One thing you did that NOTICEABLY IMPROVED your reef tank?

[leepink23]

Got a par meter to dial my lights in. Stopped tinkering with stuff and just let it grow. Started feeding more and worrying less about nutrients

 

[Bradford75]

Added a dosing pump but also sometimes the best decision was not to make one and resist making changes.

 

[Swordsman82]

Adding a media tower to my AIO. Game changer forcing all water flow thru filtration.

 

[Stephers]

Reef Moonshiners !! Couldn’t keep SPS to save my life, till I started RM…now I have around 20 pieces of Acros/Millis encrusting/growing with colors getting better and better.

Swithching to a SynergyReef sump with a large Refugium stuffed with Chaeto/Caulerpa would be a close second for getting my nutrients down.

Yes, Moonshiners!! I've only been doing it a couple months, but WOW is all I have to say, and I haven't even done the liquid mud or Rubidium dosing yet!

I had a zero iodine ICP reading earlier in the year and started reading how it really should be frequently dosed. Once I started dosing it, the results were fast and undeniable, which led me down the deep, dark trace elements hole and led me to Moonshiners. I'll never go back. Daily dosing half a dozen trace elements is a small price to pay for such happy looking coral.

 

[BradB]

20 years in the hobby - some decisions have greatly lowered cost and effort, but I don't think anything really expanded what I can keep. LEDs make high PAR easier and cheaper than anything I had before, but halides work at least as well and even the VHO and PC lights popular when I started will keep almost anything. Biggest change is what livestock is available.

20 years ago, you want Acropora? Green or purple is $50, brown is $20, no one had any other colors. But clams, Lobophyllia torch corals and hammers are also $20, ritteri anemone and gigantea were $40.

 

[James_O]

Strip clean!

 

[vetteguy53081]

For me.. . . . . .
Dosing aminos 4X per week
Shutting down that dog gone CA reactor. How can I tell others how to adjutst and run theirs for which theyre happy with advise and mine had alk up to 13,8.
I went back to DOS and all id fine

 

[mehaffydr]

On my first tank almost 20 years ago I thought I could use my tap water because I had a well so no chlorine. But soon I sure has Algae. Once I bought an RODI things greatly improved

 

[Petvit61]

For my 90 gallon mixed reef it was raising my pH with a recirculating CO2 scrubber. Growth has exploded, alkalinity consumption increased by 30 percent, and my corals have never looked better.

 

[kingjames_dc5]

Keeping my hands out of the tank. And started feeding reef roids every other day. I’m Seeing nice change in lps polyp extension and new growth. Very happy.

 

[karees]

Amino acid

 

[Rubber Ducky]

Well, funny story,but not so funny at thw same time...I had a 55gallon that I had for years and never really had much success with corals...and salt creep got to one of my outlets and we'll, caught my tank on fire!! Yeah, nothing like coming home to a black tank, the smell of burnt everything, and a bunch of firemen spraying my tank and wall with a fire extinguisher.
Sooo, I tossed tank, started from scratch with a bigger tank, better lighting, better everything...really took my time and studied up on where I messed up before, and have been keeping a happy tank stocked with 40+ corals and 7 way cooler fish....so in a nut shell, my tank catching on fire was the best thing that happened...

 

[Sidsreef]

I’ve had a problem with my tank and all parameters were in range I even did a icp test… so someone on here told me to try Aqua forest Life Source. So I dosed for two weeks and my tank did a complete 360 woke up the next morning all my corals were twice as fluffy and now I’m seeing sps encrust white tips and growth even lps is growin hardcore

 

[daileyo]

I make many decisions to try and improve my tank. I'm reef-less still... so I'd say they have not gone well for me. I guess at least I'm learning.

 

[daileyo]

Well, funny story,but not so funny at thw same time...I had a 55gallon that I had for years and never really had much success with corals...and salt creep got to one of my outlets and we'll, caught my tank on fire!! Yeah, nothing like coming home to a black tank, the smell of burnt everything, and a bunch of firemen spraying my tank and wall with a fire extinguisher.
Sooo, I tossed tank, started from scratch with a bigger tank, better lighting, better everything...really took my time and studied up on where I messed up before, and have been keeping a happy tank stocked with 40+ corals and 7 way cooler fish....so in a nut shell, my tank catching on fire was the best thing that happened...

Great recovery story. I may have been done after an experience like that.

 

[Saltwater_Lab]

decided to remove this old razor blade that must have been knocked into the tank by mistake. Now all of a sudden my corals are happy again. Weird…

 

[Delloman]

Uv

 

[A Young Reefer]

feeding corals more with a mixture of foods like : reef roids , vitalis , FM min s, plankton etc..

 

[Paul B]

I did many things over many years that improved my tank. The very first one was when I got my fish very healthy through the proper food so I could stop quarantining or medicating. Stopped using carbon maybe 15 years ago. Added an algae scrubber maybe 10 years ago. Of course changed from Metal Halide lights and now use LEDs. This may not have been a benefit for the tank, but made it much easier for me because LEDs are much cooler, lighter, cheaper and more efficient.

Feeding clams was also a big plus which I have always done but lately I feed them every day and when my white worm culture doesn't crash, I feed then a few times a week.
All these things work together so that I almost never have any issues or deaths

 

[mslabonik]

We all want a better reef tank! We want it to look better, be healthier and grow faster. As reef keepers we sometimes make mistakes that deter us from that goal but other times we make a good move that improves our reef tank. Some of the things we do has also worked for others, while other things might not work as well. What was it for you? Let's talk about it today!

What was one thing you did that NOTICEABLY IMPROVED your reef tank?

TELL US ABOUT IT!

Image via our Reef Of The Month @Bacon505

We all want a better reef tank! We want it to look better, be healthier and grow faster. As reef keepers we sometimes make mistakes that deter us from that goal but other times we make a good move that improves our reef tank. Some of the things we do has also worked for others, while other things might not work as well. What was it for you? Let's talk about it today!

What was one thing you did that NOTICEABLY IMPROVED your reef tank?

TELL US ABOUT IT!

Image via our Reef Of The Month @Bacon505

I recently got my Bubble Magnus filter roller installed and seeing how dirty the filter material, realized how much detris flowes into the sump. It is great! I love it, no more filter socks!!