone setup. But a starting point would be tank, light and water movement only. This can include a sump as its just a container for water and pump can be there. A refugium added can still be considered minimalist. From here things can get blurry. It is mostly refering to equipmemt. Anything that is out of convenience or novelty can be considered non minimalist. But there is a problem. A person with say a 90 gallon tank and tons of sps needs to dose heavy several times. Heavy dosing can cause swings or effect the chemistry negativly. So a doser maybe required. Can they do this manually every hour or so, sure. But if they work or other things, then it can effect the tank. This is where is it still minimalist question comes in. Most people want to automate and adding equipment makes this easier at times. If you have a pico or small nano you dont necessarily need all the things larger tanks do.

So while there is no real standard, minimalist is refering to basic equipment. And even that can be subjective depending on who you talk to.

 

[Grog]

My tank is pretty minimalist and low effort (usually):
40 gallons, no sump, no skimmer, no AIO.
Decent lighting but just 1 powerhead and 1 HOB (for whatever reason).
Low bio-load and I only keep EASY livestock - just 4 fish with mostly inverts and soft corals as my primary focus (if you could even call it "focus").
*I don't dose anything for Alk/Ca/Mg

First off, thanks to OP for a good thread!

The quoted post sounds similar to my 40-breeder. HOB filter, one powerhead, live rock and sand. My only 'techie' things are a small ATO, some power strips for the halide and T5, and a fan to keep the water temps from spiking when the halide turns on.

I'm keeping a variety of corals (zoas, gorgs, monti, chalice, stylos, and galaxea). Only four fish as well: royal gramma, lawnmower blenny, striped blenny, and a pygmy cherub angel. There are a lot of inverts in the tank: CUC, porcelain crabs, coral banded, fire shrimp, etc. I'd say it is low on the bio load with four fish.

I do water changes 'weekly', actually more like every 10 days. I test parameters as an afterthought and typical water change is 10%. I change out the HOB filter pads when I do water changes. Fine filter gets replaced every time. The coarse filter just gets rinsed out in RODI and replaced when it is yucky.

I run a bag of carbon in my HOB. I dose iodine once a month via a capful of the iodine mix, carbon gets replaced every two water changes or so. I don't run any other media in my HOB, no bio balls or ceramics. I'm using it for mostly flow and the coarse filtration. (and a place for carbon)

Tank is pretty easy, when I keep up with maintenance. It ain't TOM category, and I have to deal with algae on one rock in particular but I'm happy with it and like not having too much extra gear to worry about. Today's picture is as-is. I have water mixed for a water change and cleaning. So, you get to see it in its worst state.

FWIW: Everything is adjusting to a major lighting change and not totally happy right now. (I ditched my LED and went back to T5 and halide.) I may take the halide off of this tank and only run the T5. I'm thinking the halide is overkill. As such, I'm only running the halide for 5 hours right now. The picture is with T5 only.

 

[dennis romano]

I just found this thread and thank you. Here are my two tanks. The first is a fifty gallon that has been set up for over 25 years. Its filtration is nothing more than a 1990s wet dry. There are several corals that are over two decades old. The second is a forty breeder with a HOB filter and a skimmer. That tank has been running for five years. I don't test or dose. A water change is nothing more than a couple of buckets done once or twice a week. A fellow reefer came to buy some mushrooms and asked all kinds of technical questions. He was stunned when I told him about how little work that I do.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I just found this thread and thank you. Here are my two tanks. The first is a fifty gallon that has been set up for over 25 years. Its filtration is nothing more than a 1990s wet dry. There are several corals that are over two decades old. The second is a forty breeder with a HOB filter and a skimmer. That tank has been running for five years. I don't test or dose. A water change is nothing more than a couple of buckets done once or twice a week. A fellow reefer came to buy some mushrooms and asked all kinds of technical questions. He was stunned when I told him about how little work that I do.

Really nice

 

[Ron Reefman]

this thread is threatening the entire “ reef automation “ industry

If only it could! Ha!

I'll consider this a huge success if I can get it to just being a new Forum here at R2R.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Update: I am now trying to set-up an ATO. 2 reasons for this:

1) Trying to minimize salinity fluctuations (harder to do in a nano due to small volume of water) and;

2) My schedule is getting busier and I have some business travel for a few days and I am trying to minimize the amount of work that other folks have to do when they are watching the tank for me.

Can you do any tank/nano tank without a doser and an ATO? Yes of course. You just need to be ok doing it by hand (likely multiple times a day) and have the time to do it!

Hey, I use an ATO as well. But I do all my dosing manually every day (but then I'm retired... although I still have a very busy schedule).

I just want to say your tank looks GREAT!

I think this is the first time I've posted a photo of my 40g aio cube.

My question comes in as to what is minimalist?

Is just not having an apex define you as minimilist? I see people say i have led lights on controllers, dosers, ato, skimmers, ats's, wifi outlets and such and say minimilist.

Is just doing away with testing minimilist?

Is just having a cleaner shrimp, a couple mushrooms and a clown fish minimilist?

Minimilist mean no water changes?

Minimilist mean not being proactive (aka lazy)with your reef?

Im not saying any of this to stir pot. Im just asking i dont know what definition of a minimilist tank means.

Excellent question! I completely understand your issue/questioning as to what is a Minimalist Reefer. My answer is, I don't know... but I think I am one.

"Is just not having an apex define you as minimilist? I see people say i have led lights on controllers, dosers, ato, skimmers, ats's, wifi outlets and such and say minimilist."
I'll say that if you have an Apex (or any other version), you definitely are NOT a minimalist.Dosers and ATO seem OK to me, although I do dose manually every day.

Is just doing away with testing minimilist?
Is just having a cleaner shrimp, a couple mushrooms and a clown fish minimilist?
Minimilist mean no water changes?
I think testing, CUC and some water changes are almost mandatory... kind of, if you want.

Minimilist mean not being proactive (aka lazy)with your reef?
I think most true Minimalist Reefers would end up being more involved with their tank than being lazy.

But all that said, I don't see any need to set rules for who is and who isn't a minimalist reefer. I just think minimalist means using less hardware and being more 'hands on' involved with the tank. The bigger a tank gets and the more livestock it has, the more likely it is to have some equipment that a smaller and less stocked tank wouldn't have.

My tank is just a quality led, filter sock, filter media, wavemaker and return pump... Oh, and an ATO.

 

[Seansea]

I like your tank although what i dont see is many fish. I stock heavy with fish. So that requires a little more maintenance and controllability cuz pollutants can get out of control pretty fast. Just water changes and a skimmer would lead to massive algae problems. I by no means think my tank is super high tech but does need more than what i think a minimilist would
require.
Here is my tank for reference

I

 

[Macbalacano]

Hey, I use an ATO as well. But I do all my dosing manually every day (but then I'm retired... although I still have a very busy schedule).

I just want to say your tank looks GREAT!

I think this is the first time I've posted a photo of my 40g aio cube.

Excellent question! I completely understand your issue/questioning as to what is a Minimalist Reefer. My answer is, I don't know... but I think I am one.

"Is just not having an apex define you as minimilist? I see people say i have led lights on controllers, dosers, ato, skimmers, ats's, wifi outlets and such and say minimilist."
I'll say that if you have an Apex (or any other version), you definitely are NOT a minimalist.Dosers and ATO seem OK to me, although I do dose manually every day.

Is just doing away with testing minimilist?
Is just having a cleaner shrimp, a couple mushrooms and a clown fish minimilist?
Minimilist mean no water changes?
I think testing, CUC and some water changes are almost mandatory... kind of, if you want.

Minimilist mean not being proactive (aka lazy)with your reef?
I think most true Minimalist Reefers would end up being more involved with their tank than being lazy.

But all that said, I don't see any need to set rules for who is and who isn't a minimalist reefer. I just think minimalist means using less hardware and being more 'hands on' involved with the tank. The bigger a tank gets and the more livestock it has, the more likely it is to have some equipment that a smaller and less stocked tank wouldn't have.

My tank is just a quality led, filter sock, filter media, wavemaker and return pump... Oh, and an ATO.

Wow this looks amazing! Love the colours and variety in the tank. Amazing especially being run so minimalist!

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

My tank ended up turning into freshwater without my knowledge lol. Things happen. New build is goinv to be an aio with lids, the pump, an air pump possibly and light. Not going to add any rock. I might add single bio ball in back, or rock only to mount or stabalize coral. Similar to eco reef zero, eco reef one and another tank jake adams did. Tank is on order. I usually get cylinder tanks so air pumps can provide movement and light. 100 percent weekly water changes fix everuthing. I have had good success with this, but usually me fixing things that arent broke cause me issues.