New in reef tech: What technologies are poised to make the biggest improvements this next year?

[ChampionLighting]

SeaTak will change the way you frag & aquascape.

 

[Peace River]

SeaTak will change the way you frag & aquascape.

I was wondering who was going to mention this product! I almost added it to the initial poll. I’m looking forward to trying this out!

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

Being as old school as I am, it's hard to see any improvements that will mean much to me. But that's just me. Heck, I switched from a serious 90g reef with a sump & refugium to a couple of 40g aio tanks.

I am not very old but I have done this for a long time and I can't deny that some of the best reef tanks I ever saw were from over a decade ago before much of modern reef technology existed. I think the greatest advancements are in the price and availability. I remember paying over $300 for my first SpectraPure Litermeter that had 1 channel of dosing. Each extra channel was something like $150 extra. Now you can get a $70 standalone doser with Bluetooth from Kamoer. I remember the original tunze osmolator selling for $180 but now there are decent ATOs for $99. The first tunze streams were crazy expensive but now there are many affordable DC powerheads.

People say reefing has gotten less affordable but this is only half true. All of the things I mentioned used to be optional but now people feel they are necessary so it feels like the price of keeping a tank went up when in reality the prices of many common items have gone down.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Trident 2? Nitrate, Phosphate, and Potassium?

 

[paulgriffin971]

Honestly, I think Red Sea is on to something with their automatic skimmer adjustment probe coming out this year. Keeping the skimmer at the correct setting without having to dial it it all the time is another hand-off approach kind of like their Reefmat rollers.

Here's what I want to see in the no to distant future (in no particular order of importance):

1) A skimmer that is modular with a small footpirnt as those made by Ultra-Reef, has the easy take off collection cup of an Aquamaxx, the self-setting probe of the new Red Sea, and has a gate valve and the dual inlet of a Maxspect air-aqua duo. I also want to see a skimmer that actually has a wider collection cup big enough to last more than a few days wihtout needing to buy a separate skimmate container.

2) A Neptune DOS system that has three, yes that's right 3, containers and pumps for the big three--ALK, Ca, and Mg. It would also be nice if was able to be mounted vertically so it didn't take up so much room in your equipment cabinet.

3) A refugium light that can be mounted lengthwise along the top of a glass separator in the sump. Lind of like a florescent tube that shines downward, but can be mounted above the glass separator of the refugium and twisted lengthwise to adjust the direction of the light.

4) Red Sea ReefLED's that actually stay connected to WiFi and the internet.

5) A floating feed ring with a funnel inside. This would keep the food pellets inside the ring longer, and ensure "sinking" pellets actually have time to sink.

6) Tank cabinets that have integrated low-power LED lighting.

7) A powered siphon with filter to be able to vacuum detritus out of the bottom of the sump without having to do a water change and then use a shop-vac.

8) Color changing CO2 absorbing media that isn't in itty-bitty-teeny-tiny pellet form. Some sort of balls or cubes would be nice.

9) A refugium wall screen that doesn't allow chaeto to make it's way through and into the rest of the sump, skimmer needle wheel, return pump, reactors, etc.

10) Apex probes that can measure Ca and alkalinity without reagent; yes it would be a miracle, but I can hope.

 

[Dave-T]

Honestly, I think Red Sea is on to something with their automatic skimmer adjustment probe coming out this year. Keeping the skimmer at the correct setting without having to dial it it all the time is another hand-off approach kind of like their Reefmat rollers.

Here's what I want to see in the no to distant future (in no particular order of importance):

1) A skimmer that is modular with a small footpirnt as those made by Ultra-Reef, has the easy take off collection cup of an Aquamaxx, the self-setting probe of the new Red Sea, and has a gate valve and the dual inlet of a Maxspect air-aqua duo. I also want to see a skimmer that actually has a wider collection cup big enough to last more than a few days wihtout needing to buy a separate skimmate container.

2) A Neptune DOS system that has three, yes that's right 3, containers and pumps for the big three--ALK, Ca, and Mg. It would also be nice if was able to be mounted vertically so it didn't take up so much room in your equipment cabinet.

3) A refugium light that can be mounted lengthwise along the top of a glass separator in the sump. Lind of like a florescent tube that shines downward, but can be mounted above the glass separator of the refugium and twisted lengthwise to adjust the direction of the light.

4) Red Sea ReefLED's that actually stay connected to WiFi and the internet.

5) A floating feed ring with a funnel inside. This would keep the food pellets inside the ring longer, and ensure "sinking" pellets actually have time to sink.

6) Tank cabinets that have integrated low-power LED lighting.

7) A powered siphon with filter to be able to vacuum detritus out of the bottom of the sump without having to do a water change and then use a shop-vac.

8) Color changing CO2 absorbing media that isn't in itty-bitty-teeny-tiny pellet form. Some sort of balls or cubes would be nice.

9) A refugium wall screen that doesn't allow chaeto to make it's way through and into the rest of the sump, skimmer needle wheel, return pump, reactors, etc.

10) Apex probes that can measure Ca and alkalinity without reagent; yes it would be a miracle, but I can hope.

I love the idea of #7!

 

[blaxsun]

What technology is poised to make the biggest impact (not improvement) this year? Subscription-based fees for our Fusion, Mobius and ReefBeat services.

 

[All_talk]

I think the biggest improvement will be in Led lightning, think we move from the powerful "puck style" to more even spread stripes or larger "pucks"...

I'd consider that a step backward to the early days of LED. I come from Metal Halides and did not make the switch to LED until I could afford some used Kessils. To me, the shimmer is part of what makes a reef tank look so good. I will live with some shadowing (where else would low light corals live) or supplement with T5 if I need underfill (T5 is the best at underfill). On top of my love of shimmer, I do not like disco ball. All that said, I know some people like the look of even spread lighting, so to each their own.

As for the topic at hand, I hope to see improvements in auto testing. A broader range of tests and improved accuracy/calibration would be nice. Personally I have very little time to enjoy and maintain my tank and anything that automates routine tasks has value to me.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Being as old school as I am, it's hard to see any improvements that will mean much to me. But that's just me. Heck, I switched from a serious 90g reef with a sump & refugium to a couple of 40g aio tanks.

Ditched the skimmer years ago. No water changes in 5 years. Replacing Radion G2s because they are failing. Throw some food in rarely. Softies and some LPS are happy…fish fat and happy eating algea mostly. Yep, nothing tech will change my life

Coming from a guy who built a 6’ tall skimmer, automated dosing before it could be bought, had dump type ATS, automated RODI, automated probe monitoring, current draw mapping for each device, you name it….Fiddling with stuff used to be fun. Not anymore. I haven’t checked salinity or done a water test in 3+ years either. No heater, tank temp swings daily and seasonally.

 

[Reefer Matt]

What technology is poised to make the biggest impact (not improvement) this year? Subscription-based fees for our Fusion, Mobius and ReefBeat services.

Luckily we don't need fusion. You can log directly into your apex. Just need it's network id.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Luckily we don't need fusion. You can log directly into your apex. Just need it's network id.

There is ZERO long term revenue model for non consumables in this hobby… Bertram bought everyone out because they were worth very little alone would eventually fail. BRS has a revenue model for consumables and that can compliment and support the hardware sales. 99.99% of the hardware companies in this vertical can’t even come close to existing on hardware sales alone. Rest assured the subscription-only model is only going to grow… or the products and companies will fail.

 

[Spicy Reef]

Dr. Google...
"The origins of innovation lie in the big and small things of everyday life. These are things that we want to improve or adapt to our changing needs and wishes. The finiteness of resources force us to develop new solutions. Our human Imagination propels us to strive for radically new technologies."

I believe the "real" innovation is going to come from one of us, the corps will swoop down and make the money, but the invention will come from us. If we're lucky we'll get some frags for our efforts... other than that, the corps will continue to milk us.

 

[Mikeht11]

I love the idea of #7!

Just use the vca attachment on a small pump and run it through a filter sock.

 

[Koigula]

I really am perplexed by hobby at times as attempt to make old school reef keeping techniques more and more difficult.

Some vendor could easily tank pumice stone like seachem matrix and cure it for 2 years and show a microbiome test with diversity and everyones success would increase tremendously.

 

[All_talk]

I really am perplexed by hobby at times as attempt to make old school reef keeping techniques more and more difficult.

Some vendor could easily tank pumice stone like seachem matrix and cure it for 2 years and show a microbiome test with diversity and everyones success would increase tremendously.

Funny you should mentions this, I saw this just last night...

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Funny you should mentions this, I saw this just last night...

Thank you for sharing! Between wwc and BRS I think we may see much healthier reefs in the future. Without hurting our wild reefs

 

[kenchilada]

I think GHL is dead and has been moving in the wrong direction on multiple fronts for a long time now.

Hydros and Apex can make big gains. I’d like to see an “Apex Pro” series that is built with higher-quality hardware. At this point all the controllers do what I want, so I’m only concerned with quality, reliability, and software ease of use.

 

[alabella1]

SeaTak will change the way you frag & aquascape.

Got my sample. Going to try it out this weekend because getting my corals to stay put has been quite a challenge

 

[alabella1]

3) A refugium light that can be mounted lengthwise along the top of a glass separator in the sump. Lind of like a florescent tube that shines downward, but can be mounted above the glass separator of the refugium and twisted lengthwise to adjust the direction of the light.

#3 - The tunze eco chic might fit the bill here. I had one and it's pretty awesome. It's submersible, has a magnetic mount and can be mounted at different angles.

 

[alabella1]

I started off my journey going tech crazy and trying to get stuff with all the bells and whistles. That was until I came across Lifereef. After reading through everything I could find and speaking with Jeff for hours, I decided to take the plunge and build a custom sump for my new 155g corner tank. Jeff kept me in the loop every step of the way and has been coaching me through the entire setup and install. I ditched the fleece roller. I ditched the fancy needle wheel dc skimmer. Got rid of the algae scrubber. Now I have a compact berlin sump with a true venturi skimmer... no needle wheel crap. Within days it's broken in and I'm brewing coffee in there. Very nice integrated media reactors and my new favorite thing, a separate dedicated refugium. Took a little time, reading and tweaking but everything is working very well, quiet and honestly just looks awesome. I wanted to paint my cabinet floor to protect it and Jeff said why not try to do some waterproof floor paint or epoxy and do some color flakes. Well I did and it looks ******* awesome. Now I'm not gonna say I've gone completely tech free as I'd like to automate all I can and have plenty of failsafes and backups in place. So I have a apex, 2x neptune skys, kessil tuna blue, 2x MP40s, Cor20 return pump, Gro light for the fuge, ranco controllers for my 2x 800w finnex titanium heaters. Probes, trident and DOS units. Ecotech and APC battery backups. I spent half of 2022 building my dream tank. I used superglue, crushed marco rock and/or baking soda to build my aquascape and been watching my coral frags grow into amazing ****.

Sorry for going on and on. I just love sharing stories of my progress. I hope to see better automated testing from Neptune and better probes. I also hope to fund any new gear by continuing to sell off my old gear so if anyone is in need of anything at all... check out my other threads. I would most like to find a home for a Lifereef setup I bought from another fellow reefer that just didn't fit my cabinet. It's like new and would be a dream for anyone who wants a new sump, skimmer, media and biopellet reactors and, of course, a dedicated fuge for a fraction of the cost. Jeff at lifereef has also given the sale his blessing and his promise to continue to support the products for the new user.