Minimalist Reefer

[KJ_north]

Great point! I guess what I'm trying to do is promote the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) method. It works for me.

I agree! And why not… after all I’ve never seen an Apex in the ocean

Disclaimer: I have no issue or experience with Apex, merely using it as an example.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

@revhtree any chance at making this it's own forum?

 

[BOYERZ]

Old tank long gone.

20 gallon high
Ac70
Heater
powerhead
Successful yes,pain in the butt yes.
Ran for 2 years.

 

[BOYERZ]

Upgrade:

20 gallon long, ran for 2 years

15 gallon sump

Successful yes.

easy to maintain yes.

 

[BOYERZ]

Current tank:

29 gallon aqueon.

Successful, we will see.

Easy to maintain.

Looks maximal, but it is the minimum for my needs.

Monthly 4 gallon wc

I don't test parameters other than:

Temp is 76-79

Ph is 7.9-8.3

Sg 1.025

 

[BOYERZ]

I think there is a way to do this:

(Reefkeeping for dummies)

Tank

Flow

Light

Heat

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Current tank:

29 gallon aqueon.

Successful, we will see.

Easy to maintain.

Looks maximal, but it is the minimum for my needs.

Monthly 4 gallon wc

I don't test parameters other than:

Temp is 76-79

Ph is 7.9-8.3

Sg 1.025

Really nice and clean setup.

 

[Doctorgori]

while we are at it…
my Trident showed Alk was 5.68 this a.m (didn’t notice: Life/ busy)
this type of emergency never happened back when I had to hand dose
forgot to say the cause was a disconnected hose from the AFR container

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

while we are at it…
my Trident showed Alk was 5.68 this a.m (didn’t notice: Life/ busy)
this type of emergency never happened back when I had to hand dose

That is a bit low. Did the reagent run out or is the dose clogged?

 

[VintageReefer]

Sump has heater, algae scrubber, cryptic dark area with live rock and sand, return pump
No water changes approx 30 months
I don’t think I could reduce maintenance any further than this. It’s about 5 min a week including cleaning the glass

 

[Ron Reefman]

I was going to make a comment, but then saw a couple of 'follow on' posts that made my comment unimportant! Oops!

 

[Ron Reefman]

while we are at it…
my Trident showed Alk was 5.68 this a.m (didn’t notice: Life/ busy)
this type of emergency never happened back when I had to hand dose
forgot to say the cause was a disconnected hose from the AFR container

I agree 100%. I dose Ca & alk for 2 tanks every morning and it takes all of maybe 3 or 4 minutes. And it means I get to see any unexpected over night changes first thing in the morning! Something like a pump that got clogged, or a fish that's sick, or a coral that fell over... whatever.

 

[ChrisPPolys]

Keep’n it old school..my old 14 gallon biocube and my new (old) biocube 32.

Currently have a hydra 32 LED, a Nero 3 power head a no name heater and nothing else.
No dosing, no calcium reactor, nothing in the “sump” if you even consider the chamber in the back a sump… no protein skimmer. Just some goooood old fashion city tap water and reef crystal salt for weekly/biweekly water changes.


Edit- forgot to add I haven’t tested any water parameters since 2018 aside from salinity with a refractometer

 

[Ron Reefman]

Keep’n it old school..my old 14 gallon biocube and my new (old) biocube 32.

Currently have a hydra 32 LED, a Nero 3 power head a no name heater and nothing else.
No dosing, no calcium reactor, nothing in the “sump” if you even consider the chamber in the back a sump… no protein skimmer. Just some goooood old fashion city tap water and reef crystal salt for weekly/biweekly water changes.


Edit- forgot to add I haven’t tested any water parameters since 2018 aside from salinity with a refractometer

Do you do anything to your tap water before you use it? Even just letting it set for a few hours can help evaporate/remove some of the stuff that gets added to city water.

 

[ChrisPPolys]

Do you do anything to your tap water before you use it? Even just letting it set for a few hours can help evaporate/remove some of the stuff that gets added to city water.

Every time I do a water change I remove my Nero 3. I use a toothbrush to scrub out any build up on the power head. (Usually not much at all) after a few months I’ll disassemble the entire Nero 3 and bring it back to brand new with the toothbrush.
I then scoop 2.5 cups of reef crystal salt into the 5 gallon bucket of tap water. I use my wrist to feel for a good not to hot not too cold. Similar to testing a babies bottle. If anything keeping the water a bit hotter as it’s going to sit for an hour before I put it in my tank. I let my Nero 3 run on 100% (pumps on setting in the app) for about an hour to mix the 2.5 cups into the 5 gallons.

While I’m doing that I scrub clean my glass with a magnet. Using the tooth brush to reach any hard to clean spots or spots that won’t come off with the magnet scraper. I do that until the glass is squeaky clean. I’ll use a turkey baster to blow off any sediment from the rocks. Once that’s done I siphon out 5 gallons of tank water into a different bucket. (Normally between cleaning the glass and siphoning the water it takes about an hour)
After my tanks looking good I just double check the salinity of the newly mixed salt water with a refractometer. Then just scoop large amounts of the newly mixed tap salt water into the tank. Once enough is in the tank I pour the remaining new salt water into the tank. Throw the Nero 3 pack into place and that’s it, works like a charm.

I leave a 1 gallon jug of tap water next to the tank. Whenever it needs some topping off I add that to the tank. If a full gallon is needed I’ll try and add a half gallon in the morning and half gallon into the tank a few hours later.

Early into keeping a saltwater tank I was purchasing 5 gallons of water from a LFS and using that for water changes. Or buying the expensive 5 gallons of pre mixed saltwater that come in jugs. I found that to be a waste of money.

 

[ChrisPPolys]

Hard to see with the heavy blue lights but have a mixture of torches, a hammer, some leathers. Lots and lots of bounce mushrooms(OG bounce, Hulk Bounce, Uranium Bounce, Powerball Bounce, Sunkist bounce & Jawbreaker mushrooms) Duncan’s, Scolys and a few unknown encrusting corals.

Since the 14 gallon was set up I’ve gotten rid of the pulsing Xenia, some fast growing green mushrooms, and the Zoas.

 

[Ott0]

Jumped back into the hobby after a 10 year hiatus, bought a 40G aio and fell back in love. I've seen a few of these minimalist builds and it has really peaked my interest. I am beginning to plan a pico or nano build that I want to try and keep free of mechanical filtration and just rely on biological filtration if possible. I'll definitely follow this thread and hopefully we can get a specific forum for this created.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Jumped back into the hobby after a 10 year hiatus, bought a 40G aio and fell back in love. I've seen a few of these minimalist builds and it has really peaked my interest. I am beginning to plan a pico or nano build that I want to try and keep free of mechanical filtration and just rely on biological filtration if possible. I'll definitely follow this thread and hopefully we can get a specific forum for this created.

Its a balance between stocking and available surface area for bacteria. Link here wgen you start so people can watch.

 

[saltnut]

While doing research on setting up a nano tank in 2005. I found an article titled Natural Filtration written 12/05/2002 By Christopher Marks was my inspiration for trying the kiss method. He wrote: The natural method of filtration consists of only liverock and livesand. No protein skimmers are used and no additives are dosed. The nutrient export is provided by frequent partial water changes of 10-15% about every week. Trace elements are replenished through water changes.
Today getting and paying for live rock is not as easy as it once was. I think it is still the best way to start a new tank. This does also require keeping a relatively small bio-load.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

While doing research on setting up a nano tank in 2005. I found an article titled Natural Filtration written 12/05/2002 By Christopher Marks was my inspiration for trying the kiss method. He wrote: The natural method of filtration consists of only liverock and livesand. No protein skimmers are used and no additives are dosed. The nutrient export is provided by frequent partial water changes of 10-15% about every week. Trace elements are replenished through water changes.
Today getting and paying for live rock is not as easy as it once was. I think it is still the best way to start a new tank. This does also require keeping a relatively small bio-load.

The only issue with this is that partial water changes only replenish partial trace elements. If something is say depleting 30 of X weekly, you are at 70 X in tank. When you take out only 10 percent, you are still at 70 X in tank. Adding 10 percent with 100 X will not fully replenish. It will only have a small percentage of X back. I dont know the exact math, but either dosing or 100 percent water changes will replenish X. Even if its just one of X out of 5000 X, a 50 percent water change will only make it go from 4999X to 4999.5 X. But everything else I agree.