it’s possible for old school setups to sit in place but here’s what he left out
if his rocks slide down and create a storm his whole tank dies
if a powerhead dislodges his whole tank dies
during a power outage a fully eutrophic sandbed / unexported is taking o2 at many times over what a clean or bare bottom system can run
Luck runs those systems, not planning.
weather luck, hardware luck, external vs internal locus of control.
and lastly, not possible to write a flowchart to reproduce the method, Dr Shimek made one and the hobby still chose bare bottom or stick stirred, for reasons above.
Anyone tries old school hands off nowadays using white base rock and Fiji pink sand, you won’t be reefing in a year you’ll be facing the uglies nonstop and hating reefing, you’ll have the opposite of control.
as long as the stratification remains and it remains lucky untouched, the tank might go ten more years in place.
the tank would be impossible to move and relocate without surgical access, or it would all die.
see how the result is total loss if you break an eggshell? Who wants that type of reefing anymore. One mistake in a decade can kill the tank
I’m willing to take your challenge. My sand bed hasn’t been stirred by anything other than snails since 2012; 9 years now. I will take a Rio 900 power head and blast my sandbed to see what happens. I’m willing to bet not much will happen.. My tank will turn pure white / brown and I won’t be able to see anything for hours, but I bet when everything settles, my only issue will be dusty rocks and corals. Let’s see what happens... sand bed before picture. This is going to make a mess!