Who's still Reefing Ol' School?

[ScubaShane]

ASM G-series skimmers was THE skimmer when I started!

 

[fish farmer]

ASM G-series skimmers was THE skimmer when I started!

That's what I use now on my reef. I was going to buy a Euroreef when there was a crazy sale going on, but found the ASM for the same price.

 

[Breadman03]

I'm an eclectic blend of old and new school. I'm running a pair of Radion G4 Pro's over my 150, but have a Blueline 70 running a manifold that drives my Lifereef skimmer and pair of eductors for in-tank flow. For powerheads, I'm running an old Tunze 6100.10 with my Apex controlling the wave speed. It replaced 4xMP40's for me. The MP's worked great on a longer tank, but their flow patterns just didn't work for me in a 36" cube.

 

[Paul B]

I still have two of these running that have been running since probably the 80s non stop 24/7. They need no maintenance and you can't kill them. I tried to kill this one by putting it in the street and having a bus run over it twice. Not a regular bus, but a bus filled with Sumo Wrestlers from Japan. The thing still works.

 

[TexasTodd]

One of the few old powerheads that could handle several feet of head too.

 

[hwntunda]

50/50 rodi/tap, still using my ol swing arm for salinity

 

[ScubaShane]

I still have two of these running that have been running since probably the 80s non stop 24/7. They need no maintenance and you can't kill them. I tried to kill this one by putting it in the street and having a bus run over it twice. Not a regular bus, but a bus filled with Sumo Wrestlers from Japan. The thing still works.

I have an Aquclear I keep to use for cycling rock or set up a QT/hospital. I mostly use it to empty the sump for maintenance.

 

[ScubaShane]

Whos got one of thease.

 

[tiggs]

I’m one of those using tap water but I’m in Vancouver, Canada, where our TDS measures about 10. I just add Prime. No nuisance algae. I have a mixed reef as I like to collect whatever I think is cool, but I do have SPS. Nothing too crazy high end as I’m on a budget, but there’s a few nice ones. Actually I’ve had a few zoas melt away but haven’t ever lost an SPS or LPS.

I’ve just been in the hobby a little over 2 years. Didn’t know live rock from a baseball. I guess I’m “old school” in that I keep things pretty simple but I think not having tons of money to throw into a hobby played a big part. I used a hydrometer for the first year before buying a refractometer, but only because I dropped it & it didn’t look like super glue would fix it I just upgraded to a larger tank in Jan and had a sump for the first time. I don’t have ATO and just started manually dosing 2 months ago. I don’t mind as it’s something to do while pottering around the tank. I use Instant Ocean salt.

I guess being a newbie, I did so much reading about this hobby, and I think that sometimes we over-complicate/over-think things and are also too impatient. I’m amazed at how much expensive equipment is thrown at a tank build (read a lot of those threads, a great source of info) only to have a crash soon thereafter and re-build. Fancy equipment is not the recipe for success, imho. More important to research, learn from those who’ve been there/done that, and be patient.

Oh, and I was lucky to buy my live rock from someone leaving the hobby (he seemed sad but his wife was happy), who told me it was about 12 years old. Amazing rock. I firmly believe they are the secret sauce in my tank.

Agree with you on the rock. IMO, one of the best sources for rock is buying from a reefer leaving the hobby. The rock I have in my tank now was bought in 2010 from a guy who was breaking down his 300 gallon reef that had been established for 12 years, with all the old school Fiji rock added at it's beginning in 1998. Personally, I'll never have a reef without LR and firmly believe it has major advantages over dry/seeded rock.

 

[tiggs]

I have a 120 gallon FOWLR that I've maintained for 17 years at a local campround. It still has a couple of Aquaclear 802 power heads for circulation. I did "upgrade" recently to maxijets in the circulation configuration. My old maxijets didn't have that configuration years ago. So now have a bunch of old school salt mixing pumps.

The same tank still employs a little giant return pump, an Emperor Aquatics skimmer, Amiracle sump, did I mention I believe it is a Del Ray tank. It came up from Florida used in 2001 and been set up ever since. It even has Southdown Tropical Playsand in it.

On my reef tank I completely skipped over the T5 phase...when did that happen? I went from PC's directly to an LED fixture, due to cost, heat and the availability of bulbs.

I do use a refractometer, but can also check with a hydrometer.

I still use Danner Mag Drive pumps for return, skimmer and ATO. I've tried a couple of other pumps, sedra and quite one, both crapped out quickly.

Southdown sand brings back fond memories. I remember scouring every Home Depot within a 25 mile radius looking for Southdown circa 2000. My lighting lineage went VHO --> MH --> PC (on my first nano) --> LED. I remember when PCs hit the market and everyone was so excited, but ticked they didn't have the shimmer of MH. lol

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I consider my style of reefing old school still. I dose kalk in my ato, mag by hand, mix water in 20g trash cans, still using MH, Berlin style reefing with a small fuge. No dosing pumps, no leds, not planning to carbin dose but I may, no ulns, no zeovit system ect. I do use a RKL controller, hydrometer and modern DC pumps though.

 

[sstanley223]

Downdraft skimmer and t5's here! Lol

 

[fish farmer]

Southdown sand brings back fond memories. I remember scouring every Home Depot within a 25 mile radius looking for Southdown circa 2000. My lighting lineage went VHO --> MH --> PC (on my first nano) --> LED. I remember when PCs hit the market and everyone was so excited, but ****** they didn't have the shimmer of MH. lol

I actually was driving through another state and swinging down to Home Depot looking for sand. Do you remember the Lights Of America 6500K PC fixture that Home Depot carried? Everone was grabbing those for thier 'fuges.

 

[chefjpaul]

Whos got one of thease.

I always.

 

[cracker]

I still consider myself "Old School". I admit to using new stuff like additives & such . My oldest ,still in use is my ASM G4 x skimmer this thing works great ! Well it's either the skimmer or a bunch of Haitian Live rock that has been thru several tanks & cooking barrels over the years. I do have an old Mag drive 36! I no longer use it but it still works !
sounds like a cement truck but still.

 

[40B Knasty]

More of an in betweener of new and old school.
I do not use RO/DI, but I use a Zerowater filter sealed to the bottom a 5g bucket that I drilled a hole through to get .000TDS when it filters out into a 20g bin on casters to roll back and forth from the tap to the tank. I mix the water with a MaxiJet1200. Using a glass thermometer.
No sump. I use a timer for each one of my 3 lights.
HOB Fluval C4. HOB Reef Octopus BH1000. HOB Seaclone modified into a mini cheato reactor.
Only thing semi techy is the adjustable controller is the Jebao SW-4 and a battery operated digital thermometer. I have had to use my hydrometer the past salt mix. New refractometer is in the mail. Temp and salinity is all I care about being spot on.

 

[Paul B]

Whos got one of thease.

They didn't have glass when I started. I use a brass boiler gauge from the Plaza Hotel circa 1920



You can see it on the wall behind my very modern skimmer and telephone

 

[mckinney0171]

Yup, Mag Drives were the go to and top of the line back in the day!

Still use one on my reef tank. Only disassembled and cleaned it once and it has been running for six years straight. Great pumps they really are.

 

[Johnike]

I'm still nothing but live rock in the sump and a skimmer with SE Metal Halide after 40 years in the hobby.

 

[Elegance Coral]

I've been at this 30 something years. Started with air driven UG filter. Then "upgraded" to the maxijet type pumps like Paul B posted. That was state of the art back then. Lighting was a VHO ballast I purchased at an electrical supply house, and bulbs I ordered from Hamilton, through FAMA magazine. I had a maintenance man friend of mine scoop me an old used high pressure sodium ballast from work, then mail ordered a 5K metal halide bulb and hooked the two together. It worked. When the 6.5K bulbs came out I was really stoked. LOL Built my own skimmer with a water bed fill and drain kit as the venturi, a Christmas tree stand to hold it up, and a gallon pickle jar upside down for the top cover. Used a 10 gallon aquarium to build a batch denitrator. Even build a natural sun powered 10' long ATS for my 55 gallon aquarium. I put plastic over my shed, and gutters on the sides, to collect rain water for my tank. Collected most of my livestock, including live rock, from the Florida Keys, until I got caught. LOL Well, actually, that wasn't real funny at the time.
I've changed equipment and methods many times over the years as my understanding grew, and equipment improved. My favorite lighting is still MH. Though I've changed to 20K Radiums, and much better reflectors. Still run AC pumps because most of the DC pumps are garbage by comparison. I think that may be the only "old school" equipment, or methods, that I still use. I do run a large 12" skimmer I purchased just before the new cone skimmers came out. IDK if that's "Old school" or not. It's powered by a bubble blaster pump. I now run BB, 100 micron socks, reactors with GFO and carbon, kalk stirrer on my ATO, dosing pumps for 2 part, and an Apex controller. I still have most of my old equipment, but it's just sitting out in the shed decomposing. LOL
Peace
EC