Lazyman Reef

[zygote2k]

After maintaining nearly 150 tanks these past few months, I've come to the stunning conclusion that in order for a reeftank to be bombproof for 2 weeks means that you have to make it designed with lazy in mind.

Most places don't have access to constant water replacement, so a water storage reservoir is needed in conjunction with an ATO.

Protein skimmers need to be bullet proof. They need to be of the recirculating type because if the ATO reservoir is dry, the skimmer will run in very low water. They need to have an external overflow that shuts off the skimmer when it gets full. Skimmer air supply needs to come from outside of cabinet to insure salt clog free operation.

The ATO needs to be of the simplest design. Magnetic floats have too many issues. Air switch is great.

Lighting requires LED- little to no heat and zero bulb issues.

Return pump- Mag Drive numbah 1 choice. Runs in most any condition. Next in line to MJ1200's and Koralias.

Dosing pump- Nautilus doser is great for 2 part solutions. Very simple and clean.

 

If you have a lazyman idea, let me know.

[davidm]

ranco controllers for heaters. they are old school, can't whistle via the internet when parameters are out of whack, but automatically reset after power outages, aren't ccol enough for someone to fiddle with without a reason to do so, and do what they do - well.

Edited November 20, 2011 by davidm

[Chad]

With the exception of LED lights, a recirculating skimmer and that specific model of dosing pump (I use LM3), I have all those... And have tested for two weeks at a shot many times.

[rioreef]

For dosing I also use the Litermeter III. I got the 2.5 gallon jugs from BRS and I can go a long time. LMIII total reliability.

 

Magnetic float switch with a backup mag float to shut off, again never a problem. Got mine from Autotopoff.com

 

Mag pump for return for sure.

 

What you described for the skimmer, wish I had that.

[firecrackerbob]

Im both lazy and cheap... its taken me a long time to put together a system that is pretty much fail safe- with the exception of major power outages... but my next house will have a generator... anyway- here is what I run:

 

ATO : I use TOM pumps on timers with a basic float valve- at $10 bucks a pump it cant be beat. it doses my kalk water to the tank 2X a day at 15 min intervals from a 10g reservoir. this has been running 3 years now without a failure.

 

Skimmer: non-recirculating, but then again, I dont rely on skimming for my primary nutrient export.

 

Fuge: my fuge is about the same size as my display, cheto etc.

 

I also run bare bottom. I don't really care what anyone says, bare bottom is the only bombproof way to run. with a small child and a major commute I only get about 1hr to fiddle with my tank a week. so I routinely leave my tank for a week at a time without any worries.