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NECESSITY FOR A SUCCESS REEF TANK

TwinsReef

TwinsReef

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Alright guys, so I'm that guy who's been in the hobby but has been doing everything wrong.

I love this hobby, and I want to be successful in it. I just lack the knowledge to keep a successful reef.

My current system is a redsea reefer 300, I finally decided to upgrade equipment to a radion xr15 and mp40, I have a simplicity skimmer . And that's pretty much it. I have never tested my water , which I know that my first mistake and it's important. I've never dose because I don't know when or how I should do it.

My question is to have good water chemistry, and stable water conditions. What I'm I doing wrong , what equipment is essential for me to have? Should I get a triton or Hannah checkers? When should I dose?

Thank you.
 
Hey there; welcome to the club! Before jumping to conclusions, a couple things that would be helpful to know:

1. What kind of fish, coral, and/or inverts are you keeping?

2. Do you buy your water, or do you make your own RO water/mix your own salt water?

3. What are the specific issue(s) you've been having?

Equipment-wise, you don't *need* Hannah checkers, a Trident, or anything else. They're helpful for checking (and automating checking) your tank, but I find it's usually a better idea to have a handle on the basics and understand the 'why' rather than simply getting more equipment you may or may not need.
 
I’m just like you. What I’ve learned in all my years is. You gotta find your weakness and have things do it for you. Like automatic water changes, auto testers and auto dos. It’s a journey of sorts and learning for me.
I won’t say I’m successful but aquariums are a lot better at each step that I’ve learned more.

But throwing money at equipment doesn’t make you a better reefer. But if it helps your weakness. Then yeah.
 
TwinsReef said:
I just lack the knowledge to keep a successful reef.
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I think being here is a step in the right direction! I just joined up too. I'm completely new to the hobby though so I have not yet experienced a crash or anything disappointing. So what has happened that it isn't a success in your eyes? Because maybe those mistakes can help someone like me. There's wisdom to be found everywhere.
Would you mind sharing pics?
 
I would say keep things simple. You already have the “stuff” you need to buy. Keep lights low-ish, get decent flow going. With a new tank you don’t really need to worry about dosing anything if you perform regular water changes.

You don’t even really need to do much testing, as blasphemous as that sounds (I think testing is more of a learning tool early on, but really not necessary if you have a young tank and do water changes).

Get some live rock, add a couple clowns and starter corals, do regular water changes, feed your fish often, and observe.
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
Hey there; welcome to the club! Before jumping to conclusions, a couple things that would be helpful to know:

1. What kind of fish, coral, and/or inverts are you keeping?

2. Do you buy your water, or do you make your own RO water/mix your own salt water?

3. What are the specific issue(s) you've been having?

Equipment-wise, you don't *need* Hannah checkers, a Trident, or anything else. They're helpful for checking (and automating checking) your tank, but I find it's usually a better idea to have a handle on the basics and understand the 'why' rather than simply getting more equipment you may or may not need.
Click to expand...

IOnceWasLegend said:
Hey there; welcome to the club! Before jumping to conclusions, a couple things that would be helpful to know:

1. What kind of fish, coral, and/or inverts are you keeping?

2. Do you buy your water, or do you make your own RO water/mix your own salt water?

3. What are the specific issue(s) you've been having?

Equipment-wise, you don't *need* Hannah checkers, a Trident, or anything else. They're helpful for checking (and automating checking) your tank, but I find it's usually a better idea to have a handle on the basics and understand the 'why' rather than simply getting more equipment you may or may not need.
Click to expand...
For fish, I have a hippo tang, fox face, and a gold nugget, I have a couple of hermit crabs and snail, I'm trying to keep a mix reef my euphilia and mushrooms do good I've tried to keep simple hardy sps and they always die. I recently bought a better power pump , as I recognize my flow wasn't the best. I make my own rodi water with tds at 0, salt I'm using is red sea pro. Only issues I've had in not being able to keep sps.
 
ReyDeFarts said:
I think being here is a step in the right direction! I just joined up too. I'm completely new to the hobby though so I have not yet experienced a crash or anything disappointing. So what has happened that it isn't a success in your eyes? Because maybe those mistakes can help someone like me. There's wisdom to be found everywhere.
Would you mind sharing pics?
Click to expand...
I've been keeping saltwater for about 4 years now, never kept a tank long enough for it to be mature. I've dealt with a lot of issues in the pass corals dying all because of my lack of knowledge but I have learn from them, I want to keep a mix reef simple sps like digitata and montis die in my tank. I've never tested my water so that's one step I need to make .
 

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SepToob said:
I would say keep things simple. You already have the “stuff” you need to buy. Keep lights low-ish, get decent flow going. With a new tank you don’t really need to worry about dosing anything if you perform regular water changes.

You don’t even really need to do much testing, as blasphemous as that sounds (I think testing is more of a learning tool early on, but really not necessary if you have a young tank and do water changes).

Get some live rock, add a couple clowns and starter corals, do regular water changes, feed your fish often, and observe.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the feed back , I know my tank was lacking on flow , so will see how my digitata reacts as it looked like it was dying. I've never tested, I've lost hundreds of dollars on corals, and I'm tired of failing in that sense. Also I've always had my hands in my tank, but recently I restarted my reef tank when I upgraded to my redsea 300, it's been 7 months now. I haven't had no major issues since as I tried to make everything simple by leaving the tank alone and making water changes every 2 weeks. I recently tried to keep sps and they didn't do good. I just upgraded lights and flow 3 days ago, so will see how my corals react...
 
In order to keep SPS I would recommend two things.
1. Stability. While it’s true that regular testing is not necessary in order to keep a successful reef tank, it’s generally accepted that SPS thrives with strong flow/lighting, and stable parameters. The ability to accurately measure and stabilize Alkalinity, Calcium, PH, etc will be a strong step towards maintaining SPS
2. Patience. 7 months without mature seeded rock/media is not long enough to expect SPS to thrive. You’ve stated that you’ve never kept a tank long enough for it to reach maturity, and that’s exactly what you need to do.

I would first focus on finding whatever method of testing and dosing works best for you, and then once you reach stability then try again with some easier sps.
 
TwinsReef said:
Thanks for the feed back , I know my tank was lacking on flow , so will see how my digitata reacts as it looked like it was dying. I've never tested, I've lost hundreds of dollars on corals, and I'm tired of failing in that sense. Also I've always had my hands in my tank, but recently I restarted my reef tank when I upgraded to my redsea 300, it's been 7 months now. I haven't had no major issues since as I tried to make everything simple by leaving the tank alone and making water changes every 2 weeks. I recently tried to keep sps and they didn't do good. I just upgraded lights and flow 3 days ago, so will see how my corals react...
Click to expand...
Quit making wholesale changes if things aren't going well. Every tank is different, and yours is young. Most tanks take a year to hit the first sweet spot. Your goal now is stability. That means set your lights properly and leave them alone. Make water changes once a week if you can for now (15-20%.)

You say you don't test your water. Do you test salinity and match it with the same during a water change? Do you test the salinity of the new water going in? What salt are you using? Is it the same every time? How many fish in the tank? How much live rock? What's in your sump? Macroalgae? Are you using any additives at all?

So many questions.
 
Invictus said:
In order to keep SPS I would recommend two things.
1. Stability. While it’s true that regular testing is not necessary in order to keep a successful reef tank, it’s generally accepted that SPS thrives with strong flow/lighting, and stable parameters. The ability to accurately measure and stabilize Alkalinity, Calcium, PH, etc will be a strong step towards maintaining SPS
2. Patience. 7 months without mature seeded rock/media is not long enough to expect SPS to thrive. You’ve stated that you’ve never kept a tank long enough for it to reach maturity, and that’s exactly what you need to do.

I would first focus on finding whatever method of testing and dosing works best for you, and then once you reach stability then try again with some easier sps.
Click to expand...
Seconding this; stability and patience is king. Noting as well that stability is not chasing numbers, just preventing wild swings/changes and not making sudden, massive changes.

As for achieving stability, ask yourself what works best for you. As an example, I'm really bad at remembering to test consistently, and I like my systems to be as automated as possible, so an automated tester (Trident, in my case) and doser (originally a DOS with two-part; now a calcium reactor) made the most sense. Some people like the hands-on aspect of testing daily; if that's you, then Hannah (or other) testers would be a better option.

If you decide to make a change, make it slow. When I started dosing AB+ in my tank, I started with less than half the recommended dose and slowly scaled up. When I decided to turn the light intensity up, I did it slowly over the course of ~4 or 5 days.

Even doing these approaches with my old system, I was frustrated because I could keep SPS, but they never colored up and always looked drab, even at the six month mark. Another six months and keeping my system stable, and they perked up and started to color. It's frustrating, but sometimes time really is the answer for your unique (micro)biome to level out.
 
My two cents following @IOnceWasLegend and others. LPS easy, SPS has been a slower path of success. I have attempted to automate much as possible as well. I have a trident and do test 2x a week for nitrate and phosphate (Hanna)

Also, I have noticed on my tank with SPS -lower phosphate (~.3 or lower) and higher PH (~8.3) -they do better. And flow(lot of it). And light go a long way. Others I know have had success with other parameters though. Start with easier SPS -such as purple stylos-

But to @Bruce Spiegelman’s point -don’t dose w/o the numbers-especially nitrate/phosphate removers.

But patience is def key. I have had reef tanks for 5 years now..I have def made errors especially with the first tank -still learning but the corals seem happier though. Although on occasion-still lose one here and there.

Just stick with it. I am a fan of Hanna for nitrate and phosphate. And I do have a trident which helps keep things in check (no automated dosing for me though)
 
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