It is indeed very natural.
It is indeed very natural.
An aquarium is as close to mimicking the ocean as all those 'naturally' flavored fruit drinks you see at fast food places are to real fruit juice.. you know, the ones that state 'Contains 0% real fruit juice'.
Very little is comparable between a box of water and the ocean. It isn't possible to mimic the ocean with what we know (mankind knows more about our galaxy than our oceans) and what equipment we have available today. We can't make super deep sand beds or shore lines (huge part of the oceans filtration system), we can't create currents to pull stuff away from the reef (we recirculate the water in hopes that various artificial filtration methods can do a fraction of what currents do naturally), we can't create vastly different oxygen zones to have the diversity of life, nor can we even recreate the diversity of life on a patch of reef, we can't recreate cold water/fresh water streams in a box of water like the ocean does. I can go on for days about how different a box of water is compared to the ocean. For those that believe otherwise, like always, back up your statements with some type of study.. of course that will never happen though. Anytime I ask for someone to back something up that sounds ludicrous they just yell louder how right they are but never producing any bit of evidence. So.. let's see if someone can post a study proving a box of water = the ocean.
(5+ years later and still fighting algae in the display, never had that issue before I switched to an ATS. Not saying all ATS's are bad, just not a miracle worker like some people claim they are).
As I gain more and more experience with keeping a reef tank I find out more and more. I am sold on the use of ATS as a way to export nitrates and phosphates from the system. Seems also to work fairly well as a filter system to filter out other things. I have not been sold on skimmers, having had poor experiences with them. I like the idea of being as natural as possible, so the ATS fits that.
The hobby has come a long way from the undergravel filters used when I first started back in the 1970's.
this is the part where someone jumps in and makes the claim that skimmers are more natural because they mimic wave action that washes foam up on the beach. IMO this thinking does not hold water (pun). If you think about the size of your skimmer in relation to the size of your tank then you take that ratio and scale it up to the size of the ocean you would need to cover every beach on earth with 20 feet of foam everyday and remove all of it every day. This does not happen, and the foam that is made is mostly washed back into the sea by the same waves that made it.
Well I'm going for three years and using a ats, and really is an excellent method of filtering, but you doubt my tank has had some incredible amount of detritos, which is not very pleasant
I think the ats must be coupled with filter media or any other method of removal of detritos to enjoy a good system
regards
In addition, a "beach skimmer", like a real skimmer, does not remove any urea/ammonia at all. None.
Worse, any food particles "up on the beach" rot, and put more nutrients into the water, which then washes back into the reef.
Besides, it's already proven and tested many times by marine biologists that reef filtering is done 100% by benthic and pelagic photoautotrophs.
All the chemistry is the same, between reef and tank, until you add GFO etc.
Suddenly algae in my display started to die rapidly. And at the moment it is may be 25% left only. Filter floss is collecting loads of greenish brown stuff everyday. I bought tomini tang and black sailfin blenny recently to help with alga problem and they are tearing down leftovers like mad. I will need to feed them additionally soon if algae will diminish at the same rate.
I dont know exactly what was reason for such a positive changes. On my side I just tested and replenished trace elements. Mostly Iron, Jodine, Strontium. Also elevated Mg as it was kept at lower end. Reduced lights by ~20%. Now thinking to push it back.
Skimmer is working only 8 hours a day ,but pulling mostly light tea consistency stuff. Im thinking to reduce its activity to every second day probably or to reduce hours even more to keep aeration effect.
I did not change a bit in my scrubber. So I have proof that ATS strength has nothing to do here. Algae appeared and disappearing with the same scrubber and same N and P readings.
Been reading through some of your recent troubles and it was mentioned somewhere that you need algae eaters. Perhaps that is the only difference. Good news in any case.
Eaters came a bit late - after algae started decline rapidly. Better late than never.
Good things never last long.
My SPS corals started to STN. No idea why. Can it be too low P and N ?
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
