Too early to call it a success?

[sgdnycct]

I've been experimenting with refugium only + no water change system.

My questions:
1. Am I too early to call this a complete success?
2. If yes to #1, how long to consider it a partial success? Complete success?
3. Would love to hear any tips and opinions from those with experience in this approach.

What I mean by refugium only + No water changes:
- No mechanical filtration
- No protein skimmer
- No chemical filters (ie chemical-pure, carbon, phos-guard, etc)
- No water change
- No medicated QT. Observation only.

My goals:
- Maximize biome health and variety
- Prioritize fish health (quality, quantity and variety of foods)
- Heavy feeding
- Moderate bio load (I think it's moderate but hard to define)
- Maximize food availability in the system for: Mandarin pair + MB Angel
- Purchase Captive Bred as much as possible

Current system:
- NYOS 440 w Hygger 2114 GPH wavemaker
- 2 x Popbloom RL90’s
- 2 x Hygger 042-10w 2114 GPH wavemakers
- 2” sand bed
- Refugium sump with live rock rubble and cheato chamber. All water flows over removable DSB, then through live rock, then through the cheato, then rubble before reaching the pump. Chaeto light running on reverse clock.


History:
- I started with a JBJ 20 in 2021 AIO with DSB + Live Rock.
- January 2023 upgraded to FijiCube 38 Peninsula, moving water, stock and equipment over from the 20g JBJ. Added Marco rock, TBS sand, and one new piece of live rock.
- November 2025 upgraded to NYOS 440. Again moved everything from FijiCube including water. Added one new piece of live rock. The rest was various sources of dry rock.

Stocking list:
- 1 Yellow Watchman Goby (adult, 4”)
- 1 Checkerboard wrasse (adult, 5”)
- 1 Tomini Tang
- 2 M+F Ocellaris Clowns (CB)
- 1 blue neon goby (Juvi, CB)
- 1 Coral beauty, (Juvi, CB)
- 1 Multibar angel, (Juvi, CB)
- 2 M+F blue Mandarins (Juvi, CB)
- Mixed reef with acros, softies, BTA, zoas, LOS
- 1 white Florida urchin
- 1 conch
- Various trochus and margarita snails
- All kinds of worms, critters and plenty of copepods (I add copepods every 4 months. Each time from a different supplier).

Additives:
- All for Reef. Had been using 2 part ESV but switched to AFR in March. Looks to me like AFR is working better. I see corals with better polyp extension and indications of faster growth.

How it’s doing:
Everything is doing great. The only nuisance algae is some green bubble but it isn’t spreading too fast. I think urchin is also eating it which is keeping it under control. I’m watching it in case it gets crazy. Fish are growing and look very happy and active. The captive bread fish came from Biota. They were tiny when they arrived but have grown quickly. Only the Multibar is still very small and hides a lot, but seems like natural behavior.

Chemistry: scarily great. PO, NO, have been reading near 0 or zero. Considering I’m not getting any nuisance algae and corals are growing well, there must be some equilibrium with nutrients. I’ve never dosed nitrates or phosphates. Only heavy feeding.

Summary:
The tank is super low maintenance. Everything is doing great. Too good to be true? Or, given 6+ months and everything doing so well, can I call it a success?

 

[Dan_P]

I've been experimenting with refugium only + no water change system.

My questions:
1. Am I too early to call this a complete success?
2. If yes to #1, how long to consider it a partial success? Complete success?
3. Would love to hear any tips and opinions from those with experience in this approach.

What I mean by refugium only + No water changes:
- No mechanical filtration
- No protein skimmer
- No chemical filters (ie chemical-pure, carbon, phos-guard, etc)
- No water change
- No medicated QT. Observation only.

My goals:
- Maximize biome health and variety
- Prioritize fish health (quality, quantity and variety of foods)
- Heavy feeding
- Moderate bio load (I think it's moderate but hard to define)
- Maximize food availability in the system for: Mandarin pair + MB Angel
- Purchase Captive Bred as much as possible

Current system:
- NYOS 440 w Hygger 2114 GPH wavemaker
- 2 x Popbloom RL90’s
- 2 x Hygger 042-10w 2114 GPH wavemakers
- 2” sand bed
- Refugium sump with live rock rubble and cheato chamber. All water flows over removable DSB, then through live rock, then through the cheato, then rubble before reaching the pump. Chaeto light running on reverse clock.


History:
- I started with a JBJ 20 in 2021 AIO with DSB + Live Rock.
- January 2023 upgraded to FijiCube 38 Peninsula, moving water, stock and equipment over from the 20g JBJ. Added Marco rock, TBS sand, and one new piece of live rock.
- November 2025 upgraded to NYOS 440. Again moved everything from FijiCube including water. Added one new piece of live rock. The rest was various sources of dry rock.

Stocking list:
- 1 Yellow Watchman Goby (adult, 4”)
- 1 Checkerboard wrasse (adult, 5”)
- 1 Tomini Tang
- 2 M+F Ocellaris Clowns (CB)
- 1 blue neon goby (Juvi, CB)
- 1 Coral beauty, (Juvi, CB)
- 1 Multibar angel, (Juvi, CB)
- 2 M+F blue Mandarins (Juvi, CB)
- Mixed reef with acros, softies, BTA, zoas, LOS
- 1 white Florida urchin
- 1 conch
- Various trochus and margarita snails
- All kinds of worms, critters and plenty of copepods (I add copepods every 4 months. Each time from a different supplier).

Additives:
- All for Reef. Had been using 2 part ESV but switched to AFR in March. Looks to me like AFR is working better. I see corals with better polyp extension and indications of faster growth.

How it’s doing:
Everything is doing great. The only nuisance algae is some green bubble but it isn’t spreading too fast. I think urchin is also eating it which is keeping it under control. I’m watching it in case it gets crazy. Fish are growing and look very happy and active. The captive bread fish came from Biota. They were tiny when they arrived but have grown quickly. Only the Multibar is still very small and hides a lot, but seems like natural behavior.

Chemistry: scarily great. PO, NO, have been reading near 0 or zero. Considering I’m not getting any nuisance algae and corals are growing well, there must be some equilibrium with nutrients. I’ve never dosed nitrates or phosphates. Only heavy feeding.

Summary:
The tank is super low maintenance. Everything is doing great. Too good to be true? Or, given 6+ months and everything doing so well, can I call it a success?

If you just moved or scaled up an aquarium every two years, that is going to potentially have a large effect. Put me down for “too many variables to conclude anything” (but we are enjoying the success). Good luck!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

That’s how I run the aquarium in my classroom. It ebbs and flows, but has largely been successful. Most of the setbacks have been environmental or operator error.

180gal ‘natural’ reef

 

[Fish Fan]

Looks quite successful to me, however you got there

 

[Idech]

I’ll be the party pooper but I think it’s too soon to tell. My refugium never did much for reducing nutrients. Your GSP will help with that though. Your bioload is not low, it’s high. Plus you are heavily feeding.

Sometimes new tanks have very low nutrients for a while. And then they start increasing and within a few months, you have a high nutrient problem.

I tried not doing water changes for 5 years and was also dosing AFR. I’m not saying it can’t work, but for me it didn’t. I couldn’t keep any of the corals I wanted so much and lost so much money I’d be depressed if I counted. To be honest I didn’t have enough biodiversity which left room for undesirables like Dino’s. Now I’ve reversed all that, started doing regular (daily) WC, among other, and for the first time I feel like I am going somewhere.

I hope it works out for you though. I really do.

 

[sgdnycct]

I've been experimenting with refugium only + no water change system.

My questions:
1. Am I too early to call this a complete success?
2. If yes to #1, how long to consider it a partial success? Complete success?
3. Would love to hear any tips and opinions from those with experience in this approach.

What I mean by refugium only + No water changes:
- No mechanical filtration
- No protein skimmer
- No chemical filters (ie chemical-pure, carbon, phos-guard, etc)
- No water change
- No medicated QT. Observation only.

My goals:
- Maximize biome health and variety
- Prioritize fish health (quality, quantity and variety of foods)
- Heavy feeding
- Moderate bio load (I think it's moderate but hard to define)
- Maximize food availability in the system for: Mandarin pair + MB Angel
- Purchase Captive Bred as much as possible

Current system:
- NYOS 440 w Hygger 2114 GPH wavemaker
- 2 x Popbloom RL90’s
- 2 x Hygger 042-10w 2114 GPH wavemakers
- 2” sand bed
- Refugium sump with live rock rubble and cheato chamber. All water flows over removable DSB, then through live rock, then through the cheato, then rubble before reaching the pump. Chaeto light running on reverse clock.


History:
- I started with a JBJ 20 in 2021 AIO with DSB + Live Rock.
- January 2023 upgraded to FijiCube 38 Peninsula, moving water, stock and equipment over from the 20g JBJ. Added Marco rock, TBS sand, and one new piece of live rock.
- November 2025 upgraded to NYOS 440. Again moved everything from FijiCube including water. Added one new piece of live rock. The rest was various sources of dry rock.

Stocking list:
- 1 Yellow Watchman Goby (adult, 4”)
- 1 Checkerboard wrasse (adult, 5”)
- 1 Tomini Tang
- 2 M+F Ocellaris Clowns (CB)
- 1 blue neon goby (Juvi, CB)
- 1 Coral beauty, (Juvi, CB)
- 1 Multibar angel, (Juvi, CB)
- 2 M+F blue Mandarins (Juvi, CB)
- Mixed reef with acros, softies, BTA, zoas, LOS
- 1 white Florida urchin
- 1 conch
- Various trochus and margarita snails
- All kinds of worms, critters and plenty of copepods (I add copepods every 4 months. Each time from a different supplier).

Additives:
- All for Reef. Had been using 2 part ESV but switched to AFR in March. Looks to me like AFR is working better. I see corals with better polyp extension and indications of faster growth.

How it’s doing:
Everything is doing great. The only nuisance algae is some green bubble but it isn’t spreading too fast. I think urchin is also eating it which is keeping it under control. I’m watching it in case it gets crazy. Fish are growing and look very happy and active. The captive bread fish came from Biota. They were tiny when they arrived but have grown quickly. Only the Multibar is still very small and hides a lot, but seems like natural behavior.

Chemistry: scarily great. PO, NO, have been reading near 0 or zero. Considering I’m not getting any nuisance algae and corals are growing well, there must be some equilibrium with nutrients. I’ve never dosed nitrates or phosphates. Only heavy feeding.

Summary:
The tank is super low maintenance. Everything is doing great. Too good to be true? Or, given 6+ months and everything doing so well, can I call it a success?

If you just moved or scaled up an aquarium every two years, that is going to potentially have a large effect. Put me down for “too many variables to conclude anything” (but we are enjoying the success). Good luck!

Yes that was a thought as well. I wonder how much is lost during the transition. I would think it’s not much or at least most of the biome should survive given I transferred everything. But the balance/ratios probably gets kicked out of whack.

 

[sgdnycct]

That’s how I run the aquarium in my classroom. It ebbs and flows, but has largely been successful. Most of the setbacks have been environmental or operator error.

180gal ‘natural’ reef

Is that the “all done wrong build”? I’ve been following!!!

Yes I agree that so far my issues have been operator mistakes or mechanical. Like a stuck on auto feeder. :(

 

[sgdnycct]

I’ll be the party pooper but I think it’s too soon to tell. My refugium never did much for reducing nutrients. Your GSP will help with that though. Your bioload is not low, it’s high. Plus you are heavily feeding.

Sometimes new tanks have very low nutrients for a while. And then they start increasing and within a few months, you have a high nutrient problem.

I tried not doing water changes for 5 years and was also dosing AFR. I’m not saying it can’t work, but for me it didn’t. I couldn’t keep any of the corals I wanted so much and lost so much money I’d be depressed if I counted. To be honest I didn’t have enough biodiversity which left room for undesirables like Dino’s. Now I’ve reversed all that, started doing regular (daily) WC, among other, and for the first time I feel like I am going somewhere.

I hope it works out for you though. I really do.

Sorry it didn’t work out for you.

I’m surprised the refunding work for you. I’ve had to dial down the light period because it was working too well. I do focus first and foremost on biodiversity so maybe that part of the equation.

Also each upgrade took everything from the prior tank so I don’t know how new my tank is. It’s probably not the addition of the years of each iteration but somewhere in between. Maybe?

 

[slingfox]

If you are happy with how your tank looks then it is a success.

We all have at least some modicum of success until fate intervenes and throws a curve ball at our tanks! Enjoy the success while you can!

 

[sgdnycct]

If you are happy with how your tank looks then it is a success.

We all have at least some modicum of success until fate intervenes and throws a curve ball at our tanks! Enjoy the success while you can!

I should have added a likely more important question: even though things are looking good now, am I setting myself up for disaster?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I’m surprised the refunding work for you. I’ve had to dial down the light period because it was working too well.

Yep. If you’ve followed my thread, you know probably my biggest issue is that the algae and the mangroves almost completely strip NO3 and PO4.

 

[sgdnycct]

I’m surprised the refunding work for you. I’ve had to dial down the light period because it was working too well.

Yep. If you’ve followed my thread, you know probably my biggest issue is that the algae and the mangroves almost completely strip NO3 and PO4.

That’s another interesting point. My PO and NO come in at 0 consistently. Only briefly did I get a PO reading. Yet my corals are doing great. I’m assuming they’re getting it from the food which is quickly being absorbed.