Why would this work?

[Cory]

I remember seeing the cleanest tank ever!

It was a bb tank 200 gallons. The tank had a tall 5 foot skimmer, ran ozone and carbon. He also used gfo which he changed every two weeks.

But the thing that caught my eye was there was not one spec of green algae anywhere. Why?

He also had a patch of zoas about 1 foot long that covered the bottom glass. Sps coral on the top rock.

 

[Diesel]

Balance........ it's all you need in this hobby.

 

[Armydogracing]

Changing the gfo every 2 weeks probably helped with that also. Imo changing every 2 weeks is a bit extreme and costly

 

[Cory]

Balance........ it's all you need in this hobby.

Care to exsplain? I personally think it was the gfo, once i started using that things got so much nicer.

 

[Diesel]

Care to exsplain? I personally think it was the gfo, once i started using that things got so much nicer.

Not a fan of GFO and there are more hobbyist out there that are walking away from the GFO.
It's good you have it on hand as crashes happen and filtering out the bad stuff can only bring you back faster.
I have nothing than only a skimmer running and my tank is in balance with no algae as I never had any.
Started doing the WC again after four months of nothing.
If I do weekly water changes I need to dose No3 in the tank as the balance is working to good and I don't want to crash my bacteria population.
Having a BB will help a lot on that as well cause the detritus has no place to get stuck or settled in the sand.
Which result of less worries on elevated Po4 and No3 as that is just straight food for algae in any form.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Following.

I do wonder if its something you/we didn't see too. QT, algae dips.

 

[Cory]

Following.

I do wonder if its something you/we didn't see too. QT, algae dips.

In one article, it is stated that ozone and activated carbon for some reason unknown would remove 70% of dissolved organics. While a skimmer at best can do 30%. Maybe thats why, he used carbon, ozone and a big skimmer. Essentially he could remove up to 100% of doc. Thats big.

 

[Diesel]

In one article, it is stated that ozone and activated carbon for some reason unknown would remove 70% of dissolved organics. While a skimmer at best can do 30%. Maybe thats why, he used carbon, ozone and a big skimmer. Essentially he could remove up to 100% of doc. Thats big.

IMO to big.
What would his corals and bacteria live off?
Ozone will make your water super clear better as AC but won't do all three or a four if GFO is part of it too.
If you connect the dots all he does is stripping his water from most beneficial nutrients and some how that needs to be dosed back in.
Kinda like a Zeovit system that the zeolight stones and carbon dosing will strip your system from most not wanted but only for what you dose back in the system with all the blue bottles.
I have to cut holes in my filter socks and dose No3 daily to keep my No3 at bay on 3.5ppm.
Of course my Lifereef skimmer is bad*** :eek: in this as well.

 

[Cory]

IMO to big.
What would his corals and bacteria live off?
Ozone will make your water super clear better as AC but won't do all three or a four if GFO is part of it too.
If you connect the dots all he does is stripping his water from most beneficial nutrients and some how that needs to be dosed back in.
Kinda like a Zeovit system that the zeolight stones and carbon dosing will strip your system from most not wanted but only for what you dose back in the system with all the blue bottles.
I have to cut holes in my filter socks and dose No3 daily to keep my No3 at bay on 3.5ppm.
Of course my Lifereef skimmer is bad*** :eek: in this as well.

Im not sure we want much doc in our tanks. The skimmer was the lfs old one. Probably too big lol. However his zoas and sps were growing great. So they must have ate something.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I want the doc. I have filter feeders. It a balance I have to make.

 

[john.m.cole3]

I used to not have algae and prob no doc. I ran GAC, GFO, and purigen. But my corals started to wither away. I took all that stuff away. My corals look better and I have algae now. still trying to find the balance that I hear of... I think time and experience play a big part of finding a balance in your tank.

 

[Paul B]

I want the doc. I have filter feeders. It a balance I have to make.

I agree. To my simple mind a very clean, sterile tank with no algae is not a good thing. The sea has algae growing all over the place like it is supposed to. I don't have any in my tank but I do have it in my algae scrubber and a little on the powerheads. That little bit of algae is my assurance that everything is fine. I am also not a fan of GFO, Gac, ABC, Doh Ray Me, Zeofit, Purigen, Chemi Clean, bio pellets, or any of those other abbreviations many people use.
I use basically sea water. My fish and corals will just have to get over it unless they want to buy that stuff themselves. Some day people will understand that seawater, which has been here for some time with no help from us, is very stable as long as we don't mess with it. o_O

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Although Ive only been reefing a week or two, My observation has been that those highly clean, bugless algae less, Nutrients less systems are very similar to a petri dish or specimen tank or hydroponics systems.
Yes, it works, it grows corals the fish are fine, maybe. The balances that need to made them become more and more tenuous as each parameter has to be so closely controlled and monitored that one unsuspected change can spell disaster. Be it a common brown flatworm or pink hair algae or bad batch of salt.
Its IMO, unstable. its also a highly advanced technique and requires a lot of skill not to mention time and money,
I think this is the biggest choice of the reef keeper and likely the largest bit of confusion for a new reef keeper to understand. The advice given to them is so often to start with the petri dish.

Petri dishes are just way to hard for me. Just having a reef tank and not worrying about all that crap has given me quite a bit of success. I didnt realize it at the time but finally finding a forum that I dont get flamed on for my aquaclear is ok theory, too has allowed me to see a lot of tanks and a lot of problems and appreciate that Ive never had the problems "most" people have.

I think besides Paul's tank (and mine) the most beautiful example of a natural style truly mixed reef I know of on reef2reef is Wiz. Its full blown. Amazing acros, softies fish bugs etc. The natureal processes take care of themselves for the most part it seems.

The strange Irony, a person who is fast becoming a friend here in person where I live is of the other side. most amazing reef ever no algae sps/acro colonies as as big your head. He's a scientist by trade, been in reefing since the 80's, his results are deeply scientifically rooted and a bit complex ish. But also as relaxed as any veteran reefer and he doesn't test PH and Po.:eek:
I cant figure out how he does it.
Id like to learn though. But only because I like to learn stuff and apply it to MY reef and keep MY bugs and fish and algae healthy.