Well just wanna start off and say this seems like the best thing to happen to any tank in a long time. Almost makes me wonder why everyone doesn't do something like this. Anyways I'm new to reefing and even saltwater always stayed away from it because of the high cost and just fear of the unknown. I've been in the process of researching and putting up a plan for a reef tank for a few months now but about a week ago I found out about ATS and its made me wanna jump right into it. Before reading this I was still gonna put off starting this for at least another few months. But now with this I feel like I'm ready for anything. The whole concept just seems so simple.
Now I have a few questions and because I feel like I gotta be missing some aspect of this. Is there anything I need to know about running this with no skimmer? is there anything I should keep an eye on?
there doesn't seem to be any Major cons from running this system except maybe cleaning it once a week it seems? Is there anything I should be wary of? And since I plan on starting right off with this kinda system is there anything you might suggest I do differently?
I'm going to check out stands and things later this week to see how much room I have to work with but currently Im thinking of building a horizontal scrubber to maximize sump space. Also I'm afraid of splashing and creating any salt creep which is the main reason I want a horizontal scrubber. Im just kinda lazy and I would hate to have to clean the salt creep underneath the tank where its hard to maneuver around. If someone could market that santamonica120 I would buy it in a heartbeat. the only reason I'm still gonna delay this another week or two is because I have to build this myself and search of parts in my area. My tank is hopefully gonna be a 40 breeder with a 29 gal sump and a 12 by 10 or 10 by 12 scrubber and possibly a one foot t5 if i can find one around that size. Would this be sufficient? Would a piece of acrylic in between the scrubber and light be alright? would this block out a certain % of usable light? like 5%?? i dunno
Hopefully I'll have pics and everything up in a few weeks! thanks for all your help! and also I'm amazed at how much work Santamonica has put into spreading the word on this incredible technique.