Inevitably getting back in to the hobby

[jesserettele]

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.

I used the HIATT HDL anerobic filtration system before with success but think I will take a more traditional route this time. Thanks for the input and experiences. I think I will run a fug and skim. I still have three huge custom made reactors with all the media in them that I will have to bring myself to parting out though.