So...what's your "secret?"

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Let me start off by saying the obvious: I am no expert at this. I'm just a hobbyist. I learn new things about these tanks of ours all the time.....and for me, that whole process of discovery is a big part of the appeal. I love watching the hobby evolve both on a meta level as a group, and on a personal level in my own living room aquarium.

That being said, I've been at this for a few years now.....and I've got a pretty nice aquarium to show for it. I get a few people who come over in person or see my tank online and ask me variations of the same question: "What's your secret?" That question, asked often enough, got me thinking about a good answer. What IS my secret?

Truth is, there is no secret. No magic pill, no secret sauce, no private potion that I add to the tank to make it look purty. But you probably already knew that. My personal "secret" is a combination of a few of the oldest and most obvious habits in our hobby. Water changes, stability, and patience.

I know there are a lot of people who have said "water changes are a thing of the past! Just dose your elements!" and, for them, they might be right. I also know what my tank used to look like when I didn't do regular water changes. Wasn't pretty. And I know what my tank looks like when I do perform regular changes. Hey, guess what? Suddenly it IS pretty! And the water changes are such a simple thing to do......I perform 2 water changes a month, either 15% or 20%, which means my total water change works out to about 35% monthly. It's not hard to do at all, once you get into a rhythm for it. Doing these two water changes every month has become an almost relaxing part of my maintenance routine, and it gives me a chance to get in and blow all the rocks down of any accumulated detritus....win-win, I suppose.

In a way, the idea of doing two big water changes a month seems counter-intuitive to my second "secret." But it really does mesh when you think about it. We’re trying to achieve some level of homeostasis here in these glass boxes, and there’s really no way of doing that without constant nutrient export via water changes, algal filters, skimmers, and other similar devices. Swapping out a moderate percentage every couple of weeks helps keep the numbers in line, so to speak, and should be no more stressful to the fish and corals than a regular low tide in the real world.

So, was that all I meant by stability? Well, no. It’s a big part, but what I really mean is overall system stability for the coral inhabitants. I’m talking about daily dosing for 2-part, regular testing, and the use of an automated topoff system. Fish can handle a little salinity swing or alk spike……invertebrates can’t. I can’t think of a single coral reef system that I’ve seen that didn’t have somebody at BARE MINIMUM using a method for topping off evap on a daily basis. Many hobbyists also use automated dosers for Calcium and Alk, but it’s not strictly necessary…as long as you take the time to manually dose your Ca and Alk loss every single day. I’ve learned (sadly through experience) that alk swings from skipping a few doses can and will kill off a coral or three. However you choose to dose, ya gotta do it religiously.

Which brings me to my third and final secret: Patience. Nothing magical happens fast in this hobby. We have to learn how to relax, be constant in our maintenance schedule, and sit back to let the inhabitants do “their thing.” It’s so easy to jump the gun in a thousand different ways. We try to rush the cycle instead of allowing the bacterial colonies to grow naturally. We tend to overload the tank with small coral frags instead of letting a few choice pieces grow out into display size. (We also tend to frag “colonies” of corals way before they really should be fragged out, but I digress.) And of course we all want to get all those beautiful fish into the tank all at once, instead of adding a couple fish at a time, properly quarantined, and allowing the tank to re-achieve its homeostasis before adding more fish. All of these pitfalls are easy to fall for, and I suspect that everyone here has made at least one of these mistakes along the way. God knows I have. Learning patience, in fact, was probably the hardest lesson I had to learn when I started out so long ago. But I’m glad I did. I wouldn’t have the tank I have today if I hadn’t figured that last bit out.

So that’s it. My super-dooper “secrets” for keeping a nice tank. But don’t tell anybody else……shhhhhhh. What are some of your tricks that you’ve picked up over the years?
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Lol my secret. Get the fish home and acclimated before the wife gets home!!!
Really tho, nova hit the nail. Patients, water quality, consistency. Patients can be a bitch lol its why I have 3 tanks. There is always room somewhere! I always thought make it through the cycle keep a few fish alive and I would be home free. Add a few more and be done.WRONG!!!! LOL there are always more and new fish. My secret, besides the already mentioned, choose fish wisely. Do your homework, research research research. Just bc this site, or book says there compatible or not get a 2nd option. I'am mostly a fish guy, minor in corals. So believe me when I tell you. You can have pristine water, flow the ocean its self would envy. But mix the wrong fish and you'll hate the mere mention of saltwater.
 

pegasus

Well-Known Member
What are some of your tricks that you’ve picked up over the years?
Not to listen to a bunch of psycho babble... and do my own thing. :p

Seriously, I think you nailed it. You listed the most common mistakes that newbies (and the occasional "intermediate" hobbyist) make. The trickiest part is taking all of the advice and tips, and custom-tailoring it to fit a particular system. As we all know, no two are the same. There are a ton of similarities, but there is always a difference. You have to find what "fits"... and that's too often through trial-and-error. We sometimes have to sacrifice a fish, coral, or invert to find that sweet spot, but the lessons learned along the way are what makes us proficient at the hobby. The hard learned lessons tend to stick with us better than those we read about, and I'm pretty certain we've all jumped the gun a time or two and paid the price. The secret is to get past the sucky part of learning what not to do... and then we can relax and enjoy the fruits of our efforts.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Money.

You can have a great tank if you have the money to invest in it, regardless of if you know what your doing or not. You could have someone else maintain it and buy everything for you. Money is a good thing to have.

Patience.

Patience is perhaps the hardest thing to learn in this hobby, but nothing good happens quickly in the saltwater world. Making small changes over time tends to work out much better.

Testing.

Testing your water and understanding the chemistry behind it is very important.

Research.

This is my most important rule to success, not only in fish tanks, but in life. The more you know, the better off you are. Knowledge is power. Gain it. Use it. Distribute it freely.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
My secret.... Actually listen to the folks in the know, and learn from them. If I ask advice, my intent is to take that advice, not argue if it's not what I want to hear. This site, and the people on it have helped me so much over the years... I hope all who find their way here enjoys the company, and learn from their knowledge as much as I have.
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
And honestly, mine would look better if I tested more often (there I said it, I don't test enough) and if I finally got around to setting up the stupid bubble magus doser.

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pegasus

Well-Known Member
And honestly, mine would look better if I tested more often (there I said it, I don't test enough) and if I finally got around to setting up the stupid bubble magus doser.
I think we all reach a point when we seem to know when testing is needed. In the early stages it's a necessity, as parameters are all over the map. After our systems stabilize, and we learn to notice subtle changes, we can get away with longer periods of not testing. That said, the only way to know the condition of our systems with any certainty, is by testing. I just bought a pair of Hanna Checkers, and will be replacing my other test kits with Hannas as my budget allows. ;)
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Money.

You can have a great tank if you have the money to invest in it, regardless of if you know what your doing or not. You could have someone else maintain it and buy everything for you. Money is a good thing to have.
Hmmm....you're not wrong, but I don't 100% agree either. Money may be a good thing to have (G*d knows!!) but I think it's possible to keep a very nice looking system on a budget. In fact, I try my hardest to get the best equipment my pocketbook can afford, without breaking the bank. I don't have some of the crazy-expensive toys that are available. I look for deals, and I can usually find them. You know me.....I'm about as Joe-Average as you can get when it comes to my earning potential.

Sure, money helps......but I don't think you need to be even in the upper-middle to afford this hobby. If you're passionate about it and (as you very wisely pointed out) are willing to learn, you can keep a nice system on a very reasonable budget.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Money.

You can have a great tank if you have the money to invest in it, regardless of if you know what your doing or not. You could have someone else maintain it and buy everything for you. Money is a good thing to have.
You can't call it a hobby if somebody else does it. We can all buy a bird feeder/house, but some people make it a hobby to make their own. We can all buy pretty much anything we want, if we have the cash. However a hobby means doing something on your own, and gaining the satisfaction that comes with it.

I didn't get into fish because I wanted just a pretty thing in the house. I enjoy messing with all things fishy, and when it looks like I want it, I have the satisfaction of knowing it's something I did...so I'm proud of it. Because of my health, I had somebody come, but I wasn't happy having a lady come in to take care of my tank, I found myself micromanaging ... All I could say about the whole thing was that SHE did a good job, two months later I didn't want her to do it anymore.

I found a way...because I want to do it myself, I have decided that when the day comes that I can't do it anymore, then I will just get out of the hobby.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Eh. Whatever makes you sleep at night. I just know what works for me. Those are MY "secrets" and they might not work for you. This thread asked for individual opinions. Mine might not work for you, but it doesn't make me wrong.

You can have a salt tank on a budget, I know I do and have for the last several years. I'm on the low end of middle class. But I'm just saying that money can also buy you certain perks and equipment that can make your tank look and be healthier.

I didn't expect so much criticism,...
 

mandy111

Active Member
I think we all reach a point when we seem to know when testing is needed. In the early stages it's a necessity, as parameters are all over the map. After our systems stabilize, and we learn to notice subtle changes, we can get away with longer periods of not testing. That said, the only way to know the condition of our systems with any certainty, is by testing. I just bought a pair of Hanna Checkers, and will be replacing my other test kits with Hannas as my budget allows. ;)
@pegasus
The Hanna phos egg is the only hanna checker that I (and many other reefers)_ believe is worth spending your money on.
I bought cal, alk and phos.
Sold the cal and alk within 3 months, and went back to salifert test. easier to use (less hassles means your more likely to use )
I and lots of other reefers here in Australia found if you were even .02 of ml out in the cal test, it was all over the place. You could test 3 times in a row, 1 after the other and get a different reading everytime.
The Alk test was easy to use, but once again even the smallest margin out in measuring the reagent and readings out by a mile, Hanna also had a short period where the reagents were faulty, unfortunately I was one of the recipients and my alk crashed badly without even knowing, cause I was testing religiously
.
 

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Eh. Whatever makes you sleep at night. I just know what works for me. Those are MY "secrets" and they might not work for you. This thread asked for individual opinions. Mine might not work for you, but it doesn't make me wrong.

You can have a salt tank on a budget, I know I do and have for the last several years. I'm on the low end of middle class. But I'm just saying that money can also buy you certain perks and equipment that can make your tank look and be healthier.

I didn't expect so much criticism,...
I don't think it's criticism... it's just different viewpoints. As you said, you can definitely have a nice tank and do it on a budget. If I were rich and had all the latest and greatest gadgets, and someone to come in to clean and maintain my tanks, I would eventually become bored with the (no longer) hobby. At that point, it would become a mere possession. It's the interaction with the tanks and occupants that keeps my attention. Sure, I dream about having a fully automated system that freed me up to do other things, which goes straight back to what I just wrote. I would find other things to occupy my time, and would lose interest in my saltwater friends. I never want to reach that point...

I can understand your point about the Hanna Checkers, Mandy. All tests come with a certain "margin of error", so I can't, in complete confidence, say Salifert is better or worse than Hanna. It's just as easy to add a little too much or too little reagent with Salifert as well. Everyone sees colors differently, so the even the end-point may not seem to occur at the same time for two different people. I think we should use the kits that we feel most comfortable with. I've run multiple back-to-back tests with my Hannas, and I haven't found any broad swings in readings. I'm extremely careful to measure each reagent to the exact mark each and every time, and to completely clean the cuvettes before testing. I even go so far as to rinse the cuvettes in the solution I'm using (saltwater or RO/DI) before testing. It all boils down to what works best for the individual... which goes hand-in-hand with most every other aspect of this hobby. What works for some, doesn't work for others... and that's one of the things that makes this hobby so interesting... finding what works for you (or me), the individual. ;)
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Patience was #1 for me to practice as well. The worst thing a hobbyist can do is rush in to do anything they are not knowledgeable about. Planning out what I wanted to do with the tank, then researching it to be certain. Also, everyone probably knows this about me, QT is one of the single most important things I learned to do when it came to keeping fish. Before I did that, my experiences with acquiring new fish were always fearful rather than enjoyable. With good reason because fish I got were just as likely to get sick and infect other fish than not. The QT goes along the lines of patience as well. Once I acquired patience, things got a lot more enjoyable.
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Hmmmm....my comment wasn't meant as criticism, bud, just another pov. My apologies if it was misconstrued.

And Beth is 1000% correct. How on earth I forgot to add "QUARANTINE EVERYTHING" to my original post, I'll never know. I do a full 30 day minimum qt on all fish. Yes I have lost fish in qt, but to be blunt....I'd rather lose a single fish in qt than let a sick fish infect and kill the whole system.
 

Kristin1234

Active Member
Not bragging here. But I have available funds and my tank looks like crap compared to yalls. Lol.

I'm working on it though!!

My "secret" is you guys. You all have helped me a ton from day one. I can read and read and read and then 2 articles telling you 2 separate things gets confusing. I trust the oldies here, as I have never been mislead.
 
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