Re-Aquascaping with a DSB
- Thread starter Kimo
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liveforphysics
Banned
Well, unfortunately I keep switching majors and colleges every year or two. This means lots of moving, which keeps me form having any tank setup for long periods of time. I'm actually going to have to move again come July to an area close to puyallup... I hate moving, but ehh, its part of college I guess.
So, my sand and things have been around for about 3 years, but the longest its ever been setup for at one time is slightly under a year. Then it gets drained (last time I saved most of the water), the rock and corals get pulled out, and the corals get given to somebody to hold for me, and the rock generally just sits in a couple of styrofoam boxes with wet towels over them. The sand and UGF setup just chill in the tank with little to no water while I move things around. Last time that was over a week.
So, I guess you could say I've never had a tank for over a year, or you could say I've had tanks for 3 years, with a few week long interuptions.
The first year I didnt do a UGF, I skimmed like crazy, and my fuge was just sand and rock. The tank grew algae like a mofo, had to practically starve the tank to keep nutrients down low (they never zero'd in a stable way), and growth and performance was just kinda so-so. I also did water changes every 2 weeks, and frequently battled with hair algae, occasional cyno, and pleanty of detritus removal work and algae scrapeing.
If I had to go back to that method of reefkeeping, I would just quit the hobby rather than struggle through maintence BS I used to put up with.
Anyways, thats about it as far as how long and timelines and such. I hope that answered your question.
So, my sand and things have been around for about 3 years, but the longest its ever been setup for at one time is slightly under a year. Then it gets drained (last time I saved most of the water), the rock and corals get pulled out, and the corals get given to somebody to hold for me, and the rock generally just sits in a couple of styrofoam boxes with wet towels over them. The sand and UGF setup just chill in the tank with little to no water while I move things around. Last time that was over a week.
So, I guess you could say I've never had a tank for over a year, or you could say I've had tanks for 3 years, with a few week long interuptions.
The first year I didnt do a UGF, I skimmed like crazy, and my fuge was just sand and rock. The tank grew algae like a mofo, had to practically starve the tank to keep nutrients down low (they never zero'd in a stable way), and growth and performance was just kinda so-so. I also did water changes every 2 weeks, and frequently battled with hair algae, occasional cyno, and pleanty of detritus removal work and algae scrapeing.
If I had to go back to that method of reefkeeping, I would just quit the hobby rather than struggle through maintence BS I used to put up with.
Anyways, thats about it as far as how long and timelines and such. I hope that answered your question.
steve-s
Well-known member
Truth be told then, how can you honestly say this is the best take on tank filtration?liveforphysics said:
Most any system will work great and be "abusable" for the short term of it's existance. Without the long term study of such a system and it's dynamics/bioload/waste/maintenance routine and so on, it's seems rather presumptuous to make any claims or recommendations.
Cheers
Steve
I will not debate the benefits again of a properly run RUGF but I will say that since I have the longest running tank here and it always had a RUGF I think it could work. My reef is 35 years old with no nitrates.
UGFs fell out of favor because we used them like we did on fresh water tanks, big mistake. I run mine very slow with a sponge on the intake. I cleaned it once after 25 years, no problem. Tank never crashed, corals all over the place, fish die of old age, never had ich in almost 30 years. The tank was also featured in "Marine Fish Monthly"
As was said there is a very long thread on it here.
Have a great day.
Paul
UGFs fell out of favor because we used them like we did on fresh water tanks, big mistake. I run mine very slow with a sponge on the intake. I cleaned it once after 25 years, no problem. Tank never crashed, corals all over the place, fish die of old age, never had ich in almost 30 years. The tank was also featured in "Marine Fish Monthly"
As was said there is a very long thread on it here.
Have a great day.
Paul
Kimo
Active member
Paul -
Thanks for chiming in. I always respect your opinion here and elsewhere, since you're one of the few who has 'Been there, done that'.
Don't you have an asphalt substrate ?
liveforphysics,
What's the tupperware container for?
I'm going to start mixing water this weekend for the re-aquascape. I want to finish my manifold first so I can just do a one time overhaul of the upper part of my system. The sump and stuff will come later
Thanks everyone.
Jamie
Thanks for chiming in. I always respect your opinion here and elsewhere, since you're one of the few who has 'Been there, done that'.
Don't you have an asphalt substrate
?liveforphysics,
What's the tupperware container for?
I'm going to start mixing water this weekend for the re-aquascape. I want to finish my manifold first so I can just do a one time overhaul of the upper part of my system. The sump and stuff will come later
Thanks everyone.
Jamie
Krish
RF STAFF
Best of luck to you Jaime! Make sure and post us some photos so we can see how things look afterwards
Don't you have an asphalt substrate
Jamie, no I don't have an asphalt substrate, :doubt:
I do use some asphalt as live rock. As a matter of fact I am mailing a piece of it to Mike today to analize. Asphalt and RUGF's seem to be two things that you can't put in a healthy reef tank. I don't let my tank read this stuff so it doesen't know it's supposed to crash. :badgrin:
I have also used UGF's on fresh water for many years and you are correct they accumulate detritus and stink forcing you to tear it out to clean. I really don't know why this does not happen in my reef but after three decades of experimenting and tweaking it I have it down to a science.
People have been giving me all sorts of scenarios and excuses why my tank hasen't crashed so far but I don't see any problems surfacing yet. I can, and do re-aquascape when I get tired of the look, maybe every five years. I can remove the rock and stir all I want with no problems, I was thinking of rearranging this week. I run my RUGF very slow with a sponge on the intake. I don't need to quote articles on the pro's and con's. There are no pro's that have a reef this old so there is nothing written on it. Bob Goemans came to my home about ten years ago to see my tank and although he was impressed, he also had no Idea why it ran so well. I know very little about DSB's, no need to, I like my "Old technology system". I know they can work very well as most of the people here seem to have them. Ugf's are very old technology advocated by Robert Straughn (The Father of Salt Water Fish Keeping) in the early fiftees. He dident exactly know why they worked but he knew they worked. RUGF's are not old technology. There were no reef tanks then but when reefs came out in about 1980 or so (well kind of reefs
We had to change the functioning of the UG filters to adapt to the more stringent water parameters of reefs. We also didn't want to remove the rock to clean anything the way we could in FO tanks.
I am not saying this is the best system. I couldn't say that because I am not an expert on the other systems. I can prove that a RUGF can work with almost no maintenance and work very well for at least 35 years. My reef is far from perfect, if it were I would put something in there like shreaded bowling balls so after another 35 years I could debate the pro's and con's
Have a great day what ever system you have, I still love you. :lol:
Paul
Jamie, no I don't have an asphalt substrate, :doubt:
I do use some asphalt as live rock. As a matter of fact I am mailing a piece of it to Mike today to analize. Asphalt and RUGF's seem to be two things that you can't put in a healthy reef tank. I don't let my tank read this stuff so it doesen't know it's supposed to crash. :badgrin:
I have also used UGF's on fresh water for many years and you are correct they accumulate detritus and stink forcing you to tear it out to clean. I really don't know why this does not happen in my reef but after three decades of experimenting and tweaking it I have it down to a science.
People have been giving me all sorts of scenarios and excuses why my tank hasen't crashed so far but I don't see any problems surfacing yet. I can, and do re-aquascape when I get tired of the look, maybe every five years. I can remove the rock and stir all I want with no problems, I was thinking of rearranging this week. I run my RUGF very slow with a sponge on the intake. I don't need to quote articles on the pro's and con's. There are no pro's that have a reef this old so there is nothing written on it. Bob Goemans came to my home about ten years ago to see my tank and although he was impressed, he also had no Idea why it ran so well. I know very little about DSB's, no need to, I like my "Old technology system".
I know they can work very well as most of the people here seem to have them. Ugf's are very old technology advocated by Robert Straughn (The Father of Salt Water Fish Keeping) in the early fiftees. He dident exactly know why they worked but he knew they worked. RUGF's are not old technology. There were no reef tanks then but when reefs came out in about 1980 or so (well kind of reefs We had to change the functioning of the UG filters to adapt to the more stringent water parameters of reefs. We also didn't want to remove the rock to clean anything the way we could in FO tanks.
I am not saying this is the best system. I couldn't say that because I am not an expert on the other systems. I can prove that a RUGF can work with almost no maintenance and work very well for at least 35 years. My reef is far from perfect, if it were I would put something in there like shreaded bowling balls so after another 35 years I could debate the pro's and con's
Have a great day what ever system you have, I still love you. :lol:
Paul
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