6 months no water change, no skimmer, no testing and everything looks great
 

Have an RSM130 that I set up with the intention of being low maintenance as my interest in the hobby comes and goes after 12 years.

The tank was set up with no skimmer.

The bio load is pretty light.

A flasher wrasse and an indigo dottyback along with CUC (5-10 snails and 5-10 various hermits and a sea hare) make up the bulk of it's inhabitants.

It is also populated with 5 or 6 Zoa varieties, a few Euphyllia, a plate coral and a few other lps and softies.

Well, the last time I did a water change (or anything more than dump some food in) was June, 2015.

The algae on the glass was so bad, you could not see into the tank to see what was going on.

This past weekend, I decided to get back into it and made up a 5 gallon wc.

I had set this tank up, with a dsb and a clean up crew purposefully so that aside from feeding a couple times a week, it wouldn't need anything to survive but even i was totally surprised by how great everything looked.

Zoas had grown, LPS had grown, all fish and coral were alive and accounted for.

Even though it was what I was going for, I was still stoked to see how well it turned out.

Just goes to show, this hobby can be whatever you want it to be.

I don't regret the hours spent trying to maintain a pristine sps tank but I don't get any less satisfaction out of the low maintenance set ups either.

I can confirm guests who are not in the hobby themselves are no less impressed with one than the other.

Just for fun, I did a couple tests and found trace ammonia and 0 nitrates.

respect your bio filter.

So the moral of the story is if you don't maintain your tank it will be so algae filled that you can't see whats in it but the stuff in it will still be alive?

We're talking algae on the glass.

I assume the CUC and Sea Hare took care of anything on the rockwork because it looked great.

To clarify, the tank was not filled with Algae at all, I'm not even sure where you got that from...maybe you just skimmed the posting?

Chaeto in the back compartment and some red dragons breath in the bottom right corner....that's it for any algae growth.

I'm not sure any tank could avoid algae growth on the glass, however it did provide a natural food source and inhibit growth on the rockwork in addition to creating an ideal environment for pods.

The moral of the story, if you're looking for one, is that you can have very low maintenance reef tanks that give you great results if properly planned for.

You don't need to spend a ton of money on equipment, nor do you need to check in on it every day, manically.



I'll post some pics here shortly to show you exactly how it looks after cleaning just the glass.

Things didn't just survive, they thrived.

as another example, I had an RBTA in there, now I have 4 after it split numerous times.

May of went ok but 6 months no maintenance and minimal feeding come on why even have a tank. If If don't feed my animals dog-fish everyday I feel like a jerk and is also a form of animal abuse, bad a enough we lock them in small aqauriums and this is why I no longer buy fish. Good luck with your dungeon tank.

I'm sure if we could interview the two fish in there, they would tell you they have lived a pretty happy, peaceful life.

Much less stress in an environment where they can't constantly see humans walking by or light's shining into the tank at random times, no hands in there, no big changes or fluctuations in water chemistry.

Fish would also be just as happy with the rich, natural diet of pods and algae than they would be with something you are putting in there.

Again, the idea is that things didn't just get by, they did well....as well as in tanks that I would spend an hour a day or more on.

The fish are fat and healthy, the corals have all grown, both zoas and LPS and the RBTA has split several times.

No animal abuse here. :lol:

My two dogs and two cats agree.

Thank you for your concise analysis.

I wholly expected a certain kind of a reaction, especially from a certain kind of board member :mrgreen:

I agree, its somewhat counter intuitive to how this hobby is often portrayed and I would have never had the confidence to do a set up like this when I first started in the hobby in 2003.

All the more reason I want to share the experience with other reefers.

I'm pretty happy with how this tank has gone.

It's been exactly what the years I have spent learning about this hobby and all the methodology that it entails has led me to expect.

Even so, I was still pleasantly surprised when it seems to have worked so well in practice.

The combination of the DSB, a large amount of well established LR, the proper flow and selectively chosen inhabitants has been a success for my intentions.

I had thought that for sure, after 6 months, there would be a higher ammonia and/or nitrate reading but several tests before i did my first wc proved that wrong.

The water even still smelled fresh and looked clear.

I have 2 similar tanks on the FW side of things. they are run with tetra whisper filters with Seachem's Matrix live rock in for "filter medium". the only chemicals I use is Prime when I do water top off. They are planted with a good base of Volcanic aquatic soil & well planted. Plants thrive being fed from the fish waste, the oldest kid probably over feeds them but hey they're happy. I find if I have algae growth on the tank it means something is out of balance. I removed a bunch of snails out of my big tank into the smaller & they hatched out baby's. I'm slowly picking the baby's out of the smaller tank & putting them into the big tank. Algae problem being solved. When I have it back under control & the snail baby's are a good size off to the LFS they'll go for some store credit!
In the Salt water tank lastnight I was estatic to discover some Chaeto growing on the back wall! I put my seaweed sheet "clip" which the lawnmower blenny seems to recognize immediately b/c he follows it the minute I slid it into the tank to the middle of the patch empty & he knew what to do

It really is all about finding a balance.

Once you have that balance, things get a whole lot easier if you don't mess with it.

I haven't kept FW in a long time but the tanks I see now rival reefs for color and beauty.4

King Ed's has a couple on display that definitely get a guy thinking.

I have picts of my 2 FW tanks in my profile albums, if you want to see them. I'm seriously thinking in my 30 of getting rid of the purple Cabomba it is hard to keep bushy & stay colored up if I forget every day to put in the fertilizers. If I do I'll put a background back on this tank to hid the wall & cords. but my 10gal betta tank I love being able to look thru it & see it from both the dining room & kitchen.

Looks nicer than any FW tank I ever had.

Pictors please?

Agreed though, I find its when I start sticking my grubby hands into the tank that things start going bad.

KISS method FTW.

coming.

was playing around with my new t5i and took a bunch before I did the WC.

It's funny just how many things benefit from the KISS principle.

My tank is fairly low tech/maintenance as well, but I do find that sizable water changes on a 21 day cycle help keep things from getting too nasty with respect to algae. Also ensure my fish are fed daily with an auto feeder & when I'm home a mysis/brine shrimp treat in the evening. I have a spawning Maroon Clownfish pair & Mama needs nutrition to do her thing. Nori clip for Yellow Tang.

Have found just as yourself that a certain amount of algae is definitely beneficial to the pod population, which in turn benefits other critters that may populate your tank. I don't get bent out of shape at the sight of a few wads of green hair algae. Don't run a sump so I've learned to tolerate it in the display. I consider it a highly efficient method of reducing nutrients and its FREE. Periodically I get in there and manually pull some of the big wads. I do have a skimmer, old school wooden air diffuser driven. Seeing the goo that it pulls is sufficient to make me think it's probably a good thing to keep running.

Of course this methodology is not appropriate for an SPS dominant tank. I do have some monti caps that are growing gangbusters, but I'm sure more delicate species would not do that well in my system. That's fine, I glean all the enjoyment I can handle from my mixed reef. Fish are fat & well adjusted as far as I can tell. ULN is not for me. This hobby offers so much diversity & avenues to pursue, in the end, whatever keeps one interested & entertained is fine, provided the livestock doesn't suffer. Obviously you've been in it long enough to discover what works well for you.

EDIT: .... don't test much using kits either, can't recall last time I did, month ago? My test is daily DILR (Does It Look Right). Had the tank long enough now that I know something's up pretty quick without resorting to a test tube.

Personally, I've gone months (up to 9 months after my first daughter was born) without a water change. The tank did suffer a bit because I have a high bioload, but it can be done. My friends Chin and TomR told me before Felicia was born that my first born would consume all my free time and energy so I had to get my tanks ready for months of minimal maintenance. GOOD ADVICE!!!! If I had to do it over again, I probably would have sold off half my fish to reduce my bioload before the baby was born.

As I tell all newbies, reefing is as much an art as it is a science. There are many ways to achieve a successful reef (especially if you're NOT doing SPS heavy). You should run away from anyone who tells you that there's only one way or the highway when it comes to reefing. After all, one person can use minimal equipment and have a thriving reef, while someone else may have all the high tech toys, computerized everything and still kill corals cause they have a "black" thumb. What works for one reefer is NO guarantee it'll work for someone else. Even something like mineral replenishment proves this point. Some reefers use automated dosers, some use 2 part, some use Calcium reactors, others use Kalkwasser, some just do regular water changes and others do none of the above, but mostly keep non-SPS corals. Yet we can all think of example tanks using each method that are thriving (and examples that are less than thriving). If I had the time and space, I would set up a fish room like TomR's and just do very regular water changes and not worry about dosing anything. However, as everyone who was here on Saturday could see, I don't have that kind of space in my home. So I have to do what works for me.

Another KISS advocate is Daniel (YVR/Carrera) always has one of the most beautiful tanks around, yet he also does it skimmerless and with almost no fish load. A couple of small fish are necessary (IMO & IME) to help "feed" the corals).

One of my first reef tanks was a KISS 35g hex seahorse tank and several friends still tell me its their favourite tank of all the ones I've ever set up. I had a HOB filter and small powerhead. Infrequent water changes. A pair of WC seahorses I trained to eat PE mysis. Lots of macro algae for biological filtration, seahorse hang-out posts, and cause prolifera & red halimeda is just pretty. It had a mat of pulsing xenia growing up the back panes and, to be honest, I still miss that tank.

The main problem is that most of us like a high bioload, so we need high powered skimmers and lots of equipment or time spent maintaining our tanks to ensure the high fish load doesn't kill our corals by reducing water quality. Low bioload allows you to get away with no skimmer and no water changes for months on end. I wouldn't recommend this for an SPS tank, but for hardy LPS and softies, it is entirely doable (as the OP's tank proves).

However, I admittedly LOVE having my big tangs & a higher than normal bioload so now I employ big skimmers (Deltec AP701 & Deltec SC 2060) on my main reef (165g with 90 wide sump) to handle the fish load. Many reefers have posted in the past about NOT using 2 skimmers on one system since they claim one will negatively affect the performance of the other. My response is that this is my tank and if it works for me, then so be it. If it didn't work, then I would pull one skimmer out and end this experiment.

Similarly, I always have a refugium with macroalgae and LR rubble in my sumps. And now, in all my tanks (fw & sw) I have either media reactors or stockings full of hydroton for biological control. Again, its what I have found over the years (decades really) to work for me and considering the number of tanks I keep and my busy schedule, reducing my maintenance times and number of water changes is critical.

We each need to find what works for us, for the time we have or what fits our level of passion (or lack thereof). If we all did what everyone else is doing, most of us would quit after a couple of years out of boredom. I think being able to find our individual way of trying to keep a thriving reef is what drives many of us addicts to stay in this addiction.

Its why I get bored with fw so quickly. Reefers, in general, seem to like a challenge and finding what works for each of us is part of that challenge.

Sorry for the essay.:wink::lol:

great posts guys.

Very informative stuff.

It's nice to hear reefers like Anthony who's probably tried every method of practical (and impractical) fish keeping around has had similar experiences.

Thanks for sharing.

ok but something we can all agree on, gobytron needs to take "perpetual water changer" out of his signature...:lol:

:lol:

read things over a little more carefully this time, huh?

Your words

My reply


So........ya..........not seeing what I'm reading wrong....

an algae filled tank and a tank where the glass is covered in algae are 2 very different things.

seems fairly straight forward?

kudos to you for providing food for your sea hare, I would imagine he's the one that kept this tank together all this time. I know mine did when I neglected my tank :wink:

Maybe in your world, in mine if you can't see your fish though the algae, your tank is algae filled.

But whatever....

Sea hare was an important part.

As was the dsb and the LR to water ratio as well as the restricted bio load with omnivorous fish.

It was everything working together really....not just any one component.

This tank was built knowing it would be left to it's own devices for periods of time.

probably why I had better "luck" with my neglected tank.

:wink:

Pics or it didn't happen. Seriously, every thread I see about "no water changes" the OP never posts photos.

+1..
I know a guy who has a big tank,200 gallons that he does wc every 6 months but he has a huge fishroom with a 200 gallon refugium filled with 5 different kinds of algae plus a big algae scrubber,no filter sock no skimmer..if you plan it properly and do it correctly from start you can have a nice tank algae free and maintenance free...but i would prefer to do wc twice a month and have a nice tank that i can enjoy not just knowing that somewhere in there in a huge pile of algae.i the end that's why we have the tanks and spend big amount of money too enjoy them..just my 2 cent

I ran skimmer-less with a DSB and macro fuge for a few years and it also worked well. Certain softies loved that setup.

you can always text me again if you still have lots to say...beats adding your insightful input on any thread I post.

Always an entertaining exchange, bro. :wink:

"I live my life to the fullest, bro".....lol :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen:

Still cracks me up.

I did update my signature....much more appropriate now :lol:

Pics are taken, I guess I'll blow the dust off my macbook to load them up to show you guys.

Funny how I'm so used to working on an ipad...should have got the dslr with bluetooth I guess.

Also, tank looks even better now that I've cleaned up the 'scape.

I even picked up some peppermints, a clown goby and traded my wrasse for a gramma.

While adjusting the 'scape, I found I did wind up loosing a number of heads of trumpet corals, they weren't glued and the sea hare knocked them down where they sat face down in the sand for months.

Still...pretty stoked with the results.

sure you don't, bro. :mrgreen:

I find it funny it IS worth your time to add your little comments to my threads.

was sure worth your time to post here but whatever...lol

In any case, the offer is always on the table.

PM me too if you like.

Much appreciated.

I just got a text from the Canreef attitude meter and the readings are off the charts! Let's get back on topic m'kay.

My question is.. If your tank was setup to be low maintenance and it's been doing well for past 6 months. Why wc now? Wouldn't you want to see how long it can run without. I know I would =)

Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk

!!!

Mainly cuz my interest is just up again...

I was NOT meaning to leave it for as long as I wound up....was just a pretty epic summer followed by a busy spring.

Once my heads back in it, I'm just as prone to over maintaining as the next guy.

I totally agree though, would be cool to see just how long a tank could go before you start to see any significant negative impacts.


I just wanted something that would allow me to enjoy when I can but not die off when I can't or don't.

I ran my 55 as no skimmer / sump / dosing with softies and lps and I eventually stopped doing waterchanges because nitrates and phosphates where always at zero and things where growing , had the best zoa growth out of any tank I had and didn't do a water change for over a year . I did have tons of live rock and flow and fed sparingly and that seemed to keep things in line . And whern`t there supposed to be pics?

Brought my t5i into the office today and loaded some pics...

These were taken right after the glass was cleaned, just before I did the first WC in 6-7 months.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps2kdusg7i.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...pstnvjq9rc.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psf8mhk9pb.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psgyrdmgp1.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps0hxbwbsz.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psqyt4qcdz.jpg

And a few I took after I'd played with the camera a bit and added some inhabitants.

You can see in the first pic here how the algae was on the glass.
I leave 1 pane that way as a source of food and breeding for copepods.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...pskrqvzwby.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...pshgqrdjtc.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psuxzzhpyl.jpg

That clown goby looks a little scrawny, is it eating? If you were in Calgary I would bring you an acro for it to munch on, if nothing else.

But otherwise the tank looks great.

I got it from King Eds for free.

Completely emaciated and pasty white.

Have been feeding him Selcon/Arctipods which he's crazy about.

He's also not adverse to eating the gorg you see it sitting on.

Thanks for the offer though. :wink:

I am sure it would love an SPS to munch on...problem is that you need a good sized one in order to mitigate the effects of it's feeding and most SPS would have 0 chance in this system.

He's on week 3 since I brought him home, I'm hoping he'll start to color up soon.

This pic was taken the day he was put in there....he looks fatter now but still very pale.

Softy tanks are a bit different than say LPS tanks when it comes to water changes and regular maintenance schedule, you can get away with quite a bit in my experience with softies but if you ever get into SPS and you think you can get away with it, you will be regretting it pretty darn quick.

Sorry to jump in on your thread, I just want to clarify it for anyone who are just starting out in this hobby and possibly take this thread the wrong way.

Other than 'shrooms and a kenya tree and the Tyree toadstool, there aren't many softies in here.

Plate Coral, Several Frogspawns and a torch...there are some porites in there....which are in fact SPS...they were the organism I was most concerned about but even they still grew.

In my experience, most LPS do just fine in nigh nutrient environments.

I had just posted in the post above yours that most SPS would have 0 chance in this system as well.

It's also mentioned a couple times in other posts above...give it a read.

Definitely never hurts to state to obvious though...especially if you're concerned with newbies reading this thread.

Nice and simple tank , looks good.

Only a few pieces here and there I missed, I would still consider that for the most part a softies tank, easy peasy.

LPS will do okay in high nutrient levels for certain amount of time but if you want them to keep amazing colors and have it spawn babies, I would still recommend some water changes.

Everyone is different in this hobby so if nice and easy is what you are looking for than all the power to you.

Your tank looks pretty good , as long as you enjoy it, that's all it matters.