Back to the Future

[windemerejack]

Hi and welcome from the UK. Very friendly and knowledgeable folk on here, you will love it.
Stay safe.

 

[revhtree]

 

[atoll]

Hi and welcome from the UK. Very friendly and knowledgeable folk on here, you will love it.
Stay safe.

The Lakes one if not my favourite places here in the UK. You live in a beautiful part of the world never mind the UK.

 

[Dr. Phil]

Welcome! It looks like you have had an interesting journey down the reef keeping road! I look forward to your new build thread!

 

[Osler]

@atoll
I can remember arguing with a buddy of mine about the needle wheel impeller/multipass skimmer from Red Sea when it first came out. I was firmly in the venturi camp at that time and thought it was just marketing hype. Now I have a Curve 7 and just frankensteined a Reef Octopus Bubble-Blaster 5000 onto the body of an SRO-3000XP cone because, well, more air.

Your observations about dispelling myths is a good one. I think most of those who keep tanks like ours are very curious and observant people. Some are more observant about how to tune a particular apparatus for the tank (Hahnmeister comes to mind here), while others, such as yourself, focus more on the biology of the whole thing. The cross-talk among us on forums such as this has really led to an explosion in husbandry skills across the board.

 

[Osler]

@windemerejack and @diaz2010
Thank you very much for the warm welcome!

 

[Osler]

@revhtree
Thanks for letting me hang out here.

 

[atoll]

@atoll
I can remember arguing with a buddy of mine about the needle wheel impeller/multipass skimmer from Red Sea when it first came out. I was firmly in the venturi camp at that time and thought it was just marketing hype. Now I have a Curve 7 and just frankensteined a Reef Octopus Bubble-Blaster 5000 onto the body of an SRO-3000XP cone because, well, more air.

Your observations about dispelling myths is a good one. I think most of those who keep tanks like ours are very curious and observant people. Some are more observant about how to tune a particular apparatus for the tank (Hahnmeister comes to mind here), while others, such as yourself, focus more on the biology of the whole thing. The cross-talk among us on forums such as this has really led to an explosion in husbandry skills across the board.

Am a Luddite in some respects. I don't have a multifunctional, wifi, all singing all dancing controller. My lights are programmed however. I have an ATU and a simple doser for my kalk stirrer, see I still use kalk. My skimmer is a simple but effective reef octopus 150sss classic and use a waterfall algae turf scrubber but would use a fuge if I had the space for one like I had 30 something years ago along with some Siporax in a basket. I have also been using Oxydators for over 30 years.

I have live rock in my tank and lots of it. I tried the minimalistic reefscape new trendy thing but binned it as I believe my fish do better with much more rock in there. I have an inch of sand on the bottom and lots of water movement. OK, I have a gyre and a couple of MP40s in there but never touch the settings.

As much as is reasonably possible (you define what is reasonable) I try to follow mother natures teachings as I believe she knows best after all shes had millions of years to perfect her ways. Follow her and you wont go far wrong IME.

 

[Osler]

@atoll
I doubt you are a Luddite. Pictured below is my first aquarium controller:

I now have an Apex that accomplishes the same thing for a bit more money and functionality. In fact, I installed a big red button on the front of my tank so I can feed the fish without unplugging nearly every pump. You can see it top left of the tank in the final picture of my original post. I guess I can do this from my phone or iPad now, but I like the tactile feel of pressing an actual button and getting a response from my tank. Perhaps I'm a Luddite.

Kalk has been my mainstay for since the 90s. One of my first contraptions was to build a mercury float switch for my sump (120 V/60 Hz running just inches above my salt water...the horror!) that activated an air pump that pressurized a sealed 5 gallon glass bottle full of kalkwasser to maintain my sump water level. I used a stopper for the bottle pilfered from my organic chemistry laboratory that was held in place by pieces of bent coat hanger. Good times!

Siporax is great but I prefer to add carbon to the sump and forget to change it. It's cheaper.

As far as live rock, I agree. The more the better; however, at some point the monolithic reef wall found in most tanks when I was coming up in the hobby began to wear on me. I found the lagoon-scape more appealing and is likely why I run mostly softies and LPS. I also have a sand bed because, well, the ocean has sand in it. I've done the Jaubert method in the past and found it to be less than ideal over long time periods. Now I keep a 1-2" sand bed and turkey baste it when I clean my aquarium panes. It must be working because I started with one sea cucumber and now have 6.

As far as flow, prop pumps were a game changer for me. They came out just as I got out of the hobby in the early 2000s. The flow is ridiculous compared to power heads. And I agree with you, find a flow mixture that works for you and leave it alone. The less I mess with my tank, the better it does. That being said, mother nature is entropy to a great degree so you have to take a moment to weed the garden every once in a while.

Osler

 

[atoll]

Regarding DIY ATU, I used a car windscreen washer pump powered by a 12v scalextric transformer coupled to a float switch. The pump would pump kalk into the sump and last about 6 months before it give up but they were cheap enough.
Some of my friends bought lowbay industrial units and removed the power supply to reduce weight and make it remote. The metal case would then be cut down to make the light unit more compact. A single ended large HQI bulb of 5400k would provide the light.
The pump we used for our DIY ATU and the low bay light.

 

[Paul B]

WElcome to R2R. Nice to meet another Old Timer.

I still use a DIY mercury switch to fill my tank and a DIY skimmer. Most of my rock is DIY.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Oh, that tank in last Pic !!!! great work !!

 

[Osler]

@Paul B
Oh man! That was published the year I was born. I think you and @atoll have a bit more knowledge than me at this point.

Osler

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Welcome! Great introduction!

 

[Osler]

@vetteguy53081
That's the one! I'm working on my initial build thread post today. Hopefully I can get it done in between all of the Zoom meetings.

Osler

 

[atoll]

@Paul B
Oh man! That was published the year I was born. I think you and @atoll have a bit more knowledge than me at this point.

Osler

1949 here but I don't recall anything about it not even being held up by my ankles and having my butt smacked.

 

[Paul B]

I doubt you are a Luddite. Pictured below is my first aquarium controller:

Thats still my aquarium controller. What else would I use?

@Paul B
Oh man! That was published the year I was born. I think you and @atoll have a bit more knowledge than me at this point.

Osler

I don't know about that, but I was 24 when that magazine came out. I also had the one before that and a few from the 60s, but they were fresh water as salt started in the US in 1971. I think it was on a Tuesday about 2 or 2:15 in the afternoon.

 

[Osler]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I have placed the first post in my build thread here.

Osler

 

[dbl]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I have placed the first post in my build thread here.

Osler

And look at that fancy new build thread banner.

 

[Osler]

@dbl
Sweet!!

Osler