I stop buying stuff for my tank and it's the best decision ever

ninjamyst · Sep 26, 2023

Been in the hobby for 10+ years and looked in my "fish closet" a few months ago and saw the graveyard of unused equipments and random bottles of reef elixirs and potions. I have 2 extra IM reactors, 5-6 wavemakers / pumps, 2-3 heaters, pod hotels (remember those??), and I dont even know if these equipments still all work. I have tubs of phosguard, GFO, carbon that I haven't used, I have all kinds of amino acid, reef buffer, trace elements, reef roids, bacto balance, np-plus, elimi-np, iodine, and other random junk. It made me realized BRS does a heck of a job marketing and I fell for it time after time. I was close to pulling the trigger on a $400 algae scrubber because I been dealing with high phosphate. Then I told myself no more.

I took down the 2 reactors already running in the tank. I threw away all the bottles of additives. I got some chaeto + red macroalgae and started my fuge back up. Fast forward to now and my tank been in the best shape ever. My parameters are in check and I am going to go back to the basics.

Filter pad + Skimmer + Fuge + 2 parts + Feed my fish. That's it. The only thing I will have to buy ever again is filter pads, frozen fish food, and RODI replacement. I am done adding anything else to my tank. Unsubscribed from BRS, Aquacave, and SWA.

exnisstech · Sep 26, 2023

ninjamyst said:
Fast forward to now and my tank been in the best shape ever. My parameters are in check and I am going to go back to the basics.

I'm with you. My 180 has been running for about 8 years and has never looked better. I manually dose 2 part in the morning and change 20g of water a week and let it run itself. I spent plenty of time chasing numbers and trying the latest miracle in a bottle over the years and usually did more harm than good.
I do have 2 other smaller tanks that I'm experimenting with growing sticks so those get a little more attention but I'm still trying to keep it as simple as possible.
Fuges in all tanks with chaeto. Doesn't really help with nutrient removal but sure does grow some cool life forms.

thatmanMIKEson · Sep 26, 2023

ninjamyst said:
Been in the hobby for 10+ years and looked in my "fish closet" a few months ago and saw the graveyard of unused equipments and random bottles of reef elixirs and potions. I have 2 extra IM reactors, 5-6 wavemakers / pumps, 2-3 heaters, pod hotels (remember those??), and I dont even know if these equipments still all work. I have tubs of phosguard, GFO, carbon that I haven't used, I have all kinds of amino acid, reef buffer, trace elements, reef roids, bacto balance, np-plus, elimi-np, iodine, and other random junk. It made me realized BRS does a heck of a job marketing and I fell for it time after time. I was close to pulling the trigger on a $400 algae scrubber because I been dealing with high phosphate. Then I told myself no more.

I took down the 2 reactors already running in the tank. I threw away all the bottles of additives. I got some chaeto + red macroalgae and started my fuge back up. Fast forward to now and my tank been in the best shape ever. My parameters are in check and I am going to go back to the basics.

Filter pad + Skimmer + Fuge + 2 parts + Feed my fish. That's it. The only thing I will have to buy ever again is filter pads, frozen fish food, and RODI replacement. I am done adding anything else to my tank. Unsubscribed from BRS, Aquacave, and SWA.

you're not alone friend! lol, good move!!!!

MECOMI · Sep 26, 2023

ninjamyst said:
Been in the hobby for 10+ years and looked in my "fish closet" a few months ago and saw the graveyard of unused equipments and random bottles of reef elixirs and potions. I have 2 extra IM reactors, 5-6 wavemakers / pumps, 2-3 heaters, pod hotels (remember those??), and I dont even know if these equipments still all work. I have tubs of phosguard, GFO, carbon that I haven't used, I have all kinds of amino acid, reef buffer, trace elements, reef roids, bacto balance, np-plus, elimi-np, iodine, and other random junk. It made me realized BRS does a heck of a job marketing and I fell for it time after time. I was close to pulling the trigger on a $400 algae scrubber because I been dealing with high phosphate. Then I told myself no more.

I took down the 2 reactors already running in the tank. I threw away all the bottles of additives. I got some chaeto + red macroalgae and started my fuge back up. Fast forward to now and my tank been in the best shape ever. My parameters are in check and I am going to go back to the basics.

Filter pad + Skimmer + Fuge + 2 parts + Feed my fish. That's it. The only thing I will have to buy ever again is filter pads, frozen fish food, and RODI replacement. I am done adding anything else to my tank. Unsubscribed from BRS, Aquacave, and SWA.

What a revelation and relief i felt once i started simplifying things in my RSM S500. After a mini crash i changed my approach. 8% water changes a week (instant ocean), 4 reusable mesh filter socks, Carbo-Calcium or All-for-Reef powder, and i only run carbon as needed.

I have two medium size caskets of these miracle cures and unneeded equipment just begging me to go through them and throw them away

Later days,

B-Kind

P.S. I do wish i had some backup pumps/heaters/returns though. Hard to pass up buying animals instead

BZOFIQ · Sep 26, 2023

@ninjamyst

Good for you!

bushdoc · Sep 26, 2023

But, what about our economy and all those wonderful manufacturers selling us this miraculous stuff? They will go bankrupt!
Oh, well, I guess there will always be someone buying their ~~placebo,~~ I mean their good stuff.

MnFish1 · Sep 26, 2023

I did this as well. I can't say I noticed a huge improvement, but I certainly didn't notice any decline - and It lowered maintenance requirements considerably. I had live rock, fish coral in the tank, 2 filter socks, a heater and a skimmer in the sump. Also dosed.

I also tested nitrates and PO4 monthly, alkalinity weekly, salinity. As I did less, the tank didn't change. If I saw a problem with a coral, etc - I then tested. Of course I had a temp monitor

mijan · Sep 26, 2023

less is more

jda · Sep 26, 2023

Sell or trade all of that fish closet stuff for backups to your main equipment. Then, you are all set.

I pretty much just collect backups, refill my co2 bottles and I do use some GAC from time to time. People sometimes laugh at me when I just buy new pumps for my 20 year old skimmers, but they work better, or as good, as new ones. No supplements for me except for iron for my chaeto.

ninjamyst · Sep 26, 2023

jda said:
Sell or trade all of that fish closet stuff for backups to your main equipment. Then, you are all set.

I pretty much just collect backups, refill my co2 bottles and I do use some GAC from time to time. People sometimes laugh at me when I just buy new pumps for my 20 year old skimmers, but they work better, or as good, as new ones. No supplements for me except for iron for my chaeto.

That's great advice and I actually have a Radion XR30 G4 in the closet as backup. I have looked into a return pump backup just in case.

Bpones · Sep 26, 2023

Simpler is so much better. I'm down to running a skimmer and cheato. People always ask, "How difficult are salt water aquariums?"
The answer is, as difficult as you'd like to make it.

BZOFIQ · Sep 26, 2023

Bpones said:
The answer is, as difficult as you'd like to make it.

True, true.

ninjamyst · Sep 26, 2023

Bpones said:
Simpler is so much better. I'm down to running a skimmer and cheato. People always ask, "How difficult are salt water aquariums?"
The answer is, as difficult as you'd like to make it.

100%!! Same as when people ask how expensive is this hobby. As expensive as you make it. Cheap $1 a gallon tank with cheap Amazon light and free softies from local hobbyists can be prettier than $10,000 tank with the latest equipments.

knockout · Sep 26, 2023

I dose quite a few things, but recently ran out of trace elements, ran up to the site to order, and then said to myself, why, have I really seen improvement in my colors since I started this... not that I can remember, so I stopped, so I suppose I am in the training phase of doing less...

Ozzy · Sep 26, 2023

I hear you. When I first started the hobby in 2012 I had so much excess due to upgrading from a 20g to a 75g lol. But going through all of that did make me learn to not chase numbers and dosing didn't seem to do much anyways, and I swear I could go three months without a water change or dosing and everything grew like crazy, SPS included *shrug*.

Come to now I am just sitting with my little WB PM 25, got a little chaeto in the middle chamber and just add pods every other month if needed. With the smaller tank I do have to keep up with water changes though so doing about 25% every week... may get a little skimmer so I can do less haha.

But only excess I have now is the old pump and an in tank media basket for a JBJ nanotube that I got rid of. But I do think I will get a back up heater and pump but those are things I can get locally, lighting on the other hand..worst case I can order one... not like people haven't done black outs on their tanks for a few days for algae control lol.

DIYreefer · Sep 26, 2023

I've been in the hobby for quite a long time myself. If I were starting fresh today with no prior experience I highly doubt I would attempt reefing at all. I feel that we have made things far more complicated than it needs to be, generally speaking. Don't even get me started on the cost of entry these days, lol.

Ben's Pico Reefing · Sep 26, 2023

Air pump currently but have used circulation pump prior, light and the tank are my equipment. worked for years. I dosed aminos before as well and noticed better color not doing that yet. but the 100 percent water changes keep everything in check. Of course, it is easier on a pico lol. larger tanks I would have to dose for less water change lol.