cadbury
I can give you details of what I do ~ but I would like to first stress that this is BY NO MEANS the "right" way for everyone - nor would it be considered appropriate for every tank.
As we all know, each tank is different.
Each person's marine tank is unique to them.
Most all tankwater will still follows the same "rules" and most tank systems will behave or respond to different treatments - according to these rules.
That being said - and providing you approach your own tank with this in mind - here's what I do & here's what I add.
Start out using RO/DI water - aerated overnight with powerhead/heater.
Use Instant Ocean brand sea salt mix - and get the salinity where you want it. I use a refractometer and like to keep the reef tank at 1.026 at 80 degrees F. This is what I mix the new saltwater up to first. I actually had a 50 gallon, and a 20 gallon rubbermaid container with saltwater mixed and aerated for a couple days. This is how I filled the 75 gallon tank back in December last year, when I switched over from a 55 w/CC to the new 75 w/DSB.
Fill the tank with aerated Instant Ocean saltwater.
Normally it mixes up to around
Calcium = 375
Alkalinity = 3.2 meq/L
pH = 8.2 / 8.3
Approximate numbers - but fairly repeatable.
In the first few months after cycle is done - test the 3 above parameters each Saturday. Write down what the levels are in a log book.
Date/Time/Level
Do freshwater RO/DI top offs each day to maintain salinity, and as always - maintain steady temperature.
You may or may not see the numbers swing much - or you may.
All depends on what's in the tank, how it's set up, water circulation, etc. .....
Do a water change with new saltwater. I do around 20% water changes each month. 15 gallons for a 75 reef tank.
Just about every 4th Saturday morning I do the water change.
Then after having a couple few months or so of information from the test kits - I look at the recent history and try to figure out what's happening in there.
Water changes by themselves will show increases in alk & calcium. Not a whole lot though - but the swings are apparent.
As far as additives and a schedule, I prefer to use dry powdered pH buffer, alk builders and calcium. I've tried some of the two-part systems like ESV B-Ionic before as well.
They're easy to use -and worked okay.
I just prefer to use the powdered ones more.
I add at least a gallon a day RO/DI water for evaporation. Mixing the powder in the RO/DI water works well for me and I like the results. I do NOT mix additives to every top off though.
Typical week/month as follows;
Week 1
Sunday - heavy feeding of corals - meaty foods and Coral Heaven.
Monday - do nothing but top off with freshwater.
Tuesday - mix 1 teaspoon of Seachem's Reef Builder alkalinity/carbonate product to 1 gallon of RO/DI water and use as top off.
Wednesday - do nothing but top off and feed some corals and fish lightly.
Thursday - mix 2 teaspoons of Seachem's Reef Advantage Calcium product to 1 gallon of freshwater and use as top off.
Friday - do nothing but top off and feed tank lightly.
Saturday - Test water and if necessary mix 2 teaspoons of Seachem's Marine Buffer in 1 gallon of RO/DI top off water to help maintain pH. In the evening - a few drops of iodine into the sump.
Week 2
Same
Week 3
Same
Week 4
Same except this Saturday - perform the 20% water change.
Occassionally I drip kalkwasser at night. Not everynight. As a matter of fact - once my phosphates dropped down to where they did not register on the test kit anymore - I only dose kalk several times a month. Sporadic at best.
Sunday's the tank gets a good feeding, mix of krill, squid, silversides, mysis shrimp, store bought whole body raw shrimp chopped up and the occassionaly bring shrimp cube.
The anemone eats all raw shrimp parts, as do the larger corals that have a mouth. Fish get tiny meaty bits that are leftovers.
Flake - yeah I have it and toss a pinch in now and then on feeding days to vary the diet. But I don't use a lot of flake foods and I don't keep all these frozen foods in the freezer all the time. When I need some I run to LFS and pick up whatever I didn't buy last time.
Do I do this routine religously every month - ain't no way.
Do I miss a water change and postpone it a week or two sometimes - yeah it happens quite often. I've gone two months without water change and everything was fine.
Do I alter the amounts of additives - sometimes, but not by much.
It all depends on the test kit results - and what I've written down AND the general appearance of the tank and corals.
Many times there are signs that something needs attention in the tank. Be it an increase in algae, or a coral looks funny or I make changes to the water circulation or lighting. Whenever I make a large change, including additions to the tanks creatures - I test for nitrogen compounds. Once in a while - every few months or so I check for phosphates.
I have Oxygen and Iodine test kits too - but hardly ever use them.
When I installed the refugium with caulerpa - I tested the nitrate and phosphate a lot. Every week there for awhile.
It took about 10-12 weeks before I noticed the nitrate falling.
I'm pretty sure it fell due to the deep sandbed becoming functional, the macro algae beginning to grow and harvest, and the fact that I only kept 5 small fish in the 75.
I'm now down to 3 fish in the 75 - and that's the way it will stay.
Low fish bioload = better reef water quailty for the corals.
No protein skimmer anymore either, and have removed some sponge prefilters that I once used.
The thing to remember is not to follow other's routine and habits - but to develop your own.
Your tank is not the same as mine.
My tank is not the same as any other.
Your tank is unique to you ~ your conditions are unique too.
Your routine therefore should be unique as well.
Using other's routine as guideline is fine - but the actual dosages and time you add them should be adjusted to meet your tank requirements. This is the most important thing about all of this stuff.
There are so many ways to do it, so many factors involved such as different types of equipment, reactors, skimmers, additives, tank bio loads, water circualtion, temperatures, salinity, saltmixes, water changes, freshwater sources, gas exchange rates, tank sizes, inverts and janitors, living algaes and refugiums, lighting arrangements and the list goes on and on.
The absolute key to success in my opinion - is to find out where you are at first - establish some type of baseline to work from - develop the maintenance routine that works best for you and your tankwater/creatures ......... and stick to it.
That's about all I got to say about this
