in honor of earthday here is a link to an eco-friendly reef tank that does 100% water changes, uses no chemicals, other than salts and costs like 6cents a day to run…here it is
Now that is cool…
I second that icy… but man is that a risk. there is a lot of money invested into those corals…
awesome from the standpoint of the amount of energy used to maintain this tank. however, a couple of things stick out for me. first, NO FISH! IMO, there is nothing spectacular about what he is doing from a filtration perspective for a fishless sytem. if your changing out the water constantly and their is almost 0 bioload why is the author so astounded by the fact that this method works in a 5g system? finally, the impression(implicit not explicit) i get from the article is that this is responsible reefkeeping at its best. however, i cant help but think that a chocolate chip starfish would not survivie in captivity with getting one of of its arms cut off every week. i could be wrong, maybe he has a dozen starfish that he rotates through and they all are able to regenerate their arms but i was under the impression that its pretty unusual for most starfish to regenerate appendages in captivity.
im not being negative in any way. i guess im just not as amazed as the author that this method would work in a 5 gallon system!
I was referring to the amount of electricty used for the tank. I agree 100% with your points… its not that Unique of an idea, just neat to see actually done.
Im sure he probably doesnt rotate the starfish… probably just buys one at the LFS every other month or so. Not really any different than feeding any other creature, just some poeple happen to keep this food source as a pet.
agreed! i dont think i could dismember a starfish but im not slamming the practice. i just thought it was ironic considering the overall theme of the post which, by my impression, was responsible reefkeeping at its best. Maybe i misintererpted it though. Maybe it was simply about saving money!
Some of those shots are gorgeous! Guy did a nice job on making a small, simple, beautiful tank!
Someone should try this method with their 90, or 120. Not a bad idea for a pico though.
100% waterchange on a 120 is way to expensive…
[quote=“Marchingbandjs, post:9, topic:2880”]
100% waterchange on a 120 is way to expensive…[/quote]
Sorry, that was sarcasm. :-)lol
I didnt get sarcasm anywhere in that, thanks for making me look like an ass lol… stupid internet.
with Joe its probably safe to assume its sarcasm unless otherwise noted! >LOL<
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:6, topic:2880”]
just thought it was ironic considering the overall theme of the post which, by my impression, was responsible reefkeeping at its best. Maybe i misintererpted it though.[/quote]
Its not any different than feeding pellet or flake fish food out of ground up and dried fish/shrimp/invertabrates. Almost all of our fish food, other than Spirulina flake and Nori, is based on maine life that is harvested, processed, and then sold to us in pretty little cans. The only difference between pellets and live food is the pellets dont look as cute ;D I understand where you are coming from though… its a lot easier to feed a frozen silverside to something than a live damsel, and you will get in a lot less trouble from other hobbiests, even though they are both about the same fish. Just the damsel is live and colorful so we care more…
your right, but like i said, im not bashing the guy. was just something that stuck out for me.
Yeah. Not to mention just about 1/2 of those corals was probably wild caught. Thats the problem with a lot of the solitary LPS… you cant really propogate them.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:12, topic:2880”]
with Joe its probably safe to assume its sarcasm unless otherwise noted! >LOL<[/quote]
+1
Glad you saw the same thing I did Shawn. Real easy to keep a tank clean if you don’t feed fish in it. You people and your fish are making your own problems. 
Just playing I love fish and wish I could afford to take care of more. I keep a couple fish in each of my tanks as I think it is more natural to have a small amount of food fed to the aquariums.(It also keeps the corals in conditions closer to what other hobbyist keep decreasing the shock of leaving a nutrient free tank and entering… who knows) Many corals will also show increased growth rates in higher nutrient waters.