Equipment Prices

[HappyGeorge]

On the subject of prices I have it lucky as my LFS The Reefshack is a guy trying to build up a business (he's doing nights at his regular job and days opening the shop), I feel strongly about supporting him, but it is easy as he is a good guy not out to make a killing, full of good advice and selling many things at below internet prices - MP40Es £335, H20 Ocean Pro - £49, Cleaner Shrimp - £12, Chromis - £4 etc, etc. I do think keeping a relationship with a LFS is important and as long as they aren't ripping you off then use them we need to support them or we'll lose them. I do think that RO unit and the Ro water is over priced though. For £100 you should be able to pick up a 4 stage 100 GPD unit, also if I did want to buy RO at one of my LFS the most reasonable is 10p a litre Ro and 15p salted.

As for skimmers, I'm with Sorgan my nano runs skimmerless just with filter floss over the return pump inlet. Nitrates have always been <5, Phos is 0, and in nearly 6 months I have never yet cleaned the glass or back panel there is no algae what so ever. When I feed I turn off the whole return system for half an hour and let the circulation pump blow the food about, as said before I am very stingy with the food but am a firm believer that if I were running a skimmer I may have to feed more to compensate for the removal of good stuff, a skimmer will remove everything good and bad so all those little bits that your coral, hermit, star, shrimp would have plucked from the water column or the rock have been turned into brown sludge in your skimmer.
The presence of a lot of brown stuff wouldn't really show much IMO unless you took identical systems and compared skimmer to skimmerless and took stock of the amount of food being offered. I only feed twice a day and a cube of mysis between my 360l and my 80l split between 6 fish, a shrimp, more than a dozen hermits and assorted snails, corals, and a star lasts about 3-4 days, in addition I feed a tiny amount of flake daily. I'm not saying anyone is overfeeding but it would be interesting to see how feed quantities offered vary, as it is all just guess work really and I'm sure many people are just chucking good money away and making extra work for their skimmers. Maybe I should start a thread and find out how much people use, would be interesting and possibly a good guide for newbies?

 

[woody88]

On the subject of prices I have it lucky as my LFS The Reefshack is a guy trying to build up a business (he's doing nights at his regular job and days opening the shop), I feel strongly about supporting him, but it is easy as he is a good guy not out to make a killing, full of good advice and selling many things at below internet prices - MP40Es £335, H20 Ocean Pro - £49, Cleaner Shrimp - £12, Chromis - £4 etc, etc. I do think keeping a relationship with a LFS is important and as long as they aren't ripping you off then use them we need to support them or we'll lose them. I do think that RO unit and the Ro water is over priced though. For £100 you should be able to pick up a 4 stage 100 GPD unit, also if I did want to buy RO at one of my LFS the most reasonable is 10p a litre Ro and 15p salted.

As for skimmers, I'm with Sorgan my nano runs skimmerless just with filter floss over the return pump inlet. Nitrates have always been <5, Phos is 0, and in nearly 6 months I have never yet cleaned the glass or back panel there is no algae what so ever. When I feed I turn off the whole return system for half an hour and let the circulation pump blow the food about, as said before I am very stingy with the food but am a firm believer that if I were running a skimmer I may have to feed more to compensate for the removal of good stuff, a skimmer will remove everything good and bad so all those little bits that your coral, hermit, star, shrimp would have plucked from the water column or the rock have been turned into brown sludge in your skimmer.
The presence of a lot of brown stuff wouldn't really show much IMO unless you took identical systems and compared skimmer to skimmerless and took stock of the amount of food being offered. I only feed twice a day and a cube of mysis between my 360l and my 80l split between 6 fish, a shrimp, more than a dozen hermits and assorted snails, corals, and a star lasts about 3-4 days, in addition I feed a tiny amount of flake daily. I'm not saying anyone is overfeeding but it would be interesting to see how feed quantities offered vary, as it is all just guess work really and I'm sure many people are just chucking good money away and making extra work for their skimmers. Maybe I should start a thread and find out how much people use, would be interesting and possibly a good guide for newbies?

Good idea mate. Start a new topic as I'm intrigued.

I feed my fish once daily which consists of a tiny bit of flake and 1/4 cube of brine. I turn my pump off for 20 min and turn the big ph off and just leave my small on.

 

[spadge]

Lol i too turn off all return pumps and shut off overflow during feeding as you say happygeorge saves filtering out the food eh, i have to disagree that the brown slimy stuff doesnt show anything though, i mean i have filter media in my overflow chamber before my sump pipes, in 2 baffles in the sumap and covering the top of my return pump chamber, i still skim plenty of waste and surely this '' brown stuff'' is better out than in? im not saying your wrong but personally having used a skimmer i would never not again, as i say i too ensure the food is not skimmed, in fact any free floating food after a few minutes is scooped out too, its irrelevant to compare one tank to another as this would rely on having identical setups bacteria and fish that produce identical waste, too many factors imo but i will say im an overkill kinda guy ontop of all my live rock, cheeto, 40+ snails, sand sifters, cleaner shrimp, urchins and loads more cuc i still run a skimmer and an external filter with a sump so prob best just ignore me lol imo id rather hammer the waste from all sides lol bont get me wrong i still get algae and nitrates ( sometimes lol) but id rather spend an extra £50 just in case, by the sounds of it though happy george your particularly cautious with overfeeding im sure noobs wont as diligent or aware of the potential issues. i myself still overfeed (i feel sorry for the fishes when they show me there sad eyes )