Tank Trials: Ultra Low Maintenance Tanks | BRStv Investigates

[Ryanbrs]

Thanks for the update and transparency! Showing the bad with the good helps everyone learn.

I am not surprised to hear about sump "issues" and how you wish you went custom. I believe I said something about that earlier

Are you guys monitoring the N and P in each tank? If so, what are the readings?

There is a few parts per million nitrate in each tank and a few tenths of a ppm phosphate in each tank. I'd say the refugiums are not into full swing but it looks like we are about to turn that corner. I think the corals we added a couple days ago will address that as well.

 

[Ryanbrs]

There has been a lot of discussions here about the UV aspect. I'm really curious if others have experienced reduced bacterial or algae issues. Its obviously not going to prevent the growth of anything already on a surface but it certainly seems like there is potential to slow down the initial spread of these things, or potentially slow down the repopulation of surfaces which have been cleared. Potentially the most noticeable might be glass cleaning and the speed algae film repopulates the glass.

I am a little wary of saying UV can do any of these for sure and more importantly do it perpetually. We are discussing setting up a BRSTV investigates on this. What do you all of you think would be a compelling experiment to identify if UV does reduce overall maintenance, keep the tank cleaner or reduce the visual appearance of common pests?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Also want to say thanks for this series. Recently started a new build a few weeks ago and this series did play a part with plumbing and how to cure rock. Will be following along for additional insights.

 

[Gareth elliott]

There has been a lot of discussions here about the UV aspect. I'm really curious if others have experienced reduced bacterial or algae issues. Its obviously not going to prevent the growth of anything already on a surface but it certainly seems like there is potential to slow down the initial spread of these things, or potentially slow down the repopulation of surfaces which have been cleared. Potentially the most noticeable might be glass cleaning and the speed algae film repopulates the glass.

I am a little wary of saying UV can do any of these for sure and more importantly do it perpetually. We are discussing setting up a BRSTV investigates on this. What do you all of you think would be a compelling experiment to identify if UV does reduce overall maintenance, keep the tank cleaner or reduce the visual appearance of common pests?

Might be interesting to compare UV and Ozone. Both would be around the same initial cost. Ozone with some more operational expense of Dryer beads. But added cost of replacement UV bulbs probably even this out.

Perhaps to test antimicrobial efficacy, test with copepods. Control feeding and surface area between the tanks. Say plastic scrubbing discs as surface area for breeding.

After x time collect x liters of water, strain and weight the resulting copepods.

Couldnt think of a test with actual parasites that would be accurate and humane.

 

[Devaji]

I can say that Triton has done really well on the 160. I think we will have an update pretty soon. These ULM tanks are just alternative approaches. I am fairly confident they will produce similar types of success on the LPS and softy tank. The SPS tank will be the most interesting to follow. How far does the kalk reactor and red sea trace colors take us? After that how well does the calcium reactor manage trace elements?[/QUOTE]

I really like that you have the resources to do this test and are honestly documenting it. I feel we are on the leading edge of reefing and such approach and testing is helping the hobby is so many ways. hell it will be interesting to look back in a decade and see how far we have come.
keep up the good work !

 

[rtparty]

There has been a lot of discussions here about the UV aspect. I'm really curious if others have experienced reduced bacterial or algae issues. Its obviously not going to prevent the growth of anything already on a surface but it certainly seems like there is potential to slow down the initial spread of these things, or potentially slow down the repopulation of surfaces which have been cleared. Potentially the most noticeable might be glass cleaning and the speed algae film repopulates the glass.

I am a little wary of saying UV can do any of these for sure and more importantly do it perpetually. We are discussing setting up a BRSTV investigates on this. What do you all of you think would be a compelling experiment to identify if UV does reduce overall maintenance, keep the tank cleaner or reduce the visual appearance of common pests?

I can't get into any true scientific way that you could measure if one tank is "cleaner" than another. It isn't my area of expertise in the least. (Want to put a logo on something? That's my area. You'd think it was scientific and chemical mixing by the way some people treat you though.)

I would think something along the lines of the chaeto test would work or at least be a starting point. Setup 4 tanks, put no bioload in the tank, add a surface for bacteria (10 Marine pure spheres maybe?) and then feed each tank the same amount. Then notice if any one tank is cleaner or needs less glass cleaning. Use the same light over each tank as well so that variable is taken care of. Have a control tank with no UV, 1 with low UV (like 9w on 25g), one with mid-range UV (25w for 25g) and then a heavy UV of like 50w for 25g. Make the flow rate the same through each to begin but this could also be another test in and of itself. Accounting team may not like it but you're the boss...sooo....

There are obviously some flaws in the above "test" that would need to be ironed out but that's for people above my pay grade to handle. [emoji3]

 

[HolisticBear]

What do you all of you think would be a compelling experiment to identify if UV does reduce overall maintenance, keep the tank cleaner or reduce the visual appearance of common pests?

Water Clarity of four tanks : Baseline, Carbon, KZ Coral Snow, vs UV could be interesting. Measuring clarity and/or glass algae can be tricky. A fuge will likely yellow the water.

With UV helping out on some Dino species + some master reefers (@Elder1945) mentioning clarity, that's the plus. The downside (besides price) that always comes up is that it kills too much beneficial life that may result in an more fragile / less stable / less mature system. Not sure how you test that or bring clarity to that point, it parallels the better without GFO issue.

 

[randyBRS]

ULM Tank Trials Ep-17: Corals for Ultra Low Maintenance | BRStv

Corals, corals and more corals! Today we finally fill the ULM tanks with corals, with a big THANKS to our friends at @WWC ! Today's discussion has us discussing things like coral origin, nutrient requirements, agressive corals, lighting needs, chemistry requirements and more.

Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on ULM corals and a special thanks to @FartyParty ; @Aborin1 ; @Ds04384

 

[Devaji]

wow @WWC dang you guys stepped up for sure!
living out in Wyoming there is not a LFS in the state I believe so all my goodies fish, corals and hardware are mailed in. but dang... I sure would love to see your store some day. maybe i'll win the prize!?? my tank so need some more coral..

right on for you to match BRS prize! perfect way to advertise.

@randyBRS and @Ryanbrs now that the tanks have fish and corals in them maybe its time to film the rest of the episodes with them in view? dont get me wrong I LOVE the BRS 160...drool but also want to see the real world progress of the ULM tanks.
I think new reefers and us seasoned one need to be reminded of the magical changes both ugly and beautiful that a new tank goes through.

its going to be so hard to choose wicth one i like the most but if I had to it would be the LPS tank I think it's gonna look amazing!
with the softie are you gonna ad anything other than shrooms and the like? there are some really cool softies out there.

one coral I think gets way over looked and IMHO are photosynthetic gorgs. they're beautiful and easy to care for, sure feeding does help but not 100% needed I have not feed mine in months.

I LOVE this...talk about a dream job, setting up cool tanks and talking about them. hell yeah guys what a way to turn your passion to a fun job!!

 

[Micro reefing]

I have tried doing the Ulm way for my reef tank but it seems that once I get it that clean my corals don’t seem as vibrant maybe I’m doing something wrong.But I still believe that corals still need those nutrients but then again no reef tank is the same

 

[Flexin]

ULM is ultra low maintenance, not ultra low nutrients.

 

[revhtree]

I about died when Ryan read your name @FartyParty!! LOL! Also @WWC you guys sure know how to rock the coral deliveries!

 

[Dawn Dababneh]

There has been a lot of discussions here about the UV aspect. I'm really curious if others have experienced reduced bacterial or algae issues. Its obviously not going to prevent the growth of anything already on a surface but it certainly seems like there is potential to slow down the initial spread of these things, or potentially slow down the repopulation of surfaces which have been cleared. Potentially the most noticeable might be glass cleaning and the speed algae film repopulates the glass.

I am a little wary of saying UV can do any of these for sure and more importantly do it perpetually. We are discussing setting up a BRSTV investigates on this. What do you all of you think would be a compelling experiment to identify if UV does reduce overall maintenance, keep the tank cleaner or reduce the visual appearance of common pests?

I have found that my UV really cuts down the algae growth in my tank. I’ve compared with it on and off and there is a definite difference

 

[Devaji]

I about died when Ryan read your name @FartyParty!! LOL! Also @WWC you guys sure know how to rock the coral deliveries!

you know @revhtree that's why that got picked...just so Ryan could say fartyparty. wonder how many takes it took to say it what a straight face?

 

[Shawn Dahl]

@WWC @BRS @ECOTECHMARINE it's awesome that you all invest so much back into advancing the hobby. I just wanted to say thank you to all from me and my brown corals haha

 

[Devaji]

I am really looking forward to the apex programing 3 tank episode! I must admit I bought a nice new wifi Apex from BRS have not really used it in 6 months or so... now that I have multi tanks going sure would be nice to learn how to use this bad boy...

 

[Shawn Dahl]

I as well am excited for the apex programming episode. I have recently stepped into the apex world and love it so far. I am slowly learning the features but as of right now I have it controlling my lights and just being able to track my ph orp temp and salinity swings makes it worth while to me. I really want to get into some more advanced features but I need some more modules first. I also need to get myself the ecotech reeflink

 

[Flexin]

I as well am excited for the apex programming episode. I have recently stepped into the apex world and love it so far. I am slowly learning the features but as of right now I have it controlling my lights and just being able to track my ph orp temp and salinity swings makes it worth while to me. I really want to get into some more advanced features but I need some more modules first. I also need to get myself the ecotech reeflink

You don't need the echotech reeflink, since you have the apex get the WXM module from Neptune that works with echotech pumps and lights. The reeflink is stand alone and you won't be able to control the settings via the neptune app without the WXM module.

 

[Shawn Dahl]

You don't need the echotech reeflink, since you have the apex get the WXM module from Neptune that works with echotech pumps and lights. The reeflink is stand alone and you won't be able to control the settings via the neptune app without the WXM module.

Thank you for the advice. I'm slowly learning about this controller, I'll take any advice offered

 

[Ryanbrs]

you know @revhtree that's why that got picked...just so Ryan could say fartyparty. wonder how many takes it took to say it what a straight face?

2 dozen takes : )