I visit the site occasionally and am impressed with their premise of building reef systems without taking from the oceans. All that I see there makes perfect sense....

 

Honestly....... I think their heart is in the right place, but their science is questionable IMHO. Plenums are falling out of popularity, and for good reason IMHO. T5's and MH are much more efficient than standard, HO, and VHO fluorescent. Their "reef janitors" do not "remove" anything from the tank like they claim. I've never seen a snail or hermit grab waist and throw it out of the tank. Until they learn to do this, the nutrients they feed on are still in the system. The flow for a tank should be determined by the species being kept in it. Not the size of the system. Back in the 80's their methods would seem pretty sound. We have come a long way since then.

 

Agree with Elegance. I read over GARF's webpage and the only interesting thing was the Agrocrete. The more I learn the more I should off bought base rock or made my own Agrocrete. I made the mistake of paying a fortune for 90lbs of "so called" Premium Fiji Live Rock. A couple of seeded pieces and patients would of sufficed.

 

I'd say with most sites that claim their way IS the way to go , or they have super luck with whatever style of their claim(s), i read it over, take it with a grain of salt (no pun intended) and go from there.

I'll use a saying my professional dog training cousin tells me "You get 3 dog trainers together and the ONLY thing they agree on is that two of them is doing it wrong":lol:

Sorta the same for this hobby. NOT knock any site in general, it's just that you will find many different way/styles of reefkeeping practices, and some work for some people , some don't .

And even with what i just said, some will agree or not, that's just part of the deal with the hobby, like other things/subjects

So putting your question out here is a good idea, you'll get feedback good/bad/in the middle i'm sure, and take it and make you descision.


(Also, i moved this thread to a "proper" forum, so it will get more exposure and replies :thumbup: )

 

the one true statement ive come to agree 100% on is, "take it slow and let nature balance itself out". read and understand every method you use. ive taken some things from garth and chucks addiction, and experienced reefers on forums. especially this one. i employ many different ideas knowing that when my tank matures the best method will take over making the others obsolete. and by the way i made my own rocks according to garfs recipie and love the way they turned out. and my critters have found them as a sutable home also.

 

GARF backwards is FRAG.... I think they are a business disguised as a non profit. They sell frags and that is really all I can figure out that they actually do.

 

IIRC, and I may not... I believe they were once a for profit that changed. I agree that there heart is in the right place and some of their advice is good.... some is not IMO the easiest way to skin a cat.