Thanks for the acknowledgement @brandon429 !
I see these threads all the time but I don't get involved. Everyone has their opinions and that's okay. Unfortunately, we are in a world of impatience coupled with each company's ability to market their products efficiently. My formula errs to the side of minimalism. I would never use those products. In fact, I have a personal theory/opinion that those products are the one's the cause the dino's and/or tank crashes we have been seeing. If you go back years ago before those products became prevalent, you'd never get so many threads about dinos. Again, I have no data, just assumptions. It seems that one of the main things in common between anyone w/ dinos is bac in a bottle. I'm sure there are exceptions of course. This hobby is great because we really just don't know. That's what keeps us coming back.
I also would never start my tank w/ any kind of live rock, from a retailer or a fellow local reefer. I need to know (to the best of my abilities) what goes into my tank. I also don't buy the current assumption live rock = no dinos.
To reiterate, I started with dry rock (to be honest, dead rock from a previous build years ago that has been dry for 4/5 years), ghost feeding for cycling. That's it. Other than 1.5/2 weeks where I saw some nuisance algae on the back wall, I have NOT had the uglies or any dinos. I also didn't panic those 1.5/2 weeks. I kept up maintenance and cleaning and it went away. Of course, I may get nuisance algae tomorrow. If so, I'm happy to report back to be transparent.
I don't dose and I don't test. I do monitor with my Reef Angel controller. (By the way, anyone w/ the patience, I'd recommend Reef Angel. IT-JUST-WORKS. That's it. Weekly wc's and feeding is all I do.
I'm starting another tank and I will do the same. I'm not going to do a transfer. I'm going to cycle that tank first then bring stuff over from this tank. We'll see how that goes.
I recommend any reefer to the research necessary and then form your own opinions and path forward based on the information given to you. Don't take anyone one or two suggestions as fact.
I see these threads all the time but I don't get involved. Everyone has their opinions and that's okay. Unfortunately, we are in a world of impatience coupled with each company's ability to market their products efficiently. My formula errs to the side of minimalism. I would never use those products. In fact, I have a personal theory/opinion that those products are the one's the cause the dino's and/or tank crashes we have been seeing. If you go back years ago before those products became prevalent, you'd never get so many threads about dinos. Again, I have no data, just assumptions. It seems that one of the main things in common between anyone w/ dinos is bac in a bottle. I'm sure there are exceptions of course. This hobby is great because we really just don't know. That's what keeps us coming back.
I also would never start my tank w/ any kind of live rock, from a retailer or a fellow local reefer. I need to know (to the best of my abilities) what goes into my tank. I also don't buy the current assumption live rock = no dinos.
To reiterate, I started with dry rock (to be honest, dead rock from a previous build years ago that has been dry for 4/5 years), ghost feeding for cycling. That's it. Other than 1.5/2 weeks where I saw some nuisance algae on the back wall, I have NOT had the uglies or any dinos. I also didn't panic those 1.5/2 weeks. I kept up maintenance and cleaning and it went away. Of course, I may get nuisance algae tomorrow. If so, I'm happy to report back to be transparent.
I don't dose and I don't test. I do monitor with my Reef Angel controller. (By the way, anyone w/ the patience, I'd recommend Reef Angel. IT-JUST-WORKS. That's it. Weekly wc's and feeding is all I do.
I'm starting another tank and I will do the same. I'm not going to do a transfer. I'm going to cycle that tank first then bring stuff over from this tank. We'll see how that goes.
I recommend any reefer to the research necessary and then form your own opinions and path forward based on the information given to you. Don't take anyone one or two suggestions as fact.