I have been in this hobby for 5 years. I have fought and battled for every single polyp in my reef. I am so proud of my successes and more knowledgeable because of my failures
Love that these are being discussed as misconceptions. Just a thought while listening to the first point… I find it easier to post about problems on reef forums than in the social media ether. On forums, I have a self-selected audience of only reefers, even if they’re new. In the ether, I may get responses on how to fix my reef problems from people who haven’t even gargled with saltwater. 😂
Collecting the "I've been through it, got my butt kicked by it, and beat it this way" from across a topic, and layering it with current scientific knowledge and understanding: is how we can collect and distill "best practices" as a hobby. Which is something (at this stage) few can agree on. But is something this hobby still needs. Those ugly truths about how we're all human, is how we keep pushing ahead. Because reefing is still very much an imperfect science & very much still an art. There's no shame in screwing it up. And I'm personally happy when I see content creators go the extra step and show how and where they've personally gotten it wrong. It's by far where viewers (like myself) learn the most. I also agree that this hobby needs to evolve the conversation on dipping. But that needs to be done responsibly, and not by armatures. In particular when discussing various antibiotics. There are numerous examples where misuse of treatment compounds by a community results in worse resistant pests down the road. And this hobby is not immune to that outcome. Hell, there are numerous instances from commercial aquaculture where it's already occurred. So yes, evolve the conversation. By do so in a way that avoids hazardous practices, such as whole tank treatments, or prophylactic antibiotic. Both of which mirror practices from other disciplines that proved foolhardy and lead to resistant pests.
In regards to the first point: I struggle with critiquing newbies on naive mistakes. I don't want to make them feel bad, but if they made a decision they need to be told it wasn't wise. For example, getting a big starfish and putting it in a 5-month old 30-gallon tank. That poor thing was given a death sentence. Calling them out needs to be done, but I don't want to dis-incentivise posting online... Baaah, it's a delicate maneuver, I guess.
Phenomenal video. I really love where this is going. The people I thought would be my mentors in the beginning failed me miserably and I felt incredibly alone. While I realize every single tank is different, I truly believe finding a solid mentor can be the thing that makes or breaks you. Be the person that helps people, it really matters 💪🏼♥️
Early in my reefing journey I bought a second hand nano tank that came with a very nice rock scape, I gave the rock a quick rinse and set up my tank, not knowing that I should have cured the rock first & eliminate all the dead sponges etc. I battled hair algae and went through the ‘ugly’ phase for probably 6 months! Weekly maintenance was hours of manually removing the algae - very disheartening! But boy - I learned so much! My biggest advice to new reefers is RESEARCH BEFORE doing anything or putting anything into your tank!
Been into saltwater/reef tanks since 1990. I battled many issues through my career. Hair algae, ich, crashes due over heating, and even a tank fire. Took a 16 year break, now back at it again. My current system has had issues I have never encountered before. The slowest coralline growth ever, clowns killing hammers, flat worms. Just keep pushing forward. Thanks for making great videos. Than Is awesome ! Hoping to get to go to @tidalgardens in the near future.
I have never dipped, nor quarantined anything and I have 2 thriving SPS dominant tanks, I don't worry about pests or anything. And everyone is going to have aptasia, I stopped trying to address that as well. I stopped checking Po4 or No3 and my corals just grow and grow. What I have learned in 12 years is to just be chill with tanks and stop chasing numbers. Corals can tolerate a lot of variances. ive dumped gallons of kalk slurry in tank and ph was off the charts. I think I lost maybe 1 coral and no fish. Also stopped water changes as well. I use Ca reactor, Kalk reactors, and supplement with Replenish. That's it - everything survives and thrives.
Here is another tidbit on quarantine to make you rethink it somewhat. Your quarantine time, restarts every time you add something to it. So unless you quarantine 1 item at a time for a significant period, it is somewhat pointless. As soon as you introduce anything else into the quarantine, you expose everything else and start over.
(~23:40)Thanks for talking about energy transfer. This process was introduced to me in biology as FRET, Frequency Resonance Energy Transfer. Pigments that resonate at higher energy level link to secondary pigment that absorb a portion of the total energy and emit the rest as light. Only works "downhill" though.
I have battled with hair and bubble algae and while the bubble algae just took some emerald crabs to wipe them out. Hair algae on the other hand seems to be on me, for lack of husbandry. When I stick to weekly water and filter changes I can keep the algae at bay. I also notice it takes weeks to months to see the fruits of your labor so patience is key.
14 months into hobby. Red cyno outbreak several times. Flatworm outbreak once even after dipping everything before going in.. lost two fish due to jumping. Almost gave up after not being able to beat the cyno but never did. Love my tank
@@paulrod53 took all my torches out dipped twice in a week and got a six line. Luckily all my torches were heavily infested and not so much throughout my whole tank. But it was bad on the torches
Let's consider the reality. We purchase glass boxes and attempt to recreate a small slice of the ocean at home. We endure the competition of Life. From the smallest molecules to organisms of mobility etc. It's all an incredible cosmic soup of Life. Our planet breaths because of it.
ryans comments at 34:15 about attrition also applies to quarantining corals. i've quarantineed everything that goes into my tank. putting corals through 75 days of quarantine in a fishless system with bi weekly dips is rough on the corals. my survival rate through that process is pretty low
If it were as simple as abc , billion dollar pet store chains would be stocked constantly. give that a thought... hands on time and experience are invaluable
Agreed. Or at least a list of things that can’t handle peroxide. Here’s the first one..... candy cane/trumpets. They fall apart immediately. Works on the algae where there is no flesh however. (Found out the hard way)🤬
Its not about who's had problems, most of us have. Its about the preventatives and reconizing early Any issues to take steps that work and have patience.
It’s true, if you are practicing the reeftank hobby without issues for years then you are very good at it, me for instance am in the hobby for 15 years now, when I started with the hobby I began with sps corals from the beginning, after 15 years I still test the water EVERY DAY and I have never had any problem, I have never and will never use something to automate things, the only electronic devices I use is a ph monitor and a Seneye reef
I did a no water change tank for years. It ran great but it transitioned to no water change, it didn't start there. Also, if you think it's less work or less expensive; your wrong, or are doing it wrong. Oh and it was a 200 gallon net system. Going smaller would be unadvised.
Great video! Listening to you, I noticed that a knowledge base similar to Wikipedia dedicated to our hobby would be very useful, especially for people entering the hobby.
I used to dip, but now I just inspect. I feel like it puts unnecessary stress on the coral. I've lost a few during/shortly after dipping and really just don't do it unless I see something now.
You can do no water changes to your system. Only when. 1 it's a mature tank. 2. You do weekly IPC tests to see what Trac elements are needed to dose, and there are no contaminants in the water. This is how you can get away with no water changes. On big systems, it's worth it. Small system not so.
My Reef tank is doing good now but I’ve had problems and I know that there is always a real chance for a problem I just do my best to hopefully and I mean hopefully minimize the problem when it happens
This was funny listening to the no water change part. All of the things they said could apply to sps. You have to set it up with that intention. The point of setting up the ecosystem is so that it doesn't need you.
Exactly! I remember asking Rodney Mullen, a long time ago, about his approach to skateboarding, and how he explains what he does for a living. He simply replied "I fall down a lot!!" lol
You can only learn by failing you can only take so much information but how you use that information is different to other people my best advice for anyone is time and patience and adjust slowly nothing happens overnight
The no water change thing is weird. How could "I don't clean my tank" be a flex? That would be like being proud that your house is airtight and no air can get in or out even though there's a funny smell now. You need fresh air. The fish probably appreciate new clean water also.
Im about to show my failures bleached little frags because of temperature ac is broke in my house. Pain of not wanting to loose live animals and what you spent your hard earned money on things you can not control in your situation.
the "i dont do water changes" thing really isn't for most corals. your corals use different elements to build itself. if you never dose calcium or do water changes, you will run out of it. I have gotten there in my fresh water tank but i also have plants in it. it's a balance for sure. i've also gone about a month without putting food in it and a couple months without even adding water. went 6 months no water change. dont do this with corals though man.
I know this guy has a giant over-built/over-designed “farm”, but is anyone actually impressed with what he is producing? I watched a tour of his “farm” recently, and I’ll he did was complain about every system having PH issues and not being “perfect”. Is he buying this kind of coverage?
I just started a tank for the first time, no fish only bacteria. ZERO issues so far. I might end up being a legend in this hobby.
Wait till the Algae grow in, you will be an epic legend 🤣
I think the point they were making was it’s unrealistic for a coral farm and the thousands of gallons needed to farm.
Yeah. I mean those two are technically right. But people who've have never had a problem are people who have been in the hobby for 2 seconds
How is the tank going
I have been in this hobby for 5 years. I have fought and battled for every single polyp in my reef. I am so proud of my successes and more knowledgeable because of my failures
😂Than, made my morning.. "felt like i got flushed... BYeeeEEE"
Love that these are being discussed as misconceptions. Just a thought while listening to the first point… I find it easier to post about problems on reef forums than in the social media ether. On forums, I have a self-selected audience of only reefers, even if they’re new. In the ether, I may get responses on how to fix my reef problems from people who haven’t even gargled with saltwater. 😂
Collecting the "I've been through it, got my butt kicked by it, and beat it this way" from across a topic, and layering it with current scientific knowledge and understanding: is how we can collect and distill "best practices" as a hobby.
Which is something (at this stage) few can agree on. But is something this hobby still needs. Those ugly truths about how we're all human, is how we keep pushing ahead. Because reefing is still very much an imperfect science & very much still an art.
There's no shame in screwing it up. And I'm personally happy when I see content creators go the extra step and show how and where they've personally gotten it wrong. It's by far where viewers (like myself) learn the most.
I also agree that this hobby needs to evolve the conversation on dipping. But that needs to be done responsibly, and not by armatures. In particular when discussing various antibiotics.
There are numerous examples where misuse of treatment compounds by a community results in worse resistant pests down the road. And this hobby is not immune to that outcome. Hell, there are numerous instances from commercial aquaculture where it's already occurred.
So yes, evolve the conversation. By do so in a way that avoids hazardous practices, such as whole tank treatments, or prophylactic antibiotic. Both of which mirror practices from other disciplines that proved foolhardy and lead to resistant pests.
It’s a joy to listen to these two.
In regards to the first point: I struggle with critiquing newbies on naive mistakes. I don't want to make them feel bad, but if they made a decision they need to be told it wasn't wise. For example, getting a big starfish and putting it in a 5-month old 30-gallon tank. That poor thing was given a death sentence. Calling them out needs to be done, but I don't want to dis-incentivise posting online... Baaah, it's a delicate maneuver, I guess.
Phenomenal video. I really love where this is going. The people I thought would be my mentors in the beginning failed me miserably and I felt incredibly alone. While I realize every single tank is different, I truly believe finding a solid mentor can be the thing that makes or breaks you. Be the person that helps people, it really matters 💪🏼♥️
Early in my reefing journey I bought a second hand nano tank that came with a very nice rock scape, I gave the rock a quick rinse and set up my tank, not knowing that I should have cured the rock first & eliminate all the dead sponges etc. I battled hair algae and went through the ‘ugly’ phase for probably 6 months! Weekly maintenance was hours of manually removing the algae - very disheartening! But boy - I learned so much! My biggest advice to new reefers is RESEARCH BEFORE doing anything or putting anything into your tank!
Been into saltwater/reef tanks since 1990. I battled many issues through my career. Hair algae, ich, crashes due over heating, and even a tank fire. Took a 16 year break, now back at it again. My current system has had issues I have never encountered before. The slowest coralline growth ever, clowns killing hammers, flat worms. Just keep pushing forward. Thanks for making great videos. Than Is awesome ! Hoping to get to go to @tidalgardens in the near future.
I have never dipped, nor quarantined anything and I have 2 thriving SPS dominant tanks, I don't worry about pests or anything. And everyone is going to have aptasia, I stopped trying to address that as well. I stopped checking Po4 or No3 and my corals just grow and grow. What I have learned in 12 years is to just be chill with tanks and stop chasing numbers. Corals can tolerate a lot of variances. ive dumped gallons of kalk slurry in tank and ph was off the charts. I think I lost maybe 1 coral and no fish. Also stopped water changes as well. I use Ca reactor, Kalk reactors, and supplement with Replenish. That's it - everything survives and thrives.
Here is another tidbit on quarantine to make you rethink it somewhat. Your quarantine time, restarts every time you add something to it. So unless you quarantine 1 item at a time for a significant period, it is somewhat pointless. As soon as you introduce anything else into the quarantine, you expose everything else and start over.
My two favorite experts . You go Men
Love these chats keep em coming
Great Content Gentlemen.
(~23:40)Thanks for talking about energy transfer. This process was introduced to me in biology as FRET, Frequency Resonance Energy Transfer. Pigments that resonate at higher energy level link to secondary pigment that absorb a portion of the total energy and emit the rest as light. Only works "downhill" though.
I have battled with hair and bubble algae and while the bubble algae just took some emerald crabs to wipe them out. Hair algae on the other hand seems to be on me, for lack of husbandry. When I stick to weekly water and filter changes I can keep the algae at bay. I also notice it takes weeks to months to see the fruits of your labor so patience is key.
@32:30, ya, because they source differently for quality vs. cost. There’s almost no way to know, other than integrity, if that exists.
@20:13 goes back to what you’re always saying about the consistency being the key. They generally get used to what they’re getting, if it’s regular.
14 months into hobby. Red cyno outbreak several times. Flatworm outbreak once even after dipping everything before going in.. lost two fish due to jumping. Almost gave up after not being able to beat the cyno but never did. Love my tank
How did you handle your flatworms?
@@paulrod53 took all my torches out dipped twice in a week and got a six line. Luckily all my torches were heavily infested and not so much throughout my whole tank. But it was bad on the torches
@@josephthack5236 flatworms host on torches😬? Did the torches survive?
@@paulrod53 yes they survived and are doing well
@@josephthack5236 what dip did you use?
Let's consider the reality. We purchase glass boxes and attempt to recreate a small slice of the ocean at home. We endure the competition of Life. From the smallest molecules to organisms of mobility etc. It's all an incredible cosmic soup of Life. Our planet breaths because of it.
Great video guys!!
ryans comments at 34:15 about attrition also applies to quarantining corals. i've quarantineed everything that goes into my tank. putting corals through 75 days of quarantine in a fishless system with bi weekly dips is rough on the corals. my survival rate through that process is pretty low
If it were as simple as abc , billion dollar pet store chains would be stocked constantly. give that a thought... hands on time and experience are invaluable
Brs inverstigates series peroxide dip asap i with it
Agreed. Or at least a list of things that can’t handle peroxide. Here’s the first one..... candy cane/trumpets. They fall apart immediately. Works on the algae where there is no flesh however. (Found out the hard way)🤬
Its not about who's had problems, most of us have. Its about the preventatives and reconizing early Any issues to take steps that work and have patience.
It’s true, if you are practicing the reeftank hobby without issues for years then you are very good at it, me for instance am in the hobby for 15 years now, when I started with the hobby I began with sps corals from the beginning, after 15 years I still test the water EVERY DAY and I have never had any problem, I have never and will never use something to automate things, the only electronic devices I use is a ph monitor and a Seneye reef
I did a no water change tank for years. It ran great but it transitioned to no water change, it didn't start there. Also, if you think it's less work or less expensive; your wrong, or are doing it wrong. Oh and it was a 200 gallon net system. Going smaller would be unadvised.
Love these videos!
Great video! Listening to you, I noticed that a knowledge base similar to Wikipedia dedicated to our hobby would be very useful, especially for people entering the hobby.
@not wanting robust embankments of natural brown coral 😂 the diverging point between conservation and the hobby 😂
I used to dip, but now I just inspect. I feel like it puts unnecessary stress on the coral. I've lost a few during/shortly after dipping and really just don't do it unless I see something now.
What dip did you use?
Than looked visibly annoyed about the "no water changes" flex... 😅
You can do no water changes to your system. Only when. 1 it's a mature tank. 2. You do weekly IPC tests to see what Trac elements are needed to dose, and there are no contaminants in the water. This is how you can get away with no water changes. On big systems, it's worth it. Small system not so.
My Reef tank is doing good now but I’ve had problems and I know that there is always a real chance for a problem I just do my best to hopefully and I mean hopefully minimize the problem when it happens
This was funny listening to the no water change part. All of the things they said could apply to sps. You have to set it up with that intention. The point of setting up the ecosystem is so that it doesn't need you.
There is a guy in Germany that dose do 0 fish coral farming. All of his acros start as a single polyp. The place is a complete clean room.
So what you're saying is clams need daily exposure to open air and fresh water. Got it. Thx
1. A Pro Skateboarder that says they've never fallen or broken a bone. Lol. # ReefingScars
Exactly! I remember asking Rodney Mullen, a long time ago, about his approach to skateboarding, and how he explains what he does for a living. He simply replied "I fall down a lot!!" lol
Can you link to the two part alk/calcium video Ryan was mentioning about how most two part isn’t lab grade and tends to have pollutants in them?
You can only learn by failing you can only take so much information but how you use that information is different to other people my best advice for anyone is time and patience and adjust slowly nothing happens overnight
WHEN DID CHRISTOPHER MOLTISANTI GET IN THE FISH GAME?!!!!!
Haha this mfer said Yu-Gi-Yo card! Hadooken!!!
The no water change thing is weird. How could "I don't clean my tank" be a flex? That would be like being proud that your house is airtight and no air can get in or out even though there's a funny smell now. You need fresh air. The fish probably appreciate new clean water also.
Im about to show my failures bleached little frags because of temperature ac is broke in my house. Pain of not wanting to loose live animals and what you spent your hard earned money on things you can not control in your situation.
Wayne's World! Wayne's World!
the "i dont do water changes" thing really isn't for most corals. your corals use different elements to build itself. if you never dose calcium or do water changes, you will run out of it. I have gotten there in my fresh water tank but i also have plants in it. it's a balance for sure. i've also gone about a month without putting food in it and a couple months without even adding water. went 6 months no water change. dont do this with corals though man.
I know this guy has a giant over-built/over-designed “farm”, but is anyone actually impressed with what he is producing? I watched a tour of his “farm” recently, and I’ll he did was complain about every system having PH issues and not being “perfect”. Is he buying this kind of coverage?
First
Congratulations? 😂
Hot Take:
JERRY..
..IS A PHOTOSHOPPING LIAR!