15 Steps to Starting a Saltwater Aquarium: The Lasse Method

Lasse

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15 Steps to Starting a Saltwater Aquarium: The Lasse Method

Display Tank.

r2rpicture1-png.978412

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.

INTRODUCTION


There are many methods to start a saltwater aquarium--each major aquarium product manufacturer has its own. Common to most, however, is that they focus on keeping difficult and demanding corals--especially SPS. Are you looking for a method-specific SPS aquarium? If yes, then maybe you should choose a method from one of that group of manufacturers. But if you just want to start a saltwater aquarium for fishes, invertebrates, soft corals, most LPS, and many non-demanding SPS, then my method might not be so bad. At least it has not been for me in my forty years of reef-keeping.

Below is the method I have worked out over the years:

DESCRIPTION OF METHOD

1) Get the appropriate size aquarium 25 liters or larger. For smaller aquariums, look for those that have the sump built into the back, also known as “All in One” (AIO.) It’s an excellent starter aquarium.

2) Decorate the aquarium with rock and sand. Use dry or live sand. You may add some sand from an existing aquarium. The rock can be both alive and dead/dry. It can be good to have a 50 – 50 mix of live and dry. I never clean the rocks, I just rinse them off.

If I use live rock (LR), I try to pick from as many stores as possible, always looking for "fresh" rock. I want as many and as different hitchhikers as possible. About 90% of the hitchhikers are beneficial, and about 10% can be harmful (depending on which ones). If I get a “bad guy,” then I deal with that later on.

If you do not have access to live sand, used filter media, or some old water. There is a pretty good product available in order to avoid water that is too “sterile” in the beginning: Tetra Bactozym.

3) Fill aquarium with water and salt and mix up to about 34.6 parts per thousand (PPT) salinity.

4) Put in and start your equipment (return pumps, power heads, protein skimmer, if used, foam filters--if you chose that--and heaters.) Wait with active carbon, granular ferric oxide, and similar equipment. Let the water circulate for one or two days.

5) Introduce a healthy, well fed, lively fish that is not shy.

In a large aquarium start with 2 - 3 fish. The reason for introducing fish as early as this is that you need something that produces ammonium (NH4) in order to get the vital nitrification process to start. In a newly started aquarium, there is no bacteria-related production of ammonium and the production of ammonium from the fish(es) is controlled by how you feed the fish. With this method, you will have full control over the NH4 production the first few weeks.

An orange-spotted sleeper/sifter goby, Valenciennea puellaris.
r2r3gobie-jpg.978548

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.

6) Add some nitrifying bacteria every day for three weeks or inoculate with detritus from an already functioning aquarium every day. There are many special bacterial strains available to buy, including a mixture of nitrification and break-down bacteria--avoid them in the beginning--only the nitrifying bacteria are of interest. I normally use a freshwater product--Sera NitriVeck--and dose 20 ml per 100 liters/day. Do you have an old aquarium running? Then take and turn out the filter in a few liters of water--fresh or salt--does not matter. Put it in the refrigerator, and then pour in an appropriate amount every day into your new aquarium. At the start of an aquarium it can be a good method to use an internal foam filter, which helps the nitrification to start. It can later be removed if you want.

7) Feed extremely sparingly at the beginning. I usually only use frozen large brine shrimp for the first 3 weeks and only give three to four shrimp per fish. The first week I feed every third day (this small amount) and the second week every other day (the same small amount) and the third week, every day (the same small amount). On Week 4, I start to increase the amount.

8) Run a full lighting duration right from the start if you plan to follow step 9. otherwise - start 3-4 day before the introduction of CUC. If using LED, do not have too high intensity, but the full duration. The reason is, after all, to start algae and other things so that they begin producing. They get phosphorus because the rock is not carefully cleaned and from the frozen brine shrimp. Nitrogen is also necessary in the beginning--see later.

9) Introduce the Clean Up Crew (CUC) around days 3 - 4 and as many different species of snails and hermits you can find. Preferably a dozen snails and as many hermits (small) per hundred liters and at least the number if the aquarium is below 50 liters. See if you can find at least one sea urchin - the long spine black urchins are usually the best. Avoid very small ones. Crabs (emerald and sally lightfoot) are a good complement as well. Shrimp, especially the coral banded shrimp, Stenopus hispidus, is good in the beginning because they hold down bristle worms--not eradicate them but keep the population down. The reason why the CUC should be added early is that they must prevent the microalgae from building up a too-large biomass and thus a too-high daily production of microalgae. Not cleaning the live rock too much gives some food to the CUC in the introduction phase.

A red variant of Scooter Blenny, Synchiropus ocellatus.
r2r1skoter1-jpg.978546

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.

10) Add some nitrates around day 5--just a few ppm. Get potassium or sodium nitrate. Add 40 grams to 460 grams of water. Dissolve 1 ml of this solution per 100 liters of water. This solution raises NO3 by about 0.5 ppm. Target: about 3 ppm.

11) Introduce the first soft corals or mushrooms after about one week. Hardy LPS corals can come some weeks later. Most corals are consumers--not producers—and they do not affect the bio-load of the system--it's just the opposite. However, non-photosynthetic corals should be avoided for the moment. In connection with the introduction of corals, it is time to start increasing the intensity of the light if possible.

12) If you get a small brownish color on the sand, then try to stir the sand a couple of times every day with a small stick or an EHEIM gripper.

13) Change water at the earliest after about 4 weeks. Introduce new fish slowly and patiently. Do not increase the feeding too fast, just slowly and carefully.

14) Do not test water parameters. Wait until the aquarium is a few months old or you have a lot of hard corals. Once the aquarium has established itself for a few months you can start testing if you want to. The most important thing to test is calcium and alkalinity if you have hard corals. Now it is also time to start--if you want— start testing and change the values of inorganic nutrients like PO4 and NO3 with one or another method.

15) After about 4 - 8 weeks, it’s also time to start some other stuff if you like, a refugium for example. Also, look at a small thing called an Oxidator--something I use to get a clear water without yellowing--but wait about 2 months.

Of course, there is some real thought behind my method: nitrification and other biological life should get started as soon as it possible and the risk of ammonium formation (and thus free ammonia) is removed. But the production of micro-algae should also get started as soon as possible, and that’s why you need "harvesters"--that is the CUC.

With these guidelines, I have started hundreds of aquariums without any algal problems in the beginning.

After the first three to four weeks, it is usually a good idea to change water every week, between 10 - 20% if you want to go that path.

Plectranthias inermis
r2rlassehawk-jpg.979481

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.


IMPORTANT


Once the aquarium is stabilized after about 4-8 weeks, you can start introducing new fish at a slow pace. Never increase the feeding suddenly.

COMMENTS

The idea of not testing water parameters during start up may seem very provocative, but in my experience--since there are a lot of myths about target values for different inorganic nutrients all around--there will often be overreactions, especially by beginners. Having high levels of inorganic nutrients (as PO4 and NO3) in the water column does not mean that you will get algae automatically (compared to low and dino/cyanobacteria).

Lack of grazers (CUC)--on the other hand--gives direct algae problems regardless of the nutrient levels in a newly started aquarium. In a tank with well-established corals, they will compete with the algae for the nutrition and the CUC will not be as important. Put your money into a large, diverse, and good CUC at the start instead of a lot of measuring equipment--it is both more fun and more efficient. When you know what you want to do with your aquarium—yes--then you can start manipulating different parameters, but let it run for 2-3 months (at least) beforehand.

With these 15 steps in my head, I have successfully started many aquariums without any algal or other problems in the beginning.

Sincerely Lasse

Edit - Point 6 was not really clear consider what I meant with mixed bacteria strains in the beginning. The sentence is changed now--I do not normally used mixed strains in the beginning

I want to thank @Seawitch and @Bouncingsoul39 for help with the editing of the article.

Sincerely Lasse

~~~~~~~~~

Note from the Editor: This article is Lasse Forsberg's method (The Lasse Method) for starting saltwater aquariums, which Lasse was kind enough to share with us. We expect some readers will view parts of this method as controversial. Please note, however, that Lasse has been a reef aquarist for over 40 years and has also worked in fisheries and aquaculture his whole professional life. It's hard to argue with someone who has so much experience under his belt.

~~~~~~~~~

We encourage all our readers to join the Reef2Reef forum. It’s easy to register, free, and reefkeeping is much easier and more fun in a community of fellow aquarists. We pride ourselves on a warm and family-friendly forum where everyone is welcome. You will also find lots of contests and giveaways with our sponsors.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author Profile: Lasse Forsberg

Lasse Forsberg, is from a little town in Sweden. He has been keeping aquariums for over 40 years, and in his professional life, he has always worked with fisheries, aquaculture, and public aquariums on the technical side.

He is a valuable member of the Reef2Reef forum, and his super interesting build thread may be found here.
 
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Big G

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Thanks for posting this. The only thing I would add would to consider QTing incoming fish for disease/parasites. The fish supply lines here in the US are, well, often pretty sad as far as the health of fish coming in these days.
 

Gregg @ ADP

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Awesome article, @Lasse . Hard to beat nature when it comes to ecology!

I typically do things very similarly. The only difference is that I add the CUC much later. I let the algae go through succession from diatoms all the way through to Bryopsis. Then I yank as much out as I can by hand, and then add the CUC and algae grazing fish.
 
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Lasse

Lasse

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I do not QT - never have done but nowadays I always adapt my newcomers in my refugium to avoid stress from bullying when they will be introduced into the DT. I´m not against QT if it is only an observing QT with medication of right stuff when where is true indications of illness. But even with a proper QT - you need to adapt your newcomers with water from the DT - partly for vaccination and partly because they must get the same smell as the fish in the Display Tank I´m very much against any type of prophylactic treatment - treatment in case of.

Thank you @Sallstrom - see you probably on Monday

Many persons react that I introduce a CUC very early. When I have introduce the CUC - I run much light and if I use LS - I have chose LS with "crap" on. Microalgae will grow very quick and the CUC will found it even if you can´t see it. The reason for early introduction is that the algae should not be able to etablish a large biomass. A microalgae can dubble its biomass in lesser than 24 hours.

One correction to the article is that I have been aquarist for over 40 years but it was mainly freshwater aquarium until 2001

@Pbh-reef ,@Hemmdog and @brandon429 - thank you

Sincerely Lasse
 

Dr. Dendrostein

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Seawitch submitted a new Article:

15 Steps to Starting a Saltwater Aquarium: The Lasse Method

15 Steps to Starting a Saltwater Aquarium: The Lasse Method

Display Tank.
r2rpicture1-png.978412

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.

INTRODUCTION

There are many methods to start a saltwater aquarium--each major company has its own. Common to most, however, is that they focus on keeping difficult and demanding corals--especially SPS. Are you looking for a method-specific SPS aquarium? If yes, then maybe you should choose a method from one of that crowd of suppliers. But if you just want to start a saltwater aquarium for fishes, lower animals, softies, most LPS and many non-demanding SPS, then my method might not be so bad. At least it has not been for me. For 40 years.

Below is the method I have worked out over the years:

DESCRIPTION OF METHOD

1) Get the appropriate aquarium 25 litres and up. For smaller aquariums, look for those that have the sump built into the back. It’s an excellent starter aquarium.

2) Decorate the aquarium with stone and sand. Use live sand or add some sand from an existing aquarium. The stones can be both alive and dead. it can be good to have 50 - 50. I never clean the stones, I just rinse them off.

If I use live stones (LS) I try to pick from as many stores as possible, always looking for "fresh" stones. I want as many and as different hitchhikers as possible. About 90% of the hitchhikers are good inhabitants, and about 10% can be bad (depending on which ones). If I get a “bad guy,” then I deal with that later on.

If you do not have access to the used sand, used filter media or some old water, there is a pretty good product available in order to avoid water that is too “chemical” in the beginning: Tetra’s Bactozym.

3) Fill aquarium with water and salt up to about 34.6 parts per thousand (PPT) salinity.

4) Put in and start your equipment (return pumps, streamers, skimmer - if used, foam filters (if you chose that) and heaters. Wait with active carbon, GFO and similar equipment. Let the water circulate for one or two days.

5) Introduce a healthy, lively fish that is not shy. In a large aquarium 2 - 3 fish. The reason for introducing fish as early as this is that you need something that produces ammonium (NH4) in order to get the vital nitrification process to start. In a newly started aquarium, there is no bacteria-related production of ammonium and the production of ammonium from the fish (es) is controlled by how you feed the fish. With this method, you will have full control over the NH4 production the first few weeks.

An orange-spotted sleeper/sifter goby, Valenciennea puellaris.
r2r3gobie-jpg.978548

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.

6) Add some nitrification bacteria every day for three weeks or inoculate with detritus from an already functioning aquarium every day. There are many special bacterial strains available to buy. Usually a mixture of them works best. However--in the beginning--only the nitrifying bacteria are of interest. I normally use a fresh water product--Sera NitriVeck--and dose 20 ml per 100 litters/day. Do you have an old aquarium running? Then take and turn out the filter in a few litres of water--fresh or salt--does not matter. Put it in the refrigerator, and then pour in an appropriate amount every day into your new aquarium. At the start of an aquarium it can be a good method to use an internal foam filter, which helps the nitrification to start. It can later be removed if you want to.

7) Feed extremely sparingly at the beginning. I usually only use frozen large artemia for the first 3 weeks and only give three to four artemia per fish. The first week I feed every third day (this small amount) and the second week every other day (the same small amount) and the third week, every day (the same small amount). On Week 4, I start to increase the amount.

8) Run full lighting time right from the start. If using LED, do not have too high intensity but the right lighting time. The reason is, after all, to start algae and other things so that they start producing. They get phosphorus because the stone is not carefully cleaned and from the frozen artemia. Nitrogen in the beginning--see later.

9) Introduce the Clean Up Crew (CUC) around days 3 - 4 and as many different species of snails and hermits you can find. Preferably a dozen snails and as many hermits (small) per hundred litres and at least the number if the aquarium is below 50 litres. See if you can find at least one sea urchin - the blacks with long spines are usually the best. Avoid very small ones. Crabs (mithrax and sally lightfoot) are a good complement as well. Shrimp, especially the boxer prawn--Stenopus hispidus--is good in the beginning because they hold down bristle worms--not eradicate them but keep the population down. The reason why the CUC should be added early is that they must prevent the microalgae from building up a too-large biomass and thus a too-high daily production of microalgae. Not cleaning the living stone too much gives some food to the CUC in the introduction phase.

A red variant of Scooter Blenny, Synchiropus ocellatus.
r2r1skoter1-jpg.978546

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.

10) Add some nitrates around day 5--just a few ppm but still. Get potassium or sodium nitrate in the spice dish of the local grocery store. Add 40 grams to 460 grams of water. Dissolve. 1 ml of this solution per 100 litres of water raises NO3 by about 0.5 ppm. Target: about 3 ppm.

11) Introduce the first soft corals or mushrooms after about a week. Hardy stone corals can come some weeks later. Most corals are consumers--not producers—and they are not a load for the system - it's just the opposite. However, corals that do not use photosynthesis should be avoided for the moment. In connection with the introduction of corals, it is time to start increasing the intensity of the light.

12) If you get a small brownish colour on the sand, then try to stir around the sand a couple of times every day with a small stick or an EHEIM gripper.

13) Change water at the earliest after about 4 weeks. Start and introduce new fish. Slowly and patiently. Do not increase the feeding too fast, just slowly and safely.

14) Do not test. Wait until the aquarium is a few months old or you have a lot of stone corals. Once the aquarium has established itself for a few months you can start measuring if you want to. The most important thing is calcium and KH if you have stone corals. Now it is also time to start--if you want—to change the values of inorganic nutrients like PO4 and NO3 with one or another method

15) In this situation, after about 4 - 8 weeks it’s also time to start some other stuff if you like, a refugium for example. Also, look at a small thing called Oxidator - something I use to get a clear water without yellowing - but wait about 2 months.

Of course, there is some real thinking behind my method: nitrification and other biological life should get started as soon as it possible and the risk of ammonium formation (and thus free ammonia) is removed. But the production of microalgae should also get started as soon as possible, and that’s why you need "harvesters"--that is the CUC.

With these guidelines, I have started hundreds of aquariums without any algal problems at the start.

After the first three weeks, it is usually a good idea to change water every week, between 10 - 20% if you want to go that path.

Plectranthias inermis
r2rlassehawk-jpg.979481

Photos are all courtesy of Lasse Forsberg. ©2019, All Rights Reserved.


IMPORTANT

After the aquarium has stabilized after about 4-8 weeks, you can start introducing new fish at a slow pace. Never increase the food suddenly.

COMMENTS

Not testing during start up may seem very provocative, but in my experience--since there are a lot of myths about target values for different inorganic nutrients all around--there will often be overreactions, especially by beginners. Having high levels of inorganic nutrients (as PO4 and NO3) in the water column does not mean that you will get algae automatically (compared to low and dino/cyanobacteria).

Lack of grazers (CUC) - on the other hand - gives direct algae problems regardless of the nutritional levels in a newly started aquarium. In a tank with well-established corals, they will compete with the algae for the nutrition and the CUC will not be as important. Place your money on a large, diverse and good CUC at start instead of a lot of measuring equipment--it is both more fun and more efficient. When you know what you want to do with your aquarium—yes--then you can start manipulating different parameters, but let it run for 2-3 months (at least) before.

With these 15 steps in my head, I have successfully started many aquariums without any algal or other problems in the beginning.


Sincerely Lasse

~~~~~~~~~

Note from the Editor: This article is Lasse Forsberg's method (The Lasse Method) for starting saltwater aquariums, which Lasse was kind enough to share with us. We expect some readers will view parts of this method as controversial. Please note, however, that Lasse has been a reef aquarist for over 40 years and has also worked in fisheries and aquaculture his whole professional life. It's hard to argue with someone who has so much experience under his belt.

~~~~~~~~~

We encourage all our readers to join the Reef2Reef forum. It’s easy to register, free, and reefkeeping is much easier and more fun in a community of fellow aquarists. We pride ourselves on a warm and family-friendly forum where everyone is welcome. You will also find lots of contests and giveaways with our sponsors.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author Profile: Lasse Forsberg

Lasse Forsberg, is from a little town in Sweden. He has been keeping aquariums for over 40 years, and in his professional life, he has always worked with fisheries, aquaculture, and public aquariums on the technical side.

He is a valuable member of the Reef2Reef forum, and his super interesting build thread may be found here.
Thank you guys for article. Very informative. Thank you Lasse
 

PerplexyHexy

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Awesome read... one question... im about 5 weeks in in my new frag system. Po4 was running a bit high and I have zero detectable no3... My first go at adding corals resulted in a massive algae and diatom bloom... I understand this is part of the process. So I took corals all out and put back into my display. Cleaned all algae off glass and shut lights off completely and setup my refugium to help with po4 spikes. Refugium runs from 11:30@ night to 5:30am, so 6 hrs. I have 300 lbs of liverock in a rubbermaid trough with a kessil ocean blue running over it the same schedule as my fuge light. Also threw in a few sally light foots in the tub and a halloween hermit in the refugium. Im currently running my skimmer which is a bubble maggus curve d9 on low. Wondering if its either overkill or If I should run it for certain periods in a day. Anyway, all hair algae and diatoms have been gone since then and po4 is hanging around .03-.09 and still zero no3... I added 2 fish this week, a mimic tang in the 90 gallon 6’ frag tank and a tomoni tang in the 75 gallon... They look very healthy and are eating great as well. My question is, you wrote that introducing the lights low but at the time period you plan is important. You recommend I turn my lights on a low intensity schedule? Would this aid in an increase in no3 at all or should I dose no3 like you recommend till I reach the level Im looking for? Sorry I guess a few questions... I really enjoyed you write up... great info... any input will be greatly appreciated...
 
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Awesome read... one question... im about 5 weeks in in my new frag system. Po4 was running a bit high and I have zero detectable no3... My first go at adding corals resulted in a massive algae and diatom bloom... I understand this is part of the process. So I took corals all out and put back into my display. Cleaned all algae off glass and shut lights off completely and setup my refugium to help with po4 spikes. Refugium runs from 11:30@ night to 5:30am, so 6 hrs. I have 300 lbs of liverock in a rubbermaid trough with a kessil ocean blue running over it the same schedule as my fuge light. Also threw in a few sally light foots in the tub and a halloween hermit in the refugium. Im currently running my skimmer which is a bubble maggus curve d9 on low. Wondering if its either overkill or If I should run it for certain periods in a day. Anyway, all hair algae and diatoms have been gone since then and po4 is hanging around .03-.09 and still zero no3... I added 2 fish this week, a mimic tang in the 90 gallon 6’ frag tank and a tomoni tang in the 75 gallon... They look very healthy and are eating great as well. My question is, you wrote that introducing the lights low but at the time period you plan is important. You recommend I turn my lights on a low intensity schedule? Would this aid in an increase in no3 at all or should I dose no3 like you recommend till I reach the level Im looking for? Sorry I guess a few questions... I really enjoyed you write up... great info... any input will be greatly appreciated...

There is two different reasons why I add NO3 and why I run low intensity in the beginning (if possible). I add NO3 in order to avoid Cyanobacteria/Dino in the start phase. The lower light intensity is because I want to balance the production of algae with the consumption of algae by the CUC. When I have a large CUC standing stock - I can run the light at 100 % (if I want)

Sincerely Lasse
 
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What is this? I had sharpened my pens, oiled up my keyboard, breathing ammoniac and sharpen up all of my thinking in order to defence myself against all attacks I expected to come. Giving newcomers these advise – the guy is crazy :)

Instead I get credit - thank you all :)

I have to stress - this is one method - there is other ways to start a saltwater aquarium that in the end gives a beautiful aquarium - more or less complex solutions. What I try to show - it has not to be as difficult as many people thinks. There is another strong believing – do not mix methods – pick one and stay put as long as possible with that method.

Sincerely Lasse
 

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a large biomass

How would you say a primarily copepod-eating fish handles in your setup (for example a mandarin)? How long before adding one?

Without a large biomass of algae, wouldn't the copepod population be limited? Just wondering as I struggle with this myself.
 
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This method is mostly for the first 2 - 5 months - after that you can start to change your setup the way it serves your intentions. For mandarins and scooter blennies a refugium with pod production is a good idea. In my recent aquaria I have many copepod eating fishes like pipefish, wrasses and so one. I have had both mandarins and scooter blennies - one for two years. For the moment I will not add any more of these fish (mandarin type) because I think that my sally lightfoot have specialized into eating that type of fish.

Sincerely Lasse
 

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Without a large biomass of algae, wouldn't the copepod population be limited? Just wondering as I struggle with this myself.
I'm not sure there is a connection between a large algal biomass and copepod population. A healthy system will grow algae and copepods don't need much to thrive and reproduce. If you are stripping nutrients out of the water to prevent algae growth I suspect pods would be an issue. If you let algae grow in your system and let it be consumes/recycled by a large CuC I feel your population would be fine. After all, this is how a natural reef functions. If you take the algae eaters off a reef it will quickly become overgrown with algae.
The only algae I worry about in my DT is when I can't find a critter that will eat it.
 

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This is an excellent article - and you bring up a lot of interesting ideas. A couple things you didn't mention (or maybe I missed them) - what are your thoughts on ozone, UV, oxydator, Carbon skimmers, algae reactors (i.e. all of the other 'stuff' people might be wanting to buy when they start a tank). What do you think about aquarium controllers?

I have never understood the idea of having a tank sitting for weeks having various algae blooms, etc while adding ammonia waiting for a cycle. I know lots of people do it that way - I just have not seen a reason 'why' to do it that way. This article shows it can be done the other way as well
 
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My wish with this article was to show an easy way of starting up and stabilize the biological system. IMO – the first 3 to 4 months it is important to have the system up and running in a stable way. After this period and if the system demands it you can use different type of biological manipulations. Ozon, UV-C, oxidators; GFO, active carbon and other tricks can be handy to use. Because I do not use QT – it is handy to have access to something that can help you minimize pathogen pressure – I use an oxidator for that. I do not do any WC – the oxydator help me to control yellowing substances. I use a skimmer in order to aerate my water – sometimes I run it without using the skimmer cup – sometimes I use the skimmer cup. I use GFO sometimes and a small biofilter. This type of equipment are tools – nothing else. Because I have an interest to do experiments and want to control my aquarium – a computer is a handy thing to have. But necessary – No


Sincerely Lasse
 
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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 64 36.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.9%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.4%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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