Who has long term success with a tank under 60G?

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

Who has long term success with a tank under 60G?

Maybe more than 2-3 years without changing the method of keeping it. By method I mean BB, DSB, SB, Refugium or not

What is your method if successful?

[know-it-all]

I have never kept my tank the same for more than 1 year.
I always seam to need to rearange the rock or try a new toy
(refugium lasted 10 months)
(PhosBan reactor lasted 9 months)

most cases I just go back to a skimmer and SSB

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

Is you tank sucessful? Why are you chnaging things? I am tryign to see what has worked long term instead of all these "ideas of the day" methods.

[mdcorcoran]

I've been moderately successful, but i change frequently too. The only thing that has stayed the same was the lighting and skimmer(for the first 3 tanks) and then i recently upgraded both for my 55. change is good, when it's for the better.

[know-it-all]

sucess is in the eye of the beholder.
Are my tanks stable? YES
Are my checkable levels always in the target range? YES
(can't remeber last time I had a nitrate level)
Does the tank look good? some say yes
do I get bored with how it looks? YES
Do pumps get dirty or break? YES
DO I try the new gizmos? YES

mostly, I do a major cleaning every 2-3 months.
I take all the pumps out, dis-assemble, and clean really good.
I seam to never be able to get everything back together the same way.

So my tank is constantly changing

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

know-it-all,

I understand about the pumps and cleaning.

What I am more concerned with is changing complete methologies. Like running a bare bottom for 4 years or a DSB for 4 years or refugium for 4 years - along those lines.

I agree change for the better is good but what I am looking for is what works.

[mdcorcoran]

i was using crushed coral for 3 years, then switched to sand, about the same depth (1") so it wasn't much of a methodology switch. So, you could say I've been successful with my 100% HOB style with a shallow sand bed

[know-it-all]

I've switched my substrate out on a running tank once.

I was running BB at first, but you cut your fish choices in half.
So when I added my sand like tha LFS told me to and killed my tank off

it's been SSB for me ever since 1-2" total on ever tank I've set-up since
I've never thought about switching it out either.

I've never tried DSB, I just never liked how they look

But I've added and subtracted other filter components through-out the years

[Phishnoob]

I gave my 55g away just before my move and nothing died except two lawn mower blennies. I am not sure there but think maybe they pigged out on algae then starved because they would not eat formula two.

With the Remora Pro and Mag three and a few powerheads and weekly water changes it was easy. I had a bit of cyano from dieoff at the start then it just vanished with my average husbandry and not overfeeding with lots of attention with the turkey baster and vacuum.

There were only a couple of fish and a lot of critters and feeding was every three days.

[AB3]

I consider my tank succesful, a 30G. I have not changed the skimmer, lights, uv, or canister(i got that instead of a sump). Its all the same stuff i got from the begining but its not exactly long term as ive only had my tank a year.

[Little Luey]

I think the type of substrate you use will determine how much/little you will have to do, to keep it going. All those methods you mention will work long term but you need to do your part, if you have sand you need to do things to keep your sand working properly (don't ask me what those things are because I don't know, I run BB) if you decide to go BB you will need to learn to keep BB. IMO neither one of those methods is hands free for the reefer, we have to do our part and deal with their unique characteristics. As long as you do your part and learn how to run the system you have your tank will be successfull.