What would you do?

[Cstar_BC]

I am looking for a system that is almost self-sufficient.

I would like a mixed reef.

I need a dosing system that is cost effective and reliable (no getting stuck on) - but please be honest, I'm totally fine with - "Just manually do this" answers

Monitoring Ca, Mg, Alk, Ph? Hanna or controller or ....?

Refugiums? love, hate? I would like some nutrient export and space for a pod population to grow.

Ideally, I would love to run a separate refugium in a big stock tank filled with sponges, filter feeders, detrivores all the gross bottom creatures.

ATO - the red sea I have has a gravity system - worth it or just get a separate ATO?

Thank you !

ps - there are no saltwater aquarium services anywhere near me or I would just hire someone

 

[DC Reefer]

For dosing I have used the Apex DOS as well as the BRS dosing pumps and have good success with both.

For monitoring I started with doing all manual testing, added a Trident to one tank and then a couple of months later added one to a second tank. I still have a small mixed reef tank that I do all manual testing on. The Trident isn't cheap but does save me a lot of time and helps me detect issues faster than I would with manual testing. The other benefit of the trident is if you go w/ the DOS for monitoring you can have the Trident automate the dosing. I have been doing this for a couple of months for ALK and CA on one of my tanks and it has been working really well.

For ATO I never even tried my Red Sea gravity feed on my 170 and went with Tunze from day 1. I have had good experience w/ the Tunze on my other two tanks so for me it was a no brainer. I also am able to have it go to one of my two 35 gallon RODI water containers so I never have to fill an ATO container which is convenient or worry about it running out if not around for a week or two.

I tried a refugium on my 170 without a skimmer. Ran it for about 4 months and cleaned out the refugium and added a skimmer. I was running it 24/7 and still had a ton of algae in the display. After switching to the skimmer it cleaned it up pretty quick. I have seen a lot of posts here where people have been very successful with a refugium, I am just not one of them

 

[Cstar_BC]

For dosing I have used the Apex DOS as well as the BRS dosing pumps and have good success with both.

For monitoring I started with doing all manual testing, added a Trident to one tank and then a couple of months later added one to a second tank. I still have a small mixed reef tank that I do all manual testing on. The Trident isn't cheap but does save me a lot of time and helps me detect issues faster than I would with manual testing. The other benefit of the trident is if you go w/ the DOS for monitoring you can have the Trident automate the dosing. I have been doing this for a couple of months for ALK and CA on one of my tanks and it has been working really well.

For ATO I never even tried my Red Sea gravity feed on my 170 and went with Tunze from day 1. I have had good experience w/ the Tunze on my other two tanks so for me it was a no brainer. I also am able to have it go to one of my two 35 gallon RODI water containers so I never have to fill an ATO container which is convenient or worry about it running out if not around for a week or two.

I tried a refugium on my 170 without a skimmer. Ran it for about 4 months and cleaned out the refugium and added a skimmer. I was running it 24/7 and still had a ton of algae in the display. After switching to the skimmer it cleaned it up pretty quick. I have seen a lot of posts here where people have been very successful with a refugium, I am just not one of them

Thank you! Lots of information which is great, what tests do you like to use? Is there one you have found as accurate as the trident ?

 

[DC Reefer]

Thank you! Lots of information which is great, what tests do you like to use? Is there one you have found as accurate as the trident ?

I use Hanna for ALK and Phosphate (Ultra low). I use Red Sea for CA and Nitrate and Salifert for MG. I compare against the Trident periodically or if I get a strange/unexpected reading from the Trident. Generally they are pretty close. For the Trident I follow the ALK the closest and much less concerned about CA and MG since they move so slow.

 

[laverda]

If you have room for a large refugium, go for it. There are some cool algaes available. You could have mangroves in there as well.
For nutrient export I have found an ATS to work much better than a refugium. You can fit an ATS on almost any tank very inexpensively. See my ATS thread.