Bi-Weekly Discussion of the Week: What is a successful reef tank?

[Geoff]

What makes a tank successfull or not? Does/should it only matter to the owner? What do you all think are the characteristics of a succesfull reef tank?

G~

[Eric P]

personaly I would say a tank is considered successful when it is kept healthy and thriving for an extended period of time. (years) Not only keeping animals alive but keeping them happy and growing, even reproducing. I also think it should matter to everyone being that the worlds reefs are in such trouble that they may not be around for all to enjoy in the future. I don't just go and buy things because they look cool or are really colorful, I do my research and try my best to determine if I can keep them alive and healthy. If there is a good chance it will not thrive in my setup I don't get it or I make whatever changes need to be made if it is that "got to have it" piece. When I decided to keep clams I got the halides. When I decided on sps's I increased flow. This doesn't mean that everything will survive, but we should take nothing for granted. We need to take responsibility for what we keep in our tanks as our decendants may not be able to experience this great hobby.

My .02 Eric...

[CAT]

Boy, you don't ask easy questions...

I have to agree with Eric. Knowledge, stability, growth and good management are the keys.

[RWD]

A ballanced tank that thrives and not just exists. Corals that are growing and with full polyp extension.

[Geoff]

is there a certain point when you feel your tank has become successfull?

i seem to think my systems becomes successfull when they reach the maintenance phase. i am no longer battling little outbreaks. i am just testing the water once a week and adjusting accordingly.

G~

[Junkzoo]

Yup Geoff,,,what you just said,,and what Bob said,,,,
when the tank"runs" by itself,,,you can see the tank and judge how things are going,,,livestock is growing/spreading,,,,
everything is "dialed in",leaving you to just do your routine maintainance(sp),,and to enjoy the tank,,,,

when this happens? hmmm, i think for me ,,,it took maybe 2-3 yrs,,til i realized it happened

[icebear]

Yes, i think its when everything is going smooth and all you need to do is change out some water and feed basically.

Of course, some people are always upgrading even though everything in their tank is thriving.....

[SPC]

Good question, Geoff. I agree with the others and would say stability is a good sign, but as we all know this can change in a heartbeat. Being able to keep ahead of any problems is important also. As an example, for the first couple of years I had what many who saw it considered the perfect refugium. The comments I heard generally where "I wish my reef tank looked that good", or "if I had that I would keep it in the living room where every one could see it". Life was good in my "natural" refugium, caulerpa growing, bugs bugging around, frags extending their polyps, live rock and DSB full of life, it was a wonderful time for a reef hobbyist . Then, things began to change. Caulerpa stopped growing and cyano stated to take its place. Hair algae began to grow in places that other life forms had been, and the DSB critters began to thin out as the DSB began to turn to a dark color.

It was about this same time that we began to discuss limitations of DSB's and the "natural" way of doing things. Anyway, long story short, my refugium now only contains a few rocks (with frags), caulerpa (that grows very slowly now), and plenty of bare bottom to see and remove the detritus. I feel very fortunate that my main tank was spared any of the problems I had in the refugium, I guess I headed it off just in the nick of time.
Steve

[Geoff]

how long did it take for your takes to reach the maintenance stage?

it reached it at about the 1 yr mark with my tank. Nikki's tank took closer to 6 months if not less! hers is a true bare bottom.

G~

[tims]

still waiting for mine. i do not do a lot of adjustments and eveyone seems happy so far.. but the tank is not that old yet...

guess i would have to go with everyone else, a successful tank would be growing and not need much help along the way.

[Geoff]

are there any steps in particular that you would think that anybody with a successfull reef needs to do?

like testing.

G~

[tims]

good question i probalbly do not test as much as i should ...but also belive that testing everyday is not really going to help..after reading all threats about testing and the different levels ( until my head hurt ) i test each thing once a week unless a level is really off , then test every 2 -3 days... i keep an eye on my corals and inverts... they usally tell me if someything is off..( usally in whale talk ( insert dori tanking in the nemo movie )

i do test for ph , nitrite, nitrate, cal.amm. so far everything is where it should be other than the cal.. still a little low...

this what you mean Geoff?

[Geoff]

yes, that is part of what i was looking for.

i pretty much only test/monitor, alk, Ca, pH, and salinity. i prolly should test more but over the years these seem to have been the greatest indicators of how well the system is staying in equilibrium.

i was also looking for stuff like, water changes, is a skimmer needed, is LR needed. just about anything that you think is something that you have seen or feel that anybody who has had a successfull reef uses.

G~

[tims]

now geoff are you taking classes with spanky on loaded questions?

if we asked each menber what they have to make thir tank successful we would have many, many ways to do almost the same thing i would think..

right now i do not have a sump or a refuge set up and have a wonderful tank growing. but if i had the time and money to go to a larger tank i would set up both..

by usiing LR other then an ancor for our corals.. it is a wonderful home for bacteria, thus helping the filtering of our tanks. by addinf a skimmer to the tank water and removing extra protein we some what stop the life of some alga. then havinf a carbon filter to remove some extras and to 'polish " the water when we have a few fish helps along the way..but if we remove the fish and reduce the bio load no carbon filter would or should be needed if we run a skimmer and have Lr..
by reoplacing water ( WC) in 10% at a time ( another thread still on going) we replace and remove either excess or replenish...wheather 10% is really a good amount... not sure that seems be the stable.. at least for now... but throw in a DSB and you have a whole nother story from what i have read.

then you have the bare people... i have not done this because i like the look of the bottom..how is yours doing now?

a little better this time with my answer?

or should i add stuff about supplements....????????

[Geoff]

both of our systems are bare-bottom right now. the 125 is a an SPS reef, doing great! without the phosphate sponge i have gotten rid of the evil razor caleurpa that was terrorizing the tank. Nikki's tank is also doing great as a predator reef. granted right now she only has a panther grouper in it. BB makes it real easy to clean out the detritus when we do a water change.

G~