jjb
04-28-2014, 09:40 AM
Hello all, I'm new to the forum but was happy to have found it and learned a lot from the posts and sticky threads.
I was an aquarium enthusiast years ago, and got out of it about 10 years ago. I did tropical community and a reef system, both in 40 gallon tanks. I have basic knowledge. At the time I was too poor to afford to care for the reef properly and it wasn't successful. I feel guilty for killing fish and coral and harming the reefs. This was during the 90s before coral and clowns were aquaculturable.
I want to get back into the hobby again. I'm debating between another reef, fully aquacultured livestock, or discus, captive bred. I like the captive bred stuff because I consider it to be environmentally friendly.
I think aquariums are ethical because aside from being beautiful they teach people to appreciate ecosystems and how delicate they are. I wouldn't do a FOWLR with wild caught fish. Just my personal preference.
I love discus, but I'm worried that I won't be able to do frequent enough water changes. I work long hours and commute, and this is an issue for me.
The thing that attracts me to a reef is that although the set up would be at least double in price, the thing ultimately becomes pretty low maintenance. Big skimmer, good mechanical filter, calcium reactor, automatic top offs and trace elements, only a few aquacultures clownfish on the reef, in a 180 gallon tank or so, and the bioload would be fairly small. The thing would need infrequent water changes, and I could get away with an automatic feeder and periodically emptying the skimmer. Could be maintained in 5-10 mins a day. It would be expensive.
That said, I personally love discus. Discus does it for me. Big beautiful fish, schooling in a clean tank, with a few live plants, just does it for me. It's what the aquarium hobby is all about. I would buy full grown fish.
So the issue would be water changes. I want to do as few as possible... bottom line. Once a week would be ideal.
The thing is I don't want to do a half baked thing. So I'm wondering if this is really feasible?
The problem with a big discus tank is that unlike a reef I can't skim. So water changes are a must.
My solution is simply to go big and then under stock. In a finished basement, I might do a 240 gallon setup, with another big refugium/sump, and then under stock the tank with perhaps 8 full grown discus.
I might include a small school of tetras of some variety as well just so there's some more motion in the aquarium.
Let's say money isn't an object for the sake of argument (it is really but something I've been saving for). Has anyone had success with creating a low maintenance system with a large understocked tank? Is my thinking flawed?
Or with my low maintenance requirements, am I better to go reef? I can be very happy with a nice reef as well. It's just as beautiful in a different way.
Thank you for your advice,
Joe
I was an aquarium enthusiast years ago, and got out of it about 10 years ago. I did tropical community and a reef system, both in 40 gallon tanks. I have basic knowledge. At the time I was too poor to afford to care for the reef properly and it wasn't successful. I feel guilty for killing fish and coral and harming the reefs. This was during the 90s before coral and clowns were aquaculturable.
I want to get back into the hobby again. I'm debating between another reef, fully aquacultured livestock, or discus, captive bred. I like the captive bred stuff because I consider it to be environmentally friendly.
I think aquariums are ethical because aside from being beautiful they teach people to appreciate ecosystems and how delicate they are. I wouldn't do a FOWLR with wild caught fish. Just my personal preference.
I love discus, but I'm worried that I won't be able to do frequent enough water changes. I work long hours and commute, and this is an issue for me.
The thing that attracts me to a reef is that although the set up would be at least double in price, the thing ultimately becomes pretty low maintenance. Big skimmer, good mechanical filter, calcium reactor, automatic top offs and trace elements, only a few aquacultures clownfish on the reef, in a 180 gallon tank or so, and the bioload would be fairly small. The thing would need infrequent water changes, and I could get away with an automatic feeder and periodically emptying the skimmer. Could be maintained in 5-10 mins a day. It would be expensive.
That said, I personally love discus. Discus does it for me. Big beautiful fish, schooling in a clean tank, with a few live plants, just does it for me. It's what the aquarium hobby is all about. I would buy full grown fish.
So the issue would be water changes. I want to do as few as possible... bottom line. Once a week would be ideal.
The thing is I don't want to do a half baked thing. So I'm wondering if this is really feasible?
The problem with a big discus tank is that unlike a reef I can't skim. So water changes are a must.
My solution is simply to go big and then under stock. In a finished basement, I might do a 240 gallon setup, with another big refugium/sump, and then under stock the tank with perhaps 8 full grown discus.
I might include a small school of tetras of some variety as well just so there's some more motion in the aquarium.
Let's say money isn't an object for the sake of argument (it is really but something I've been saving for). Has anyone had success with creating a low maintenance system with a large understocked tank? Is my thinking flawed?
Or with my low maintenance requirements, am I better to go reef? I can be very happy with a nice reef as well. It's just as beautiful in a different way.
Thank you for your advice,
Joe