Tank Trials: Ultra Low Maintenance Tanks | BRStv Investigates

[Maritimer]

Looking at the "unknown" creature in the spider video, and wondering if it's maybe an ostracod?

Fascinating peek at the tiny world under our noses! Hope you find your culprit sooner rather than later.

~Bruce

 

[truetricia]

Hey Ryan,

Feeling bittersweet right now after watching the latest ULM video. It was absolutely brilliant (as usual)! Full of practical, useable information and very interesting! Great to see how the three tanks are progressing too.

My problem lies with my location though. All of the brilliant products that you use are made in the USA and rarely available here in the UK. Every time you show me an affordable, top quality product I look for it online and find nothing even remotely similar for sale this side of the pond. The only thing we seem to be able to buy over here are the led lighting fixtures.

Please don’t see this as a complaint, I’m just disappointed that we don’t have a Bulk Reef Supply over here in the UK. I’ll just have to do my best to try and make my own equipment for now.

Keep up the great work!

Bob, what you need is an American friend at Mildenhall or another base that has an APO address. I assume BRS will ship to an APO. Then just buy said American friend a beer for being your mailroom.

 

[truetricia]

ULM Tank Trials Ep-22: What's next for BRS Ultra Low Maintenance | BRStv

The time has come to let the three BRS ULM tanks run their course and find out just how little maintenance is required to keep them running. We'll circle back for a full update in a few months, so won't bore you with week-by-week updates on video, but stay tuned here and on Ryan's Instagram page for regular progression updates!

Ryan IG: www.instagram.com/ryanbrs

Randy, Ryan, and BRS

Thank you so much for this series. I've had reef tanks for years, but it was during law school and my first years as a government lawyer where funds were in shorter supply. I cut a lot of corners, didn't do full research on systems, and bought random items as they were sold by other reefers, rather than planning out a long-term ULM system. I had mixed success, and honestly probably killed more items and lost more money that way than if I'd just taken the time and bought better equipment from the start.

Currently I'm deployed with the military (Reservist), but will be home in a few months. I'm already planning out where to set up my tank, how to convert an under-the-stairs storage room into a fish room, and how to make the system as ULM as possible so I can still travel on weekends for work and vacay without crashing my tank or leaving my sweet older neighbors to have to learn biology in order to tank-sit. This series has been instrumental in all of that. I've already made some updates to my designs based on your recommendations, and the recommendations of other reefers on this thread. I've started buying key pieces of equipment so I can start cycling the sump and curing live rock when I get home, and while I'm traveling for the holidays. This way, come January and a return to normal life, I can start setting up the tank with a comprehensive ULM plan and be well on my way to a cycled tank and live rock.

Thank you again. I plan on re-watching several of the episodes to institute changes and design ideas into my overall plan. Great job all!

 

[Sunny Goold]

Bob, what you need is an American friend at Mildenhall or another base that has an APO address. I assume BRS will ship to an APO. Then just buy said American friend a beer for being your mailroom.

I tried using a freight forwarder and a week later I found my order was cancelled - with no notification (except my credit card). I think it was the credit card that was the issue. BRS told me if they suspect I am shipping to a friend they will cancel the order as some of their suppliers insist on this.
So BRS are SUPER strict in enforcing this. I am, like you Bob, super annoyed at an industry that puts these kind of restrictions in place. It means I am avoiding buying equipment from companies I suspect may be involved.
It REALLY sucks because BRS really is the best resource online and I would love to support them.
I was buying plumbing stuff so it is super annoying to me as I guess aquarium equipment companies are preventing me from getting plumbing parts you simply can't get in Europe. It took me weeks to find a supplier of Sears Gate valves (www.aquariumplumbing.co.uk) for example - can't find them anywhere on the continent though. This situation totally sucks - good luck and if you have trouble finding parts message me and I have a list

 

[randyBRS]

ULM Tank Trials Ep-23: The Great, The Good and The Ugly. | BRStv

It's update time and in this episode, we have some lessons learned to share along with some changes we plan to make on the ULM tanks.

 

[DarkSky]

ULM Tank Trials Ep-23: The Great, The Good and The Ugly. | BRStv

It's update time and in this episode, we have some lessons learned to share along with some changes we plan to make on the ULM tanks.

Hey Randy,

With the Dos, do you know how it'd perform as an auto water change pump if the drain line had a lot higher head pressure compared to the replacement water? When I set up my new build, I ran a third RODI line with the thought of performing auto water changes in the future, but I am worried about an imbalance in the input/output water. My drain line would have to run about 30ft, up into the ceiling and a few rooms away.

 

[beaslbob]

awesome

 

[HolisticBear]

The challenges of the SPS + LPS tank supports one of my beliefs that going triton from day 1 on a dry rock based tank is a bad idea. I am a huge fan of doing Triton Other Methods with new dry rock tanks until everything matures and switch to full Triton after a year.

There are been quite a few flameouts on R2R with brand new dry rock Triton Systems. I made that point about the BRS 160, you switched to Triton after the tank was somewhat established.

It's not so much bashing Triton, more just accepting the first year of a dry rock tank's life is special.

 

[ZoWhat]

ULM means you really arent into the full aspect of reefing. You just want to sit and enjoy a reef but dont want to actually do hardly any of the husbandry work behind it.

Which is fine.... you got the money for all the ULM gadgets.... i say, why not just hire a LFS at a monthly fee to come out every week and do all the work for you.

For me, reefing included sitting and looking at the tank BUT it also includes getting WET, cleaning out skimmers that make you want to puke in the corner, and all that stuff.



.

 

[Cesar Romero]

Great video! As one starting out my tank this is very useful information. I was surprise to hear the kalk. with the Red Sea trace elements did not do well, as it was the route I was thinking to go. Based on this update though it seems as going this route for a new tank would not be the best course of action.
So for a new tank seems water changes is the only way to start and then supplementing with dosing or kalk. I was hoping though one of the tanks would have kept the kalk solution going to see how far we can push it before needing to switch to something else though.

 

[chap34]

So how does the dosing pods early on in the cycle work? Is there still a good pod population?

 

[siggy]

I was surprised that you will not incorporate a sump on the reboot, I thought greater water volume was a good thing not to mention skimmer and a place to put the heater , AWC and top off.

 

[Reefahholic]

For me, these reefing series are beyond valuable. When I think of reefing- I think of the BRS team at the head and more specifically people like Ryan that continue to keep the hobby alive for many of us. Yes Ryan, you have personally made my wallet skinnier in the last 10 years (haha) and that’s the goal with a business. Everybody wants to market their products and become successful, but with you guys it goes beyond marketing. It’s a passion! Your enthusiasm and joy is clearly seen through your videos! This is a wonderful hobby that we all enjoy and I wouldn’t change anything! Thx for doing what you do and keep the videos coming!

 

[VJV]

[emoji772][emoji772][emoji772] I absolutely agree with this. I am very sorry that we do not have a BRS in Europe... [emoji20]

 

[randyBRS]

Hey Randy,
With the Dos, do you know how it'd perform as an auto water change pump if the drain line had a lot higher head pressure compared to the replacement water? When I set up my new build, I ran a third RODI line with the thought of performing auto water changes in the future, but I am worried about an imbalance in the input/output water. My drain line would have to run about 30ft, up into the ceiling and a few rooms away.

I'm not sure of the exact head pressure height of the DOS, but I think that the height and distance you describe may prove to be a challenge. You could attempt it, but I would also be sure to check the dose amount to verify it is pushing equal amounts of water. You should be able to do this with manual dosing programming or calibration. Our AWC runs are about 15ft high and about 20-30ft horizontal into the next room.

 

[randyBRS]

So how does the dosing pods early on in the cycle work? Is there still a good pod population?

This is one I'll have to check on with a flashlight in the morning. I can't say I've paid attention to what the pod population is.

 

[randyBRS]

I was surprised that you will not incorporate a sump on the reboot, I thought greater water volume was a good thing not to mention skimmer and a place to put the heater , AWC and top off.

We've had sumps on each of these tanks from their inception. The Softy tank has a DIY sump, the SPS uses a Skimz sump and the LPS has a Somatic 60 sump.

 

[Cesar Romero]

So just to make sure I understand correctly. For a ULM goal, running Kalkwasser through a reactor is not the best option, due to lack of tools currently for measuring potency? And for a ULM goal, 2-part is better fitted for this versus Kalkwasser?

 

[Greaps]

LPS tank:

1 Baffle-less sump
1 Skimmer - with external (outside air) supply
1 Automatic neck cleaner
1 Skim-mate locker
1 Doser - NoPox, 2-Part
1 ATO

Nitrate reduction accomplished by NoPox and Skimmer, additional phosphate removal by monthly testing and dosing of (phosphate rx)

I think the challenge would be having the system run to clean, at least that's been my problem with carbon dosing in the past. But with consistency, I think it can be done.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I also ran into a hiccup trying to reduce nutrients with carbon dosing and limited water changes and balling dosing on my upgrade i did in may. recently had a huge dino bloom. Even with using all the live rock from my 3 year tank.

Its back to running simple berlin method [emoji23]. I wont experiment on a tank again that isn’t at least a year old.