Tips & Tricks Of Old School Reefing

[gfox]

Anybody remember those CPR Backpack skimmers? First skimmer I ever owned!

I do.Waste of money.

 

[GoVols]

Anybody remember those CPR Backpack skimmers? First skimmer I ever owned!

Never had one of those but had the ole clear plastic filters that hung on the side and siphoned water by an air pump.

Do you remember when the fiberglass filter floss came out

 

[Flippers4pups]

Never had one of those but had the ole clear plastic filters that hung on the side and siphoned water by an air pump.

Do you remember when the fiberglass filter floss came out

Yep.

I had under gravel filter systems in my freshwater tanks with those tubes and clear boxes that used a air pump! That's old! Isn't @Paul B still using those?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Yep.

I had under gravel filter systems in my freshwater tanks with those tubes and clear boxes that used a air pump! That's old! Isn't @Paul B still using those?

I have used under gravels for freshwater as well. I also forgot to note my reef substrate was crushed coral which always seems get people gravely concerned these days.

 

[Reefphd]

Invest in some good reef books. There are so many out there. Read them from cover to cover.

Ask questions, which brings me to my last bit of advice.

Join your local reef club, if there isn’t one, start one. I’ve made some excellent friends in this hobby. Many of which are still reefing 3 decades later.

 

[Paul B]

Yep.

I had under gravel filter systems in my freshwater tanks with those tubes and clear boxes that used a air pump! That's old! Isn't @Paul B still using those?

Yep!

 

[dbl]

I can't say I'm an old school reefer, but the best advice I ever received, and it was mentioned before, was to keep my hands out of the tank.

That, along with stability of parameters, regardless of which parameter and furthermore regardless of which test kit you use to measure it. Stability (consistency test to test) is more important than the actual measurement, assuming it falls within the "acceptable" range.

 

[Erv]

Go slow check water often run a sump with macro algea or a spillover with a light on it full of macro

 

[Flippers4pups]

Alkalinity has come to the forefront in the past decades, with more and more SPS corals being kept, successfully!

But long ago, alkalinity was near last in importance. Taking a back seat to calcium, PH and nutrient reduction.

Times change and back then it was all about no N03 and P04. Not so now, well unless your riding the razors edge and run ULNS.

The approach to water chemistry has changed, well a little. Mostly insights and personal experience, anecdotal in some respects, but success is success. No question of that.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

I am not that old yet, but I know most seasoned reefers believed in simplicity, and I am a firm believer in it as well. I am on fifth year now, there is nothing fancy in my setup (going to have an auto doser soon as a gift, thanks to one of the forumer in here) and yet corals are doing great. I have to disagree with the terms "nothing is cheap in this hobby". I would say it can be cheap if you choose to.

So my advice as a newbie but with old reefing method - "make it as simple and as cheap as you can". Sometime less is better, and less will translate into cheap in some cases. Happy reefing!

 

[tnyr5]

That $1000 skimmer doesn't skim any better than the $200 one. (This applies to a lot of equipment)

That new fad method is, at best, equal to the old methods and at worst, inferior.

The most important thing to know is that none of us really know.

The expert is just the one who's killed the most stuff .

 

[Flippers4pups]

"The expert is just the one who's killed the most stuff "

"Losses can be learning experiences, but learning from others can help lessen your losses." Flippers4pups.

 

[JimFuller]

Don't make any changes just before a vacation.

But But But How am I going to get the tanks to crash, if I follow that advice ? ;Shamefullyembarrased

I will say do not make any changes before Chemotherapy applies, also.

 

[Flippers4pups]

But But But How am I going to get the tanks to crash, if I follow that advice ? ;Shamefullyembarrased

I will say do not make any changes before Chemotherapy applies, also.

Prayers your way! @JimFuller. Hope your doing well.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Berlin method:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Method

+1

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Read everything you can on the subject and then find more to read. Ask questions always as the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. Then start making decisions on equipment and tank size and style. Buy good equipment and it does not have to be the most expensive but ask for opinions. Set up system with all equipment test run with fresh water for a couple days so you know you have no leaks and everything is good to go. Drain add rock and salt water. let it run for a few months and do testing so you get the feel of things and then start thinking what you want for live stock. Read on what the requirements are for everything you put in the tank including quarantining. Always take the time to look over your entire system everyday that way you see problems before they fail. don't do any changes fast and wait a month after any bigger changes before you make more changes.

 

[jsker]

seaclone

Nothing like a classic. I built a 4' protein skimmer and still wished I had it. It worked great the only draw back wash changing the air stone all the time.

 

[jsker]

The point is long time reefers do not have all the answers, but I believe we have better experience in keeping things simple. My current new system in progress is not much different than my reef 20 years ago really. I already know that system works. Biggest changes will be LED instead of Metal Halide and a dedicated ATO system.

Good advice

 

[jsker]

Anybody remember those CPR Backpack skimmers? First skimmer I ever owned!

They still work good.

 

[Paul B]

Put in one of these sunken ships where the bubbles come out of it.