How can it be wrong if it's right?

[harold green]

I think I had my first tank at the age of 7. Now I'm 64 and looking back I've decided there is no right or wrong way to have a tank. Forty years ago I set up my first marine tank. Crushed coral with an undergravel filter, dead corals, plastic plants and at that time if you could keep a few damsels and a clown fish alive you were doing well. Had a couple of peppermint shrimp and they would climb the plastic plants to the water surface and grab the flakes of tetra ruby fish food I fed the fish. The shrimp turned the darkest, reddest color I've ever seen on a peppermint shrimp. As the hobby progressed so did my tanks. I tried wet dry filters, metal halide lights, vho lights, skimmers, live rock, lots of water changes, no water changes, fish tanks, coral tanks, big tanks, little tanks. I've seen salt water done in a goldfish bowl successfully with lots of water changes. As many have noted the most important thing is stability of the environment. If the conditions aren't perfect you may lose some animals but some may survive and flourish because they like the environment as it is. I learned the hard way that some of the animals that look great may not be what you truly want in the long run. I bought a piece of coral branch with a few Anthelia that sat at the back of the tank for six months without doing a thing. Over the next six months they completely covered the back of a 75 gallon tank along with all the live rock and corals at the top of the tank. Never again. I've had the same experience with yellow polyps, green star polyps, and even worse kenyan tree coral. The kenyan tree fragments and the pieces grow all over the tank and are hard to remove. At 64 I wasn't sure I had it in me to start a large reef tank but not having enough to do 24 hours a day I decided to give it my all. I'm running in a 210 gallon reef with a 75 gallon sump. Filter socks feeding a skimmer rated for 400 gallons and a refusium fed by a gfo/carbon reactor. Lighting is led's both diy and store bought. Although not the accepted best method I started the tank with fresh florida live rock. I suspect the rock actually was held for a time since it had little or no die off once added to my tank. I added some live rock from my existing tanks and let the tank run for a month. Nitrates and phosphates read zero so I began adding corals a few each week. Macro algae growth was unbelievable for several weeks so I expect the live rock was causing it. Now the growth has slowed and I expect any nitrates or phosphates are about used up. Regardless of test results I prefer to judge by what's happening in the tank. Test kits are great but watching a tank daily will often tell you more. If you follow the basics you will seldom go wrong but seat of the pants can teach you a lot more in the long run. I'm sure a lot of members can quote you all the statistics on their tanks and many have absolutely beautiful tanks but in the long run it's attention to your tank that will ultimately decide if it's successful or not. Best of luck and don't ever be afraid to try.

 

[Snid]

Paul B is that you?

He's one of our more seasoned reefers. He still uses a reverse flow under gravel filter still.

Anyways...

Welcome Aboard, Matey!

 

[DaveK]

... Although not the accepted best method I started the tank with fresh florida live rock. ...

Welcome to RS.

Was this aquacultured live rock? I was wondering since the collection of actual Florida live rock has been banned for years.

 

[harold green]

Absolutely aquacultured. I've bought several times from a company that holds a lease to seed and grow liverock. With overnight shipping it's still half the cost of buying at the local lfs and it's a lot fresher. There's always the risk of getting something you don't want but you also get some interesting inverts. This batch had several red mitrax crabs. Previously I've gotten urchins, an unusual red nudibrach that lived for over a year, even a sea spider that didn't last too long. This time I requested pieces that had live coral if available and it arrived containing some nice brain corals and branches of ivory coral all growing on the rock. Some of my existing live rock I added to the tank has light violet colored sponges on it that have survived for over a year in the previous tank along with some that are yellow and one that is totally black. Now as I wait for the tank to mature I have corals and macros that I hope will survive along with the clams, and dusters. I've seen many beautiful sps tanks but sometimes they hide what most of us want to enjoy. The actual reef with all it's form of life.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics after 5 post you can add pics - look forward to seeing your tank and you sharing your sw wisdom with RS !

 

[harold green]

Thanks for the welcome. Hey if the reverse flow works for him who can say it's not a good method. I just pulled out my last two plenums and I'm a believer in them but only for tanks that get very light feedings. Reverse flow and plenums suffer from the same issue. They have to have a small flow to work and over time debris builds up and blocks that flow. You can stir or vacuum but that defeats the purpose of the filter. This time I'm using a shallow sand bed with strong water flow to sweep debris into the filter socks that I check or clean daily. Time will tell if it works for me.

 

[Snid]

Here's a link to one of Paul B's more followed threads... He has some other good ones out there too, but for some reason this one seems to be one that keeps a lot of conversation going very regularly. I get a real kick out of his Pod hunting expeditions that involve taking the boat out to scoop up mud and slapping it into his tank.

Tank Turned 43 Years Old

My Live Rock was shipped to me from the Caribbean, so we have probably shared similar Hitchhikers. I certainly have no shortage of Featherdusters (and other fan worms) trying to grow everywhere. Several forms of them in fact; cute little white calcereous ones with red fans that grow on anything from glass to snail shells, ones that barely stick out of the hole in the rock that they came in on and have a figure 8 shape, bright red ones that sweep open like a hand fan, long tubed ones that keep extending upward and outward. I'm eager to see which ones will grow large and live for a long time. I also have at least three varieties of sponges trying to grow in my tank, which is fun to see because they are starting out so small. Any of the large sponges I had on the rock bleached out from the shipping. My tank is only 4 months old, so it has a lot of maturing yet to do.

 

[Paul B]

Paul B is that you?

No, I don't think that is me as I am over here. But he is only a year younger than I am and has had tanks almost as long. He must be very intelligent.

 

[Creekview]

Welcome Mr. Green! Sounds like you and I share history as salt water enthusiasts. I've had salt since the early 70's. I too buy cultured live rock, uncured. Makes reef keeping an adventure! Have used 2 different Tampa Bay Area sources. One was much better than the other. I'm getting ready to set up a system for a friend and am going to try a supplier down in the keys. I run an algae scrubber on my system and run the skimmer a couple times a month. No other filtration. Don't even know where my test kit is. I judge by the critters. I feed baby brine, rotifers, and phyto, all raised live. Everyone is happy happy.