Reefing made simple

[fishhead1973]

I read a lot of help sections. One thing that has always got my eye is so many people use all this tech and snake oils. All that sounds good. Sometimes I believe reefing should be simple. Back when I first started reefing. We didn’t have that and had some of the nicest tanks around. Guys and gals do the simple approach. So I am going to give you guys some Ideas. Just a simple setup with a cheato filter and Red Sea carbon. That’s all you guys really need. And time you can’t rush the in reefing. Normally about 8 months till you’re tank start to get in balance heck you can even start your reef tank with a piece of shrimp no need for all the bacterial starters even with dry rock. All that stuff is snake oil. I know a lot of you guys have been brainwashed in to believing that you have to have all that stuff . Water changes kalk in the top off water. That’s all you really need.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Some have purpose while others are nothing more than what is already contained in the salt mix.
if you’re like myself and many others who do Not change water but twice a year, they can be useful

 

[fishhead1973]

Some have purpose while others are nothing more than what is already contained in the salt mix.
if you’re like myself and many others who do Not change water but twice a year, they can be useful

Agreed.

 

[mdb_talon]

I read a lot of help sections. One thing that has always got my eye is so many people use all this tech and snake oils. All that sounds good. Sometimes I believe reefing should be simple. Back when I first started reefing. We didn’t have that and had some of the nicest tanks around. Guys and gals do the simple approach. So I am going to give you guys some Ideas. Just a simple setup with a cheato filter and Red Sea carbon. That’s all you guys really need. And time you can’t rush the in reefing. Normally about 8 months till you’re tank start to get in balance heck you can even start your reef tank with a piece of shrimp no need for all the bacterial starters even with dry rock. All that stuff is snake oil. I know a lot of you guys have been brainwashed in to believing that you have to have all that stuff . Water changes kalk in the top off water. That’s all you really need.

The fact that it can be done multiple ways does not mean newer approaches are "snake oil". Countless people have tossed a shrimp in the tank and cycled their tank. However adding some ammonia and bottled bacteria can be just as sucessful(and generally much quicker).

I am generally on the side of taking a simpler approach also I been around long enough to remember when none of the modern stuff was around and we had to make do. I also am thrilled with the fact that we have so much more knowledge(and products/devices) available now that we didnt have 30 years ago.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The fact that it can be done multiple ways does not mean newer approaches are "snake oil". Countless people have tossed a shrimp in the tank and cycled their tank. However adding some ammonia and bottled bacteria can be just as sucessful(and generally much quicker).

I am generally on the side of taking a simpler approach also I been around long enough to remember when none of the modern stuff was around and we had to make do. I also am thrilled with the fact that we have so much more knowledge(and products/devices) available now that we didnt have 30 years ago.

I wish some of these were around when I first started

 

[fishhead1973]

True it can make it a lot easier. I just hate seeing people spent a lot of money and still not having success. Most of them now nothing about the science behind of reefing. All they won’t is a wow reef tank. This try to get them to understand.

 

[Gordon42]

I remember cycling my first tank back in 1986 with six black mollies. Haha

 

[reefinatl]

I agree generally. I think a 20-40g with some live rock and a couple damsels or clowns with some softies or LPS under t5 or a halide is the way new guys should be steered. It's incredible how nice more complicated setups can be but I don't think I could've handled all of that learning curve at once. Most people can't, that's why we see so few make it to two years.

 

[mermaid_life]

I've had one tank without tech and one tank with tech. I can say for myself tech answered a lot of questions for me. For example, I would read about people saying to test at the same time every day. It wasn't until I had probes that I finally understood the cycle (ph, dkh, etc) and not to panic with fluctuations. Someone really should have said if you can't test at the approx same time as you did in previous days, you really shouldn't bother testing at all because the number will kind of be useless. Lol.

Tech has made me understand what I was doing and why rather than trial and error and formulating incorrect cause and effects. My wallet is not deep enough for that.

Now that I have a tech tank, I could probably do a tank now without it and be somewhat successful.

 

[reefinatl]

I've had one tank without tech and one tank with tech. I can say for myself tech answered a lot of questions for me. For example, I would read about people saying to test at the same time every day. It wasn't until I had probes that I finally understood the cycle (ph, dkh, etc) and not to panic with fluctuations. Someone really should have said if you can't test at the approx same time as you did in previous days, you really shouldn't bother testing at all because the number will kind of be useless. Lol.

Tech has made me understand what I was doing and why rather than trial and error and formulating incorrect cause and effects. My wallet is not deep enough for that.

Now that I have a tech tank, I could probably do a tank now without it and be somewhat successful.

At some point I'll be doing an Apex or GHL for sure, that said I thought testing at the same time on the same schedule was common knowledge and practice.

Also big difference in your approach vs what I think OP is talking about is using tools to guide to a goal. Problems seen to come from new guys whiplashing and crashing from one approach to the next chasing numbers and not having a handle on the basics.