Beaslbob! Now's Your Chance to show your stuff!

[Anonymous]

I plan on doing a tank to Bob's specifications, and we will see how it does. I'm being completely serious here. These are the specs:

6 gallon tank, filled with a 2" fine sand bed and probably about 4 gallons of water.
Dechlorinated tap water mixed with Instant Ocean.
No water changes.
No heater.
No artificial light. It's in a window that receives about 6 hours of direct sunlight daily.
No skimmer, no carbon, no biowheel, no phosphate remover.
An airpump will provide a moderate amount of water current.

The planned livestock are some Red Mangroves (hey, ACTUAL plant life!!) added on the first day of the system of course. I may add a small goby and pistol shrimp later on down the road. I will also be topping off with RO/DI water every day when I spray off the leaves of the mangrove. I may add some upside down jellies also.

Bob,
I'd like your input on this. Would you say this is "your" method?

 

[Anonymous]

:lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Matt, add some corals so it is a 'reef' tank!

 

[Unarce]

What about the oyster shell filtration, Matt? Would some shells in a HOB filter work? I'd like to see how a frag of my digi does in there. That stuff is tough as hell. Let me know if you want another piece, if you don't want to frag yours.

 

[Bucktronix]

matt you have to use tap water no fancy pants ro/di for fill ups.

 

[Anonymous]

Matt,
Kill the RO, use only tap water. Also, don't kill a nice goby in the sludge that you are going to create. If you are going to use a goby, kindly send it to me, and I'll give you a plastic fish so that the algae can creep all over it.
Take lots of pictures so that it's documented well too. Heck, make an ID for the nano buildoff and call it addplants or something...just as a guage to see how excellent and astounding this tank will be compared to the others.

Bucktronix, it's a Moo point.... a cow's opinion (Joey in Friends).

:lol:

~wings~

 

[Anonymous]

Does Bob use tap for topoff? This tank will be evaporating a lot of water so I really don't think I can get away with it. I will probably add a couple mushrooms or zoanthids too, just to make it a "reef" tank.

I'm keeping lots of fish in tap water right now. I think a goby will be fine. The shrimp I'm not so sure about.

 

[Anonymous]

I plan on doing a tank to Bob's specifications, and we will see how it does. I'm being completely serious here. These are the specs:

6 gallon tank, filled with a 2" fine sand bed and probably about 4 gallons of water.
Dechlorinated tap water mixed with Instant Ocean.
No water changes.
No heater.
No artificial light. It's in a window that receives about 6 hours of direct sunlight daily.
No skimmer, no carbon, no biowheel, no phosphate remover.
An airpump will provide a moderate amount of water current.

The planned livestock are some Red Mangroves (hey, ACTUAL plant life!!) added on the first day of the system of course. I may add a small goby and pistol shrimp later on down the road. I will also be topping off with RO/DI water every day when I spray off the leaves of the mangrove. I may add some upside down jellies also.

Bob,
I'd like your input on this. Would you say this is "your" method?

Well pretty close. "my" method is to get the plant life thriving then do the rest. Not sure about "air plants" like mangroves. Never tried that. My concern is they may be using energy in the seed pod to start instead of nutrients from the water. an even bigger concern is they are not waterplants and therefore probably not removing carbon dioxide from the water and adding oxygen. I would feel it was more "my" method with macros/plants that were submerged.

but you get it established it should out compete the algaes for nutrients (except co2).

I don't see any need to dechlorinate the water. But then I always have aquatic plant life also.

Well except for the beta vases. the peace lillies are plants.

Be sure to adjust the light to allow the plant life to thrive but prevent the micro blooms. Generally that takes a huge amount of light especially until the nutrients are controlled. But 6 hours may be about right.

 

[Anonymous]

Does Bob use tap for topoff? This tank will be evaporating a lot of water so I really don't think I can get away with it. I will probably add a couple mushrooms or zoanthids too, just to make it a "reef" tank.

I'm keeping lots of fish in tap water right now. I think a goby will be fine. The shrimp I'm not so sure about.

Yes I do use straight unfilter tap in all my tanks.and have in 1/2 dozen cites in the US since the late 70's.

I also have found the safest thing to do is to not add food for that first fish for the first week. There is plenty of food there with the plant life for them for eat without adding food the fish will probably ignore the added food the first few days.


As long as the nano is in an environment that has a temperature confortable to humans, and the direct sunlight is does not result in a large temperature climb, it should work.

I once tried to culture some micro algae by simply placing a jar of tank water in a south window. Nothing happened except the water evaporated over a two month period. the water remained the same color even though nitrates were not zero. So I guess that is why the have those seed cultures :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Bob - WHERE IS THE TANK?

 

[Anonymous]

Does Bob use tap for topoff?

He actually tells new hobbiests that anything other than unfiltered tap water is detrimental to a reef aquarium. He tells tham than algae can consume all of the toxins, including copper, before it can harm anything in the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

an even bigger concern is they are not waterplants and therefore probably not removing carbon dioxide from the water and adding oxygen.

Ican't help but :lol: at this statement.

 

[Chemical_Whore]

well mother nature has had to have a way to deal with copper so far, might be plants, could be a HUGE and bed for it to settle to the bottom of, lets see what happens.

 

[Anonymous]

Cant this thread get locked???

This is such a retarded arguement..If he gets banned he gets banned...For one...Macros dont sustaine a tank completely..that would be absurd..How do you think the ocean works??? on Macros alone...Nay...However find an older issue of Coral Magazine (last year 2004 Nano edition) Dr. Ellen Thaler has a similar deal as bob.. doubt she uses tap water as top off..Simply she uses Macros and direct sunlight in shallow long tanks..Not very pleasing to the eye i might add but effective...Id have to check at work tomorrow cuz thats where my copy of that issue is...Anyways, a fish tank is a completely closed system like the ocean except on a fractional scale (and a few other things like tides and what not) but there is technological advances that allow us to keep our specimens alive with the help of regular maintenance...Macros are only a biological help as is LR and LS...1 person with success doesnt make it exact..You need far more scientific data than you could provide (or years of collecting it on your own)....My advise Beaslbob is you suggest Macros as a source of water polishing not to sustain a tank on its own...This may save you some trouble with kind of stuff..

 

[Anonymous]

Yes I do use straight unfilter tap in all my tanks.and have in 1/2 dozen cites in the US since the late 70's.

This is one of those expert sounding misleading kind of statements. You have been doing this for freshwater and fish only since the 70's. Only with reefs for one year in one city.

 

[bradl.]

Why not give the nano southerly exposure and a cpr hang on fuge filled with chaetomorpha to be fair.

 

[beanpole209]

You all should just make a forum just for beasl bob bashing cmon why is everybody so silly!

I would have been here sooner but I'm sick rite now maby you can lay off atleast untill I feel like replying anyway I don't feel like reading the whole thread its just too damn long with all of your overly friendly hate posts about bob.

I endorse and use bobs methods almost to exclusion the only exeptions are that I have used some planktonic foods before I am currently using kent techcb for calcium and use mh lights but have plans to start using the oystershells for calcium I also have not made a water change since starting my tank stocking my tank slowly all of the tests show 0 exept for phosphates as I do not test for that at the moment!

One reason the pictures of bobs tank looks dank is the fact that he is using 6.5k bulbs in that picture & bob correct me if I'm rong those are verry yellow and make pictures turn out bad also those are old pictures his tank looks real good in my opinion I have seen many pics and I think that after he gets a few more frags his tank will be awsome!

I cant remember who posted and said that all I have is softies and there verry hardy well maby most softies are but I would not consider a monti cap to be hardy http://bham.bluereef.zapto.org/photos/b ... ginal.aspx


the thing is My tank is doing great and my last tank did great and both tanks didnt cost near what most people spend on there tanks with the exeption of my livestock I don't know why that bothers most people but it does either way Ill keep saving my money for better things"more frags" and you all can keep spending yours Ill be just as happy as you just with more frags and less trouble !!!

Well ive talked enough for now cough cough" and I'm crawling back to my chair to recuperate from my illness

 

[Len]

Hi Matthew,

I definitely do not condone or encourage the personal nature of some of the replies, but I think the arguments against Bob's opinions is very well grounded in science and cumulative experiences. His ideas are simply unsound, and IMO quite dangerous advice to new reefkeepers. I'm sure it's terribly attractive to new hobbyists since it is so relaxed in approach and so cheap to operate. But hobbyists who have been down this road before (and there have been hundreds, including myself) know from experience Bob's advice is one down the wrong path.

As mentioned, the big problem isn't that espouses his ideas, but that he espouses it with authority and discourages proven methods. He's actively and repeatedly discouraged skimmers, RO/DI, water changes, and all the other stuff that hobbyists have come to accept as basic good husbandry.

We aren't commenting on the quality of Bob's photos, but the observable health of its inhabitants. If he was using 10KK or 20KK lights, I feel it's safe to say we come to the same conclusion. Look around the net for ideas of what a healthy tank really looks like. Not tooting my own horn but rather to prove a point, check out the difference between Bob's tank and my tank at www.reefscapes.net/120gallon . You get the idea.

FYI: Montipora capricornis is amongst the, if not the hardiest SPS corals. It grows like a weed in the right condition. Mine used to grow over an inch in any direction every month.

Really: If Bob could start a Nano for the buildoff to show everyone the merits of his methods, we'd all be better for it.

In any event ....
:welcome:

 

[beanpole209]

Hi Matthew,

I definitely do not condone or encourage the personal nature of some of the replies, but I think the arguments against Bob's opinions is very well grounded in science and cumulative experiences. His ideas are simply unsound, and IMO quite dangerous advice to new reefkeepers. I'm sure it's terribly attractive to new hobbyists since it is so relaxed in approach and so cheap to operate. But hobbyists who have been down this road before (and there have been hundreds, including myself) know from experience Bob's advice is one down the wrong path.

As mentioned, the big problem isn't that espouses his ideas, but that he espouses it with authority and discourages proven methods. He's actively and repeatedly discouraged skimmers, RO/DI, water changes, and all the other stuff that hobbyists have come to accept as basic good husbandry.

We aren't commenting on the quality of Bob's photos, but the observable health of its inhabitants. If he was using 10KK or 20KK lights, I feel it's safe to say we come to the same conclusion. Look around the net for ideas of what a healthy tank really looks like. Not tooting my own horn but rather to prove a point, check out the difference between Bob's tank and my tank at www.reefscapes.net/120gallon . You get the idea.

FYI: Montipora capricornis is amongst the, if not the hardiest SPS corals. It grows like a weed in the right condition. Mine used to grow over an inch in any direction every month.

Really: If Bob could start a Nano for the buildoff to show everyone the merits of his methods, we'd all be better for it.

In any event ....
:welcome:

First I would tell a newb all about this and give them the choice and make there own informed mind

Second my tank is only more proof that theese methods work Im shure I just lied and all of my pictures are made up psp creations!!!

Third filtering water with ro/di filtration is not required in my opinion but if you chose to use it would be fine I will never use it because I see no need for it and have not had any problems in my 7 some odd years of in saltwater tank experience

fourth the pictures you have of bobs tank are out dated and taken under bad lighting for pictures so those pictures are sortof a mute point also there is nothing rong with the livestock in those pictures exept you cant hardley see anything and my pics are nothing to boast about I have a really crappy camera and Im not verry good at taking pictures .

I think end the end most people are capable of making an informed decision I think they can see the piont Im making here that its possible to have a reef tank for much cheaper and much less and have less work to do or they can be main stream and probubley have a good reef tank as well but for people to flame us like this is barbaric there is no reason to say it cant work or to say our tanks look bad just to make yourselfs feel better

 

[Anonymous]

Whatta tank! I can never get tired of visiting your page Len.