Brand New 8 gallon bio cube

[Magellan]

Small caveat... I have a decent sized fuge lit by a Kessil H80(wanna upgrade to a H160) 24/7 and run a filter sock amd replace it every 2 days. I do remove gunk from the water, just not stripped like a protein skimmer would. All the teeny tiny small coral foods get to keep circulating and the chaeto absorbs any extra nutrients. That with carbon and water changes to remove any toxins from internal or external sources is how I run my tank.

I mean, that's how it's supposed to work when you dont ignore obvious signs of distress for months at a time and allow it to become overrun with nuisance algae.

I clean my filter floss about every 2 days as well, a sock sounds even better. I’ve thought about setting up a sump for the sole purpose of running some sort of multiple sock system to minimize flow issues and allow me to not have to clean stuff so often.

I also run carbon, purigen, and leave a bag of phosguard in the back as well. (I clean the purigen and phosguard when I clean the floss) and have as much biomedia as I can fit. My water stays pristine.

 

[anon9896]

You gotta have some way of excess nutrient removal. As mentioned above, I like water changes and a fuge. Fuge works 24/7 to absorb nutrients and water changes correct any thing I screw up dosing(or not dosing) and anything I cant test for.

Heres a pic of my sump. Filter sock, fuge, rock chamber, bubble trap, return chamber with carbon reactor.

And display, looking a lot better since I got rid of that toxic water in there.

looks like your sump has been machined through a solid block of acrylic
fap fap

 

[najer]

I guess it is about how much protein you have available, two days skimate, super dry skim, the neck of the cup will be getting really grubby, I know I produce more than the corals need so I do skim!

 

[Magellan]

Thats the main goal actually.
Im starting slowly into making a 'continuous system'
And trying to figure problems before hooking it to my system. Btw It does not require a dosing pump , only an air pump

I feel like with a bit of tweaking and some improved aesthetics, you could patent this...maybe one day this will be the go-to method for keeping mandarins?!

 

[Magellan]

You gotta have some way of excess nutrient removal. As mentioned above, I like water changes and a fuge. Fuge works 24/7 to absorb nutrients and water changes correct any thing I screw up dosing(or not dosing) and anything I cant test for.

Heres a pic of my sump. Filter sock, fuge, rock chamber, bubble trap, return chamber with carbon reactor.

And display, looking a lot better since I got rid of that toxic water in there.

How many gallons is that?

I am already a firm believer in WC, just gotta figure out a plan for a fuge!

 

[anon9896]

I feel like with a bit of tweaking and some improved aesthetics, you could patent this...maybe one day this will be the go-to method for keeping mandarins?!

that's my goal , my gf wants one so bad lol.
right now it does 'work' I actually think I could have mandarins but it is not automated, good thing I'm an 15 years of experience farm mechanics used to install hydraulics automated GPS systems, I might actually pull this thing off LOL.
But i'm lazy , so lazy.
I'm starting my flying lessons in march so I have until then to completely automate my tank so it survives me going away for a long period of time ... creeps me out honestly.

 

[living_tribunal]

Small caveat... I have a decent sized fuge lit by a Kessil H80(wanna upgrade to a H160) 24/7 and run a filter sock amd replace it every 2 days. I do remove gunk from the water, just not stripped like a protein skimmer would. All the teeny tiny small coral foods get to keep circulating and the chaeto absorbs any extra nutrients. That with carbon and water changes to remove any toxins from internal or external sources is how I run my tank.

I mean, that's how it's supposed to work when you dont ignore obvious signs of distress for months at a time and allow it to become overrun with nuisance algae.

I see things inversely. A skimmer won’t export nutrients, it just prevents gunk from breaking down into them. I keep my fuge light off at all times to ensure I keep good phosphates and nitrates.

If you dry skim, and feed often, you’re keeping things at a fantastic level.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I see things inversely. A skimmer won’t export nutrients, it just prevents gunk from breaking down into them. I keep my fuge light off at all times to ensure I keep good phosphates and nitrates.

If you dry skim, and feed often, you’re keeping things at a fantastic level.

Several ways to skin a cat.

 

[Why-Me]

I see things inversely. A skimmer won’t export nutrients, it just prevents gunk from breaking down into them. I keep my fuge light off at all times to ensure I keep good phosphates and nitrates.

If you dry skim, and feed often, you’re keeping things at a fantastic level.

You and robin both have good points, depends on the tank and what the goal is for the tank.

 

[living_tribunal]

Several ways to skin a cat.

That’s the most succinct explanation of the reefing experience.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

looks like your sump has been machined through a solid block of acrylic
fap fap

Trigger sapphire cube 20.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

How many gallons is that?

I am already a firm believer in WC, just gotta figure out a plan for a fuge!

My normal water change routine is to pull the chaeto and put in a bucket of some old water, pump as much of the sump out as I can and clean then fill with new mix at temp. This last time I did the whole sump and about a third of the tank. Ended up being about a 50% WC. I try and target 25% monthy. I either put chaeto back, or trim and put back. Depends on how thick it is. I had about 3/4 of a 5g bucket of dense growth so I pulled about half of it this time and put the rest back in. It was SUPER full of amphipods and I'm sure copepods I can't see with my bat eyes.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

@sebaseau that looks like an interesting contraption. It would be neat for weaning leopard wrasse onto frozen. My black leopard didn't touch frozen for 3 months. She lived on pods from my fuge until one day, about a year ago, she decided that frozen was indeed food... and has been eating it since.

 

[Magellan]

Sounds like your fuge is the powerhouse there! I change 5g of water about every 2 weeks, or close to 20%. My tank says it’s 28g, but that’s with no rock or sand or media basket or pumps or heater.

Starting out as a complete reef noob, it seemed to me that people with massive complicated filtration also had massive complicated dosing...and were constantly putting stuff into the water only to take it right back out. I figured, the KISS principle has taken me far in life, I’m going with the less is more approach. The only automation I have are my lights and an ATO...and I hate relying on the ATO!

Of course, now I’m starting 2 part, feed corals 2-3x a day, dose amino acids, and have as much filtration as I can fit in the back...an automatic doser sounds nice ;Dead

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Sounds like your fuge is the powerhouse there! I change 5g of water about every 2 weeks, or close to 20%. My tank says it’s 28g, but that’s with no rock or sand or media basket or pumps or heater.

Starting out as a complete reef noob, it seemed to me that people with massive complicated filtration also had massive complicated dosing...and were constantly putting stuff into the water only to take it right back out. I figured, the KISS principle has taken me far in life, I’m going with the less is more approach. The only automation I have are my lights and an ATO...and I hate relying on the ATO!

Of course, now I’m starting 2 part, feed corals 2-3x a day, dose amino acids, and have as much filtration as I can fit in the back...an automatic doser sounds nice ;Dead

Sounds like we have similar approaches. The less I have to mess with, the better it is for me.

I want to start an amnio dose, I have a spare compartment in my dosing container... might look into that for next year.

Check out the Coralbox wifi doser. It's a great budget doser with wifi controls... big improvement over the Jebao I was using. Only odd thing it comes with 3mm hose. Not a big deal, but it wouldn't fit the standard 4mm fittings on my container I changed out the barbs on the pump heads to ones that accept either 3mm or 4mm hose and problem solved.

 

[Magellan]

Sounds like we have similar approaches. The less I have to mess with, the better it is for me.

I want to start an amnio dose, I have a spare compartment in my dosing container... might look into that for next year.

Check out the Coralbox wifi doser. It's a great budget doser with wifi controls... big improvement over the Jebao I was using. Only odd thing it comes with 3mm hose. Not a big deal, but it wouldn't fit the standard 4mm fittings on my container I changed out the barbs on the pump heads to ones that accept either 3mm or 4mm hose and problem solved.

Glad I’m not the only one! For a long time I felt like I must surely be doing things drastically wrong and had no idea why things stayed alive and growing. That coral box seems like exactly what I’m looking for

 

[living_tribunal]

Sounds like your fuge is the powerhouse there! I change 5g of water about every 2 weeks, or close to 20%. My tank says it’s 28g, but that’s with no rock or sand or media basket or pumps or heater.

Starting out as a complete reef noob, it seemed to me that people with massive complicated filtration also had massive complicated dosing...and were constantly putting stuff into the water only to take it right back out. I figured, the KISS principle has taken me far in life, I’m going with the less is more approach. The only automation I have are my lights and an ATO...and I hate relying on the ATO!

Of course, now I’m starting 2 part, feed corals 2-3x a day, dose amino acids, and have as much filtration as I can fit in the back...an automatic doser sounds nice ;Dead

I’ve noticed the same. I see people as new to the hobby as I am running gfo, full photoperiod, dosing is verything, etc. then complaining why they are struggling

 

[living_tribunal]

 

[Why-Me]

Ooooo
Nice fat sack of goodies

 

[living_tribunal]

Ooooo
Nice fat sack of goodies

Popping my scoly cherry. I’m sure it will provoke an addiction.

Time will tell.