After seeing all of your beautiful tanks and nice equipment you all have, i am feeling a bit discouraged on setting up my new 60gal. I may have to keep my 32 Biocube running a while longer until i can get these fancy units. I see all these Neptune things and ReefKeeper units, seems like you have to be a computer programmer to use them. I read the posts and dont have the clue what your talking about. Try finding videos on it, and way over my head. One day i guess. Still have to find a protein skimmer. Maybe I a just cheap and cant imagine spending few hundred dollars on something so small. But I love this hobby. So slow goes it. I am just got to keep saving my money and buy things 1 at a time until i can set things up. Kijiji and selling forums have been a great help and alternative to buyin things full price.
Feeling Discouraged
- Thread starter Tim A
- Start date
Shooter000
HomeGrownFrags
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2015
- Location
- Alvinston, Ontario
DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED MY FRIEND!!!!, I myself do not run all the high tech, high priced, over rated, over priced pieces of equipment you can get, don't get me wrong if I had a choice or chance I'd choose some of them in a heart beat, controller, 1000$ lights, the whole nine yards if I had the money, but you don't need it, decent light(Mars Aqua) best bang for your buck IMO, good filtration (protein skimmer), good flow, make sure you keep parameters in check and your good to go, I my self run a...
44g FULL mixed reef:
-Mars Aqua 3' 300w fixture
-ATO
-2 200w heaters for redundancy
-Reef octopus bh-1000 hob skimmer with (phos/carbon pad)
2-rw8 powerheads
1- 270gph powerhead behind rocks
-bi-weekly water changes as I'm stocked to the Teets with coral
-acropower and Kents for additives, that's the whole tank and everything I use.
Take your time, get some deals on some goodies you need, be patient and all will work out, who knows get the new tank running sell the old and you'll have some extra money for some new equipment or yummy coral frags,
Be patient young grasshopper
44g FULL mixed reef:
-Mars Aqua 3' 300w fixture
-ATO
-2 200w heaters for redundancy
-Reef octopus bh-1000 hob skimmer with (phos/carbon pad)
2-rw8 powerheads
1- 270gph powerhead behind rocks
-bi-weekly water changes as I'm stocked to the Teets with coral
-acropower and Kents for additives, that's the whole tank and everything I use.
Take your time, get some deals on some goodies you need, be patient and all will work out, who knows get the new tank running sell the old and you'll have some extra money for some new equipment or yummy coral frags,
Be patient young grasshopper
WiredWeasel
Member
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2016
- Location
- Canada
Meh, dont be discouraged. That stuff really isn't neccesary. I know tons of guys out there with crazy high end SPS with frags worth thousands and their system dont even run that sort of stuff. Just get proven technology, ie T5s regular water changes, and budget protein skimmers like bubble magus. Diligence, discipline, and stability is the most important thing in reefing. More systems can potentially add additional points of failure. Just from a cursory search you can see posts on reefcentral and other forums that complain about the failures of their controllers. IE, controllers messing up thermometer temperatures overheating/notoperating
Last edited:
EZMac
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2016
- Location
- London, ON
Your best to keep
It skmple. Ive been running used equipment off kijiji or this site, most of my time reefing. My stuff is not expensive and does the trick just fine. Just got my first apex and havent had too many problems figuring it out although im not using it nearly to its potential, everyone gets discouraged at times. Keep it up im sure you’ll be glad you did. Great support here from members.
It skmple. Ive been running used equipment off kijiji or this site, most of my time reefing. My stuff is not expensive and does the trick just fine. Just got my first apex and havent had too many problems figuring it out although im not using it nearly to its potential, everyone gets discouraged at times. Keep it up im sure you’ll be glad you did. Great support here from members.
kapelan
Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2015
- Location
- Kitchener, Ontario
must have:
1. Powerful light - that the source of live
2. Cool filter - to have a deal with nitrates
3. Dosing equipment - can survive but it cost $100 - it definitely worth it
everything else is optional
1. Powerful light - that the source of live
2. Cool filter - to have a deal with nitrates
3. Dosing equipment - can survive but it cost $100 - it definitely worth it
everything else is optional
I have been looking at dosing equipment, seems expensive lol, unless i am lookin at the wrong stuff. $200-$300 for dosing. Right now I am just running my 32Gal biocube, and do not dose. Everything seems to be in check with when i do my water changes with IORC. But i should assume this will change when double my water volume. 60+20ish in sump.
WiredWeasel
Member
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2016
- Location
- Canada
You can use the BRS dosers and daisy chain them together. They're not very sleek I suppose compared to to others. But I think theyll be better than the jebao dosers and you can just buy more if you need em. As far your dosing requirements, theyll correspond to your coral's growth and consumption within our small closed loop ecosystems. So you may need to dose if your corals consumption outstrips the amount of element replenished with your water changes. Or just do bigger water changes. Up to you to decide what is better. Water changes or dosing.
WiredWeasel
Member
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2016
- Location
- Canada
They have a tendency to leak and release the entire contents of the reservoirs into your tank.
Shooter000
HomeGrownFrags
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2015
- Location
- Alvinston, Ontario
why not dose by hand, youlook at your tank daily?, make itpart of your routine..
Works for me
KISS method all the way for all my tanks
Works for me
KISS method all the way for all my tanks
WiredWeasel
Member
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2016
- Location
- Canada
Brand in general as far as I can tell. I've had it happen to myself as well with a higher end brand as well. Not exactly pleasant. I too hand dose like shooter.
WiredWeasel
Member
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2016
- Location
- Canada
I have a mixture of both Hanna checkers and the traditional level checkers.
Definitely do not over think things. This hobby is as basic or complicated as you want it to be. You do not need a controller or dosing equipment. There are plenty of tanks run on every budget out there. I myself started with a kijiji $100 20 gallon tank with 2 clowns years ago and have slowly made my way up. All you need for equipment for that tank is a decent skimmer. there are normally some here used for sale that should work for a tank that size. Do not be afraid to post a 'looking for' ad either.
As for dosing, it is not a daily test. You test on day 1, then again on day 3 or something like that and there is a calculator out there somewhere for figuring it out. I am sure someone will post it before I find it. From there, dosing is daily, but testing will be weekly and adjust dosing accordingly. It is something that can be done manually with ease if you do not mind the extra work. I myself am a fan of Jebao products...all but the doser. Like all Jebao products, quality is hit and miss. However unlike a circulation pump, if a doser fails, it can crash your entire tank in a matter of minutes. Definitely look for a decent doser when/if that time comes. Dosing is also over rated, most people do not have to do it and weekly water changes are more then enough to keep levels in check.
Controllers are great, but again not necessary. I love it but the majority of tanks out there do not have any control other then on/off timers or what is built into their lights. Do not sweat anything.
In closing, grab up a skimmer and get water in that tank. Take things slowly and learn as you go. Use google, phone a friend, post here, ask question. There will be mistakes, but it is also very rewarding as well.
As for dosing, it is not a daily test. You test on day 1, then again on day 3 or something like that and there is a calculator out there somewhere for figuring it out. I am sure someone will post it before I find it. From there, dosing is daily, but testing will be weekly and adjust dosing accordingly. It is something that can be done manually with ease if you do not mind the extra work. I myself am a fan of Jebao products...all but the doser. Like all Jebao products, quality is hit and miss. However unlike a circulation pump, if a doser fails, it can crash your entire tank in a matter of minutes. Definitely look for a decent doser when/if that time comes. Dosing is also over rated, most people do not have to do it and weekly water changes are more then enough to keep levels in check.
Controllers are great, but again not necessary. I love it but the majority of tanks out there do not have any control other then on/off timers or what is built into their lights. Do not sweat anything.
In closing, grab up a skimmer and get water in that tank. Take things slowly and learn as you go. Use google, phone a friend, post here, ask question. There will be mistakes, but it is also very rewarding as well.
Do no be discouraged Tim. I’m fairly new to the site and haven’t posted much but after seeing this posted I felt like I had to help a fellow reefer out! This whole set up as far as the equipment goes I don’t think I have much more then $800 invested. All of it except for the heaters were bought used and I even made my own cheaper moonlight with a strip of blue leds. Do adding to Shooter000 comment why not manually add it and be apart of building the reef and Torx comment it doesn’t have to be expensive it just has to be practical. My light is a 4’ light sitting on 1x1 strapping because the tanks a 5’.
