Abe, I am only 2 years into reefing, but I am successfully keeping acropora in two different tanks. A large part of that is due to listening and learning from folks such as yourself. I stick to the basics - water changes, 2 part, good light and flow. That's all. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Again, another video with some of the smartest insight on the interwebs on this subject. MACNA should be begging you be a regular keynote speaker at their conventions.
Whats up shipmate! Checked your coral page out after I found your tubepage, dont know why I have never seen it before. So happy to finally see an old school reefer on here not blowing it up with bullshit. Been keeping successful tanks with a liverock sump and a skimmer since '94....no dosing no chaeto no calcium reactor, running t5's and leds
As always, love your video’s. Only being in this for two years now, your opinion makes me think about what I am doing. Thanks for being a teacher that way!
Pretty close to what i've found over the years and as you've said different Tanks May run Differently (e.g. i dose much less iodine since it's being consumed less) 😊 thanks for the Video i hope this prevents tank crashes caused by Marketing of some brands
You are very inspiring and made reefing so simple and share knowledge.. not like other big reefers who think themselves to be genius and never answer back for questions. I follow your method and i am successful
That was an absolutely great video. Thank you for letting me see your side of this. I greatly respect your opinion in reefing! Thank you, Abe. Sincerely, Tyler.
I know that time with time and patience I will become a successful reefer like yourself, I can’t thank you enough for the content and information you provide! 🙂
This video is so true. I been reefing 21 years and I was able to keep corals then and now. Most of the basics are the same. The only one of the basics that is different is the use of live rock. All the additives just make us feel better about what we are doing.
If you haven’t done it, I would be curious to see a video on what your fundamentals are. I’m with you 100% on learning how to manage a tank without today’s convenience gear. My quick fundamentals are water-natural sea water/0tds rodi, stocking levels- most tanks I see are dramatically overstocked somehow this aspect of husbandry was lost in the 90s, and over feeding- if you have appropriate stocking levels, hand feeding rather than crazy broadcast feeding is very possible and is rewarding when you can see directly who is getting what and how much.. I’ll even add one last fundamental and it could serve a new hobbyist well in the first couple years, the internet is the worst thing to ever happen to the hobby, if you absolutely must be in some sort of forum just use it to socialize and entertain yourself... you are the one standing in front of your tank, have some confidence and rely on your own experience.
Abe, I love the videos and content you provide!! Can you do a video on your camera equipment, lens, filters and such? We all want to take photos and videos that show a similar quality to what you created here. Cheers
Thanks your videos have been opening up my eyes on what to really focus on. Saved me a lot of money too. Can I request for a video on those boring fundamentals please?
I always wonder, how did we have wonderful reefs in the past without these supplements? Are they really necessary? The world has changed, but the basic principles never! Congratulations skin video.
Thanks Abe! Good to know the pros don’t use any secret potion. About 10 months ago I started dosing Red Sea AB+. It drove my readable Nitrates from 2 ppm to about 7 to 12ppm. Corals are very healthy and grow pretty good. Definitely noticed the tissue on acros darker and I think thicker tissue. It was interesting to note you saw similar darkening with consistent dosing of aminos.
Really appreciate these videos! I recently started dosing iodine And I totally agree it’s worth doing… As you said, read the directions on the bottle in your mileage may vary but for me it makes a huge difference in coloration and coral health
Hmmm - this has got me thinking - also the comments. I dose a heap of things when you include foods, aminos etc and trace. But the volumes I dose are always half of what is recommended - and usually I will dose half of the recommended daily dose one day and dose something else the next day. I feel that keeps me in the safe zone. Especially this is the case I think with trace elements - I don't think you need natural sea water levels but you need more than zero - so regular water changes should suffice. So this video is confirmation that I am taking the right approach. I do feel like aminos and other things are important for LPS and I think dosing them gives you a bit more margin for error - like probiotics and aminos should help if there is a stress event. As I don't trust myself so much I think dosing somewhere around 25-50% of recommended should give me a little bit more safety. Thanks so much Abe!
Hey Abe, if you are a water change reefer that will influence you dosage for trace elements aswell. Btw i found your channel is the best reefing channel on youtube period. Each video is instructive, even for the reefers who have been reefing for a long time. Where do you get your corals from? I haven't seen corals like that in Europe. Could you make a video about that? All kinds of sps corals you own. Thanks and keep on dosing 🍾
Great video as always. My philosophy is to try and keep my water parameters to as close to Natural saltwater as possible. To do this I currently dose a large number of additives. Major and minor trace elements from the quantum range (Australian Brand) I have icp tests done every 2-3months and adjust dosing accordingly. This costs me approx $800 per year without any water changes. Well only a few small ones if absolutely necessary. Alternatively, Doing a 30% water change every week would cost me around $2000, I would have to purchase, transport the water in drums from my lfs. (Back breaking stuff) Mixing water isn’t any cheaper. By the time you buy salt and run an rodi unit with wastage in mind. I also don’t think that replenishing 30% of the water each week would be sufficient to replace the elements that my reef consumes. I’m keen to here your thoughts on this philosophy/ technique
You have great channel Abe. Can’t wait to get some frags from you. I am in SoCal do you do curbside pick up. Not a fan of shipping when your only an hr away
I cannot specify acropora but modern foods and better salt mix chemistry allow us to keep many more species alive than before. I'd also include proper husbandry as becoming standardized. For lights, I love LEDs and t5s but I still think its a step backwards from the halides for growth.
Enjoy the channel a lot. Straight forward I like it. I have a question I need to do some major scape work. If I use a band saw to cut my SPS from the rock than glue to a large frag plugs like you use. what do I need to worry about. My frag tank is plumbed to my display and both have same lighting.
Nice info Abe, I used to dose the shit out of my own tank but after I found out that my corals do just as well without all those magic elixirs I started to question the ridiculous clams about those products. Maybe most people who back those claims are under the influence of the placebo effect or maybe they work for some people but not others since there are so may variables when it comes to keeping a reef tank.
I've been dosing iodine as well. My ATI ICP test always comes back short. I don't notice any difference, but I know that invertebrates need iodine. My ICP test also comes back short on maganese, vanadium, and molybdenum. I've been wondering about iron dosing so I'm going to try it as well. The ICP test notes that iron should be at an undetectable level. However Randy Holmes-Farley doses it, so it doesn't look to be a debated supplement.
Nice n detailed explanation. Do u have any videos on calcium reactors and kallwasser dosing? I was trying to up my ph that went down by running calcium reactor. Any help on this?
I feel like people need all this extra stuff when they run ULNS systems with complete absence of nitrates and phosphates. Just keep some nutrients in the water through fish feeding and not over-exporting and the need for forty bottles of snake oil goes away. Edit: What I am finding interesting (and the idea is new to me) is that fast growth and coloration are two different sides of a spectrum. Look at redseas new recipe calculator and they recommend different levels for what your goals are. Also, when I first get corals in from ORA they are super brown and boring but lord knows they are getting good growth over there as its a business.
@@CoralEuphoria hmm, you really seem keen on the sideway mount. But awesome, glad it's working for you! It looks really cool. Reminds me of the WWC frag farm lagoon tanks Jake Adams showed off a year ago or so. Looked really cool too.
Great points can I ask what you class as the basics for me it includes water changes I only ask because there seems to be a trend today about no waterchanges?
I think Acropower is great if ones system is nutrient deprived! I think its a waste of money if your system is nutrient rich and causes more issues.- A lot cheaper to buy a large variety of healthy seafood and feed the fish that will add better amino acids then a bottled product. No bottled product can beat fresh poop :) For my new system I am avoiding all these since there is constant food in the water colum!
Im new to the hobby so I wish you would have touched on what those basics you spoke of actually are . Im sure you dose the main 3 right?, C Alk and Mag? One thing I didnt understand, so I watched 3 times lol, your dosing Iodine but you dont know why? I dont quite understand. What made you start dosing it? Im guessing hear say? I can only dream of having grown something on this scale! Very beautiful Sir!
Nice synopsis. I stick to basics ( 15 percent weekly water change, stable parameters and reef essentials A and B). I found that adding products on a whim leads to issues with nuisance algae, browning of corals etc.
Hello Abe! I’m a big fan, I have some problems with my SPS where I’m getting some weird calcification anomalies happening and mr balling from tropic Marin seems to think that it’s due to me over feeding the tank (not nutrients related they are on point) but he thinks it’s too much organics and I would really appreciate if you could share how you feed the tank, I know more or less what you feed from other videos or streams but I’m really curious how often and how much if you could give me some details that would mean the world thanks a lot sir!
Hi Abe , great video, i guess i have the same technique as you, dosing lugol, iron and amino. I do this because i test potassium, iron and iodine regularly with red sea trace test kit. How do you replenish other elements like strotium? by water changes?
Hi wanted to ask you something because I can't speak English, I wanted to write it with a translator, can you please tell me how often you dose Lugol's solution and how many drops, thank you again
Stupid question, do you include calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium in the “basics”? I have been out of the hobby for a few years and I am starting a new tank. I really want to successfully keep SPS (not necessarily acros) but I always feel like I’m in between methods and I struggle picking one. There seem to be endless ways to dose calcium and alkalinity.
