Do you think you'll try out a ULM Tank?

I have a ULM tank. 42 gallons. Skimmer, two MP10s, Tunze ATO. I do a 10g water change every two weeks. I can do the water change in about 20 minutes. Tank is stocked with corals, mostly LPS and easy stuff. Hand dose every day - takes 1 minute. Never test water. Tank going on 5 years now.

The problem with no sand is you lose the ability to keep certain fish, inverts etc.

Every new reefer should be pointed towards this video series starting out. It would cost you a small fortune to arrive at these conclusions through trial and error. Thanks BRS

You are speaking to my soul... thank you for taking the time to test and share with the rest of us

I love watching you guys This channel is the push I need to start my my tank

I loved this series. Ryan did a great job at clarifying that an ULM is can be achieved by choosing livestock to match your system and routine. I would expand that topic to fish selection, as well. For example, I avoid fishes that only eat frozen food, so the tank can run on an auto feeder when I go on holidays. I've been running an ULM tank, SPS dominated, for a couple of years and it was reassuring to see I am doing the pretty much the same as BRS. I thought I was the only person on earth dosing 2 part + Tropic Marine Part C :) I usually struggle to explain my system to other reefers, because for most people don't have low maintenance as their main priority. Next time I will refer them to this series. A couple of things that I also do, that weren't mentioned here: - No filter socks. One less thing to clean. - Skimmer neck cleaner and collection cup that drains into a container. It allows me to clean the skimmer it once a month, if I wanted. - Vinegar mixed with aminoacids. I dose vinegar as an organic carbon source and amino acids(AA) to help maintain natural corals. However, dosing AA manually wasn't low maintenance and I wasn't able to find a good and cheap source of AA, that could be plugged to a dosing pump. Some day it clicked, AA is food and Vinegar is used as food preservative, so I mixed them both and voilá. AA and Vinegar dosed automatically with a single dosing pump. - Small pumps in the sump, so it never needs to be siphoned. Cheers

Very cool summary - Thanks Ryan!

Great comprehensive video!

Been waiting. Awesome episode as always guys :)

Amen for auto water changes. I've never had a better tank than I do right now with my dos doing water changes. My time with the tank can be limited. With an auto water change system I never have to "catch up" on my water changes. I can use that time to test the water, position the corals, or clean the equipment in my tank.

Is it still ULM if I spend hundreds of hours watching BRS videos?

Very interesting approach!

Good video. I think the auto water change is amazing but we can't forget to do those good deep cleans. In my opinion a water change should always be done with the objective of removing as much detritus as possible!

I second all of Ryans comments. The current (and most succesful thus far) tank I'm currently running. IM 20 peninsula, auto water change, doser Tropic Marine all for reef, chaeto in 2nd chamber, UV in first chamber and filter floss. LPS and softies growing like weeds.

7:13 - Amen, brother!

Started my first nano a few months before you started this series! Certainly did a lot to shape my decisions and encourage me towards finding the lowest maintenance solutions possible, even though I couldn't resist a bit of an experimental approach :) Long post ahead, but only feels fair with how much the BRS crew commits to these videos. To share a bit of my experience for other ULM-seekers: My system is a 12 gallon long, only about 8" deep and wide, and 3' long. The core systems of the tank are a big HOB refugium with a Kessil Flora, and AutoAqua's AWC/ATO controller for water quality, lights are a 36" LED and 36" single-bulb T5 that I DIY'ed together, and 4 small powerheads for flow. My biggest successes have been the biggest rock flower nem I've ever seen, loads of GSP, and a bunch of different leathers. I've also kept two pistol shrimp and a number of small fish with no major illnesses or crashing. Current favorite fish are my 4 barnacle blennies, because they're tiny, don't need much territory, don't need open water to cruise in, and have loads of personality. The other big success is with it being a ULM! My maintenance is: -Pinch of pellet food every day, and a cube of mysis when I feel like it, about once every two weeks. -Cleaning glass once or twice a week. -Cleaning and filling saltwater and freshwater 10 gal reservoirs about once every 2 months. -Make a day out of deep-cleaning pumps and my other equipment about once every 4 months. That's it! Can't recommend that AWC/ATO enough. Very easy on the eyes even on a small tank, drains straight into my kitchen sink, apartment-rental-friendly levels of plumbing, and everything still working as intended a year later. This controller alone turned the limited stability of a small tank into an integral feature, as a daily 2% water change is such a small volume. Biggest problems have mostly stemmed from a terrible mix of crushed coral and sand - holds an incredible amounts of detritus, impossible to clean without clouding the entire tank, leads to just as much detritus in the refugium, gathers upwards of 3" deep in some spots. I went with this because I knew I wanted to give good construction materials to my pistol shrimp, but it's caused far more problems than it's fixed. Another big problem was too large of rocks that blocked a lot of flow and gathered tons of detritus too. Making changes towards smaller and less porous rocks that my flow can keep clean. I think largely stemming from these issues and some temp control problems that I figured out halfway in, I haven't had much luck keeping the LPS that I'm the most interested in alive. In fact, one of the biggest lessons I could share would be learning to appreciate what DOES like your tank and doubling down on that, vs constant changes to "chase" the things that appeal more. I promise, you'll have a lot more fun watching the same "easy mode" corals that everyone has growing into gorgeous, healthy colonies compared to watching a stunning $100 acan wither and die. Currently in the process of replacing all the sand with CaribSea special grade and trying some LPS again :) In short, my big pieces of advice on a ULM nano: -The introduction of mainstream, plug and play AWC/ATO systems into the hobby is, in my eyes, the biggest change we've seen in favor of nano tanks. -Investing in your water containers may be worth more than it seems. -Count on the fact that if any piece of maintenance is hard to do, there WILL be a time when you should do it but won't. -Once roughly established, let the tank tell YOU what corals it wants to grow! -Don't chase solutions to every single problem. Short of the more aggressive pests, or equipment failures, seems like most imbalances can be solved by keeping everything else stable and just giving it time, especially on a AWC system. -For the love of God don't use crushed coral mixed with sand, worst of both worlds! -Optimizing for pistol shrimp and optimizing for corals are a bit mutually exclusive. Bare-bottom would have been great, although they're family now :D -BRS kicks butt!

the brs wwc hybrid e 170sps thats a mouthful haha tanks looks so good, i've had freshwater tanks for over a decade. im finally looking at saltwater tanks, corals are just so cool

If you have that tank line up still, it would be interesting to see the difference between different types of coral feeding which is always hotly debated.

Ulm is doing a pico with a way to move the water and light and 100 percent water changes each week. But auto water changes is awsome and helps. Thought of doing this myself.

I’d still love to see you guys try to do AWC’s for a month or so with the x1 dosers. That WiFi capability would let me put an AIO basically anywhere in my house🤯.

please show us more on the tropic marin all for reef or the other product carbo-calcium. Great update. thanks.

I found this unclear in several ways. Most important, what precisely did you change in moving from the ULM SPS tank to the hybrid SPS tank? I also wonder about the bare bottom rationale. I've been researching this on and off for about six months. My take away is that a sand bed should be one-half inch with coarse media at about 3mm (e.g. Tropic Eden reef flakes). This sand bed will be aerobic everywhere, especially when you add different kinds of detrivores (e.g. certain snails, pods, micro brittle stars, worms). The best selection of detrivores is from Indo-Pacific Sea Farms (IPSF) which is also the source of my sand bed information. BRS apparently uses a too-fine medium that is way too deep. Some of that area is probably anaerobic (no oxygen) and much is anoxic (low oxygen). Detrivores won't go into these regions. BRS also vacuums up those few detrivores that happen to be there. AFTER ALL THIS BRS says the sand bed will eventually become the equivalent to a very dirty litter box. Well... yes because the living creatures who would "scoop out" the detritus are missing. A bare bottom tank *must* be vacuumed or the detritus sent into the water column regularly for filtration because there is nothing to eat the detritus. To me that does not seem to be ULM or simple. I also note that macroalgae are nowhere to be seen. Again, this seems strange to me. There are only two simple ways to convert nitrate into nitrogen gas: algae or a deep sand bed. The latter is problematic in a real life setting for various reasons, and it will do little for phosphate. So algae is the logical, low-cost, simple approach. The Tunze macroalgae reactor, which can be run outside the tank, may be ideal. I may be mistaken. That's ok. Just explain where. PS: as most people leave the hobby within one year, it seems that adopting a bare bottom approach that is especially difficult in year one is problematic. PPS: I don't mean to be a jerk. I apologize if I come across that way. PPPS: I did *not* downvote this article. I upvoted it. It was a serious effort.

Hey guys great videos!! at the 6:54 mark, those 2 tall tanks, what is the brand of those tanks or where do you get them? Thanks!!

I'm sold on the Red Sea "E" series the nice thing is I can add a sump/refugium without having to drain the tank.

I’m trying to practically fully automate my tank, that is what I consider ULM, currently I have everything automated except for water changes and of course refilling reagents and my auto top off container, I have spent thousands of dollars on tank automation and I love my tank being automated , anything I can automate I will, I just want to be able to sit back and watch my tank without having to tinker or test or worry something is out of whack, I want clear water and beautiful corals, I honestly don’t think you can’t have a ULM tank without sophisticated equipment it’s just not a good idea and eventually you will loose life due to not knowing anything about your tank

Lol I used to change the water once every 2 months in my African cichlids tank. None of my fish ever got sick and the tank looked great.

Sand allows more surface area for periphyton to grow, providing more micro food particles, like natural reefs.

What brand tanks are in the background? I have a 36 fluval and looking to upgrade to around a 60 gallon.

with that amount of fish in a small tank (6 i think in the softie tank) what do your phosphates and nitrates run at?

Need to do a video on the auto water change system

Ulm ....the proper tank inhabitants....for example ....sand in the tank....get a sand sifting goby or starfish....or snails....do wc ....make em easy ....ULM

Believe it or not, but my tank seems to be doing better when I don't touch it nor do water changes. (Cleaning is not an issue cause I got an army of tangs)

Any alternatives to the Tropic Marine All-for-Reef? It's not available in our country, we Seachem though...

What’s the cost of the set up you noted as best ULM?

Just bought a 40.2 waterbox all in one what would be the best return pump to run on it so i can get it ordered from you guys

So pretty much ULM works great when you don't have fish, only have coral in for a few weeks and have a staff to do the work. eThis episode is probably the most honest about this approach where BRS eats humble pie and industry vendors don't lose face. Please talk more about the rock. It's all we got available to us now and is what anyone new is using so maybe we can have a honest conversation about what to really expect when using it. Luv ya Ryan.

What kind of Syphon hose was that ? I like it where can I buy?

Changing water is the main approach to run ULNS on new tanks ?

Anyone thinking of getting into the hobby all in ones are great (pipes leak and break sumps overflow) but don't spend extra on the equipment that comes with it even the lights (even if they claim they can grow coral). You will end up upgrading everything. Also, stay off of reef forums. There is a lot of bad advice on there and people are just not honest at all. Spend the most on lighting do not go cheap on lighting. Again reefers on reef forums will tell you that they are growing everything under some cheap DIY, ai prime (good option but won't grow everything), or pc lighting (there is no such thing as a budget reef) but the fact is they didn't start the coral from frags they bought a big piece and it was under heavier lighting at an LFS and they just recently put it in the tank. Again don't spend more on flashy equipment. A media bag will work if you can't afford a reactor, spend that extra money on lighting. Corals will still grow without a reactor or skimmer. They wont grow with bad lighting. Only take advice from credited people in the business such as BRS and Mr. SaltwaterTank. Non-credited sources are extremely dishonest or they don't know enough to give good advice just stuff they got lucky with (and now think they will get some free shit if they advertise it). You can fool anyone in this game with an iPhone with special camera lighting and filters. Happy Reefing

You should invite @ricosaquariums and @innapropriatereefer to your house for new tank build 🔥🔥

My idea of a Low maintenance tank: 150 gallons. 6 small fish. (3-4 inches) 15 soft corals, 0 hard corals. lots of macro algae. No motile invertebrates. No clams. Protein skimmer, UV. Might not be that beautiful- but would be very clean.

Since there’s no refugium in an all in one tank, what do you guys do to keep nitrates and phosphates down other than water changes?

What green coral is that at the back on the RHS of the first tank? Looks beautiful 😍🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

i have a ULM tank that I don't even feed, water change, dosing or whatsoever. I just watch it on youtube LOL

Every time I do water changes I clean sand (once a week maybe 2 weeks) is that good or bad?

What nano tanks are these? INovated marine?

Eliminate sand cleaning by establishing a Jaubert system plenum!

IMO a good way to have an ULM is having a dsb in a large sump.

Go to their other videos and they say you are better off using sand. Just adds to the confusion

this is way funny it seems like in the salt water hobby they look down on the way fresh water does their tanks and then come to find out the best way to do low maintenance is do as freshwater do change water :P

Why aren't you guys selling the All for Reef Powder?

I had an almost 0 maintenance tank but it was crashed during hurricane sandy 😩

Sounds like money to me

If i cant just leave it alone for a month thats not LOW MAINTENCE

That’s one thing why I think many people don’t get into reefing…. You use too many LEtters, you don’t describe what you’re talking about, what is a ULM, U170, an SPS tank, or an Ultra low maintenance tank. So , what do you say.?

This is not what we could call Ultra Low Maintenance tanks^^ A deep sand bed/Jaubert Method with Softies and Lps and very low fish livestock, no skimmer, no water changes.. that is ULM^^

Ulm starves corals

Noobs watching this like wth are all these acronyms. Whats SBS. ULM was the only one defined.

You lost me when you said youre only dosing once a day. my fresh water tanks are just too easy, i only refill the auto food every 30 days. If it needs anything i just the plant to animal to do it for me and have to touch it for months.

Why can’t you guys just speak English. I just want to how how to start a tank I don’t have to change water in too often!!! This is why the hobby is so intimidating to peoplep