Let Me See Those Natural Beauties

[Luna]

I just want to see those tank out there that thrive naturally with only water changes (no dosing). Here is mine: 40g breeder with hob refugium/skimmer (no sump). It's been up for about a year and a half

 

[AcroNem]

My propagation systems have more tech to them, but my display is a bit of an old school natural system. So before you start on how it doesn't work...I've been doing this for 12 years so I'm allowed to break the "rules". System is about 3 years old, some of the corals are a lot older. No sump, canister for chemical media (that's right, a canister) tunze 9012 skimmer that works beautifully, weekly 20%WC with reef crystals, sand vaccing, and a lot of old live rock and sand. I feed the corals and microfauna heavily, and I do dose for calcium and alkalinity, sue me (; enjoy

p.s I know that favia (Dipsastraea) at the bottom is ticked off, it's a rescue I'm trying to get it growing again.

 

[Luna]

Nice[emoji225]

 

[Luna]

[emoji245]

 

[Sm51498]

I miss this tank. No skimmer, no mechanical filtration. Just flow and 5 gallon water changes. I've got a fluval evo now that I'm doing the same with but it is too young to be beautiful.

 

[Luna]

Looked good

 

[garethwood]

had this setup exactly a year. complete diy on the cheap under £500 including contents. no mechanical filtration just plenty of lr in the sump bag of carbon and some rowa. unfortunately introduced byprosis on a frag which needs dealing with but here it is....

 

[Jhuggins]

Less then 10 percent water change once a week and lime water as ato... That is it.

 

[garethwood]

wow thats really nice /\ how longs it been running? and can i ask what lime water is and whats the benefit?

 

[Luna]

No more natural reefs?

 

[Jhuggins]

wow thats really nice /\ how longs it been running? and can i ask what lime water is and whats the benefit?

Sorry I just saw this reply. Tank has been going for Nearly 11 months. Lime water is what most people call kalkwasser. But it it is MRS Wages lime you can buy at walmart mixed with RO/DI water and used at top off. Right now I use 100 percent saturated but have had alk of 9.9 for a while and am going to change salt to see if that will lower enough. If not I will have to start doesing calcium and lower the Kalkwasser. Anyway yeah keep it simple is the goal. High flow in the tank and the biggest refugium you can get.

 

[Kmsutows]

I've always been afraid to dose so have only done water changes with a mix of red sea and red sea coral pro. It'Lloyd be a year in May. 150gal plus sump and Ive only been doing 15gal changes every 2-3 weeks

 

[Jeremiah G]

Looking good!

 

[Luna]

TTT

 

[Kmsutows]

As it turns out, shortly after I posted my above tank I found my alk to be 6.5ish after an acro started to die on me... since then I've had to dose just about every day

 

[Adam113]

29g cube just weekly water changes and a bag of carbon. Everything doing great, including some SPS.

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

We just passed the 2 year mark with our 125g. Canister filter (I rinse all media once a month and change what is needed every other month), Eshopp's HOB skimmer (probably too small for tank but it is the first time using one and we couldn't turn down the price), two powerheads. No dosing at all. I turn off the powerheads and filter when feeding so my corals also get fed. I feed reef roids or coral frenzy every third or fourth day.

 

[LadyMac]

Up since Feb. Yeah yeah not exactly on Par with all these but so far, I have a skimmer, a HOB refuge with a small ball of chaeto, and the macros seen. I do changes with Reef Crystals. For my flow I have a canister, and the mj 400. Getting new powerheads next week. No dosing, though.

 

[sde1500]

Little confused what is considered natural lol. Why would dosing disqualify a tank from "natural". Considering most of the pics here included comments they dose I think others are confused as well.

Anywho here is my tank. Up just past a year now and water changes currently keep parameters in line.

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

We just passed the 2 year mark with our 125g. Canister filter (I rinse all media once a month and change what is needed every other month), Eshopp's HOB skimmer (probably too small for tank but it is the first time using one and we couldn't turn down the price), two powerheads. No dosing at all. I turn off the powerheads and filter when feeding so my corals also get fed. I feed reef roids or coral frenzy every third or fourth day.

No sump or refugium. Hoping to go to a 180 in future and will go with a sump then.