Deeeeluxe or simple system?

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by reefwars

the problem i have with the deeeeluxe system is simply the amount of variables involved, if you cant afford the mercedes of dosers or super high tech controllers then the cheaper the equipment and the more variables of problems you could encounter.


right now worse case scenario for me is if my skimmer dies(happened 2 weeks ago) still not a big deal as my tank can run without a skimmer for a while

Same. I can deal with pretty much any issue without headache or breaking the bank.

That's how I like it.

[reefwars]

im surprised though that the simple is killing the deeeeeluxe in votes lol guess alot of us are on the same page and here i thought i was one of the few running the basics and having success with it lol awesome possum

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by reefwars

im surprised though that the simple is killing the deeeeeluxe in votes lol guess alot of us are on the same page and here i thought i was one of the few running the basics and having success with it lol awesome possum

Us here simple folk are speaking up. Lol.


It is early.

[whatcaneyedo]

Deluxe with RO I guess.

Typhoon RO/DI
Apex
PM Bullet 3 Skimmer
PM 622 Ca Reactor with Effluent Chamber
DIY Kalkwasser Reactor
Two Tunze Turbelle 6105 Streams
OM 4 Way
BRS Media Reactor with Carbon
Three Lumenmax 3s with Magnetic Ballasts
and some pumps

No carbon dosing, zeo, prodibio, ultra lith... whatever. Just frozen food, pellets, and mostly IO salt.

[paddyob]

Sorry for the lack of better terms ... Deluxe/simple

If you are super deluxe or somewhere else please comment.

Thanks.

[fishytime]

deeeeluxe with RO/DI



V1:

Aqua controller JR
BK mini 180 skimmer
RO/DI
2x TLF reactors 1 carbon, 1 rowaphos
LR fuge
profilux SA 2 doser
13 different KZ products









V2: a little less deeeeluxe

Aqua controller JR
BK mini 180 skimmer
RO/DI
2x TLF reactors 1 carbon, 1 rowaphos
LR fuge
prodibio
no dosing ca/mg/dkh

[lockrookie]

right now i do the simplr with ro at this time. my 50 does well thisway infacti find wheni do water changes the water coming out is clearer than the water going back in i have to look in to that maybe change my ro filters lol.

my 90 always also is simple i used to run ozone on it till my orp probe crapped out but even still im like you dump a few things in on a water change and forget it.

but.. i may get a lil more deluxe on my 180. i plan on a controller mainly for temp/lights/skimmer. and have purchased parts for a calcium reactor setup (if it fails ill just make my own soda and be done with it). may also concider a doser still unsure.

i really dont need the ability to have my controller system send me a text that a fish took a dump or issues here and there the only major addition will be to my home alarm system. i will be installing a water bug inside the tank stand as well as bottom edge in case of water leaks so that my home alarm will notify me that there is a major issue go home asap. concidering tank will be on main floor lol

[i have crabs]

im running no skimmer, tap water with no prime, no powerheads and i havnt changed water in 6 monthes and my sps are doing better than they have in the last 2 years in a high tech system, so spend money on things that make your life easier not cause its the new trend

[mike31154]

Consider my system simple although I have three rather costly MP40WES gadgets moving the water. Other than that, sumpless & DIY almost everything. I even purchased the system used from a lady in Richmond & transported the whole works back to Vernon in the middle of winter (early January). The skimmer that came with it is an old school, wooden air diffuser driven counter current which certainly looks like someone's DIY project. I added a few of my own mods to the skimmer & it works great. Also cobbled together the light fixture consisting of two MH 250 watt lamps in DIY Lumenarc reflectors & 2 retrofit T5 tubes overdriven by a Workhorse 8 ballast. Currently in the process of building a LED fixture using 10 watt LEDs. My ATO is a glass wine carboy pressurized by an air pump on a timer. No controller, just timers for the ATO & lights.

Livestock includes two sizeable BTAs hosting a spawning Maroon Clownfish pair, Yellow Tang, Mandarin Dragonet, Yellowtail Damsel & Singapore Angelfish. Then there are the miscellaneous critters like snails, hermits & a Tuxedo Urchin. Coral is mostly soft & LPS with a couple of small SPS frags. Everything's doing well. I'd love to keep a Lawnmower Blenny but I've lost 3 of them now, all due to different circumstances, so I'm giving them a break from my system. Dosing is sporadic. Whenever I do a water change, I'll usually test & if something's a little too far off, I add what's needed to the ATO without a lot of precise measuring. Despite this apparent lack of precision with regard to dosing, LPS such as my Hammer & a Chalice appear to be getting plenty of calcium, since they are among the fast growers in my system. Even the two little SPS frags are growing. Not sure what they even are, they're brown and are branching profusely. So my theory on that is, even if calcium levels drop to half of what they should be (I've never measured that low), it's likely that certain corals will find a way to extract enough of it to build. So unless you're farming coral for sale (or really have a ton of SPS), do you really need to dose like a madman & keep levels over 400 or are water changes at regular intervals sufficient?

I tend to feed heavily relative to the low fish bioload since I like the critters to be fat & the Maroons spawning. Consequently, I have a bit of an algae scrubber in certain areas of my display (read hair algae). I don't sweat it too much unless it starts crowding the coral & prefer to look at it as free nitrate export. After all I'm paying good money for all that light shining down into the tank, so that in combination with plenty of food fuels the process. Some day I'll have a sump and try to eliminate the stuff from the display. Being a previously owned system with very little flow when I picked it up, this could be contributing to the algae growth. I'm seeing a steady improvement with each water change, but looks like I have a ways to go on that front. Not sure any deluxe gadgets are going to help with that.

Crap, I wrote another freakin novel. Oh well.

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by i have crabs

spend money on things that make your life easier not cause its the new trend

Agree!

Something always " gets better " .