Surprised What I Heard At My Main Aquatic Shop...

[guppy_man]

Today i went to the main aquatic shop in my area . i saw a blenny that i wanted so off to the checkout i went for assistance. Upon waiting in the que i overheard the manager of the shop talking to a couple who wanted to setup a small marine aquarium. They were talking about this while looking at a nano that they had setup on the desk. The tank is one of the all in one cubes, with protein skimmer and built in filtration (very nice looking setup) The tank has a mixture of soft corals, alot of live rock, some small gobies and CUC.

Anyway, i couldn't help over hearing them talking, the woman asked the assistant many questions, one of them being "How often do you do water changes on such a small tank?" to which i was surprised at the answer given "To be honest we havent done a single water change on this tank since it has been setup".

Now, i know from visiting the shop on many occasions that this tank has been setup since at least March, so thats 3 months that this tank has gone without a water change, ans this is why i am so surprised, the tank's corals, water and inhabitants all look healthy.

Just something i wanted to share

Gethin

 

[ian]

I'm the first to admit that i know nothing about SW...but my father in law used to keep a reef tank back in the 70's when they first became fashionable. When i got into fish keeping a few years ago i was talking to him about water changes and he didn't change the water on his SW tank ( about 100g ). He just used to top up, he ran that tank for five years with only deaths at the beginning of the tank.

My forte is planted tanks and i know of planted tank which run on the same principle.

 

[guppy_man]

I'm the first to admit that i know nothing about SW...but my father in law used to keep a reef tank back in the 70's when they first became fashionable. When i got into fish keeping a few years ago i was talking to him about water changes and he didn't change the water on his SW tank ( about 100g ). He just used to top up, he ran that tank for five years with only deaths at the beginning of the tank.

My forte is planted tanks and i know of planted tank which run on the same principle.

I think some people are just lucky to begin with, and the tanks just sort of maintain them selves. Even so, the shop has no excuse not to do a water change, they aren't always busy.

Gethin

 

[Staxx]

i dont keep SW but was looking on youtube and there is people with "walstad inspired" SW tanks. a video of a american guy who owns a 20g and he hasent done a single WC in over 6 months. he just tops up the water which evaporates. doesnt even have anything to hold bacteria in his skimmer or whatever. its just used for circulation.

his live rock and a small patch of some kind of algea i think is all the filtration. it only had a shrimp thing in it and 1 clown fish i think.

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

In a small tank like those (im guna assume its the TMC micro habitat ) with very little bioload, very undemanding corals (im assuming when u say soft corals you mean 1s that will survive on just light), and all in 1 filtration... it will just "run it self" like if it was in a small patch of ocean in the world. Dont forget places like maidenhead feed probably once a week unlike the rest of us too
Dont forget the reef is a ecosystem not just a pretty thing to look at hehe

 

[BigbruiserAl]

With a marine tank your don't need to so many water changes to rid you of excess nitrate's that taken care of by the live rock. Plus your toping up RO due to evaporation

 

[Staxx]

im thinking of setting up a tank like the american guy on youtube to be honest. just to try salt


looks cool aswell!

 

[guppy_man]

im thinking of setting up a tank like the american guy on youtube to be honest. just to try salt


looks cool aswell!

What american guy on youtube?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

mr saltwater tank?

 

[Staxx]

here is the link from the video that i was talking about.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Xm-yYi0wo&feature=plcp

im thinking about doing it in a 10gal maybe 20 gal. depending on which tank i can get cheapest

 

[lljdma06]

Yes, yes, yes, but it is an ugly tank don't you think? Same with Walstad tanks, her tanks are typically not known for their loveliness.

Interesting he's from Florida. His principles are pretty spot on. He's using tapwater, but I don't see any fancy corals in the tank that demand high light or exceptional water quality. Montiporas are very easy as are torches and mushies and he only has three corals. The implementation of macro algae use in a reef makes total sense to me. Hello?! Who here keeps a planted marine with corals? Same ideas are in play. Color temperature, however, makes the tank look awful.

LOL, I get the principles, I just think the tank is so ugly. LOL

This is totally reproduceable. Not with anything high end, but for a cheapo marine, can't go wrong. Would I personally? No, but only because I like keeping things that are more fragile. I'd like to see him do this with high end corals and see if he risks not doing water changes with $150 corals and fish in the mix.

L

 

[SaltNoob]

Um, boring tank..? Lol. IF there is not a skimmer those fish are just swimming in the own detritus all the time =( and it is just dirty water. Im not surprised the fish are alive, but they can't be in amazing condition jeesh. With no corals that need calcium, new calcium not being added through water changes is not a big deal really. Bleh. I dunno, Id do water changes. Safer, cleaner.. I wonder what their ammonia is at...?

-Tyler

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

Shame really you could do a lot with a small decently structured scape like that! If you put the effort in
Can't deny it serves a purpose as a basic marine start up tank though, Im still running my 1st ever guppy breeding tank from years ago it's basic but my guppies get a good clean life

 

[SaltNoob]

Shame really you could do a lot with a small decently structured scape like that! If you put the effort in
Can't deny it serves a purpose as a basic marine start up tank though, Im still running my 1st ever guppy breeding tank from years ago it's basic but my guppies get a good clean life

I could not stand listening to him. I was so bored the whole time. I agree with Lljma, it is UGLY. I mean if that was the first 15 days of a tank, sure it looks fine, but was it 3 months? And why is the water so low? Using conditioners and things is certainly not my style, or most of us in here for that matter. RO/DI is so much better.

-Tyler

Lissette, I was told that the Hydor slim skim really wasn't that great. Could you tell me more about it, since you had one?

 

[ainsy]

Couldn't agree more - UGLY tank

There is a monumental difference between having animals that survive and those that thrive.


In this hobby, particularly the salty side it is actually WATER that we keep - if you can keep good quality water the things that you put into it will thrive.

RO/DI + good quality salt makes a huge difference