[kimoyo]

Quote: Originally Posted by meschaefer One of the problems with asking questions in a fourum. Is you need to know what questions to ask, and then you get information from an unkown source, that may be provided inaccurately or in a inefficient manner.

Totally agree, but in my case I have a science background so its pretty easy for me to tell whats bs and whats not. Before I posted this thread I had a rudimentary understanding of what Tyree is trying to do.

Quote: Originally Posted by kimoyo To be more specific, Tyree advocated (advocates?) using his zonal approach to filtration. Which use cryptic sponges and sea squirts for primary filtration and discourages things like skimmers.

But in this situation I'm looking especially for peoples experiences.

And whose to say that whatever book your reading is correct? People listen to Dr. Ron all the time but I think a lot of the stuff he says is a crock. If its an actual published scientific paper then thats one thing, but these hobby books are just peoples opinions (which may or may not be true) that don't have to stand up to any academic rigor.

[kimoyo]

Quote: Originally Posted by kimoyo Totally agree, but in my case I have a science background so its pretty easy for me to tell whats bs and whats not. Before I posted this thread I had a rudimentary understanding of what Tyree is trying to do. But in this situation I'm looking especially for peoples experiences. And whose to say that whatever book your reading is correct? People listen to Dr. Ron all the time but I think a lot of the stuff he says is a crock. If its an actual published scientific paper then thats one thing, but these hobby books are just peoples opinions (which may or may not be true) that don't have to stand up to any academic rigor.

I copied this a while ago and have been hoping for a time to use it. Feel free to copy it anyone.

[ShaunW]

I wonder what is the water source for Tyree's grow out systems are and how often it is changed or replaced?

[LeslieS]

Volume 3 of The Reef Aquarium discusses this on page 397 in Chapter 6. They also have a diagram of how Tyree sets up his tanks.

[LeslieS]

Quote: I wonder what is the water source for Tyree's grow out systems are and how often it is changed or replaced?

The Reef Aquarium didn't give any info on water changes, but I was curious about that as well.

I was originally thinking about trying this when I set up my "all on one level" tank, but realized that I need a lot more experience before I am ready to try any thing experimental.

[cali_reef]

I been in his hot, nasty and stinky warehouse\coral farm\home few times. I was never impressed by the stuff he had in the tanks.

Water changes? I don't think he does many, if any. All the tanks were lit with super old\dim radium bulbs, no wonder his waiting list is so long, the stuff can't grow under those dim lights.

[lfsmarineguy]

What did I do to start this? In this hobby I have found that you have to be open to anything and everything and the best way to learn is through your own experiences and the experiences of those around you. There are many ways of doing what we do and some may seem absurd but in actuality will work under the proper conditions. There is almost nothing in this hobby I won't mess around with just to see if it will work for me or if it is worth pursuing. The zonal approach is just another form of refugium created by sectioning off a part of the tank with no light and lots of rocks, so it will work along the same lines.

[LeslieS]

I think the "Tyree Difference" is that he is doing it without a skimmer. Also, in TRA volume 3, he gives a diagram showing a mesh divider between the display and the cryptic zone (dark refugium). There are powerheads moving the water around the display but nothing moving water between the display and the dark zone. It is supposed to be completely passive.

It seems like this approach would require either a very low bioload or massive, frequent water changes.

[kimoyo]

Thanks Pierce! It's always great to get knowledgeable first hand experience. I kinda was thinking the Tyree thing was a lot of marketing anyway. He does get great corals in though.

Hey LeslieS,

Thanks for the info. I never really liked fuges (especially smaller ones) before until recently but now I see them as a good place to grow pods for the tank which I think is cool. I'm going to start building my "all in one" tank pretty soon so I wanted to see what the zonal thing was all about. I might just incorporate a cryptic area under the fuge but I'm limited by space. The tank is going to be 4'*2'*16" since I already have a nice metal stand for a 120G. I wanted the display portion to be at least 2.5'*2"*16" but I'm going to be using a das ex-2 temporarily which needs a 12"*16" area. So getting everything in or having a large fuge/cryptic section will be tough.

[GreshamH]

Paul, I have Tyrees TriZonal book and I''ll bring it out to the New Jersey swap in October if you want to give it a whirl. It's a good book IMO and chalked filled with info, personal experience and science backing in many parts as well. FWIW I've seen more then a few bogus papers that went thru peer review so IMO everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. A pathologist grad student doing nutrition study and published in a zoological mag comes right to mind

As far as water changes, Steve does very few from my understanding. I'm sitting in the airport right now after spending the weekend with him/others up in Portland OR for the NW-CFM. I'll give him a call tomorrow and see what WC's he does