Breaking the rules

[FishWife]

We've been meeting all kinds of great people in our pursuit of restarting into this hobby on a shoestring budget. I have seen things in every location that "break the rules" of reef keeping books. I thought it would be a fun thread to start.

 

For instances:

1. Seen healthy tanks with no over-the-sand flow and no closed loops... and no detritus seems to stick to the bottom. Question/Conclusion: are closed loops overrated, especially for beginners?

 

2. Two different reef tanks included trigger fishes. Question/Conclusion: some triggers are gentle/reef safe?

 

So now, come clean.What have YOU PERSONALLY done that all the books say is a "no-no"? And what conclusions do you draw/recommend?

[jason the filter freak]

non temperature regulated tap water straight from the tap into the tank, more one year straight still going

 

a trio of clowns created by adding the clowns months apart, one of them already being a mature adult

 

damsels in a reef tank

 

Using cannister filters, will be using them on the new system (column) and have on the old

 

using cheap skimmers (red sea, turbofloater)

 

using silica sand ( though my next systems will be argonite and black tidal sand)

 

had neon blue hermits

 

too long between water changes ( this will not occur on new systems)

[zotzer]

Since when is anything other than a closed loop a "no-no"? I always thought that was primarily an aesthetic issue.

 

You can't have powerheads pointing directly at the sand, otherwise there would be sand everywhere.

 

It's amazing how much flow you realize you have down near the sand (even if nothing looks like it's directly pointing at it) when you try to capture a loose mushroom and then place it somewhere.

 

I have no sump on my reef. Not sure that classifies as a "no no", but it's not the norm.

 

Tracy

[madmax7774]

I have a trio of clowns, which supposedly doesn't work. I have had them for almost 2 years. Not sure why you aren't supposed to be able to get way with this but...

 

I have 3 tangs in a 48" wide 110G tank. I'm sure the tang police would be all over me if they knew.

 

I added a yellow tang 5 months after I added my "final" tang which was a powder blue. It was like a jet Li movie for the first 48 hours, with all sorts of crazy kung fu action, but now they are like best friends forever, and swim everywhere together. Who'd have figured...

 

Edited October 4, 2007 by madmax7774

[akbuuur]

i dump water in to my auto top off unit straight from the tap

never checked nitrates in this tank... ever nor nitrites... nor amonia but everythings living just dandy haha

i also dumped kalk directly into the sump once... wont be doing that any time soon

[Carl]

Last night I dumped two gallons of fresh RO water into the tank...followed by a cup of IO salt directly into the skimmer.

 

I use a BakPak skimmer on my 60 gallon reef - some folks would say that's breaking the rules...

 

I used tap water (with PRIME additive) for the first 4 years of my tank...I don't see much difference now that I use RO water.

 

I've never quaranteened anything...but that is now changing, since I developed a bad case of aiptasia a few months ago...learned the hard way on that one.

Edited October 4, 2007 by Carl

[Guest NSC]

this topic scares me but lets do this!!! I use distilled for topping off, NSW comes from Chantilly LFS

Added an Angelfish to train NOT to eat coral flesh

I have no sump!

My light fixture is yes too large for my system!

I don't test for anything....pysche had ya going!

And I am going to add an octopus!!!

 

 

 

 

There are "shortcuts" to this don't let it all seem so big!!

[BeltwayBandit]

Oh where to start. My first rule (against 'the rules') is that in an emergency there are no rules. I had a situation where my auto top off failed and dumped ~30 gallons of FW into a 150 gallon system. When I found it the salinity was 1.013. My first move was to dump salt directly into the system (mixed triple strength with tap water) to immediately raise the salinity to ~1.020. My logic was that below this point most of my corals and inverts would die and the fish would be stressed. The stress of a short term change of salinity was by far the lesser of the two evils at the time.

 

I also kept Pomacanthid angels with Tridacnid clams, also a general no no. You just have to watch them and be ready to remove either the fish or the clam if things don't settle down after a week or so.

 

I also ran way too long between water changes at times (although I had much better water quality when I kept on a regular schedule).

 

Thats all I can think of for now.

[akbuuur]

haha that reminds me, i had a situation like beltway bandit... cept i ended up just dumping salt straight into the tank... not even the sump... (my god i was a dumb ___)... lost my clam cause of that

[lanman]

When I very first started - it didn't occur to me that I should be topping off with fresh water. I was buying saltwater at the LFS - and using that for water changes AND topping off.

 

Wasn't long before I noticed the salinity was a bit high... and had one of those DOH! moments.

 

And then when I first got a quality skimmer and it was pulling a couple quarts of water and gunk out per day... it didn't occur to me that topping off with RO/DI water would LOWER my salinity.

 

Just things you don't give enough thought to.

 

bob

[bprinehart]

It was like a jet Li movie for the first 48 hours, with all sorts of crazy kung fu action, but now they are like best friends forever, and swim everywhere together. Who'd have figured...

 

 

ROFL....You made Heineken come out of my nose!