Sk8r
08/30/2008, 07:45 AM
I've been reefing a loooong time. I've seen a lot of bright ideas come and go. I LIKE the way things are now. Here's my list of things I've used and am really glad not to have now.
1. undergravel filter. Talk about a nitrate factory!
2. biowheel filter........it ran. The tank was an algae farm, but things lived.
3. wet dry.........I had a 50 g sump under a 100g tank, which worked well for buttons, mushrooms, but! Nitrates...nitrates. A lot of things I keep now would not live a week in that tank.
4. fluidized sand filter....the Worst. It exploded fine sand all through my sump. And never worked.
5. cannister filter: I had rather walk over hot coals than deal with a cannister....either you clean them obsessively, constantly, or you have another nitrate factory. And I hated cleaning them out. I hated having to buy media for them. I hated most finding out my flow had gone bye-bye because of a clog. Granted I never used a really high-end one, but never again.
6. spray bar.......sort of like having a skimmer IN your tank: it created a gunky mess, because in those days we didn't have a skimmer to take out the stuff.
7. sponges. See wet-dry. Nitrates. We had lots of sponges, bioballs, drip trays. Bad stuff.
8. exterior pump in the living room....that had some scary moments. We used a Little Giant, and the only thing between that water and my carpet was a hose clamp and a factory-installed bulkhead connector and Little Giant's engineering. And noisy? You think a modern downflow is noisy? Try one of those pumps, a spray bar, and three drip trays stacked 3 deep with a 5 inch fall to each. But having that huge sump was cool.
9. crushed coral substrate. Nitrate factory. We went nutz with nitrates in that last tank. And that substrate had to be cleaned often. You stirred it up and got a diatom filter to yank the crud out before it killed your tank. Fortunately a diatom filter can do that: but if you've just stirred it up and then can't get the darned filter going, there's a moment of panic for you....
10. starting up with ALL base rock and a cup of lfs sand. That took a while...but if you're starting on the cheap, yep, it can be done. Takes about an 8 week cycle.
11. no high-end lights. I sure lusted after them...but they were hugely expensive. I couldnt believe the price had come that far down when I set up this time.
Things we used then that ought to be more used now:
1. polyfilter. We used to LIVE by polyfilter. Mine went all sorts of weird colors, indicating that without them my tank would have been in lots of trouble. I had two rocks in there that was leaching stuff into the water---a rock inappropriate for a reef---but I couldn't figure WHICH rock it was. Try that for fun! ;) Be sure your base rock is reef-appropriate. Limestone is good. Oh, how did I know it was at least 2 rocks? Because I found out one former speciman rock from the Caribbean was solidified petroleum/tar... from a tanker spill, I suppose.
2. diatom filter. Talk about the machine that can save your bacon in a water quality emergency. Costs about 100.00 and can't be used for a filter (too strong) all the time. You know if your water is full-up with dust and gunk it clogs coral pores and fishy gills, like trying to breathe in a sandstorm...and if biochemically 'soured' it loses its oxygen carrying capacity. A diatom filter can yank any of that stuff very ike watching speeded up action. It will yank anything larger than a micron, swimming ich parasites, ---unfortunately copepods, etc---can cure 'green water' instantly. Futzy to use, learning curve involved, but still a very good piece of equipment to have, especially if you have a megatank or a kid who's at the 'help you' stage.
What do I use now? Equipment list is in my sig: EV120 is the skimmer; Iwaki is the return pump. Kalk is the alk/calcium supplement system.
1. undergravel filter. Talk about a nitrate factory!
2. biowheel filter........it ran. The tank was an algae farm, but things lived.
3. wet dry.........I had a 50 g sump under a 100g tank, which worked well for buttons, mushrooms, but! Nitrates...nitrates. A lot of things I keep now would not live a week in that tank.
4. fluidized sand filter....the Worst. It exploded fine sand all through my sump. And never worked.
5. cannister filter: I had rather walk over hot coals than deal with a cannister....either you clean them obsessively, constantly, or you have another nitrate factory. And I hated cleaning them out. I hated having to buy media for them. I hated most finding out my flow had gone bye-bye because of a clog. Granted I never used a really high-end one, but never again.
6. spray bar.......sort of like having a skimmer IN your tank: it created a gunky mess, because in those days we didn't have a skimmer to take out the stuff.
7. sponges. See wet-dry. Nitrates. We had lots of sponges, bioballs, drip trays. Bad stuff.
8. exterior pump in the living room....that had some scary moments. We used a Little Giant, and the only thing between that water and my carpet was a hose clamp and a factory-installed bulkhead connector and Little Giant's engineering. And noisy? You think a modern downflow is noisy? Try one of those pumps, a spray bar, and three drip trays stacked 3 deep with a 5 inch fall to each. But having that huge sump was cool.
9. crushed coral substrate. Nitrate factory. We went nutz with nitrates in that last tank. And that substrate had to be cleaned often. You stirred it up and got a diatom filter to yank the crud out before it killed your tank. Fortunately a diatom filter can do that: but if you've just stirred it up and then can't get the darned filter going, there's a moment of panic for you....
10. starting up with ALL base rock and a cup of lfs sand. That took a while...but if you're starting on the cheap, yep, it can be done. Takes about an 8 week cycle.
11. no high-end lights. I sure lusted after them...but they were hugely expensive. I couldnt believe the price had come that far down when I set up this time.
Things we used then that ought to be more used now:
1. polyfilter. We used to LIVE by polyfilter. Mine went all sorts of weird colors, indicating that without them my tank would have been in lots of trouble. I had two rocks in there that was leaching stuff into the water---a rock inappropriate for a reef---but I couldn't figure WHICH rock it was. Try that for fun! ;) Be sure your base rock is reef-appropriate. Limestone is good. Oh, how did I know it was at least 2 rocks? Because I found out one former speciman rock from the Caribbean was solidified petroleum/tar... from a tanker spill, I suppose.
2. diatom filter. Talk about the machine that can save your bacon in a water quality emergency. Costs about 100.00 and can't be used for a filter (too strong) all the time. You know if your water is full-up with dust and gunk it clogs coral pores and fishy gills, like trying to breathe in a sandstorm...and if biochemically 'soured' it loses its oxygen carrying capacity. A diatom filter can yank any of that stuff very ike watching speeded up action. It will yank anything larger than a micron, swimming ich parasites, ---unfortunately copepods, etc---can cure 'green water' instantly. Futzy to use, learning curve involved, but still a very good piece of equipment to have, especially if you have a megatank or a kid who's at the 'help you' stage.
What do I use now? Equipment list is in my sig: EV120 is the skimmer; Iwaki is the return pump. Kalk is the alk/calcium supplement system.