Tank Trials: Ultra Low Maintenance Tanks | BRStv Investigates

[Bob_Marlin]

Hey BRS, absolutely loving the ULM series so far!!! I must have watched every episode about 10 times! Even inspired me to get another tank! Or two! Your videos are always brilliant and really informative, keep up the hard work! Can’t wait for the next ULM episode!!

 

[SantaMonica]

reduced level of nutrients can cause the tank to crash

No, low nutrients will not do this the way you are thinking. Low nutrients are what natural sea water is (almost all are not measurable).

However if you have a lot of coral that are weak already, and you suddenly lower nutrients quickly and "lower than measurable" (say with a lot of gfo or carbon dosing), then you may kill some corals.

 

[IronChefItaly]

No, low nutrients will not do this the way you are thinking. Low nutrients are what natural sea water is (almost all are not measurable).

However if you have a lot of coral that are weak already, and you suddenly lower nutrients quickly and "lower than measurable" (say with a lot of gfo or carbon dosing), then you may kill some corals.

I disagree, the ocean has very low nutrients but they are always available in low quantities. You can have the healthiest, mature system and you can crash it with a modest amount of biopellets, GFO or carbon dosing. There are plenty accounts of this recorded across user forums and I don't think that it can be justified to say that the corals were compromised to begin with.

 

[Deep Reef]

When nutrients run low the cheato ball will mass die off causing tank to crash

 

[pa30crewchief]

In my first year of reef tanking and so far so good. BRS TV’s series on setting up a tank definitely helped me avoid costly errors and, sofar, very low mortality (a copperband, rip). Its a RedSea Reefer 450XL with some tweaks to sump for a chaeto ball lit by a growth light, a bioreactor and skimmer (using air drawn through a sodalime cartridge), a carbon reactor, a UV light and of course filter socks. Dosing is two part with a Neptune and the Neptune Apex helps monitor and control (and backs up ATO and heater). VarioS 8 keeps reasonable flow through an awful manifold set up and flow is only around 1150 lph. In top good circulation with 2 Gyres controlled by Apex and 2 WAVs (one of which is currently dead). I test Alk, Ca, Mg weekly and parameters are kept in a narrow range.

I have done basically minimal to no water changes from the beginning. In the last 4 months what I have been doing is paying attention to Salinity....with two part dosing NaCl eventually must rise. When it gets to 1.028 I drain salt water from the tank and refill with equivalent RO to restore salinity to 1.025. This is approximately 30l of salt water removed and replaced with RO or 7% every 4-6 weeks. I do not test any other parameters other than Ca, Alk and Mg but do dose RedSea Coral colors based on Ca consumption once a week or so.

Feeding is pellets in the morning and frozen in the afternoon if I remember. I am probably underfeeding the fish but they are all active and don’t seem to mind. Reefroids every now and again but its tank dosed and I am not target feeding. SPS from tiny frags have taken off. LPS are doing ok with growth over the frag plug and beginning to migrate onto live rock.

Anyway, no saltwater changes ever with only salinity corrections. I live in an apartment and I am pleased with the level of effort so far. The ULM approach was not my initial target but the tank is stable and nutrient export from very happy chaeto ball, carbon reactor and productive bioreactor/ skimmer seems to be keeping accumulation of nasties in check.

 

[teller]

When nutrients run low the cheato ball will mass die off causing tank to crash

If you feed well enough your fish daily, there will be enough phosphorus and nitrogen for Chaeto.
1. However if you do not dose micro/trace elements along your alk, CA, MG these may be depleted.
2. Also if you run the refugium lights like 24/7 or so in high intensity, it can also be another reason for the sudden die off of Chaeto.
Just my opinion.

 

[Simon Ashby]

A 6' tank with automation and livestock is the price of a Boat, add scuba tanks and you have a zero maintenance ocean tank

Not my boat!

 

[Simon Ashby]

ULM= continuous water changes at 50% per day.

Then there's no testing to do and dosing to be done. No skimmer cup to empty. No evaporation to replace. No cal,alk, or any other to play with. Provided you get a salt mix that's considered good it's set and forget.
That's the only true ulm tank imo.

But then you'd have to make up enough salt for a 50% water change every day? Which means, you'd have to do this at least say once a week, which doesn't seem that ULM to me.

 

[Cory]

But then you'd have to make up enough salt for a 50% water change every day? Which means, you'd have to do this at least say once a week, which doesn't seem that ULM to me.

Thats not ulm. But making up a big batch at once is pretty ulm.

 

[Simon Ashby]

Thats not ulm. But making up a big batch at once is pretty ulm.

Can you do that? That's awesome! I always thought that mixed SW had to be used fairly quickly?

 

[Cory]

Can you do that? That's awesome! I always thought that mixed SW had to be used fairly quickly?

Not at all. You can make as much as you want and use it when you want.

 

[Ds04384]

Can you do that? That's awesome! I always thought that mixed SW had to be used fairly quickly?

You usually use it relatively quickly because things will start to precipitate out, the longer it sits the more this will happen. If you are dosing everything you need and the contribution from a water change is negligible then you might not care but if you count on your water change to replace elements, alk, etc then you wouldn't want to leave it too long. If you want to do the big change daily like originally suggested then this wouldn't be a great idea. Say you make 2 weeks worth of water. The water at the bottom of the barrel on day 14 would not have the same chemistry as the water you'd use the next day on a fresh mix and levels would end up being unstable in the tank.

 

[Sunny Goold]

I have been running a low maintenance mixed reef for more than 2 years now. I learned along the way that after maturity, I can slowly remove certain equipment and routine maintenance. It took almost 2 years for me to end up with a very simple setup.

Wow - I just joined and saw this post (I think) mentioned on Ep-4 - Your stuff is great because I will start my project soon and I have a very limited budget. I want to do an ULM version that keeps my costs down. Anyhow I really appreciate your approach and your tank looks AMAZING.

 

[Stephen L]

Trying to achieve an ULM system I decided to add a roller matt filter and a 50% system volume refugium. This will involve pumping from my sump to an external refugium. I have a low nutrient system just now and mainly have soft corals with a few hard corals which my water changes looked after. Just as I was about to start I see this Triton method so now im confused which way to go.
So my question is will I achieve the same results with a roller matt filter and large refugium as with the triton method. I do have a oversized skimmer already. Secondly if I went for triton system would it work with an large refuguim which i pump to which means some water would bypass the pump to the skimmer direcctly. feeling a little confused.... I do like the look of SPS which I believe triton method will look after in the future but for now its mainly soft corals...
Any replies welcome guys if you can help please

 

[randyBRS]

ULM Tank Trials Ep-11: Lighting for Ultra Low Maintenance | BRStv

Ryan’s back this week and we finally get a long awaited look into how the BRS ULM tanks are doing! Along with that, this week we explore tank lighting and what goes into a ULM lighting choice.


This week's question:

-Can aquarium controllers help your tank to be Ultra Low Maintenance? If so, how is it working for you?

 

[FartyParty]

Controllers are essential to low maintenance for a number of reasons:
- consolidation of all tools in one place for simplied access
- fluid monitor to turn off pump if leaky/broken seal, averting salinty crash.
- feed timer/skimmer delay to help ensure pump turns back on and skimmer doesnt overflow
- Can identify swings or unsafe levels in water parameters, turning on/off equipment when absent and prompting action before mass die off occurs.
- automate mundane elements such as stand access lights that become tedious over time
-ATO fills my tank directly from RO line

My Neptune Apex Jr. has helped me do all of those things, and its allowed me to add modules as i moved from a 75 gallon FOWLR to 20 gal nano reef to my current 50 gallon cube reef-ready tank that i would consider ULM compared to all the others I've owned. Currently doing Triton method.

My critical tasks include:
Daily:
-feed various foods and plankton (10 minutes)

Every two days:
- Hanna Alk test (10 minutes), adjust dosing schedule if needed (2 minutes)
- churn shallow sand bed (2 minutes)
- check dosing lines for buildup (10 seconds)

Every Week:
- clean external skimmer cup (10 minutes)
- check/change sock filter (5 minutes)
- clean glass (10 minutes)

Monthly:
- new carbon in BRS mini reactor (15 minutes)
- visual check of dosing levels (10 seconds)
- sock laundry, if required (20 minutes)

While i definitely spend more time than that, i would consider it ULM given it has stable parameters with that schedule.

 

[Ryanbrs]

I disagree, the ocean has very low nutrients but they are always available in low quantities. You can have the healthiest, mature system and you can crash it with a modest amount of biopellets, GFO or carbon dosing. There are plenty accounts of this recorded across user forums and I don't think that it can be justified to say that the corals were compromised to begin with.

While I agree this is a possibility I have to say for every report of this there just as many tanks running basically zero nutrients and producing stunning results. I have yet to hear a viable reason why a critical mass of low nutrient tanks out there produces nothing but success. There just has to be more to it than this. The hobby is large enough now that if you want to find "x method, level or additive" caused something awesome or something terrible you will find a mass of reefers who share that point of view, particularly if it "sounds plausible" . Plausible and best guesses have really has replaced facts in many areas of our hobby. I think it is helpful to remember everything we thought we knew 5 years ago ends up being wrong in some way or another This is particularly true when the theory only seems to be right in a portion of experiments. All of our reef tanks really being the experiment.

In many of these cases, I think it is found not in what similarities the tank share but actually what is different. It is very likely more about the history of the tanks chemistry and how the method, additive or filter was implemented. In many cases more related to the stability of water chemistry than it is about finding the perfect level. If you have 100 GFO, Vodka, Biopellet users and some portion have negative results but a large portion of users have positive results my gut tends to believe the difference lies within how it was implemented or something unique to that system that made it successful or not.

 

[zer0salinity]

I like this entire topic as it is applying the principles of Lean and the 7 wastes identified in the Toyota Production System (TPS). I first learned these rules growing up from my parents to work smart. But when I was in school learning about mechanical engineering, I took a course where it discussed these 7 wastes and the principles of lean. These rules can be applied to anywhere and anything and is being applied with the approach being published by Bulk Reef Supply. How do you make something easier? How do you make it safer? Safety comes first in anything we do.

Going back to the subject: Can aquarium controllers help your tank be low maintenance?" Of course! You can be ahead on critical parameters and be informed so you don't have to work too hard. After all maintenance is key! With the controller, you can set all kinds of preventable conditions ie., critical salinity readings, pH readings, low level solutions all of which would alert the aquarist to take action to prevent anything else catastrophic which would involve in more labor in restoring operable parameters (ie,calcium levels, alkalinity, PAR etc.)

Here is a scenario, if you did not have, for example, temperature readings on the go, and you are on the road, traveling somewhere, and you come home to find out you had a massive bleach out due to failed heater being stuck on or off. The ULM approach to this would be to keep a journal of everything you do on your tank. I love the apex interface because it allows you to take notes on your controller right from the app so you can make a change and report the results in another note, all sequentially and then review them off the bat looking for trends. I love controllers because if you find a repetitive task, there is a way to automate it, and controllers allow us to do it.

 

[zer0salinity]

I like this entire topic as it is applying the principles of Lean and the 7 wastes identified in the Toyota Production System (TPS). I first learned these rules growing up from my parents to work smart. But when I was in school learning about mechanical engineering, I took a course where it discussed these 7 wastes and the principles of lean. These rules can be applied to anywhere and anything and is being applied with the approach being published by Bulk Reef Supply. How do you make something easier? How do you make it safer? Safety comes first in anything we do.

Going back to the subject: Can aquarium controllers help your tank be low maintenance?" Of course! You can be ahead on critical parameters and be informed so you don't have to work too hard. After all maintenance is key! With the controller, you can set all kinds of preventable conditions ie., critical salinity readings, pH readings, low level solutions all of which would alert the aquarist to take action to prevent anything else catastrophic which would involve in more labor in restoring operable parameters (ie,calcium levels, alkalinity, PAR etc.)

Here is a scenario, if you did not have, for example, temperature readings on the go, and you are on the road, traveling somewhere, and you come home to find out you had a massive bleach out due to failed heater being stuck on or off. The ULM approach to this would be to keep a journal of everything you do on your tank. I love the apex interface because it allows you to take notes on your controller right from the app so you can make a change and report the results in another note, all sequentially and then review them off the bat looking for trends. I love controllers because if you find a repetitive task, there is a way to automate it, and controllers allow us to do it.

 

[rtparty]

@Ryanbrs

Why didn't you just put the RMS mount on the side of the LPS and softie tank?

While it may not look the best, it would at least let you use what you wanted. It would have also tested the paper published by Ecotech