Hi first of all I’ll note that obviously I don’t post often but I’ve been in the hobby and lingering on reef2reef forums for well over a decade now. I recently had an amazing epiphany when I visited my sisters home and my fathers. Both have reef systems in their homes with DT on the main level and support system in the basement.
First pic here is my sister’s 120g 4’x2’x2’ mixed reef. She is a mother of a 2.5 year old toddler and 6 month old. Her and her husband work full time and have ZERO time for the aquarium. They do not dose and they only do water changes on rare occasions. Occasionally they change bulbs in the ATI 6 bulb. Of course it’s not a TOTM level tank but it goes to show that owning a pretty DT in your home does not require fancy gear or crazy amount of your time.
In the basement she does have a standard DIY 75g aquarium sump with some baffles for a skimmer chamber with a $100 used ASM G2 skimmer that has had the pump replaced once and runs part time. Nothing else is used to filter or treat the water. Short of a slight haze that accumulates on the glass there is zero algae on the rocks.
She does occasionally sell some coral on a local FB page and will stop by a LFS and grab a piece of coral once or twice a year.
My dad is 72 years old and will probably be shutting his tank down within the coming months due to downsizing their home.
This tank has been up for 7-8 years now, it is a rimless 57g Oceanic 36’x18’x21’ with a diy 4 bulb t5 light. It has the support system in the basement that is also a diy 75g aquarium with basic baffles and a ASM G1 skimmer that is 10+ years old. It also has a 20g frag tank running as a fuge.
Both my dad and my sister have tried dosing over the years and both have awesome water mixing stations. But at this point both of them have abandoned those practices due lack of time and interest. Both of them have ran multiple different types and brands of LED fixtures from black box to Radions and both say they will stay t5.
To that point, neither of them could tell you what a “JF Homewrecker” is, they couldn’t tell you what their alkalinity level is today and they couldn’t tell you what order their t5 bulbs are in.
Neither one of them loose fish or corals very often, neither one of them stress if something seems a little off for a few weeks and to be honest neither of them would ever post on a forum. Their guest love to see the tanks when they visit and both of their tanks really accent their living space in the perfect way.
On the other hand I obsess over my tank. I could tell you the going price and give you a pretty detailed description of almost every named coral in the game right now. When I’m into my tank I test 3 times a week at least. I obsess over the placement of a coral or an exact flow pattern. I pass up an beautiful coral from my family’s tanks and lfs to save for the opportunity to get expensive named pieces that I can’t seem to keep alive just so I can get that perfect picture to get that credit and clout amongst the all the sps freaks. I pass up on a beautiful tank to save for the absolute perfect LED light that will make all my awesome non-existent corals look perfect. Then when the pieces die and I get discouraged my tank gets neglected and ends up looking like this
This is long winded and a long way to share that I was reminded of 2 things recently.
1. This is a long term game, when you hear nothing good in this hobby happens fast it is sooo true. If you can wait it out for the first year or two these systems really can get on auto pilot very easily.
2. You can get out of this hobby exactly what you put into it. You can take it to whatever level you want or you can keep at as basic as possible also. There is nothing wrong with just having a really nice tank that 9.9/10 people who see it would say is perfect and only the the few people who know that there is not a single form of Orange Passion acro in there will be disappointed.
hope I didn’t bore you to death just a friendly reminder from a long time over thinker.
First pic here is my sister’s 120g 4’x2’x2’ mixed reef. She is a mother of a 2.5 year old toddler and 6 month old. Her and her husband work full time and have ZERO time for the aquarium. They do not dose and they only do water changes on rare occasions. Occasionally they change bulbs in the ATI 6 bulb. Of course it’s not a TOTM level tank but it goes to show that owning a pretty DT in your home does not require fancy gear or crazy amount of your time.
In the basement she does have a standard DIY 75g aquarium sump with some baffles for a skimmer chamber with a $100 used ASM G2 skimmer that has had the pump replaced once and runs part time. Nothing else is used to filter or treat the water. Short of a slight haze that accumulates on the glass there is zero algae on the rocks.
She does occasionally sell some coral on a local FB page and will stop by a LFS and grab a piece of coral once or twice a year.
My dad is 72 years old and will probably be shutting his tank down within the coming months due to downsizing their home.
This tank has been up for 7-8 years now, it is a rimless 57g Oceanic 36’x18’x21’ with a diy 4 bulb t5 light. It has the support system in the basement that is also a diy 75g aquarium with basic baffles and a ASM G1 skimmer that is 10+ years old. It also has a 20g frag tank running as a fuge.
Both my dad and my sister have tried dosing over the years and both have awesome water mixing stations. But at this point both of them have abandoned those practices due lack of time and interest. Both of them have ran multiple different types and brands of LED fixtures from black box to Radions and both say they will stay t5.
To that point, neither of them could tell you what a “JF Homewrecker” is, they couldn’t tell you what their alkalinity level is today and they couldn’t tell you what order their t5 bulbs are in.
Neither one of them loose fish or corals very often, neither one of them stress if something seems a little off for a few weeks and to be honest neither of them would ever post on a forum. Their guest love to see the tanks when they visit and both of their tanks really accent their living space in the perfect way.
On the other hand I obsess over my tank. I could tell you the going price and give you a pretty detailed description of almost every named coral in the game right now. When I’m into my tank I test 3 times a week at least. I obsess over the placement of a coral or an exact flow pattern. I pass up an beautiful coral from my family’s tanks and lfs to save for the opportunity to get expensive named pieces that I can’t seem to keep alive just so I can get that perfect picture to get that credit and clout amongst the all the sps freaks. I pass up on a beautiful tank to save for the absolute perfect LED light that will make all my awesome non-existent corals look perfect. Then when the pieces die and I get discouraged my tank gets neglected and ends up looking like this
This is long winded and a long way to share that I was reminded of 2 things recently.
1. This is a long term game, when you hear nothing good in this hobby happens fast it is sooo true. If you can wait it out for the first year or two these systems really can get on auto pilot very easily.
2. You can get out of this hobby exactly what you put into it. You can take it to whatever level you want or you can keep at as basic as possible also. There is nothing wrong with just having a really nice tank that 9.9/10 people who see it would say is perfect and only the the few people who know that there is not a single form of Orange Passion acro in there will be disappointed.
hope I didn’t bore you to death just a friendly reminder from a long time over thinker.
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