Anyone else notice a natural rise & decline in their tank?

vlangel

vlangel

Premium Member
Hi all, I have been keeping reef tanks now for about 25 years. I have had 3 main tanks in that time so they are up a while. My current tank is 6 years old although it has one coral that has been with me the whole 25 years.

Anyway, I noticed a few months back that I no longer saw micro stars at feeding time. I used to have a gazillion. I also noticed that the tank was in a minor decline. Nothing catastrophic but some coral were not thriving. Evidently something was happening that was not good.

Anyway I have talked to other reefers whose tanks have been up a long time and they noticed the same. It's like there are natural rise and falls in our reefs. The good news is that if we stay the course our reffs will come out of it.
 
What’s your maintenance routine after 6 years?

I find tanks that I run and stay consistent on water changes with always carry on unphased and steadily improve

Usually every other week but if I can get on weekly even better

It makes all The difference in the world to be set up to do water changes as easy as possible from the start
It becomes a burden when the water change is “work”

I like to open a valve to drain
Open a valve to fill

Quality RO water for changes and top off I also find important
Don’t forget to change membranes n stay on top of filters
 
As long as I’ve been doing this I always remind myself and others that water changes are your friend
Such a simple beneficial thing

Not saying you can’t run a tank without water changes but IMO those cycles you describe are a lot more prevalent in systems with less frequent water changes
 
mellotang said:
As long as I’ve been doing this I always remind myself and others that water changes are your friend
Such a simple beneficial thing

Not saying you can’t run a tank without water changes but IMO those cycles you describe are a lot more prevalent in systems with less frequent water changes
Click to expand...
What do you think about daily water changes? I was thinking that rather than do 10% weekly, do say 1.5% daily.
 
Look at the guys that run 1 gallon closed jars for tanks

The reason it works is frequent 100% water changes

You can have all The equipment and controllers in the world but if you don’t do the water changes the tank eventually looks flat and loses some Vibrance

It’s just surviving, not thriving
 
To your first question, this is the reason I keep rubble in my sump. In a tank, critters will come and go. Given a place where there are no predators, their ability to thrive is amplified. Move a few pieces from the sump and remove a few from the tank, easy pasy. I also exchanged pieces with other reefers. It keeps things from dying off.
 
Since my tank is only 20 gallons. I could easily change a quart daily before feeding.
 
vlangel said:
Hi all, I have been keeping reef tanks now for about 25 years. I have had 3 main tanks in that time so they are up a while. My current tank is 6 years old although it has one coral that has been with me the whole 25 years.

Anyway, I noticed a few months back that I no longer saw micro stars at feeding time. I used to have a gazillion. I also noticed that the tank was in a minor decline. Nothing catastrophic but some coral were not thriving. Evidently something was happening that was not good.

Anyway I have talked to other reefers whose tanks have been up a long time and they noticed the same. It's like there are natural rise and falls in our reefs. The good news is that if we stay the course our reffs will come out of it.
Click to expand...
Yep, I'm in a downturn that's baffling me right now. I got an ICP test but I don't see anything that says "I gotta fix that". They show zero phosphate but I float between .01 and .04 on Hanna, and I feed Reef Roids and there's some algae so I know it's in there. Maybe someone else sees a red flag...

lab.atiaquaristik.com_view_165046.png
 
I am wondering if the downward trends are very subtle things like a reduction in pod population (or some other sort of micro life) due to some type of pod plague. Who knows, there are still lots of mysteries to our little pieces of ocean?????
 
I am wondering if the downward trends are very subtle things like a reduction in pod population (or some other sort of micro life) due to some type of pod plague. Who knows, there are still lots of mysteries to our little pieces of ocean?????
 
mellotang said:
What’s your maintenance routine after 6 years?

I find tanks that I run and stay consistent on water changes with always carry on unphased and steadily improve

Usually every other week but if I can get on weekly even better

It makes all The difference in the world to be set up to do water changes as easy as possible from the start
It becomes a burden when the water change is “work”

I like to open a valve to drain
Open a valve to fill

Quality RO water for changes and top off I also find important
Don’t forget to change membranes n stay on top of filters
Click to expand...
I used to be an aquarium maintenance tech for a lfs so I learned that water change are most definitely our friend. And I agree with you 110% that unless water changes are easy that they won't get done. My system is very easy and I am very consistent about doing 5 - 10% weekly water changes.
 
Misled said:
To your first question, this is the reason I keep rubble in my sump. In a tank, critters will come and go. Given a place where there are no predators, their ability to thrive is amplified. Move a few pieces from the sump and remove a few from the tank, easy pasy. I also exchanged pieces with other reefers. It keeps things from dying off.
Click to expand...
I also keep rubble in my sump which is dark and has no predators in it. I really like your idea of exchanging pieces with other reefers as I believe that would keep the tank diversified.
 
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