As little equipment as possible?
- Thread starter sixftsam
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wouldn't the finner sand just fall thru to the bottom?BIGgourami;2726005; said:i imagine it hold better populations of pods etc cause of all the excess food trapped in it
if you did the first 1-2 inches in a finer sand, and whatever you want below that in a coarser gravel that's be the best of both worlds
i suppose if you live in an earthquake zone, or turn the bass and volume on your amp up to 11
i guess gobies and such would probably disturb some places of it
a fine nylon or fiberglass mesh should work fine to corral the sand
i guess gobies and such would probably disturb some places of it
a fine nylon or fiberglass mesh should work fine to corral the sand
really, a saltwater setup can be more simplistic than a FW tank... all you need is sufficient live rock, a deep sand bed, a light, heater, and some powerheads... minimum of 4 items: light, heater, 2 powerheads for water movement. really thats all you need. corals dont need much more if any at all more... what i dont get is why people think skimmers are so great... they take away from the natural nutrients in the saltwater and dont do much else... really all coral needs is a stronger light
puffcrusader696;2857818; said:really, a saltwater setup can be more simplistic than a FW tank... all you need is sufficient live rock, a deep sand bed, a light, heater, and some powerheads... minimum of 4 items: light, heater, 2 powerheads for water movement. really thats all you need. corals dont need much more if any at all more... what i dont get is why people think skimmers are so great... they take away from the natural nutrients in the saltwater and dont do much else... really all coral needs is a stronger light
I agree with you all the way, except for the skimmer part!!! IMO skimmers take out waste before it has to be broken down biologically, just as the ocean does naturally with wave action. If you add the good nutrients back into the system then the skimmer is only improving water quality!
Ricko;2858227; said:I agree with you all the way, except for the skimmer part!!! IMO skimmers take out waste before it has to be broken down biologically, just as the ocean does naturally with wave action. If you add the good nutrients back into the system then the skimmer is only improving water quality!
my skimmer hasnt been running for a long time now and my water quality has actually improved... my coral growth has increased and coraline is suddenly flourishing... skimmers are pieces of crap to put on your tank as long as you have enough live rock... an algae scrubber (what im about to build) take out all the bad stuff your talking about and keeps (and even adds) all the nutrients that a skimmer does... really it there was a ton of algae in our tank its the same thing but an algae scrubber system removes the algae from the tank and does all those things that a skimmer cant... skimmers hinder reefs more than they help and thats coming from a person who has seen the results
Shhhhh, dont talk about skimmers that way on RC unless you want to be thrashed. lol. I ran my fo with no live rock or skimmer for 2 years and didnt see any bad results like fish death or cronike desease, they ate well and grew as far as I could tell. I had a 2-3 inch sand bed and maybe a hundred pounds of lava rock with 20 lbs of base rock with 8 or 9 large fish plus a 20" eel all in a 150 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump.
puffcrusader696;2864370; said:my skimmer hasnt been running for a long time now and my water quality has actually improved... my coral growth has increased and coraline is suddenly flourishing... skimmers are pieces of crap to put on your tank as long as you have enough live rock... an algae scrubber (what im about to build) take out all the bad stuff your talking about and keeps (and even adds) all the nutrients that a skimmer does... really it there was a ton of algae in our tank its the same thing but an algae scrubber system removes the algae from the tank and does all those things that a skimmer cant... skimmers hinder reefs more than they help and thats coming from a person who has seen the results
lol i think we will just have to agree to disagree on this part of the thread!!!
You need to understand that different things work for different people! Skimmers hindering a reef tank??? Hardly!!! Saying skimmers are crap??? Maybe if you are talking cheaply made skimmers without modification or airstone skimmers!
On another topic,, how often do you water change??
a good water change regiment will do more for your tank and inhabitants than all the equipment in the world could possibly do fo your tank...
all you really need is a tank with water and something to move the water... now that being said live rock is a good add on so is a quality light and some extra powerheads.. if you have enough live rock and a good balance between organisms (microscopic all the way to your largest fish/coral) then you can have a sucessfull tank..of course lighting and circulation depends on the exact animals you keep as some require more or less than others to thrive
Look at it this way ..people use qt and hospital tanks to treat /observe thier fish and most of them are bare minimum tanks and if you can heal/treat/maintain your prised speciemns in a small hospital tank it is entirley possible to do the same on a larger display tank
all you really need is a tank with water and something to move the water... now that being said live rock is a good add on so is a quality light and some extra powerheads.. if you have enough live rock and a good balance between organisms (microscopic all the way to your largest fish/coral) then you can have a sucessfull tank..of course lighting and circulation depends on the exact animals you keep as some require more or less than others to thrive
Look at it this way ..people use qt and hospital tanks to treat /observe thier fish and most of them are bare minimum tanks and if you can heal/treat/maintain your prised speciemns in a small hospital tank it is entirley possible to do the same on a larger display tank
