I've Had Problems, But ......

[jonto]

Hello folks. Sorry if this got lenghty but I hope I can help some other folks wanting to get into this wonderful hobby. I'm a newbie at reef tanks so take this for what its worth.
I'm trying to obtain a natural reef with natural filtration and not a lot of equipment and chasing numbers with chemical additives. So far it looks like I might be getting there. I have an Octo 1000 (hang on back) skimmer and an Aquaclear 110 for my 75 gal tank. I also have about 70lbs of dry rock (natural filtration) and 40 lbs of Corral Sea Aragonite sand (also natural filtration). I put the sand in the front and along the sides and left the back bare bottom. The water is crystal clear. I set up a self-prime pump and
4 valves and I never have to carry buckets of water, just switch the valves and turn on the pump and voila.

I have a regular cleanup crew with crabs and snails and do not touch the sandbed. The Lawnmower Blenny, Wrasse, Foxface,and shrimps are constantly eating STUFF. Yes, there is gunk on the bottom but the CC seems to be keekping things in check and they are multiplying.

I hope my low maintence tank continues to go good. I realize that things could go south in an instant but if I keep the water good and change the filter regularily I should be OK.

I guess my point of this post is for folks to not be totally confused by all of the various equipment out there and the different setups. You still have to read a lot and prepare to invest some money. But it doesn't have to go to the great extent of spending thousands of dollars and getting a degree in biology to enjoy a salt water tank. Just ask the folks on this forum for some expert advice. I had to tame my tendency to worry about the day to day changes and just relax and let the tank take its course, which it will and it did.

I'm sure there will be folks that will disagree with all I've said but I don't think everyone needs all the sumps, reactors, UV sterilizers, and dosing systems to enjoy a great salt water tank. Maybe if you get into the more exotic critters these things are needed, I don't know. It seems to me that if you have a good stable tank that most creatures should survive. I'm loving my tank so far but it may not be what others are looking for.

75gal tank on started 8/11/17
BRS Pukani(70 lbs)
Caribsea Aragonite sand (40lbs)
Red Sea Coral Pro Salt
Octo1000 HOB skimmer
Aquaflow 110 with Stock sponge, Charcol,
Ceramic tubes and Poly filter
Jebao PP8 Powerhead (2)
2 Starfire led lights (with 3 channels)
RODI water

pH… (Diliss Digital) ……... 8.4
kH … (Hanna) ……….…….. 6.4
Amonia … (Red Sea) …….. 0
Nitrite … (Red Sea) ………. 0
Nitrate… (Red Sea) ………. 0
Salinity … (Milwalkee) ….. 1.025
Phosphate … (Hanna) …. 0
Calcium …. (Salifert) ……. 390
Magnesium (Salifert) …. 1320
Temp …………..…………….. 79.5

Blue Leg Hermit Crab
Emerald Crab
Rose BubbleTip Anemone
Haitian Reef Anemone, Condylactis spp ( Carribean)
Long Tentacle Anemone - Green, Macrodactyla doreensis (Indo Pafific)
Solomon, Zoanthus spp
Fire Shrimp, Lysmata debelius (Sri Lanka)
Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis (x2) (Sri Lanka)
Melanarus Wrasse
Purple Firefish Goby
Royal Gramma (2)
Springer Damsel
Tailspot Blenny
Yellow Watchman Shrimpgoby
Lawnmower Blenny
One Spot FoxFace

[JUNBUG361]

Tank looks good and nice pieces of live rocks. Yup, some people will disagree with you. Me personally will still neutral

[Cancun]

I agree! Well said! This hobby is supposed to be a stress reducer not the other way around! LOL! Take a deep breath...relax...and enjoy your little piece of the ocean.

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

[Xxero]

I have a fairly elaborate yet simple 90'ish gallon system because I like the complexity and thought that has to go into it all. But then I have a 20 gallon glass box with a cheap hang-on-back filter from Wal-Mart, a little power head, and a heater. You can go for complex or simple, it all just depends on how deep you want to fall down the rabbit hole.

[oldhead]

Originally Posted by Xxero

I have a fairly elaborate yet simple 90'ish gallon system because I like the complexity and thought that has to go into it all. But then I have a 20 gallon glass box with a cheap hang-on-back filter from Wal-Mart, a little power head, and a heater. You can go for complex or simple, it all just depends on how deep you want to fall down the rabbit hole.

And that rabbit hole is deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

[nereefpat]

Nice looking tank.

I ran a 90 gallon for almost a decade with no sump or dosing, just live rock, powerheads, and weekly 10gallon water changes. As long as you don't go crazy with stony corals, you can definitely keep a tank this way.

[jonto]

So what are the corrals I should stay from? What do you consider stony corrals? I am reading but haven't yet figured out all the different corrals. All I have is the fish, 3 nems, and the 1 Solomon Zoanthus that seems to be doing good.

[top shelf]

Originally Posted by jonto

So what are the corrals I should stay from? What do you consider stony corrals? I am reading but haven't yet figured out all the different corrals. All I have is the fish, 3 nems, and the 1 Solomon Zoanthus that seems to be doing good.

If you don't intend to nor want to dose anything and keep it simple I would stick with soft corals and stay away from all stony corals. Stony being sps-small polyp Stony and lps-large polyp stony. SPS would be acropora, montipora, pocilipora, etc etc. Lps would be hammers, frogspawn, torches, open brains, etc etc. These corals all use up calcium and alk to build there skeleton and grow. The more they grow the more they will suck up and while wc may be enough to keep up at first eventually there needs will outgrow what a wc can provide. If relying on wc alone a simple.soft coral tank will be the most rewarding. Anything from your zoanthids, Xenia, leathers, gsp, Kenya trees, mushrooms so on and so forth. The benefit of some of these corals is they will grow like mad and can also be used for nutrient export. The downside if you choose to see it that way is they will all grow like mad and some consider particular soft corals invasive.

Keep doing what your doing, while there are many methods and many ways to accomplish a reef tank it's all personal preference and comes down to are you happy. While some may not agree and will give there own recommendations so long as nothing is being knowingly or ignorantly harmed most will not say much. I noticed that's about the only time people get really upset is when someone asks for help and ignored it while continuing to harm there aquatic life.

[ChristopherPere]

Sounds like a pretty good setup to me. Sounds like you've thought it out quite well. Try not to stress over it too much.