had to laugh test of my 250

[deejeff442]

well i was kinda bored today .so i tested the water in my 250 reef.i have not tested it for probably 6 months.i just have been doing weekly or so water changes.
ammonia 0 kinda figured
nitrites 0
ph 8.2
nitrites 0 yes zero.i was surprised i figured 10-20 before i did it
phosphates 0
calcium 420-440 kinda changing between drops
bout it i dont bother with the rest of them if the cal is where i want it.
so i have no skimmer,no mechanical filter .my sump just has rock rubble
nothing like a good old mature tank with lots of lr and flow.

 

[jacobsdad09]

awesome and honestly that why i love the advice u give cuz u honest know what u are talkin about!

 

[deejeff442]

ummmm i wouldnt go that far lol
i am old school meaning lots of flow and lr and a light bioload.i know skimmers and mechanical filter have their place in this hobby ( qt)
but alot of the problems people have is to rush nature.some of the rock in my tank i have had for 25 years.patience will always beat failure

 

[snakeblitz33]

I absolutely agree with skimmerless/filterless reefkeeping. I have had tanks for the better part of a decade now. Nothing like live rock and flow as the main biofilter. The only form of filtration I'm going to have on my 20g mixed SPS reef is a turf algae scrubber.
Tank looks great. Can't wait to see some more pics and study your methods more.
Why don't you type up a summary of your system so more people can emulate it?

 

[1guydude]

Ya but how old r u guys? No offense... im all for skimmers/bio filtration! I use ceramic rings and carbon...double up on my filtration too. I always get equipment like skimmers/filters that are overrated for my systems! Im a heavy feeder and a heavy stocker...22yrs old. I do know that u guys know a lot more than i about the hobby but i also incorparate lots of flow and LR in my systems! U guys used under gravels back in the day huh?

someone said something that was before that but i cant remember wat...

 

[snakeblitz33]

lol, what, plenum/Jaubert system? the Berlin method? lol
1guyDude - What you don't realize is that protein skimmers pull out more coral food than what is necessary. Protein skimmers pull out food that was meant to stay in the water column to be eaten. What isn't eaten or filtered out would dissolve into inorganic phosphate and inorganic nitrate. That's what we try to remove from our systems, but most people go the wrong way by trying to overskim the water of all the nutrients that is left in the water column - essentially starving corals and filter feeders. By going skimmerless/filterless, you leave in the food and let the nitrate and phosphate be broken down by the biological filtration only - like what happens in the ocean. I let my little turf algae scrubbers grow hair algae so that I can remove those nitrates and phosphates left over from food.. the inorganic phosphates and nitrates only - not the coral and filter feeder food.
Anyways, it's just a more natural way of doing it and getting different results.

 

[1guydude]

ya those...lol
im not sayin it dont work...im just sayin thats the old way.
I usually turn my filters and skimmers off but leave my circulation going for an hr or so a day. Mostly during feeding time when i do feed coral food! So many diffrent ways of doing things...u old schoolers dont do water changes neither!

 

[sweatervest13]

I like this thread. I have been on the fence about an ATS. But I also have a skimmer. Would both be good. Maybe dial the skimmed back (run 12 hrs/ day) ?
Deejeff awesome tank!!!! How much rock and flow do you have in there? How much rubble in the sump?

 

[deejeff442]

yea when i started it was under gravel.crushed coral was king .also had a skimmer with an air pump and a wood air block to make the bubbles.very primitave to whats out there now.
i do 10-15% water changes every week or two to replace minerals and calcium.
i have an atm around here somewhere .the thing never worked right and it wasnt a cheap one.
my tank is simple .250 tank 300 lbs of lr ,50 lbs of rubble in the sump.i do have plants in the sump.i run one korilia #4 along the back of the tank and two mp40's on each side .900 gph sump return pump.thats it
i did run a scrubber for about 6 months and didnt see any difference in water quality.but it probably would make a big difference on a young tank.it was just a pita to maintain so i tossed it for the chato i have now.i keep 40 snails in there with the chato.my sump is a 75 gallon split down the middle.

 

[snakeblitz33]

They have come a long way on an ATS these days. They aren't so hard to maintain now - just scrub the screen once a week and replace the bulbs once every three months. Chaeto collects too much debris for me to enjoy it. It would also make a big difference on a heavily stocked heavily fed system too. I'm happy to know that someone here is taking the natural approach.

 

[1guydude]

wats an atm jeff?

 

[bubblegurl]

Awesome tank! No wonder you know so much!!

 

[mr. limpid]

You guys laugh I'm still running under gravel plate and crush coral in my 20gal mini reef. It been up and running for the last 22 years, started out being a critter tank added corals 10 years ago and 1 yellow tail damsel.

 

[florida joe]

well my good friend i would hope your NITRITES are at zero . FYI run CC in my DT and have for over 11 yrs also an undergravel works as a plenum
Quote:
nitrites 0 yes zero.i was surprised i figured 10-20 before i did it

 

[mr. limpid]

yep at zero, I have plenty of Xena to help me with that. Also once a year 1/3 at a time I gravel grunge . Hey Joe, how the weather in florida, we in chicago are summer is over, its cold up here, low 70's in day and down to 40's at night.

 

[travelerjp98]

so would a filter sock be a form of mechanical filtration?
I agree with no skimmer on reefs... but I think that they are good on more heavily stocked FOWLR's or FO tanks.

 

[florida joe]

Come on guys let me try this again. To my good friend DeeJeff I am glad your N I T R I T ES ARE AT ZERO. As for the sock question yes it is mechanical as you have to manually remove it and clean it from time to time

 

[travelerjp98]

yep that's what I thought... just clarifying.

 

[deejeff442]

problem with the sock is the pods will get caught in it.if you care to keep pods for the fish.
dude.lol i put that wrong twice.i put atm and meant ato auto top off,and was thinking tuft scrubber.i think that was the night i was drinking rum and cokes

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by deejeff442 http:///t/387695/had-to-laugh-test-of-my-250#post_3414071
problem with the sock is the pods will get caught in it.if you care to keep pods for the fish.
dude.lol i put that wrong twice.i put atm and meant ato auto top off,and was thinking tuft scrubber.i think that was the night i was drinking rum and cokes

good for you on the drinking and pal i was wondering come on guys he means his NITRTRATES ARE ZERO