Inevitably getting back in to the hobby

[jesserettele]

Jesse Rettele of SV?.....

That's me, who's this?

[Europhyllia]

Take the plunge on SPS Karin and I bet you'll get addicted too.

Actually I have some SPS! My blue polyps are still blue, my green polyps are still green, the pink are still pink. I did kill a green confusa I think but 3 out of 4 SPS are still alive and growing.

Like Allan though I am still waiting for them to do something exciting (other than keep the color they're supposed to be)

Mixed reef is definitely the way to go for me

[jesserettele]

Yeah, if I had it over again, I'd get a two hundred gallon fuge for a one hundred gallon display... well that ratio anyway.

Three days no power and freezing temps??? Shoot, I would have to hug my setup to warm it up... maybe put one of my kids into the display and the other into the fuge to keep the water temp up.

I like LPS myself although I've a fair number of SPS that I'm waiting to watch grow... or eat... or move... or something...

would you fuge, and skim only and that is enough?

[jesserettele]

Its an addiction....but a fun one! Welcome back! I knew it would not take long for you to be back.....

Yeah you were no help either! Setting up a new tank, showing me pictures of your custom sump, etc....

[Mr Cob]

would you fuge, and skim only and that is enough?

That's me too. I don't dose anything either. Who knows as my colonies grow out. So far i have managed to keep things stable with frequent water changes, 2 refugiums and skimming. (RO/DI water)

[Big_Pun]

i run a pretty simple setup and have good growth with my sps, i run a 65g, 29g sump with a fuge barebottom( thinking about adding sand to fuge) just have cheato in my fuge, run a 250w de halide, runs for about 10-12 hours a day, but i have no actnic supplement, just started dosing b-ionic which has helped alot, your more than welcome to come by and see my setup and talk reef. heres a link to my build http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=53874

[allan]

would you fuge, and skim only and that is enough?

Like Rob I only use the fuge and skim. When I first started I had no idea what people were talking about with the calc reactors and Ozone, phosban reactors, dosing strot and Iodide, reverse cycle, two part something........ all I wanted to know was "when do I add salt to the water".

Now I have a fuge that incorporates a bare bottom macro, a semi deep sand bed (with more macro), and a cryptic fuge (not a hundred percent dark but never gets any light). I use a skimmer, a small one that was modified.

Now a year later I've started toying around with phosban reactors and have even built my own skimmer (not very effective but it worked) and plan on building a top off water supply with a Kalkwasser chamber. I understand the ozone and even when they start talking about alkalanity and ph levels.

don't get me wrong, I'm still scratching my head when the guys really get into the details.

Oh yeah, your question. I would start where you are comfortable, and don't worry about dosing until it either becomes a problem or you want to go in another direction that you feel is the right direction. If you keep up with the water changes you should have the majority of what you need as far as minerals to negate any supplementation.

Of course this is only my own newby opinion and others are welcome to point out the weak points of my approach.

[Europhyllia]

I do weekly water changes of about 10% and my alk and calcium still seem to go down faster than I can replenish with water changes so I am dosing kalk and sometimes a salifert alk/calcium supplement.
I also just got a media reactor because I like to feed things.

[jesserettele]

i run a pretty simple setup and have good growth with my sps, i run a 65g, 29g sump with a fuge barebottom( thinking about adding sand to fuge) just have cheato in my fuge, run a 250w de halide, runs for about 10-12 hours a day, but i have no actnic supplement, just started dosing b-ionic which has helped alot, your more than welcome to come by and see my setup and talk reef. heres a link to my build http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=53874

Man, thanks for sharing the link. You have a nice setup and have taken some incredible photographs. Thanks for the offer of reef talk, I may take you up on the offer once things slow down around my house.

[jesserettele]

Thanks for the tip...LOL! I didn't even know we had member galleries! I have just kept track of my tanks through threads. You can click my sig to view the 144 or view my blogs to see my other tanks.

Anyways, thanks and welcome to MAAST.

Your pics are great. I love your rock work and MAN those are some hand picked pieces!