Reefing “NO NO” that you said “YES YES” to?

[Jason boles]

I also never test on my 180, I do dose, and water change.

only testing equipment I have is mercury thermometer, and salinity checker.

my no no:

I like letting bubble algae grow next to my chalice to give it interesting textures to grow on and I believe it may make them more colorful!

also hoping for some easy fragging

 

[John Bolden]

I have well water I dont even want to think about what it would do to my tank. And my house is old so all my pipes are galvanized iron...

 

[kevgib67]

I had an ich outbreak over a year ago. Instead of leaving the tank fish free and treating copper in a qt, I went the management way. Polyplab medic, heavy feeding with garlic extreme, Vitachem and Selcon. The fish have been ich free since.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, my regular tank measurements were limited to salinity, pH, and temperature. Definitely not the usual set. lol

Over the years, I determined that with the methods I used, if those were OK, the tank was doing fine.

Limewater supplied calcium and alk, and the pH told me if the ATO delivery of it had run dry.

Salinity told me if the AWC or some other procedure was running amok.

Temp told me if the heaters and cooling system were functioning properly.

Everything else was ignored, except for once every few years, if something else was warranted or needed for an article, etc.

 

[vlangel]

I used tap water for the first few years of reefing and grew a beautiful reef! Hush my mouth!!!

I still use tap water, I have a DSB, I have nitrates as high as 35 ppm and phosphates at .5 ppm, and shhh I have a tomini tang in a 56 gallon tank. I also do not use any controllers, reactors or even a skimmer.

 

[Troylee]

I used tap water for the first few years of reefing and grew a beautiful reef! Hush my mouth!!!

I remember filling up my first reef with a garden hose and cycling it with my under ground filter.. couple aqua clear 70’s and it was rocking! Vegas tap water is in the 600tds range lol..

 

[fish farmer]

On my first reef in 2000 I started dripping kalk soon after cycle and before coral additions which were softies. My thought process was if I'm successful at getting coralline growth and boosting the growth of the other live rock organisms, then my tank would handle corals. Fiddling with dosing while having tough softies allowed me to play with dosing equipment and see the responses to levels without killing expensive corals.....my xenia would pulse like crazy with high calcium levels.

Fast forward to my current reef, same deal, I started to bring kalk back into the equation by light dosing and not worrying too much about a daily number. I check cal, alk, mag weekly maybe, 13% water change every other week and I don't test that.
Also my nitrates for the past couple of years were barely detectable on a salifert kit, now ranging 2-5 ppm, phos on the Hanna low range was a goose egg, but recently did register 0.12 ppm.

 

[Bradig326]

I don't have a sump, I use a canister filter and an aqua clear 70. I do have a skimmer.

 

[ManWithAClam]

View attachment 3062867
View attachment 3062876
Can't judge the 10 yet. Just got it back up and running.

i love arrow crabs!!

 

[Cyanohater]

Sometimes what works for you doesn't work for others and sometimes what doesn't work for you does in fact work for others.

Maybe it was certain livestock choices, outdated or unproven equipment, or just a “frowned on” way of doing things that shouldn’t work out but does work out for you?

Maybe it’s your own twist to reefing chemistry that would shock others! Muhaaaa!

What’s a “no no” in reefing where you said “yes yes” and it has worked out just fine for you?

Let’s hear what you got!

Have a valentini puffer in my 40g reef, as well as not a frequent tester. I only test if something doesn't look right.

 

[ManWithAClam]

they are both in a mixed reef with Anemones, Clams, LPS, SPS, fanworms and softies, the one on the right destroyed is a single torch polyp and nothing else, and the left one isn't interested in any corals/inverts at all.

 

[Miami Reef]

View attachment 3063837
they are both in a mixed reef with Anemones, Clams, LPS, SPS, fanworms and softies, so far the only thing they've destroyed is a single torch polyp, they haven't touched anything else.

DON’T tempt me. I beg you lol.

 

[Pattys]

Sometimes what works for you doesn't work for others and sometimes what doesn't work for you does in fact work for others.

Maybe it was certain livestock choices, outdated or unproven equipment, or just a “frowned on” way of doing things that shouldn’t work out but does work out for you?

Maybe it’s your own twist to reefing chemistry that would shock others! Muhaaaa!

What’s a “no no” in reefing where you said “yes yes” and it has worked out just fine for you?

Let’s hear what you got!

I use Rowaphos and dose nopox

 

[revhtree]

You are all rebels without a cause!!!

 

[RobinC]

Sometimes what works for you doesn't work for others and sometimes what doesn't work for you does in fact work for others.

Maybe it was certain livestock choices, outdated or unproven equipment, or just a “frowned on” way of doing things that shouldn’t work out but does work out for you?

Maybe it’s your own twist to reefing chemistry that would shock others! Muhaaaa!

What’s a “no no” in reefing where you said “yes yes” and it has worked out just fine for you?

Let’s hear what you got!

Hubby wanted Midas goby....there was a pair at lfs....I couldn't take one, took both. Knew what I was in for, but aside from blowing off some corals about once a week, I like em!

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Using a canister filter and never cleaning it. Never had a problem so long as I had a big refugium.

Give that canister filter a good cleaning and everything just might die. Depending on how much live rock you have. Happened to me multiple times 20 years ago. Turns out I was killing the majority of my good bacteria when I thought I was doing a good thing.

 

[atoll]

1/ No QT.
2/ No mechanical filtration unless you want to call a skimmer mechanical.
3/ Hardly ever donated changes.
4/ I don't remove detritus from my sanded just blast it now and again.

 

[ryanjohn1]

Smallish tank with tangs. With plan to re home them when they get bigger

 

[Dburr1014]

Adding a second royal Gramma to an established one of 6 years.

 

[death-by-reef]

I don't test my 20g or 10g, at all.
I don't dose them with anything, either. shhhh....

i don't test any of my tanks and they are all doing well