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(Question of the Day) What does your tank maintenance schedule
- Thread starter Cpage101
- Start date
Weekly water changes - 15-20 gallon. IO Reef crystals.
Turkey baster blast on rockwork as needed to kick up any sediment.
Detritus removal from frag tank as necessary.
Dump and clean Skimmer cup 1-2x weekly.
Clean Glass daily.
Cleaning ATS (algae turf scrubber) as needed. Generally monthly.
Clean in tank circulation pumps monthly.
Clean return pump/skimmer pump every 6 months (sometimes longer).
Clean optical sensor on ATO Every 6 months.
Change RO Filters when TDS is showing 0.5.
Turkey baster blast on rockwork as needed to kick up any sediment.
Detritus removal from frag tank as necessary.
Dump and clean Skimmer cup 1-2x weekly.
Clean Glass daily.
Cleaning ATS (algae turf scrubber) as needed. Generally monthly.
Clean in tank circulation pumps monthly.
Clean return pump/skimmer pump every 6 months (sometimes longer).
Clean optical sensor on ATO Every 6 months.
Change RO Filters when TDS is showing 0.5.
I don't really have any schedule. 4 or 5 times a year I change some water. I normally collect it in the sea and if it's a nice day, I collect it because who doesn't like a little time at the beach?
I just about never test anything unless I am writing an article or someone wants to interview me and I know they will ask what my parameters are but if everything looks good, I never test.
I should dose but that's another thing I rarely do. I don't have any SPS now since my invasive sponge grew all over it. (I eliminated the sponge)
I have to clean the glass every day or two or the tank will look like sheet metal.
I feed almost every day but sometimes I forget for a couple of days. Cold blooded fish can go a month or more without eating and they don't even know what day it is. When I was in Nam I had a large catfish. It died a month before I came home and I am sure no one fed it in those 11 months. He was also in about 4" of water.
The top of my skimmer gunks up every couple of months so I have to clean that and when my algae scrubber looks like a produce farm I clean that.
I don't really do anything else unless there is a flood or something breaks which rarely happens.
Of course once in a while I need to clean seaweed off the pumps.
I like to pour a glass of Grand Marnier, put on some vintage Linda Ronstadt, put my feet up and try to read the minds of my fish.
I think next month my tank will be 53 years old. I always said, if it reached 50, I would consider it a success.
I just about never test anything unless I am writing an article or someone wants to interview me and I know they will ask what my parameters are but if everything looks good, I never test.
I should dose but that's another thing I rarely do. I don't have any SPS now since my invasive sponge grew all over it. (I eliminated the sponge)
I have to clean the glass every day or two or the tank will look like sheet metal.
I feed almost every day but sometimes I forget for a couple of days. Cold blooded fish can go a month or more without eating and they don't even know what day it is. When I was in Nam I had a large catfish. It died a month before I came home and I am sure no one fed it in those 11 months. He was also in about 4" of water.
The top of my skimmer gunks up every couple of months so I have to clean that and when my algae scrubber looks like a produce farm I clean that.
I don't really do anything else unless there is a flood or something breaks which rarely happens.
Of course once in a while I need to clean seaweed off the pumps.
I like to pour a glass of Grand Marnier, put on some vintage Linda Ronstadt, put my feet up and try to read the minds of my fish.
I think next month my tank will be 53 years old. I always said, if it reached 50, I would consider it a success.
Thank you for your service
I have a schedule on my display but that's just because the tank is so young (under a year). Ideally once the corals start filling out and I'm not adding so much I plan to cut back on a lot of the testing to bi-weekly/monthly as I've done with displays in the past. Can't say that I've been the best at doing this schedule since the newborn came a couple of months ago but this is my ideal schedule.
Weekly:
Test Nitrate, Phosphate, Magnesium, Calcium, Iodine, pH, hardness, specific gravity, temp. I have a GHL controller with dosers, 2x pH probes, temp probe and conductivity probe plus a KH director that adjusts my 2 part dosing automatically but I don't trust the automation fully. I test everything just to be safe.
Clean glass; ideally I'd do this every 2 or three days but I rarely do this unless I know I have company coming over.
Refill ATO container; I'm in the process of getting a pump to pull water from my fill station thats almost directly below my display so this will be removed soon.
10% water change
Bi-weekly:
Empty and clean skimmer (can't say I'm the best at remembering this one)
Use a turkey baster to blow off rock work
Scrub any "bad" algaes off of rock work if I haven't done so already
Monthly:
Clean detritus out of sump
Calibrate all probes
Calibrate dosing pumps
Calibrate KH director
Yearly:
Start a new build
Weekly:
Test Nitrate, Phosphate, Magnesium, Calcium, Iodine, pH, hardness, specific gravity, temp. I have a GHL controller with dosers, 2x pH probes, temp probe and conductivity probe plus a KH director that adjusts my 2 part dosing automatically but I don't trust the automation fully. I test everything just to be safe.
Clean glass; ideally I'd do this every 2 or three days but I rarely do this unless I know I have company coming over.
Refill ATO container; I'm in the process of getting a pump to pull water from my fill station thats almost directly below my display so this will be removed soon.
10% water change
Bi-weekly:
Empty and clean skimmer (can't say I'm the best at remembering this one)
Use a turkey baster to blow off rock work
Scrub any "bad" algaes off of rock work if I haven't done so already
Monthly:
Clean detritus out of sump
Calibrate all probes
Calibrate dosing pumps
Calibrate KH director
Yearly:
Start a new build
