I suffered through this entire episode to provide the list for you comment nerds. Randy’s list: (prepare yourself...it’s bad) Instant ocean salt Baking soda/pickling line Vinegar Water made anywhere except his own house Black box LEDs Swing arm hydrometer or a handheld refractometer Used equipment API test kits (and finally I found one that I agree with!) 5gallon buckets for water changes mesh filter socks Metal halides Full T5 fixture Narrow beam lights or lights with individual lenses for each LED 4 stage RODI Ryan’s list: 2UV’s (instead just buy one and set it up for parasite and change to algae if needed) A tank taller than deep Twin spot gobies but any dish that takes tremendous effort to maintain AiotasiaX Omega skimmer from vertex (or any skimmer with too much air) Hang on skimmer Alkalinity test kit Calcium checker from hanna or the nitrate checker from Hanna ORP Frag plugs Cheap heater Any fuge light that isn’t tune-able Algae reactor A/C return pump A/C Skimmer Sump with filter sock holders Silicone from the hardware store A standard media reactor that isn’t BRS with the massive chamber or hard to empty. Ups/APS battery backup A crappy sediment filter Rapid fire random comments: Non Qt fish Suction cup frag rack Cheap lighting Canister filter Metal blade algae scraper....but I’m not so sure about the intention. And I didn’t fully agree with Ryan’s comments so I’m not going to put them in here. Go to 1:08:00 to hear it. I use the tunze care strong plus with metal and I never leave the scraper in the tank and that thing is a beast) Under gravel filter 6line wrasse (I disagree here too. They have their purposes) A cheap wave pump A tank with a curve Used equipment from untrusted sources Equipment that doesn’t fit, like a tall skimmer or UV A small ATO container Flatworm exit (definitely disagree. This is like saying vibrant or chemical clean won’t work) Jebao doser (I think the old ones use to work well, but the new ones notoriously suck) Derrick picker from RA told Ryan to cut his hair
A business giving up sales to help out it's customers. Now that's nice! Though I feel like the increase in good will is worth more in new sales than lost ones. Still very nice
Man. I considered starting a tank about 5 years ago, and did a bunch of research. I opted not to for financial reasons. I started looking into it again a few months ago and you guys have advanced a TON in that short time. I’ve placed some big orders the last few weeks. I’m glad I waited until now! Thanks for all you guys do!
You guys really are the best voices (along with the rest of your team) in the hobby -- perfect balance of know what you know, know what you don't know, and common sense and experience. Had reef tanks in the '80s (oh the difficult years! :) ) and then '90s, and am about to jump back in. Amazing how much has been learned since last I had a few gallons of ocean in my home last time :)
I know this is old, and very informative just listening to 2 reef experts. In my opinion This video pushes the new hobbyist away. I’m at a beginners level learning the game, only 6 years in. Starting to upgrade equipment and automize certain things. but all of the things you guys hate, the earlier beginners use, including myself. To hear our favorite reefers saying they hate the stuff most newcomers use is a real bummer, kinda bashed every inexpensive product. Being picky and ocd should be a personal preference. 80% of the product you guys mentioned do work and you can have personal success. We all don’t have 100+ gallon tanks .Maybe this video is for just for 20+ exp reefers and I should mind my own business and stay in my lane.😎 still educating listening to you guys.
I have no idea what half the stuff you guys are talking about but I love your TH-cam videos!! Im new to the hobby and have a 20 gallon IM tank on APS stand and I absolute love it! 2 clown fish and I'm not going to turn the lights on until 4 months from when I started . Thanks for all your guys help
Remember "Skilter" filters? 🤣 First 90s HOB skimmer that wasn't a tube. The Oceanic Venturi skimmers kicked ass back then too. I have had Tunze, Euroreef, Octo, and a Berliner 🤣 🤘
I am a beginning refer and have learned a ton from yall when I was an absolute dummy about salt tanks,thanks for the knowledge,I know have a beautiful little 20g and a 50g thats been fish cycling over two months
Totally agree with the no frag plug rule Ryan and rock rubble instead, I just wont buy a coral if it can't be removed from the plug...just wont tolerate one in my aquarium
I 200% agree with the height to width ratio of tanks. I’ve always favored a shallower tank with a deeper/wider dimension front to back that increases the option on fish species I could be successful with without worrying as much about minimum gallon requirements listed on wholesale fish supplier websites...assuming you have adequate filtration and understand the chemistry and can effectively control your water parameters. What I would never buy again and this is purely bias due to my engineering and chemistry background, I’d buy what I need to start to have what I need plus what extra I felt comfortable with on hand as I swap cartridges, but at this point I’d never buy DI resin for my RO/DI unit again. Re-charging mixed bed DI resin with sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid with a little patience, knowledge and 2-3hrs of my time twice a year is worth it with the absolutely horrible groundwater TDS readings here in my part of Massachusetts.
I have the Rossmont controllable/programmable AC return pump and AC skimmer and I love them. Run them both off of one Rossmont Waver. Fully adjustable, with AC reliability.
I'm very happy with my 82 dollar Phlizon black box. Great success with everything I've tried to grow. Honestly I had just as much success growing coral with the 17 dollar Aquaneat light for freshwater plants, but I upgraded to the Phlizon for bluer light for more fluorescence. The thing I would never buy are expensive reef lights like Radions.
Im with you on the IO salts Randy! Hate that stuff! Mixes super dirty and inconsistent. I had 2 bucktets the water was so brown it looked like tea. HW or Fritz for me. I used to use Pro Reef but I dont like the low alk.
Randy, using a partial medical dose can be useless or at best, and harmful at worst. The manufacturer has already paid industry professionals to set the dosage. If you have a throat infection and your doctor says 2 antibiotic pills and you take 1, you're not helping your infection heal, you're holding it briefly at bay, while the infection gains immunity against the drug; now you've got an infection that's resistant to the best antibiotic for it.
Could you imagine if Politicians were half this honest. I mean these guys sell these items and they are saying they wouldn't buy them.. Now we all know what works for me might not work for you theory.. but my God I've never had a company that has earned my respect so much so fast.
I use ORP probe just as a quick glance at the health of my system. Last time it dropped into the low 300s or even lower was when I had a DINO outbreak. Then when I got my ORP back up to over 400 and maintained it my dinos went away, and overall I didn’t have to dose H2O2 to keep the ORP up. Don’t need it all the time I guess, but I think it’s valuable if you ever find yourself battling dinos
Love this episode, even though I have employed many of these things. I’m going to disagree about the UPS systems. They aren’t for running your system after the power goes out, that is what a generator is for. They are for providing regulated voltage out of the Battery side. If you are running anything that could be considered sesitive, like computers, electronic lights, ac pumps etc ensuring consistent filtered current can increase their life expectancy many fold times. You don’t need a super expensive one either, just powering those outlets through the battery insulates you from power company or even your own house circuits fluctuating. My 2 cents anyway, a $100 investment may well protect a $600 light array from your neighbors all kicking their AC units on at the same time…
My little 500w UPS will power my tank (everything except main lights and heaters) for 20 hours. I modified it to run on 2 110ah leisure batteries. I never have to do anything in the event of a power failure. And if the batteries run out I have spare fully charged. Generators fuel goes bad, you generally have to move plugs about, maybe manually start the genny up. They are a pain.
Arm baking soda worked for me for the past 20 years as supplement for my calc reactor together with food grade calcium chloride. No issues with them aside from overdosing and forming scales.
I knew it , I was right about filter socks ! Filter socks are actually not environment friendly due to most reefer uses the washing machine to wash them clean ! They actually consume more water in the long run ! A direct line from the tank to the skimmer is actually better than using a filter socks in between .
I’d buy tropic Marin salt if BRS could keep it in stock. Until then I’m trying brightwell. Please can you guys do a segment on putting a sediment filter on the mixing station?
I like the tips you guys offer, but it's hilarious because the first two things I purchased from BRS was an Alpha Omega Skimmer and 4-Stage RO/DI! I would never buy Nyos Reef Cement again.
i sure love that BRS is in a position to be honest with their customers about what works and doesn't work. 4.4 trillion thumbs up. Didn't feel fair to give you less then the COVID package.
Vinegar has made the cords on my powerheads hard which has made them difficult to route through the openings of my mesh top after a few cleanings. I haven't compared against citric acid, though.
I'm not into reefs but, I have a 60gal. bow tank, saltwater fish and urchin, snails, 3" live sand and rock, and live plants... I have a B.O.T SeaCone skimmer and love it, also I live by my ORP PinPoint meter , watching it from start at 160 to now at 429..is very useful to me...love your shows and knowledge...
You're absolutely right on that. A ups is really only meant to keep things running long enough for a computer system to save and shut down. It's possible to use car batteries to build a ups system but if you want it to be able to run your whole reef tank then you'd probably want to look into one of those Tesla whole home batteries. It would probably end up being fairly close in price once you add up everything you'd need for a car battery based system
10 year tank running Pickling lime + vinegar paste kills those pest anemones Deep Sand Beds work great Black Box LED’s work well and grove you the most light for your dollar. SCA makes a great skimmer.
As far as testing water, reagent and machine reading is what we use for drinking water. I would say either Hach or Hanna as those are what we use daily and they work well. We use an ORP probe at work as we treat with Ozone but even then we write the daily number but couldn;t tell you WHAT it really means. So for reefing I can't say it's of any real use.
Lol Fireeeeee. Great list guys. Instant ocean is making your fish drink throw up. Lololll the jbj chiller better not be on this list. Lol I just ordered. Thanks for the quick email back on pump for it.
Im not shilling at all but god go with mp10s or 40s...ive bought just about every other powerhead over the past 13 years and no B.S. i could have just invested in a MP to start....ill never pay 800$ for leds but the pumps are worth every penny
Cleaning wet sides for MP40’s with vinegar. They swelled. They were practically brand new but out of warranty as I bought them and they sat for a long time. Luckily Ecotech took care of me. No more vinegar for me either. Exactly why I didn’t go with an algae reactor. Looked like a PITA. All reactors are a PITA. I went with a Clearwater ATS. It works well but the build quality could stand for lots of improvements
I use hcl but dont leave it, maybe 10-20mins and its clean (dilute of course). I have a jeabo equiv cheap dosing pump but check every few days to see if its still put out. the also say to calibrate every few months. If anything seems off ill upgrade but it currently beats manually dosing as i cannot keep up with the demand. Blackbox lights, i didnt have a good expiernce with them and went for an AI prime 16HD.
I would never buy a low tank again. Corals grow up and fish end up with no place to swim on top. Perfect height for a tank is 30". Plenty room for corals to grow and fish to swim, especially open water fishes. Plus, tall tanks looks awesome!
When did ground water monitoring, ORP was only useful when dissolved oxygen was also measured. I wanna say that high ORP meant there's a better potential for microbes and bacterial growth that might eat away at the hydrocarbons that leaked out into the ground. I think it was also that a low dissolved oxygen delineated a low ORP. I am by no means a chemist and didn't do interpretation of these intrinsics, I just collected the data. But it seems like higher dissolved oxygen and ORP meant cleaner sites.
Any DIY Net Top, never again, went through 2 and was so frustrated with them, net was difficult and Aluminum getting splashed with water no thanks. I'd custom order the acrylic net tops right from the beginning before the cycle because they take awhile
That Omega Vertex one hit me hard. That thing was a piece of junk, if i sneezed to close to the tank it would overflow, luckily i was able to sell it and get some money back.
Hi like your channel, What did you guys say you use for testing phosphate did you say you wouldn’t use Hanna checker ? What do you use for phosphate test ? Thanks
Our preferred phosphate test kit for our saltwater tanks is the Hanna Phosphate ULR checker www.bulkreefsupply.com/phosphate-ppm-ultra-low-range-colorimeter-hi774-hanna-checker-marine-water.html
I won the BRS giveaway paxbellum 24, and I put Ulva in it, and that stuff grows a lot and is available to buy vs Cheato, I dose ChaetoGrow, doing it that way works for me, no slime or hair algae in it.
The thing you don't like about algae reactor is actually the reason I like it. Because, why do we care about what exactly growing in the algae filter as long as it's growing something that you're removing later. If it's in the refugium, we can't bare the look of anything that's not chaeto. But is chaeto really better at nutrient removable than green cyano or hair algae? An algae reactor make it manageable no matter what is inside.
I have a 95 starting out with a 40 breeder sump so lets hope you and the other utuber's are putting out great info lol i have watched so many videos of your's. technically my tank is a 93 bc of the glass corners and edges inside the tank and on top i have never seen a tank done that way before but i guess its legit 😅
As for the media reactors, you can just reverse the input of one cannister on the BRS carbon/GFO reactors so that the water flows downward through the carbon. That way there's no tumbling no matter what volume and flow rate you have running through it. If Carbon/GFO mixed together this wouldn't work though. I'd have 1 cannister flow down through Carbon and another up through GFO or GFO/Carbon mix.
Sad to hear the opinion on the Vertex Omega skimmers. I got my Omega 150 about 6 years back based on BRSTV rave reviews. It has been a solid performer for me but a quieter DC pump would be welcome.
I disagree with the hang on skimmer ive been using it for a while ive got a bh 2000 and it works great and no floods just have to watch your bubble level and adjust it when need it.
1: my tunze Cleaner magnet With float Funktion because its way to big for reefs that are less than 100gallon. The flipper nano float on the other Hand is my Top bought item this year so far. 2.: cheap lightingracks like those u get on eBay or Amazon. I mean, they work but nowadays stuff like the prime 16 is so good and so cheap so ko further use for big blackboxes etc for me
You don’t have to answer but when you were talking about sediment filters were you talking about spectrapure? I’ve heard good things but my rodi seems to burn media even though my initial tds isn’t high
Did I see a Sohal tang in the tank behind you guys? I’d love to get one in my new tank (60”x66”x21”, 330-ish gallons). Would you avoid, given their aggressiveness? How has yours been?
Ours has been surprisingly docile. We probably wouldn't do it again just due to the fact that he's going to get really big and need a larger system, but beautiful fish for sure if you have the room!
I believe your understanding of how UV lamps work are incorrect. They recommend larger wattages for larger tanks with faster pumps for greater exposure times. Increasing the water flow decreases exposure times. I have a 36 watt on a 90 gallon tank with a pump of 250 gallons an hour. This pretty much takes care of everything as much as a UV can do!
That used to be what I lived by. This year, I built a new cube and stocked with frags from WWC. I will never do that again. For one, the frags are more like slivers of coral and second, they are the slowest growing frags I have ever seen. So totally agree, buy larger specimens and save yourself a lot of lost patience.
@@hurricaneaquatics yes and the since it grows faster if or better yet when you drag it share it with your reefing buddies to have a back up of your corals if anything ever went crazy wrong haha
Buy used tanks and stands all you want. Just make sure the seller sends u a pic of it full of water. If it comes with anything electrical (heaters, pumps, lights) just throw those away. Not worth the risk. I just bought a 120 with built-in overflows, stand, screen tops and all the plumbing for $250. NOT buying it would have been insane
Was this made before the Hanna high range nitrates checker was released? Also I completely understand the api tests. I’ve used them for as long as I’ve kept fish tanks. I ditched them after starting my reef tank. .
Gotta disagree with "F Aiptasia", it may be anecdotal but I started seeing some aiptasia that were hidden and very large, used that product, and in no time every single surface in my 6 foot round "lagoon" tank was covered in aiptasia. So just like Aiptasia X, it may kill one, but it feels like it just spreads the problem. Nudibranchs are the only way I will go.
What is the little carbon reactor that tumbles you were speaking of? I have a stupid big one that i don't want on my 200 gallon. Is the one you guys were talking about hold enough carbon for that?
Why don't they make double/layered filter socks, where you can pull a mesh sock from on top of a felt one to clean the huge stuff without clogging the felt one as fast....
I think the Nitrate High Range checker came out just after this video. I love the Hanna Nitrate HR and Phosphate ULR checkers. Super accurate. I have 2 tanks and they consistently test accurate results -- really low nutrients in SPS tank; higher nutrients in the mixed-heavy LPS tank. Highly recommend those checkers. I'm waiting for a sale to grab the alk checker but my Salifert alk test takes 3 mins so not in a rush to buy the alk checker.
So I have a question about the lighting, I'm kind of budget reefing and have been using VIPARSPECTRA X2 and they don't give out those beams of light you're talking about and seem to work well so far,(about a year) Have you ever worked with these before and if so any recommendations? Thanks for all the great info these last 2 years you guys been a great help!!
We haven't used those lights extensively, but from our brief experience with them, it seems as though mouthing them higher off the water surface (18" or so) is best to give better spread. The lenses that are normal included are pretty narrow and can cause hot spots, so using a par meter to map out your tank is a valuable step.
@@BRStv thanks! I agree and have mine about that height, moving up to the Neptune's hopefully by the summer, need 2 and they are pricey but I like what if researched so far.
I am using an external Deltec 2060 skimmer with AC pump and I never have to adjust the air. Just set the feed pump and adjust the discharge and it skims the hell out of the water. There’s no DC controller or power supply to replace. Other than cleaning the cup every 3 days and cleaning the pumps every 6 months it’s idiot proof and less parts to break. DC pump skimmers are overhyped. I have been reefing for 23 years now.
It sucks some people only can afford black boxes because of the ridiculous prices for the “good” lights, my black boxes aren’t the best but they are working for now until I can save up some money for a “good” light, also a few things I would never buy again, 1: vibrant, 2: corals from aquasd.com, 3: anything from liveaquria.com, 4: rocks from addictivereefkeeping.com
@@jonathanbusk6165 vibrant hasn’t done anything for my tank at all and I have been using it as directed for 10 weeks, as for aqua sd I ordered a bunch of frags from them and two of them had no corals on the frag plugs and one of them was melted and trying to get them to reship the three frags is a nightmare I shouldn’t have to place another order just to get the replacement corals since I you know already paid for the first order of corals
Maybe not never but at least for a long time won’t I buy LED again. I came from HQI/T5 and never had problems. Started LED is when all my problems started. Algea, cyanos, diatoms you name it. Got different and really expensive lamps, tried all settings. Even some from marine biologists. Nothing worked. Switched to T5s again lately and within 2-3weeks all my problems vanished: PO4 and NO3 levels back to normal, coral got better colors, algea died off, no diatoms, no cyanos. Never buy again: aiptasia treatment (peppermints all the way). Refrac (I use the Hanna salinity stick now). hangon: won me a flooded floor incl power outage while 5h away from home. RedSea PO4 and NO3 Tests never worked for me. Always showed a color I could never match. Corals from a certain famous German coral shop. Paid hundreds for corals that all had rtn on arrival. Eheim heaters: Inaccurate and fragile. Had two just not stop heating and came home to 28C and 29C Tanks. Rather get titanium heaters with external control. Cheap no-name electronics: breaks early, releases heavy metals into the water. Don’t get me started on bacto balls. They do NOT dissolve and after a while you will find those little balls everywhere in the tank clogging up stuff.
I got a $80 amazon light just to say I have a light. Will be getting Ai Primes about a year from now. (Just started a new tank after being 2 year out of the hobby.)
The Marco Rock Reef Saver Frag mounts have various shapes and some of them are actually small foundation pieces. I go to my LFS who opens the bags and let me cherry pick the pieces. I like the foundation rubble to put shrooms or zoas to the sand.
I will NEVER buy another Ice Cap 4k gyre pump, it turned out to be a piece of junk. The plastic bushings wear out super fast, and then the pump stops. Waste of money.
![เปิด อาณาจักร หมื่นล้าน "สาระตั้ม" l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3XE0nPF4YkQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I suffered through this entire episode to provide the list for you comment nerds.
Randy’s list: (prepare yourself...it’s bad)
Instant ocean salt
Baking soda/pickling line
Vinegar
Water made anywhere except his own house
Black box LEDs
Swing arm hydrometer or a handheld refractometer
Used equipment
API test kits (and finally I found one that I agree with!)
5gallon buckets for water changes
mesh filter socks
Metal halides
Full T5 fixture
Narrow beam lights or lights with individual lenses for each LED
4 stage RODI
Ryan’s list:
2UV’s (instead just buy one and set it up for parasite and change to algae if needed)
A tank taller than deep
Twin spot gobies but any dish that takes tremendous effort to maintain
AiotasiaX
Omega skimmer from vertex (or any skimmer with too much air)
Hang on skimmer
Alkalinity test kit
Calcium checker from hanna or the nitrate checker from Hanna
ORP
Frag plugs
Cheap heater
Any fuge light that isn’t tune-able
Algae reactor
A/C return pump
A/C Skimmer
Sump with filter sock holders
Silicone from the hardware store
A standard media reactor that isn’t BRS with the massive chamber or hard to empty.
Ups/APS battery backup
A crappy sediment filter
Rapid fire random comments:
Non Qt fish
Suction cup frag rack
Cheap lighting
Canister filter
Metal blade algae scraper....but I’m not so sure about the intention. And I didn’t fully agree with Ryan’s comments so I’m not going to put them in here. Go to 1:08:00 to hear it. I use the tunze care strong plus with metal and I never leave the scraper in the tank and that thing is a beast)
Under gravel filter
6line wrasse (I disagree here too. They have their purposes)
A cheap wave pump
A tank with a curve
Used equipment from untrusted sources
Equipment that doesn’t fit, like a tall skimmer or UV
A small ATO container
Flatworm exit (definitely disagree. This is like saying vibrant or chemical clean won’t work)
Jebao doser (I think the old ones use to work well, but the new ones notoriously suck)
Derrick picker from RA told Ryan to cut his hair
You guys never said anything about water temp going into RO unit
We thank you for your sacrifice 🙏
Ryan's facial expressions when Randy proposes his 10 are hilarious!
A business giving up sales to help out it's customers. Now that's nice! Though I feel like the increase in good will is worth more in new sales than lost ones. Still very nice
Man. I considered starting a tank about 5 years ago, and did a bunch of research. I opted not to for financial reasons. I started looking into it again a few months ago and you guys have advanced a TON in that short time. I’ve placed some big orders the last few weeks. I’m glad I waited until now! Thanks for all you guys do!
You guys really are the best voices (along with the rest of your team) in the hobby -- perfect balance of know what you know, know what you don't know, and common sense and experience. Had reef tanks in the '80s (oh the difficult years! :) ) and then '90s, and am about to jump back in. Amazing how much has been learned since last I had a few gallons of ocean in my home last time :)
Ryan hates those frag plugs! And that “test your generator, maybe you’ll get 900 hours, but it’ll probably be closer to 3” had me laughing out loud
I know this is old, and very informative just listening to 2 reef experts. In my opinion This video pushes the new hobbyist away. I’m at a beginners level learning the game, only 6 years in. Starting to upgrade equipment and automize certain things. but all of the things you guys hate, the earlier beginners use, including myself. To hear our favorite reefers saying they hate the stuff most newcomers use is a real bummer, kinda bashed every inexpensive product. Being picky and ocd should be a personal preference. 80% of the product you guys mentioned do work and you can have personal success. We all don’t have 100+ gallon tanks .Maybe this video is for just for 20+ exp reefers and I should mind my own business and stay in my lane.😎 still educating listening to you guys.
I love these guys. No one better. Awesome content, awesome commentary.
I have no idea what half the stuff you guys are talking about but I love your TH-cam videos!! Im new to the hobby and have a 20 gallon IM tank on APS stand and I absolute love it! 2 clown fish and I'm not going to turn the lights on until 4 months from when I started . Thanks for all your guys help
Welcome to the hobby! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions along the way
Attach frag to rubble, and then rubble to plug, for growing in a rack.... easy for buyer to then detach the rock and put in tank.
Remember "Skilter" filters? 🤣 First 90s HOB skimmer that wasn't a tube. The Oceanic Venturi skimmers kicked ass back then too. I have had Tunze, Euroreef, Octo, and a Berliner 🤣 🤘
I am a beginning refer and have learned a ton from yall when I was an absolute dummy about salt tanks,thanks for the knowledge,I know have a beautiful little 20g and a 50g thats been fish cycling over two months
Totally agree with the no frag plug rule Ryan and rock rubble instead, I just wont buy a coral if it can't be removed from the plug...just wont tolerate one in my aquarium
I 200% agree with the height to width ratio of tanks. I’ve always favored a shallower tank with a deeper/wider dimension front to back that increases the option on fish species I could be successful with without worrying as much about minimum gallon requirements listed on wholesale fish supplier websites...assuming you have adequate filtration and understand the chemistry and can effectively control your water parameters. What I would never buy again and this is purely bias due to my engineering and chemistry background, I’d buy what I need to start to have what I need plus what extra I felt comfortable with on hand as I swap cartridges, but at this point I’d never buy DI resin for my RO/DI unit again. Re-charging mixed bed DI resin with sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid with a little patience, knowledge and 2-3hrs of my time twice a year is worth it with the absolutely horrible groundwater TDS readings here in my part of Massachusetts.
I have the Rossmont controllable/programmable AC return pump and AC skimmer and I love them. Run them both off of one Rossmont Waver. Fully adjustable, with AC reliability.
I'm very happy with my 82 dollar Phlizon black box. Great success with everything I've tried to grow. Honestly I had just as much success growing coral with the 17 dollar Aquaneat light for freshwater plants, but I upgraded to the Phlizon for bluer light for more fluorescence. The thing I would never buy are expensive reef lights like Radions.
I’ll never buy a “Reef Safe” Ich treatment again.
Im with you on the IO salts Randy! Hate that stuff! Mixes super dirty and inconsistent. I had 2 bucktets the water was so brown it looked like tea. HW or Fritz for me. I used to use Pro Reef but I dont like the low alk.
Randy, using a partial medical dose can be useless or at best, and harmful at worst. The manufacturer has already paid industry professionals to set the dosage. If you have a throat infection and your doctor says 2 antibiotic pills and you take 1, you're not helping your infection heal, you're holding it briefly at bay, while the infection gains immunity against the drug; now you've got an infection that's resistant to the best antibiotic for it.
Could you imagine if Politicians were half this honest. I mean these guys sell these items and they are saying they wouldn't buy them.. Now we all know what works for me might not work for you theory.. but my God I've never had a company that has earned my respect so much so fast.
Fair comment on frag plugs. I agree with Ryan.
I use ORP probe just as a quick glance at the health of my system. Last time it dropped into the low 300s or even lower was when I had a DINO outbreak. Then when I got my ORP back up to over 400 and maintained it my dinos went away, and overall I didn’t have to dose H2O2 to keep the ORP up. Don’t need it all the time I guess, but I think it’s valuable if you ever find yourself battling dinos
The hang-on fluval mini-sea is very effective and sits inside the tank. It is amazing.
Agreed, I motified my sump to put it there, always worked good, this trade has enough ways to spend money, don’t spend when it works
Really enjoy your videos. Learning so much. And my local fish dealer agrees with you guys.😊
Black box lights is all I can afford Mann 😭😂 15:17
Love this episode, even though I have employed many of these things.
I’m going to disagree about the UPS systems. They aren’t for running your system after the power goes out, that is what a generator is for.
They are for providing regulated voltage out of the Battery side. If you are running anything that could be considered sesitive, like computers, electronic lights, ac pumps etc ensuring consistent filtered current can increase their life expectancy many fold times.
You don’t need a super expensive one either, just powering those outlets through the battery insulates you from power company or even your own house circuits fluctuating.
My 2 cents anyway, a $100 investment may well protect a $600 light array from your neighbors all kicking their AC units on at the same time…
My little 500w UPS will power my tank (everything except main lights and heaters) for 20 hours. I modified it to run on 2 110ah leisure batteries. I never have to do anything in the event of a power failure. And if the batteries run out I have spare fully charged. Generators fuel goes bad, you generally have to move plugs about, maybe manually start the genny up. They are a pain.
Arm baking soda worked for me for the past 20 years as supplement for my calc reactor together with food grade calcium chloride. No issues with them aside from overdosing and forming scales.
I knew it , I was right about filter socks ! Filter socks are actually not environment friendly due to most reefer uses the washing machine to wash them clean !
They actually consume more water in the long run ! A direct line from the tank to the skimmer is actually better than using a filter socks in between .
I’d buy tropic Marin salt if BRS could keep it in stock. Until then I’m trying brightwell. Please can you guys do a segment on putting a sediment filter on the mixing station?
I like the tips you guys offer, but it's hilarious because the first two things I purchased from BRS was an Alpha Omega Skimmer and 4-Stage RO/DI! I would never buy Nyos Reef Cement again.
Very nice video you guys... Keep reefing .. Greetings from Greece...
i sure love that BRS is in a position to be honest with their customers about what works and doesn't work. 4.4 trillion thumbs up. Didn't feel fair to give you less then the COVID package.
Vinegar has made the cords on my powerheads hard which has made them difficult to route through the openings of my mesh top after a few cleanings. I haven't compared against citric acid, though.
Thanks guys for your input. 👍🐠
I'm not into reefs but, I have a 60gal. bow tank, saltwater fish and urchin, snails, 3" live sand and rock, and live plants... I have a B.O.T SeaCone skimmer and love it, also I live by my ORP PinPoint meter , watching it from start at 160 to now at 429..is very useful to me...love your shows and knowledge...
The liter meter dosers, that use the friction drive are rock solid.
ups is a very good purchase, my power goes out ALOT for 10 to 30 seconds, for this a ups is perfect. not long power outages.
You're absolutely right on that. A ups is really only meant to keep things running long enough for a computer system to save and shut down. It's possible to use car batteries to build a ups system but if you want it to be able to run your whole reef tank then you'd probably want to look into one of those Tesla whole home batteries. It would probably end up being fairly close in price once you add up everything you'd need for a car battery based system
Me: Never again entry level small tank stuff. It's a continuous money pit and you will never be happy.
Likewise 🥺 my reefer 170 is a pain in the arse
10 year tank running
Pickling lime + vinegar paste kills those pest anemones
Deep Sand Beds work great
Black Box LED’s work well and grove you the most light for your dollar.
SCA makes a great skimmer.
Look at “Natureform coral frag plugs” Ryan they look like rubble and the peg snaps off the bottom for when you want to mount them in your tank .
As far as testing water, reagent and machine reading is what we use for drinking water. I would say either Hach or Hanna as those are what we use daily and they work well. We use an ORP probe at work as we treat with Ozone but even then we write the daily number but couldn;t tell you WHAT it really means. So for reefing I can't say it's of any real use.
Lol
Fireeeeee. Great list guys. Instant ocean is making your fish drink throw up. Lololll the jbj chiller better not be on this list. Lol I just ordered. Thanks for the quick email back on pump for it.
Im not shilling at all but god go with mp10s or 40s...ive bought just about every other powerhead over the past 13 years and no B.S. i could have just invested in a MP to start....ill never pay 800$ for leds but the pumps are worth every penny
Algae reactors are nice but only if they are clear. Diy reactors are much better!
Cleaning wet sides for MP40’s with vinegar. They swelled. They were practically brand new but out of warranty as I bought them and they sat for a long time. Luckily Ecotech took care of me. No more vinegar for me either.
Exactly why I didn’t go with an algae reactor. Looked like a PITA. All reactors are a PITA. I went with a Clearwater ATS. It works well but the build quality could stand for lots of improvements
I use hcl but dont leave it, maybe 10-20mins and its clean (dilute of course). I have a jeabo equiv cheap dosing pump but check every few days to see if its still put out. the also say to calibrate every few months. If anything seems off ill upgrade but it currently beats manually dosing as i cannot keep up with the demand. Blackbox lights, i didnt have a good expiernce with them and went for an AI prime 16HD.
100% agree except the Hanna alk checker isn’t all that.
I would never buy a low tank again. Corals grow up and fish end up with no place to swim on top. Perfect height for a tank is 30". Plenty room for corals to grow and fish to swim, especially open water fishes. Plus, tall tanks looks awesome!
Photoshopped corals worth over 200 dollars a frag.
I agree. Newbies like me usually falls for this scam. So big and colorful in the picture and then you'll need a magnifying glass when it arrives 😂
When did ground water monitoring, ORP was only useful when dissolved oxygen was also measured. I wanna say that high ORP meant there's a better potential for microbes and bacterial growth that might eat away at the hydrocarbons that leaked out into the ground. I think it was also that a low dissolved oxygen delineated a low ORP. I am by no means a chemist and didn't do interpretation of these intrinsics, I just collected the data. But it seems like higher dissolved oxygen and ORP meant cleaner sites.
Redox!
Any DIY Net Top, never again, went through 2 and was so frustrated with them, net was difficult and Aluminum getting splashed with water no thanks. I'd custom order the acrylic net tops right from the beginning before the cycle because they take awhile
That Omega Vertex one hit me hard. That thing was a piece of junk, if i sneezed to close to the tank it would overflow, luckily i was able to sell it and get some money back.
Damn, starts off with the salt that I have lol. But I’m switching to Red Sea pro
what is so much better about the red sea pro?
Hi like your channel, What did you guys say you use for testing phosphate did you say you wouldn’t use Hanna checker ? What do you use for phosphate test ? Thanks
Our preferred phosphate test kit for our saltwater tanks is the Hanna Phosphate ULR checker
www.bulkreefsupply.com/phosphate-ppm-ultra-low-range-colorimeter-hi774-hanna-checker-marine-water.html
Don’t have a salt water tank but Always wanted one with seahorses
I won the BRS giveaway paxbellum 24, and I put Ulva in it, and that stuff grows a lot and is available to buy vs Cheato, I dose ChaetoGrow, doing it that way works for me, no slime or hair algae in it.
Good to hear I wasn't actually doing something wrong on my Omega skimmer. Not so good that I have confirmation that I bought a turd .Heh
Ack. Just bought a used one. I had to put a valve in the airline to cut down the churn
Lol
The thing you don't like about algae reactor is actually the reason I like it. Because, why do we care about what exactly growing in the algae filter as long as it's growing something that you're removing later. If it's in the refugium, we can't bare the look of anything that's not chaeto. But is chaeto really better at nutrient removable than green cyano or hair algae? An algae reactor make it manageable no matter what is inside.
Can someone just post up the 20? I love BRS but I can't watch more than an hour of this
Get out.
Awesome content!
I have a 95 starting out with a 40 breeder sump so lets hope you and the other utuber's are putting out great info lol i have watched so many videos of your's. technically my tank is a 93 bc of the glass corners and edges inside the tank and on top i have never seen a tank done that way before but i guess its legit 😅
As for the media reactors, you can just reverse the input of one cannister on the BRS carbon/GFO reactors so that the water flows downward through the carbon. That way there's no tumbling no matter what volume and flow rate you have running through it. If Carbon/GFO mixed together this wouldn't work though. I'd have 1 cannister flow down through Carbon and another up through GFO or GFO/Carbon mix.
Defiantly don't use a metal blade with acrylic but metal cant scratch glass. Be careful of sand.
Sad to hear the opinion on the Vertex Omega skimmers. I got my Omega 150 about 6 years back based on BRSTV rave reviews. It has been a solid performer for me but a quieter DC pump would be welcome.
I disagree with the hang on skimmer ive been using it for a while ive got a bh 2000 and it works great and no floods just have to watch your bubble level and adjust it when need it.
What's your guys thoughts on canister filters with uv built in to it.
First thing Biocube aquarium, I would have just bought a 60 gallon cube glass aquarium, or a glass AIO aquarium.
How could one syphon out/clean their sandbed if they are using a sicce ultra-zero water change method? I'd love to know an approach.
If you use a turkey baster to disturb the sandbed before you drain the tank, that should help 🙂
1: my tunze Cleaner magnet With float Funktion because its way to big for reefs that are less than 100gallon. The flipper nano float on the other Hand is my Top bought item this year so far.
2.: cheap lightingracks like those u get on eBay or Amazon. I mean, they work but nowadays stuff like the prime 16 is so good and so cheap so ko further use for big blackboxes etc for me
I love Nyos products but will never buy the Torq again until the change the design of the body
Concur on reactor. Scrubbers are the same price or less, and easier to clean.
Top tip: Do not put Coca Cola in the tank. Your fish will get addicted to it.
Dr. Pepper??? So misunderstood!
You don’t have to answer but when you were talking about sediment filters were you talking about spectrapure? I’ve heard good things but my rodi seems to burn media even though my initial tds isn’t high
Did I see a Sohal tang in the tank behind you guys? I’d love to get one in my new tank (60”x66”x21”, 330-ish gallons). Would you avoid, given their aggressiveness? How has yours been?
Ours has been surprisingly docile. We probably wouldn't do it again just due to the fact that he's going to get really big and need a larger system, but beautiful fish for sure if you have the room!
I believe your understanding of how UV lamps work are incorrect. They recommend larger wattages for larger tanks with faster pumps for greater exposure times. Increasing the water flow decreases exposure times. I have a 36 watt on a 90 gallon tank with a pump of 250 gallons an hour. This pretty much takes care of everything as much as a UV can do!
I’ll never buy frags .. well not never but colonies are definitely the way to go !
That used to be what I lived by. This year, I built a new cube and stocked with frags from WWC. I will never do that again. For one, the frags are more like slivers of coral and second, they are the slowest growing frags I have ever seen. So totally agree, buy larger specimens and save yourself a lot of lost patience.
@@hurricaneaquatics yes and the since it grows faster if or better yet when you drag it share it with your reefing buddies to have a back up of your corals if anything ever went crazy wrong haha
Baking side is food grade. I use it for baking.
The dose makes the poison. It may be food grade for human consumption, but deleterious to marine life.
Buy used tanks and stands all you want. Just make sure the seller sends u a pic of it full of water. If it comes with anything electrical (heaters, pumps, lights) just throw those away. Not worth the risk.
I just bought a 120 with built-in overflows, stand, screen tops and all the plumbing for $250. NOT buying it would have been insane
I bought a 2nd hand tank. Still using the same 2nd hand pump, lights, heater that came with it 4years later.
Farmer grade salt? Where can we get that ? What brand?
I use a mesh filter sock as a holder for my filter floss.
@RANDY guess u never saw ricos aquariums SPS that was ran off of IO salt before he got his new tank
Was this made before the Hanna high range nitrates checker was released?
Also I completely understand the api tests. I’ve used them for as long as I’ve kept fish tanks. I ditched them after starting my reef tank. .
That's correct, this was filmed before the HR version was released
You can actually use the nitrite hannah checker and red sea nitrate reagent to test nitrate
Gotta disagree with "F Aiptasia", it may be anecdotal but I started seeing some aiptasia that were hidden and very large, used that product, and in no time every single surface in my 6 foot round "lagoon" tank was covered in aiptasia. So just like Aiptasia X, it may kill one, but it feels like it just spreads the problem. Nudibranchs are the only way I will go.
Using a 55 I've had for 20 years for my first salt aquarium 😳
What is the little carbon reactor that tumbles you were speaking of? I have a stupid big one that i don't want on my 200 gallon. Is the one you guys were talking about hold enough carbon for that?
Nitrate absorbing filter floss.
Why don't they make double/layered filter socks, where you can pull a mesh sock from on top of a felt one to clean the huge stuff without clogging the felt one as fast....
There are 3 Hanna Nitrate testers… you wouldn’t even do the HR one?
I think the Nitrate High Range checker came out just after this video. I love the Hanna Nitrate HR and Phosphate ULR checkers. Super accurate. I have 2 tanks and they consistently test accurate results -- really low nutrients in SPS tank; higher nutrients in the mixed-heavy LPS tank. Highly recommend those checkers. I'm waiting for a sale to grab the alk checker but my Salifert alk test takes 3 mins so not in a rush to buy the alk checker.
So I have a question about the lighting, I'm kind of budget reefing and have been using VIPARSPECTRA X2 and they don't give out those beams of light you're talking about and seem to work well so far,(about a year) Have you ever worked with these before and if so any recommendations? Thanks for all the great info these last 2 years you guys been a great help!!
We haven't used those lights extensively, but from our brief experience with them, it seems as though mouthing them higher off the water surface (18" or so) is best to give better spread. The lenses that are normal included are pretty narrow and can cause hot spots, so using a par meter to map out your tank is a valuable step.
@@BRStv thanks! I agree and have mine about that height, moving up to the Neptune's hopefully by the summer, need 2 and they are pricey but I like what if researched so far.
Hey Randy, what bourbon are you pouring into your nondescript white cup at 17:50?
I am using an external Deltec 2060 skimmer with AC pump and I never have to adjust the air. Just set the feed pump and adjust the discharge and it skims the hell out of the water. There’s no DC controller or power supply to replace. Other than cleaning the cup every 3 days and cleaning the pumps every 6 months it’s idiot proof and less parts to break. DC pump skimmers are overhyped. I have been reefing for 23 years now.
Wont use hardware store GE silicone 😂😂 KingOfDIY Joey M uses it faithfully on all his builds . Tanks larger then anything ive saw BRS run JS
Here Comp. Using Starch and cream of tartar in Baking soda. Aren't three just carbonate.
Only need a UPS battery backup long enough for my whole house generator to kick on. 3 HRS is more than enough time.
It sucks some people only can afford black boxes because of the ridiculous prices for the “good” lights, my black boxes aren’t the best but they are working for now until I can save up some money for a “good” light, also a few things I would never buy again, 1: vibrant, 2: corals from aquasd.com, 3: anything from liveaquria.com, 4: rocks from addictivereefkeeping.com
What issues have you had with vibrant....and...AquaSD?
@@jonathanbusk6165 vibrant hasn’t done anything for my tank at all and I have been using it as directed for 10 weeks, as for aqua sd I ordered a bunch of frags from them and two of them had no corals on the frag plugs and one of them was melted and trying to get them to reship the three frags is a nightmare I shouldn’t have to place another order just to get the replacement corals since I you know already paid for the first order of corals
Maybe not never but at least for a long time won’t I buy LED again. I came from HQI/T5 and never had problems. Started LED is when all my problems started. Algea, cyanos, diatoms you name it. Got different and really expensive lamps, tried all settings. Even some from marine biologists. Nothing worked. Switched to T5s again lately and within 2-3weeks all my problems vanished: PO4 and NO3 levels back to normal, coral got better colors, algea died off, no diatoms, no cyanos.
Never buy again: aiptasia treatment (peppermints all the way). Refrac (I use the Hanna salinity stick now). hangon: won me a flooded floor incl power outage while 5h away from home. RedSea PO4 and NO3 Tests never worked for me. Always showed a color I could never match. Corals from a certain famous German coral shop. Paid hundreds for corals that all had rtn on arrival. Eheim heaters: Inaccurate and fragile. Had two just not stop heating and came home to 28C and 29C Tanks. Rather get titanium heaters with external control. Cheap no-name electronics: breaks early, releases heavy metals into the water. Don’t get me started on bacto balls. They do NOT dissolve and after a while you will find those little balls everywhere in the tank clogging up stuff.
What I would never buy again, any cheaply made equipment. I will choose the best, save for it and then get it.
I got a $80 amazon light just to say I have a light. Will be getting Ai Primes about a year from now. (Just started a new tank after being 2 year out of the hobby.)
The Marco Rock Reef Saver Frag mounts have various shapes and some of them are actually small foundation pieces. I go to my LFS who opens the bags and let me cherry pick the pieces. I like the foundation rubble to put shrooms or zoas to the sand.
I use Carib sea frag zone they are basically the same thing but coraline pink and with dry bacteria so you don’t have to cycle them
I will NEVER buy another Ice Cap 4k gyre pump, it turned out to be a piece of junk. The plastic bushings wear out super fast, and then the pump stops. Waste of money.