MoreReef
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2022
- Messages
- 266
- Reaction score
- 199
- Location
- San Diego
- What state or country do you live in
- California
My 5 gal sps reef is fully stocked and ready to go... I'm doing this post mostly for new refers like myself looking for a bit of guidance and tips. So we all know how overwhelming the hobby can be, specially for somebody new with no experience. We often Google search what's needed in order to be successful and those searches often suggest expensive gear (lighting, filtration, ato etc), dosing supplements and the chase for weird parameter numbers no one seems to understand. I'm here to tell ya none if that is necessary or matters. I mean it does but what I'm trying to say is that reefing isn't really that hard...
I've had both my tanks for about a year now. One of them is a mixed Reef the other is sps dominant. Both are inexpensive lowtech budget builds... and. BOth are doing great... no sump, no automatic anything, no dosing no worries... my mixed Reef is slightly older and was my trial tank. It's been through several scapes but everything else has remained the same since day 1. A hob filter, heater, surface skimmer for flow and extra filtration but not necessary and a budget light. That's it... and all the corals are doing excellent and are growing. Same setup for the sps tank with additional lighting, but again... bare bones.
I believe the key for both my Nanos was the cycling period I put them through. Made sure it was well established and mature before adding either coral or fish. It was definitely a test of my patience but the end results are always worth it. I did a mo th of blackout cycle while adding beneficial bacteria, then ran it with lights on for another 2 months to ensure that all pod and bacteria colonies were well established and ready for any bio load I was planning on adding.
I now just perform WC and scrape the glass every now and then, but it mostly just takes care of itself now. I don't dose or run any filtration media's other than regular ol filter floss ... simple effective reefing.
Suggestions are welcomed since these are ongoing projects, and I'm in no way saying my way is the right way. I'm just saying this is how it worked for me... just my 2 cents. And should be taken with a grain of salt...
Lmk if you are interested in my tank Specs and I would happily list them out for ya as well as coral list cuc etc.
Happy Reefing!!!
I've had both my tanks for about a year now. One of them is a mixed Reef the other is sps dominant. Both are inexpensive lowtech budget builds... and. BOth are doing great... no sump, no automatic anything, no dosing no worries... my mixed Reef is slightly older and was my trial tank. It's been through several scapes but everything else has remained the same since day 1. A hob filter, heater, surface skimmer for flow and extra filtration but not necessary and a budget light. That's it... and all the corals are doing excellent and are growing. Same setup for the sps tank with additional lighting, but again... bare bones.
I believe the key for both my Nanos was the cycling period I put them through. Made sure it was well established and mature before adding either coral or fish. It was definitely a test of my patience but the end results are always worth it. I did a mo th of blackout cycle while adding beneficial bacteria, then ran it with lights on for another 2 months to ensure that all pod and bacteria colonies were well established and ready for any bio load I was planning on adding.
I now just perform WC and scrape the glass every now and then, but it mostly just takes care of itself now. I don't dose or run any filtration media's other than regular ol filter floss ... simple effective reefing.
Suggestions are welcomed since these are ongoing projects, and I'm in no way saying my way is the right way. I'm just saying this is how it worked for me... just my 2 cents. And should be taken with a grain of salt...
Lmk if you are interested in my tank Specs and I would happily list them out for ya as well as coral list cuc etc.
Happy Reefing!!!
