Maintenance routines

[Saltyskimmer]

I am new to this site and like what I see so far. Quite interesting.

I was reading a magazine i picked up at my live fish store. It is Reef Hobbyist magazine. Well anyway it had an interesting article on a reef tank this guy built a 145 gallon coral reef in the sky tank. He mentioned his routine. Daily he would replenish supplements, clean glass, feed fish, monitor sump water level. Weekly he does a water change. Monthly he changes carbon and changes zeolites (which I have no idea what that is). And finally he does Ad Hoc stuff such as clean various pumps, clean skimmer and change T5 tubes (which I would like to know what the best frequency to change the lights).

Well my question is I would love to hear from some members on their routines. What do other members do? I have a 36 gallon Bow-tank with T5 lighting. One of my weakness has been maintenance. I would love to hear some advice.

Saltyskimmer

 

[flower]

Hi,

The more you do the better your tank will look...If you are lazy, or like me disabled, and can't do it as it SHOIULD be done. An algae scrubber, or keeping macros is the easiest and cheapest way to keep the tank healthy. If you do regular water changes, you shouldn't have to use supplements since the salt mix as a rule has all the trace elements you really need. Never dose a thing before testing first for it, to see if it's needed.

 

[mandy111]

Hi. Maintenance is different on every tank
.I agree with @flower 100%, Algae scrubbers & macros is great. the more you do the easier it is I slightly disagree with "water changes replace everything". In theory "yes" but I would have to change a lot of water everyday if I didn't use supplements. I drop 1dkh every 24 hrs & 10ppm cal in that's same time frame. lol
My routine --
Do parameter tests weekly
I clean glass every. 3rd day.
Skimmer cup. & neck every. 2 days.( I wet skim)
Dose Alk , Cal Mag auto doser
Add Trace elements twice a week
Change reactors every 4 - 6 weeks
Water change every 21 days
change T5 globes every 9 months
Vinegar bath all pumps & power heads every 3 months
Clean and vacuum sump every 3 months
Blow detritus off rocks and rake 1cm of sand bed every week.
This is a very time consuming hobby,and dont let any one tell you its, not.

@Saltyskimmer - T5 globes are best changed every 9-12months. Although to the naked eye they look fine they don't penetrate the water like they used to. Not changing globes can lead to the start of algae or even worse cynobaceria.

Hope this helps.

 

[flower]

Hi. Maintenance is different on every tank
.I agree with @flower 100%, Algae scrubbers & macros is great. the more you do the easier it is I slightly disagree with "water changes replace everything". In theory "yes" but I would have to change a lot of water everyday if I didn't use supplements. I drop 1dkh every 24 hrs & 10ppm cal in that's same time frame. lol
My routine --
Do parameter tests weekly
I clean glass every. 3rd day.
Skimmer cup. & neck every. 2 days.( I wet skim)
Dose Alk , Cal Mag auto doser
Add Trace elements twice a week
Change reactors every 4 - 6 weeks
Water change every 21 days
change T5 globes every 9 months
Vinegar bath all pumps & power heads every 3 months
Clean and vacuum sump every 3 months
Blow detritus off rocks and rake 1cm of sand bed every week.
This is a very time consuming hobby,and dont let any one tell you its, not.

@Saltyskimmer - T5 globes are best changed every 9-12months. Although to the naked eye they look fine they don't penetrate the water like they used to. Not changing globes can lead to the start of algae or even worse cynobaceria.

Hope this helps.

Hi...I have no problem with adding supplements...but YOU MUST TEST FIRST. You should not be just auto dosing stuff. You say you dose twice a week...when do you bother to test to see if you even need to? Too much of certain elements such as iodine can be a very bad thing. Every tank is indeed different, even ones in the same house using the same RO water... Dosing kalk for a reef I understand, but alkalinity, Calcium and magnesium should be more stable...What other trace elements are you dosing twice a week?

 

[mandy111]

My alk cal & mag is stable. Because I dose. ? I am a little lost with your above comment regarding those 3 elements ??? I do test weekly for those. 3. + nitrates phosphates as well. As far as trace elements I use seachem reef trace 2 x week as directed. I have only seen amazing results using this product & your right I haven't tested for those particular elements. But in saying that. I do know my tank well I know my corals & livestock. I have learnt to take the time to read my tank, eg coral not happy I normally pin point it easily as to why. So if I was to see anything unusual or strange I would certainly notice it before it got out of hand The benefits have far out weighed the possible overdosing you speak of. Apparently many of the trace element test kits are very inaccurate anyway. So reading your tank seems a good way to go. P.s. I did mention in maintenance question I test all parameters weekly maybe you missed that

 

[mandy111]

All I am saying that water changes help , but in reality I can't change 250ltrs of water every day just to keep up with alk cal. & mag. Impossible to do. With over 50 corals in the tank it need replacement continually. ?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Pictures of mandy's old 300g and her new 400g reef tanks would let you know, flower, that Mandy is not a novice in this hobby.

With my new tank, I'll be changing filter socks every 3 days. Feeding every day. I'll change the GFO and carbon out monthly. A monthly 20g water change on my 75g tank. A kalk stirrer will be adding calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and strontium in proper levels in a month or so. I'll have to add a 1/3 cup of kalk per week according to the directions. Other than that, there is weekly testing and cleaning the salt creep and other surfaces.

It's really not that demanding.

 

[flower]

All I am saying that water changes help , but in reality I can't change 250ltrs of water every day just to keep up with alk cal. & mag. Impossible to do. With over 50 corals in the tank it need replacement continually. ?

Blah...LOL..I DID indeed miss that you test weekly, After reading post #5, I went back to read post #3, it was the first thing on the list too...my bad.

I thought you were just dosing per instructions on the bottle. Now that I see you are testing first, it's all good.

 

[Saltyskimmer]

Hi. Maintenance is different on every tank
.I agree with @flower 100%, Algae scrubbers & macros is great. the more you do the easier it is I slightly disagree with "water changes replace everything". In theory "yes" but I would have to change a lot of water everyday if I didn't use supplements. I drop 1dkh every 24 hrs & 10ppm cal in that's same time frame. lol
My routine --
Do parameter tests weekly
I clean glass every. 3rd day.
Skimmer cup. & neck every. 2 days.( I wet skim)
Dose Alk , Cal Mag auto doser
Add Trace elements twice a week
Change reactors every 4 - 6 weeks
Water change every 21 days
change T5 globes every 9 months
Vinegar bath all pumps & power heads every 3 months
Clean and vacuum sump every 3 months
Blow detritus off rocks and rake 1cm of sand bed every week.
This is a very time consuming hobby,and dont let any one tell you its, not.

@Saltyskimmer - T5 globes are best changed every 9-12months. Although to the naked eye they look fine they don't penetrate the water like they used to. Not changing globes can lead to the start of algae or even worse cynobaceria.

Hope this helps.

Thankyou Mandy,

What do you mean by vingar bath? I guess is it 50/50 with water bath? I've also seen somewhere else about blowing detitrus off rocks? Is that for aesthetics or is that something to keep the tank healthy, like blowing your nose (lol).

Salty

 

[mandy111]

Thankyou Mandy,

What do you mean by vingar bath? I guess is it 50/50 with water bath? I've also seen somewhere else about blowing detitrus off rocks? Is that for aesthetics or is that something to keep the tank healthy, like blowing your nose (lol).

Salty

I soak all my return pumps, skimmer and power heads in a vinegar for a couple of hours. It easily removes sludge & more importantly coraline algea from powerhead, which can affect the over all performance of them.
If really dirty, i use 100% vinegar if not so bad the 50/50 ratio. sludge and coaraline falls off, with simple cloth wipe.rinse and then safely back in tank.
I blow the rocks off and stir top 1cm of sand bed weekly for two reason, one is to keep detritus to a minimum which helps with nitrates (no matter how much flow food etc does get into caves and crack. Secondly i am gonipora heavy (some 13 of them). They like a slightly dirtier system (nitrate & phos) than I keep, they instantly react to the blow off and enjoy a good feed, in fact most of the corals love it.

 

[mandy111]

Blah...LOL..I DID indeed miss that you test weekly, After reading post #5, I went back to read post #3, it was the first thing on the list too...my bad.

I thought you were just dosing per instructions on the bottle. Now that I see you are testing first, it's all good.

lol, all good @flower . not a problem, i do agree that don't dose unless you test is a good idea, i didn't use an auto doser for 13 months because I thought I would lose touch my my tank, so I used to test every 3 days and dose accordingly, but what would happen is my Alk for instance would drop from 9dkh - 7 i would dose over next 3 days test again and there was huge swings in parameters.
So to stop this I stared auto dosing in fact to keep things more stable, no large swings and can test weekly instead of a couple of times a week. I still check fluid levels in doser daily to make sure not blocked or dumping to much in just to be safe.

 

[mandy111]

Thankyou Mandy,

What do you mean by vingar bath? I guess is it 50/50 with water bath? I've also seen somewhere else about blowing detitrus off rocks? Is that for aesthetics or is that something to keep the tank healthy, like blowing your nose (lol).

Salty

forgot to say, if you start blowing off rocks and haven't done it before, you will be amazed at the amount of crap flying around, so i suggest you do it just before a water change to help remove some of it, Once you do it regularly and there isn't so much crap floating around then a water change is not necessary. hence i now do it weekly. but water changes only every 21 days.

 

[mandy111]

Pictures of mandy's old 300g and her new 400g reef tanks would let you know, flower, that Mandy is not a novice in this hobby.

With my new tank, I'll be changing filter socks every 3 days. Feeding every day. I'll change the GFO and carbon out monthly. A monthly 20g water change on my 75g tank. A kalk stirrer will be adding calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and strontium in proper levels in a month or so. I'll have to add a 1/3 cup of kalk per week according to the directions. Other than that, there is weekly testing and cleaning the salt creep and other surfaces.

It's really not that demanding.

wow, thank you for that @snakeblitz33 . the 300g was actually only 15 months old and new tank is just coming up 3 months old now. So although i love your comment I actually do consider myself a "novice"when it comes to this hobby,18months is nothing, lol. i still learn something new every single day & i am sure I am going to still make some stupid mistakes along the way.

I love your comment about

ïts not that demanding"....

Geez you must have lots more experience than me because I do find it very time consuming and demanding, maybe as I get further and better it will be less. I can only hope. lol

 

[snakeblitz33]

Lol. I've only been in salt for 9 years. I once owned a fish store. I've done freshwater for 18 years now.

It gets easier over time. However, there are situations that come up that still leave me stumped every now and then. I also learn something new on these forums every now and then. I stick around because of it.

 

[mandy111]

Lol. I've only been in salt for 9 years. I once owned a fish store. I've done freshwater for 18 years now.

It gets easier over time. However, there are situations that come up that still leave me stumped every now and then. I also learn something new on these forums every now and then. I stick around because of it.

ha, that explains your comment about it being not so demanding, thought that had to be from an experienced reefer. funny thing is with our new build we did put some things into place that do make our life a little easier, so i suppose by the time I get to 9 yrs, it will be a breeze.
Bet you've seen a lot of changes in the reefing industry over that period of time, is there any major ones you remember., i would be very interested to hear about you thoughts.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Lighting has changed a lot. When I got into the hobby, everyone wanted metal halides and VHO lamps. Now people are going nuts over LEDs.

Seems like there are a lot more skimmer brands out there these days.

The choices of powerheads has increased. When I started, you had the choice between a maxijet and a maxijet. Tunze was around, but paying $400 for a powerhead at the time seemed too ridiculous.

A lot of friends of mine were into plenums and Berlin style systems with really deep sand beds. That certainly has changed.

The amount of aquacultured fish and corals has really grown in this hobby too.

And back then it was unheard of to put a computer on an aquarium.

 

[mandy111]

Thats really interesting.
I love tunzes to this day but agreed they are so darned expensive and still seem ridiculous, but great quality i suppose.
Over here we tend to DSB in the sump rather than the tank now days.
I am glad we aquaculture stuff now and are saving some of the ocean.
I am still to scared to put a computer onto my system. I am not good with computers....I would be the only person around that buys and apex and crashes the tank within days I promise you that... hopeless...lol

 

[jay0705]

I soak all my return pumps, skimmer and power heads in a vinegar for a couple of hours. It easily removes sludge & more importantly coraline algea from powerhead, which can affect the over all performance of them.
If really dirty, i use 100% vinegar if not so bad the 50/50 ratio. sludge and coaraline falls off, with simple cloth wipe.rinse and then safely back in tank.
I blow the rocks off and stir top 1cm of sand bed weekly for two reason, one is to keep detritus to a minimum which helps with nitrates (no matter how much flow food etc does get into caves and crack. Secondly i am gonipora heavy (some 13 of them). They like a slightly dirtier system (nitrate & phos) than I keep, they instantly react to the blow off and enjoy a good feed, in fact most of the corals love it.

Gonipora heavy? Have you looked into an orange spotted file fish? Lol

 

[mandy111]

Gonipora heavy? Have you looked into an orange spotted file fish? Lol

Gonipora heavy - i have over 13 goniporas in my tank, my most prevalent coral. (meaning too many)

No I haven't looked into file fish, I am a tang person through and through, we placed our order for our new fish, (as follows)

1 x lipstick tang
1 x Powder Brown
2 x powder Blue
2 x yellow tang
1 x atlantic Blue tang
1 x purple tang
1 x flame angle.

will all be put in the tank together, all at 4cm is size (so very tiny) all due to be in our tank by latest 27th march.
They will be joining our existing stock of
1 x copperband
2 x osc clowns
2 x dragonets
1 x flame angel
We have sold our existing Lipstick and 2 x yellow tangs and they go to new homes on the 20th march.
This will be all the fish we are adding to this tank now, no more at all.........!!! This is a pic of our first of the new fish that the lfs is holding while gathering all the other stock.

 

[jay0705]

Lol google orange spotted file fish diet.