Do we overly complicate reef keeping?

[jft]

I have been keeping successful reef tanks since the 1980s .NO FILTER ROLLERS, NO ALGAE REACTORS, NO DOSING ,in short NO FANCY ELECTRONICS < JUST Simple skimming and carbon and water changes. IMO People get sucked in for new supplements ,new electronics, new gadgets ETC. To each their own.

 

[dough]

Each to their own. But it depends on your definition of complicated. Like in most hobbies, people chase the latest and greatest gadget, partly due to marketing and partly due to keeping up with the Jones. I'm guilty of the FOMO. Regardless, there are plenty of successful reefers the use old "technology", think T5's. One the flip side their are plenty of successful "complicated" systems.

 

[StickyThwomp]

A good portion of the appeal to me (at this moment) IS the complication. It's a puzzle to solve and a system to optimize (or over optimize). With my hobbies, I don't want to trade-off engineering cost and value, that's not the enjoyable part. I'd rather run wild and see what I can do, not necessarily what I should do.

We'll see how that shapes out when there's life in the tank! But at least for now, the possibilities for "over complication" are exciting!

 

[14 foot reef]

One look at my Apex Dashboard and I easily can answer. BOY DO WE OVER COMPLICATE !!!!!
My dashboard is like 5 pages..... LOL

 

[SlyPuffer]

A good portion of the appeal to me (at this moment) IS the complication. It's a puzzle to solve and a system to optimize (or over optimize). With my hobbies, I don't want to trade-off engineering cost and value, that's not the enjoyable part. I'd rather run wild and see what I can do, not necessarily what I should do.

We'll see how that shapes out when there's life in the tank! But at least for now, the possibilities for "over complication" are exciting!

I am the same way. The more complicated something is, the larger my drive to conquer it. I think there is a large range between “surviving” and “thriving.” I believe recreating the exact ecosystem these creatures live in to thrive is very complicated but keeping a reef were the creatures are surviving is not as bad. This is my opinion from a new reefer who has been studying other peoples tanks during my research!

 

[Beefyreefy]

Yes 100%. Bright lights, skimmer, rocks, flow, calcium and alkalinity supplementation, coral, fish, and fish food. Literally this will make a successful reef tank, nothing else is necessary. You can even subtract a couple of those things and still be ok.

 

[vlangel]

A good portion of the appeal to me (at this moment) IS the complication. It's a puzzle to solve and a system to optimize (or over optimize). With my hobbies, I don't want to trade-off engineering cost and value, that's not the enjoyable part. I'd rather run wild and see what I can do, not necessarily what I should do.

We'll see how that shapes out when there's life in the tank! But at least for now, the possibilities for "over complication" are exciting!

One look at my Apex Dashboard and I easily can answer. BOY DO WE OVER COMPLICATE !!!!!
My dashboard is like 5 pages..... LOL

I am the same way. The more complicated something is, the larger my drive to conquer it. I think there is a large range between “surviving” and “thriving.” I believe recreating the exact ecosystem these creatures live in to thrive is very complicated but keeping a reef were the creatures are surviving is not as bad. This is my opinion from a new reefer who has been studying other peoples tanks during my research!

This hobby appeals to a wide range of folks who enjoy a wide range of the different aspects of the hobby offers. I like KISS (keep it simple stupid) reefing but I cheer on the tech geeks who enjoy the challenges of reefing with the latest and greatest!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

This is my whole setup. Skimmer and ATO.

 

[GARRIGA]

For real! I feel like it's human nature to push the extremes of a hobby. For example, mountain biking can be a fun pastime for some people, while others take the most dangerous routes in the world and risk their lives to accomplish said trail.

Doesn’t help that profits drive marketing. Love to have someone explain exactly why you can’t keep a reef tank with an undergravel filter? Paul does. I kept an anemone tank in the 80s successfully. No WC either. Lights were weak but on 16 hours plus which means I invented DLI

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is my whole setup. Skimmer and ATO.

Nice and simple! I like it!

 

[GARRIGA]

This is my whole setup. Skimmer and ATO.

Technically for me. Berlin method was KISS. Although back then just live rock (real live rock not today’s man made solid crap) and sump and skimmer. ATO was hand pouring which became KISS once that was automated.

To me. Love the tech if it means getting more time for other activities. No issues building it correctly at start so long as later means less of me doing anything other than viewing and feeding. Still get joy seeing fish with small brains begging for handouts

 

[Eric R.]

I think a lot of it comes from taking advice on how to reef from people that have a vested interest in selling you something (“full spectrum” lights, ICP, vanadium in a bottle, bacteria in a bottle, algaecide that’s not an algaecide, etc).

Some of it is definitely complicated (it helps if you know at least something about plumbing, diseases, chemistry, electricity, biology, stand design/construction, programming, etc.), so it’s not a simple hobby. But I think what makes it more complicated is the information you get from those with a vested interest in selling you a solution to your problem, that may not even do what they say it does.

I do think critical thinking is one of the best skills you can develop to be successful in this hobby. I think the Skeptical Reefkeeping series of articles from Richard Ross is an excellent place to start: https://reefs.com/skeptical-reefkeeping/

 

[Dburr1014]

So over complicated. Buy this, dose that, and have an awesome reef.
I wish it was that simple as marketing seems to make it.

Some things are great, don't get me wrong. ATO, wonderful. I would hate to have to topoff daily.

I'm very casual when it comes to reefing.
Socks, when it looks like a lot of particulate in the water.
Carbon, when the water looks yellow.
Ect...

My wife sprays air freshener(not directly near tank), burns incense and candles.
I work in a machine shop and the other day my hands were in the tank. I noticed my watch band had greasy grime on it. Oops.
It's a wonder my tank hasn't crashed in the 10 years, lol.
No stn/rtn, no LPS heads popping off.
Maybe I should write a book like danp. (Joking of coarse.) He puts hammers in his reef.

 

[Tinnerito]

I was so overwhelmed when starting and mode more mistakes from worrying about all the parameters that I realized were for Acros and not the corals I started with that yeah, I think we do tend to talk about reef keeping as a monolith of high end sps and not as "grades" of levels

I am currently at that stage...

 

[skey44]

My tank is pretty complicated… but also pretty simple. I lack much automation except tunze osmolator which I find essential and Light control for timing and intensities. There are a lot of controllers and apps involved individually, But I don’t use an apex or hydros. My dosing is relatively simple dosing AFR daily and 3 part for corrections as needed. I am feeding a ton of frozen every day. I use an old fashioned auto feeder for days I can’t feed and just to try to keep some consistent nutrient levels. I also journal my build and parameters in my thread. There’s a mad scientist paper notepad where I’m tracking my testing results via Hanna, salifert, and refractometer. Weekly 10% WC. I’d say I’m more of a manual reefer in general and I like it that way.
I will automate my dosing eventually for vacations.
I also see a lot of people who automate their tanks and are on autopilot, but they don’t have great success. It takes more than fancy equipment and everything being right on paper to get a thriving reef tank going.
Simple but complicated for sure.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Oh yeah. Bigtime. A lot of the issue is the 'More is Better' attitude. My last 90g tank had a skimmer. That's it. And it was a successful tank. But my new tank will be a tad different. I'll be adding to my new build an algae scrubber, UV (NOT 24h, only if needed) an ATO and an Apex. I'm going to be traveling so I need an edge while leaving the tank alone for upto a month at a time.

 

[MorReefs]

I know I certainly do. I have been slowly realizing I have had multiple redundancy systems in play doing the same thing. I feel silly now that I realized this, running GFO with carbon pellets with a algae scrubber and going "why is my nutrients bottoming out?". Running a CalRx and putting kalk in my top off... Sometimes I think we get caught up and end up doing too much. K.I.S.S. turns out to more valuable then any other advice

 

[EuphyllinOHk]

It depends on the level of engagement that you want to have with the hobby, like all hobbies. Training for a 5k is different from training to run a marathon. The fancy shoes, camel packs, moisture wicking clothes, and supplements are all nice and can probably help with the 5k, but you'd have a much harder time justifying them for the 5k than for the marathon. If you're setting up the Fluval 13.5 build for a clown and some softies, you probably can be very successful with a low tech build, an algae scraper, and water change discipline. To set up a monster SPS tank with sand sifting gobies, anthias, or butterflies you'll need that aggressive nutrient export management, dosing, and rigorous feeding regimens. Taking over all that tech to the Fluval 13.5 would be overcomplicating things, to a bizarre degree, but the flipside of that coin is that taking over the Fluval methodology to the monster tank overcomplicates the monster tank when it comes to maintenance and feeding.

Much more than in the freshwater hobby, I think the "survive" end of the "thrive, not survive" spectrum is much more well understood/defined in the marine world. What is needed to "thrive" still seems a bit more ambiguous, especially since there seems to be a alot more options on how to get there. Because of this, it's easy for a rookie reefer/proverbial 5k runner to fall into the tech creep trap (hey, that's me!) and over complicate things, browsing the successes of the expert reefers/proverbial marathon runners. We all want to succeed! But we go overboard trying sometimes when we don't have the experience (or level-headedness) to know better outweighing the wallet-crushing dreams of replicating pro success.

 

[Polymate3D]

Reefkeeping can seem rather daunting at times. From the vast amount of fish you can keep in your tanks to the intricacies of chemical balance in a tank, it can feel quite overwhelming. But are we making reef keeping overcomplicated? Maybe we are looking too much into certain aspects of reef keeping or simply trying to throw everything at a problem when a simple fix would overcome it. So I am asking you, do you believe we make reef keeping overcomplicated, or are we downplaying it at times?

Yes

My biggest observation is information is given by big companies specifically around big reef tanks and spending . You can go smaller and much simpler.

Then add to this all the photos of all the open top aquariums! Fish like to jump. Water likes to evaporate, and our animals like stability so it's about the worst thing to advise to a newbie.

My Fluval EVO has the whole back section taken out so it's just the glass and lid. No filtration. Just a power head for flow. No substrate. Just some live rock. Simple heater and the stock EVO light.

I am growing some simple SPS, along with LPS and some Zoas / mushrooms. It has 2 clownfish and a blenny.

It's so simple and yet the lid and 10% water changes keep it stable and easy to maintain.


Just go a search for reef advice on google. You'll like get BRStv or similar giving you advice for a 40 to 160 US Gallon monster and advise you 20+ tropic marin products, confusing the situation.

- Paul

 

[RC_Reefer]

New Reefer here.
1 year in.
I started with dry rock, which was a huge mistake.
Things BECAME complicated when my display became overrun with Dino's.
I also didn't QT in the beginning.
Things BECAME complicated when almost all my fish died from Ich.
Things BECAME complicated when I had to run fallow..
Looking back.. I made this hobby way more complicated - and stressful - than it should have been, if I had just done things the right way from the get go...
If you wanna eat a burrito from the center and get burrito all over your face.. that's fine..you do you..
But from now on, I'm eating burritos from one end to the other...
It's just less complicated..