What could possibly change in 10 years?

[Benny Morosco]

Hello everyone! I would like to start off with OMG everything has changed in 10 years! I had a pretty cool setup 10 years ago . Built almost everything myself and now I am just starting back in to this hobby and I am lost ! Now there is fake rock and rock that’s not rock but made to look like rock you can’t get live rock but there is abundance of dry rock and FILTER SOCKS ? Lol as I read everything once again it is like starting off brand new.. I am hoping to get right back in to this hobby full steam with the help of you fine folks here! I just bought a Red Sea reefer 170 and am awaiting arrival so I will have a lot of questions as I set everything up!

 

[Waters]

Welcome back! I took a 15 year hiatus and it was like starting over. My last tank 15 years ago REQUIRED a wet/dry filter with bioballs....now, LEDs, ATOs, sumps, no blue bioballs........crazy how fast things change.

 

[Mark Gray]

Welcome, back I did the same thing had 7 tanks 11 years ago sold them all after some things happened with my family. Then I went to Thailand for vacation, and went scuba diving, well the reefs looked so good I started a 55, 3 years ago now I just got water in my custom made 90 lol

 

[cracker]

Welcome ! Some of the old technology still works just fine ! A lot of this new stuff is an improvement on this. This is a great place to learn all about this new stuff.
Also I can assure You there are a "lot " of members here who were around back then ! One thing hasn't changed, all the challenge & satisfaction is still around. Have Fun !

 

[brandon429]

The number one thing people do differently is not allow their sandbeds to compile with filthy unhelpful waste then work carefully around it, ever so carefully and hesitantly, for the life of the tank. 90% will not do that nowadays, holdovers remain in places

the reason you read about new items such as:
GFO

biopellets

reactors for algae

90% of the need for those is to offset a filthy sandbed that in 1996 was said to regulate itself.

 

[Benny Morosco]

So from what I am reading and btw thank you all for welcoming me.. sand beds now you can mix them up a bit to clean them ? I remember that was taboo back in the day you wanted a deep sand bed because it was beneficial to the environment now you don’t and you have to make sure you gently get the stuff off the sand bed..

 

[Waters]

So from what I am reading and btw thank you all for welcoming me.. sand beds now you can mix them up a bit to clean them ? I remember that was taboo back in the day you wanted a deep sand bed because it was beneficial to the environment now you don’t and you have to make sure you gently get the stuff off the sand bed..

Well it depends lol......true deep sand beds you still want to leave alone. Shallow sand beds can be stirred (I stir mine several times a week).

 

[brandon429]

we like to have true hands off type sandbeds not in the main tank, under fish, collecting waste. They're often done remotely, in other tanks prefiltered of waste and particulates before entering... those run really well for sure and run consistently.

the depth of the sand is a liability, its not a green flag to never have to be cleaned if the sand is deep. it simply stores more, longer, for the out of sight out of mind technique.

It will always be non damaging to run the classic sandbed technique, but there's a reason its a 10% approach nowadays when ran in the diplay. people typically run no sand, or they start cleaning it weekly and never stop, therefore it never accumulates. a giant sandbed thread to see how hard it is to work with them: we have to engineer countless ways to prevent people from killing their tanks, solely due to using any sandbed:

 

[Benny Morosco]

Well it depends lol......true deep sand beds you still want to leave alone. Shallow sand beds can be stirred (I stir mine several times a week).

Thank you so what does everyone use ? Why did you not do a deep bed?

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

Consider that thread before using a sandbed

They're forced to disturb them there....moves...horrible invasions (which we cure by going bare bottom/rinsing etc)

since most aged sandbeds are such a liability, it takes a thread w that work to not lose tanks during required access events

opinions vary as always for sure.
Of course anyone can set up a classic sandbed and be ok for years, we just like to do it differently because we now know that being able to access a complete reef system is the best planning you could ever have. Accessibility for cleaning

not the classic walled rock stack that you can never remove....but little bommies of liftable reef rocks that can be removed, cleaned, and stripped of algae if the cheat need arises, all using skip cycle science we employ in that thread.

that's 2018, year of the deliberate reefer. we don't let tanks tell us how they'll run, they do our bidding.

For sure its possible to tune a classic, old, hands off sandbed into a nitrate eating machine.

But given 1000 new reef tanks, 3 will attain that, and 2 will be by sheer luck alone

we don't use it due to ratios, not bc old school sandbedding is impossible.

 

[Mark Gray]

So from what I am reading and btw thank you all for welcoming me.. sand beds now you can mix them up a bit to clean them ? I remember that was taboo back in the day you wanted a deep sand bed because it was beneficial to the environment now you don’t and you have to make sure you gently get the stuff off the sand bed..

Yeah I keep my sand clean now but really I have things that turn it mostly hermits a tiger conch still considering a gobies

 

[Greybeard]

I came back after a decade, 3 years ago. Started with all the latest 'best practices'. Two years later, I'm basically back to what I was doing years ago. T5 lights, no socks, macro algae refugeum... Dry base rock, instead of live rock, a shallow sand bed rather than deep, but nothing unrecognizable.

The few things that are new, and really make a difference... GFO, the gluttonous amount of available choices on equipment, and automation that works.

 

[Waters]

Thank you so what does everyone use ? Why did you not do a deep bed?

Some still use the true deep sand bed for denitrification. Most now are leaning towards shallow sand beds or even bare bottom tanks. I went with a shallow sand bed so I could easily keep it clean by stirring and siphoning without causing any issues. Bare bottom tanks allow for a ton of water movement (for SPS tanks) without worrying about sand blowing everywhere as well as easily being able to keep the detritus to a minimum (it typically congregates in one area where it can easily be siphoned out).

 

[4FordFamily]

10 years ago you didn’t need to quarantine. Now just about every fish comes with velvet or ich...

 

[Dystinction]

Welcome back to it, @Benny Morosco . I've been away for over 25 years, so I can relate to your situation! I spent the last 3 years just getting caught up with all the new stuff, and attempting to understand the more complex inter-workings with corals (only had a FOWLR back in the day).

Tell you what, though, this is a great place to be. Tons of knowledge, tips, and help when you need it!

 

[cracker]

What other things have You seen a big difference in? Anything Ya want to ask about?

 

[Clinton]

I just started a year ago and thoroughly enjoy the idea of a DSB... I clearly have not been in the game long enough to determine the true ramifications or perhaps benefits of it...I love this sight though because nothing NOTHING goes unanswered! Gotta love it, glad you're coming back. The more automated the better in my opinion. Human error is so common.

 

[Benny Morosco]

I came back after a decade, 3 years ago. Started with all the latest 'best practices'. Two years later, I'm basically back to what I was doing years ago. T5 lights, no socks, macro algae refugeum... Dry base rock, instead of live rock, a shallow sand bed rather than deep, but nothing unrecognizable.

The few things that are new, and really make a difference... GFO, the gluttonous amount of available choices on equipment, and automation that works.

So you started your new tank with all dry rock and added everything from there?

 

[Benny Morosco]

Some still use the true deep sand bed for denitrification. Most now are leaning towards shallow sand beds or even bare bottom tanks. I went with a shallow sand bed so I could easily keep it clean by stirring and siphoning without causing any issues. Bare bottom tanks allow for a ton of water movement (for SPS tanks) without worrying about sand blowing everywhere as well as easily being able to keep the detritus to a minimum (it typically congregates in one area where it can easily be siphoned out).

When you say shallow is that an inch?

 

[Benny Morosco]

What other things have You seen a big difference in? Anything Ya want to ask about?

Yes this new shallow sand bed when they say shallow what is that inch or less?