Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate
I wish marko the best of luck in the future and who knows, perhaps he can develop a method of no-work reefkeeping that can put me out of a job?
|
It is called Monaco filtration.
Quick question here. When you say cyano "problem" could someone please define "problem" for me? I have had one patch appear, slightly larger than a loonie. Is that a "problem"? Should I be actually doing something about it or should I just adjust my regime slightly and see if I can cut it down or stop the spread? It is only in my DSB, no where else and I have pretty much zero nuisance algae anywhere in my tank (so little I find it annoying as i would LIKE to have a sea hair.. *sigh*)
I am pretty sure that the problem is that I am over feeding the tank (although I have it on what is called a calorie restricted diet, so I only "feed" every two days, but I think I have been over feeding to compensate). Going to try and reduce feeding a little bit and see how that does.
As for water changes... It really depends on what kind of system you are running and how loaded it is. There are major aquaria that do water changes "infrequently or never". The Dymico system is a very good example (I used to have an entire chart of major aquaria that don't do water changes, but I can't find the damn thing any more). These are world class systems that never do a water change. HOWEVER, if you aren't running a system designed for it, I would say you would be crazy not to do them. I think that quite a bit of religion has grown up out of water changes, and for a very good reason. If you don't know what is going on in your tank and aren't monitoring it constantly to see if you actually NEED to do a water change, then doing 10%/week will save you no end of problems, simply as a precaution.
I did a huge amount of research into this before starting. I probably spent as much time doing just research as most people take to get fish in their tank (several months of research). The first thing I learned is that there is absolutely no scientific consensus that exists in aquaria at all. Ask five different scientists and you will get five different answers. I have literally looked at research studies on the same subject that come to completely different conclusions, all done by creditable institutions. We don't know the long term effects of skimming, we do know that it increases hydrophobic bacteria counts to well above what you would find in nature. What does that mean.. hell if I know, and no one else does either!
In the end, we are all feeling around in the dark about a subject were there are little facts known and many rules of thumb. Hell, I don't even run a traditional Monaco setup as I use FAR less filtration than even Jaulbert does and instead rely on micro fauna populations to control organic removal. My system has characteristics of several "natural" systems. I use macro for nutrient export like in a Smithsonian Style Aquarium as described by Adey and Loveland. As well as use minimal forced filtration in order to keep as much live plankton in the water column as I can. I use a DSB and a plenum as found in Monaco and Dymico systems and lastly I use the 1lbs/gal rule for live rock in the display as commonly found in Berlin systems. If I could find one at a reasonable price I would be using a positive displacement pump as used in a true Smithsonian Style Aquarium so that I don't have fauna loss due to cavitation as the water is pumped from sump to display. All that means is that the pressure on my nutrients is always DOWN. It is actually a problem as if it gets too low, you risk your macro going sexual on you (to combat that you need to use 24/7 lighting in the fuge).
So.. will it work long term.. who the hell knows! It is working now, can't say everything is perfect, but I would expect that with any system I am running. I am not super advanced in the hobby, just do research in my job professionally so doing in depth functional studies are just.. well something I do and am quite good at. I still have so much practical knowledge to learn it isn't funny. That being said, I seem to have hit on a method that works without the overhead and maintenance. Other than adding in fresh water to combat evaporation, I have only needed to do one water change (due to my own incompetence) at this point from the time it was set up.
Figured I would put up a video. I think I ****ed off everyone in the city with my questions about skimmers and I figure it is time to show off a bit of what all the advice resulted in =). If you ask around Edmonton about "The monaco guy" that would be me =). I know it is small (until I get my 90 set up) and it isn't nearly as fancy as some of your guy's tanks (this is a LOW tech, getto experimental tank), but I am quite proud of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRTbZiGfllM&feature=plcp