What makes your tank differ from all the rest? Whats your Methodology?

[Joeganja]

We all hear of KISS: keep it simple stupid and all the other acronyms. And throughout the years all the success tanks and different ways hobbyists have made them their own in terms of what works for them and how their tanks differ from all the rest. I figure it be fun to share some methodology you use to keep your tanks looking as happy, healthy, and as thriving as they are.


My methodology: For me it's always been doing what makes me happy. Try not to be with the hype. Try to differ from people, try new things, figure out the fengshui of my tanks and creating a balance that works. So I decided to go some ways about this. What's the biggest reason a fish tank well in our case a reef tank fails? Negligence, room for error, and improper water parameters due to negligence. Husbandry is the biggest thing in keeping our tanks looking amazing and putting in that time and effort. I have my two reef tanks in my bedroom right in front of where I sleep. Figure if there's anything wrong I can just look up and keep my eye on it. I have an apex controller contacted to both tanks since they sit side by side each other, leak detection modules on the floor, screen tops, etc. But I think the biggest thing is that I like to buy and make sure I have everything I need to keep a successful tank first and then add the livestock. I don't add a skimmer or wave maker later on, I like to stay on top of things. It makes it easier to control everything from the start and build around it rather than build as you go. Try not to use cheap made products or low cost pumps such as jebaos (not that there's anything wrong with them but there's a higher chance of them failing then a vortech) and led fixtures that burn out after a year. For me the biggest thing is how can I avoid a disaster. You don't want all that work and money going down the drain. So I try to always make sure I take precautionary measures. As far as the water quality, weekly testing, weekly water changes, automatic dosing.

The #1 biggest thing when it comes to adding stuff into my tank in terms of trace elements is don't dose for what you cannot test for. If I dose potassium, strontium, iron, iodine, then I test for those. There are many people that dose iodine into their tanks because it's good for inverts and stuff but what they don't know is the salt mix your using if your doing water changes at least twice a month your corals and inverts don't deplete nearly as much iodine as you would think (this is if you don't have a highly stocked tank). So that's my rule of thumb. Don't dose if you can't test that parameter.

What are your methodologies?

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

I only automate the most essential parts and leave the rest up to me. Its not as stable, but there is little room for equipment failure. I prefer to keep my tank understocked as my 30 gallon only has a lone bicolor dottyback and some cuc. My sandbed is rather thin, just enough for my sand dwelling corals such as my open brain and plate. The only things I dose are ca, mg, and baking soda for slight alk adjustments.

 

[Joeganja]

I only automate the most essential parts and leave the rest up to me. Its not as stable, but there is little room for equipment failure. I prefer to keep my tank understocked as my 30 gallon only has a lone bicolor dottyback and some cuc. My sandbed is rather thin, just enough for my sand dwelling corals such as my open brain and plate. The only things I dose are ca, mg, and baking soda for slight alk adjustments.

Seems like you like to keep it simple and try to keep a low bioload

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Seems like you like to keep it simple and try to keep a low bioload

Im not exactly experienced enough to manage a high bioload and corals. I have no idea how people keep sps reefs with multiple tangs and other fish.

 

[Joeganja]

Im not exactly experienced enough to manage a high bioload and corals. I have no idea how people keep sps reefs with multiple tangs and other fish.

Large skimmers, automatic water changes, biopellets, algae scrubbers, denitrators, I can give you a whole book lol. But that's the beauty of it. People find their own way to make their tank their own and have people wonder how it's possible well everyone's methodology differs and that's what I respect the most. Do your own thing, figure out what works for you, and inspire others to do the same.

 

[vic67]

Tanks is mostly LPS and softies. Weekly WCs (roughly 10%) and macro algae in the sump. I don't test or dose!

 

[clekchau]

Large skimmers, automatic water changes, biopellets, algae scrubbers, denitrators, I can give you a whole book lol. But that's the beauty of it. People find their own way to make their tank their own and have people wonder how it's possible well everyone's methodology differs and that's what I respect the most. Do your own thing, figure out what works for you, and inspire others to do the same.

And one of the best for those with alot of fish and sps, lanthanum chloride

 

[ReefBeta]

minimum nutrition export methods, just vodka

I just settle down on this recently. I have tried many different things, refugium, ATS, algae reactor, vodka-sugar-vinegar, GFO, biopellets, etc. By the end, I settled down to only dosing 7ml of vodka daily and have the best result.

Never manage to make algae based filter works efficiently enough to out-compete algae in the display, even though NO3 and PO4 reading is 0. Tried other carbon dosing methods, but they seem to cause build-up in pumps a lot faster.

Several weeks ago, I finally disconnected the DIY algae reactor, and increased vodka dosing by 1ml. 2 weeks later, all hair algae in the tank turned white, and acros are showing their real color beside all be green, pink lemonade showing yellow tune, Greg Hiller's Aqua Delight showing light blue tips, a yellow acro is turning back to yellow again, etc. At that point I know it reach the sweet point, so I'm not changing or trying new things anymore.

I like vodka dosing because it's simple to implement. Start low and increase dosing every week. The drop of NO3 and PO4 was obvious. I can increase/decrease dosing amount and will see decrease/increase in next week's testing. No guessing game about if the filter is mature/working.

One thing I learn is that, when there are decent amount of algae growing in the tank, NO3 and PO4 read 0 doesn't mean the nutrition is low, they are just used up by algae. It still need more nutrition export to fight the algae. Even though there are algae eating fish in the tank like coral beauty angel and moorish idol, they soon lost appetite on the vegetable once they get used to frozen food. So growing algae in the sump won't help make those in display disappear. Also since disconnected the algae reactor, daily PH peak has dropped from 8.2 to 8.05, and before that the algae are pearling a lot. The CO2 scrubbing effect was pretty strong. But I'm happy to trade that for better coral coloration any day

 

[Abhishek]

1. Lots of light - 2 x 250 watts radiums over a 30 in x 30 in x 18 in sps tank, lots of flow with 2 tunze 6095s and 2 gyre 130s and a tunze 6040 , lots of feeding of 3-4 times a day ( all frozen) .
2. Nothing but a Deltec skimmer.
3. Threw away pH probes and controllers and use only old school timers
4. Dose live phyto everyday at night
5. Biggest thing - I test my alkalinity 3 times a day exactly at the same time (6:30 am , 5:30 pm , 11:30 pm)and make sure am never beyond 0.1 variance . Its all rock steady at exact 7.6. Checking 3 times I can make very small adjustments of 1 ml here and there to make sure my Alk is rock solid ..

People spend money on fancy leds, pumps, nutrient control, controllers - I spend on buying Hanna Alkalinity reagents !!!
Until I have enough to buy an automatic kH monitor.

Regards,
Abhishek