LazyWaterkeeper
New member
Five Pieces of Equipment That Made Me a Successful Reefkeeper
I've been reefkeeping for 10 years now. Like most of you, I absolutely sucked at it for the first few years. Eventually, I stopped sucking at it, and these five pieces of equipment were essential to that process.
1) Reverse-Osmosis Deionization Water Filter (RODI)
To be a successful aquarist, you need to control the quality of your water. An RODI water filter allows you to have access to pure, clean water at all times. I cannot emphasize how important this is! What if the tank leaks? What if your kid/roommate/soul mate/creepy uncle pours orange juice in the tank? What if your calcium reactor explodes? To be successful in the long term, you need 24/7 access to unknown amounts of clean water. An RODI makes this possible.
It also greatly simplifies ordinary maintenance. You don't need catastrophic events to justify having clean water.
Without an RODI, you must load water jugs into your car, drive to the LFS, drag them back into your car, drive home, spill seawater all over the trunk, drag the jugs back to the tank, clean out the trunk, and THEN do basic maintenance on the tank.
With an RODI, you just walk over to the filter, turn it on, and try not to forget to turn it off a few hours later. All those calories can be spent actually taking care of your tank. And you can mix your own saltwater (see below). This flexibility has literally marked the difference between life and death for some of my corals.
2) Refractometer
Accurately and reliably measuring salinity is the most basic requirement of being a saltwater aquarist. Hydrometers are often times inaccurate (i.e., reported measures of salinity are incorrect) and unreliable (i.e., repeated measures produce different results). A decent refractometer is more accurate and reliable, and can be recalibrated as necessary.
It may be difficult to find a high-quality refractometer at a good price, and things change over time. Do some research to find a good brand in your price range, and then test it yourself when you get ahold of it.
To test your refractometer:
1) To assess reliability, measure the salinity of your tank at least 3 times. If the measurements are the same, then your refractometer is reliable. If your measures differ by 0.002 or more, you may want to find a new refractometer.
2) To assess accuracy, use the calibration kit that is included with many refractomers. You may also want to check it against the refractometer at your LFS or other local reefkeepers.
3) Digital pH Meter
It is important to measure the pH of your reef tank, as well as the pH of the new saltwater being used in water changes. Test kits are too cumbersome and are limited use, so just get a digital pH pen instead. You can measure as often as you want, without having to buy more test kits later.
4) Digital Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Meter
It is important that you start with the cleanest, purest water possible for water changes and fresh seawater. How do you know your water is pure? With a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter. Pure water reads as zero, and anything above that indicates the presence of some kind of dissolved contaminant.
5) Salt Mix (and containers... and a powerhead for mixing...and a measuring cup)
I wasn't successful until I mixed my own saltwater, and used good testers to verify. I'm lazy, so I tried to make it an easy routine. I wrote 2 things right on the container: a fill line for 5 gallons of water, and the number of cups of salt required. A powerhead was used for mixing. This produced consistent salinity every time.
As for which salt mix to use, just pick one and use it consistently. Once you find one you like, buy the biggest container you can. You will eventually learn what you need to supplement to keep your particular tank happy, and using a consistent salt mix will remove a lot of the guesswork on your part.
Logic tells me that the bigger brands can afford to make larger, more consistent batches of salt. I could easily be wrong. Get whatever is consistently available in your area and makes your animals look healthy.
I found that by mixing my own saltwater, I felt more confident in doing frequent water changes, and could fix problems much more quickly. My mantra became "œIf the tank looks unhappy, do a water change." Because I was doing water changes with good water, I became successful in the long term.
As you can probably see, it wasn't the equipment I bought that mattered. It was how this equipment changed my reefkeeping habits that ultimately helped me become successful.
About the Author
The author has been keeping reeftanks of various sizes since 2005. After several years lurking on forums, and then avoiding them completely, he felt obliged to thank the reefkeeping community by sharing his knowledge and experience. Hopefully it will help others become more successful.
I've been reefkeeping for 10 years now. Like most of you, I absolutely sucked at it for the first few years. Eventually, I stopped sucking at it, and these five pieces of equipment were essential to that process.
1) Reverse-Osmosis Deionization Water Filter (RODI)
To be a successful aquarist, you need to control the quality of your water. An RODI water filter allows you to have access to pure, clean water at all times. I cannot emphasize how important this is! What if the tank leaks? What if your kid/roommate/soul mate/creepy uncle pours orange juice in the tank? What if your calcium reactor explodes? To be successful in the long term, you need 24/7 access to unknown amounts of clean water. An RODI makes this possible.
It also greatly simplifies ordinary maintenance. You don't need catastrophic events to justify having clean water.
Without an RODI, you must load water jugs into your car, drive to the LFS, drag them back into your car, drive home, spill seawater all over the trunk, drag the jugs back to the tank, clean out the trunk, and THEN do basic maintenance on the tank.
With an RODI, you just walk over to the filter, turn it on, and try not to forget to turn it off a few hours later. All those calories can be spent actually taking care of your tank. And you can mix your own saltwater (see below). This flexibility has literally marked the difference between life and death for some of my corals.
2) Refractometer
Accurately and reliably measuring salinity is the most basic requirement of being a saltwater aquarist. Hydrometers are often times inaccurate (i.e., reported measures of salinity are incorrect) and unreliable (i.e., repeated measures produce different results). A decent refractometer is more accurate and reliable, and can be recalibrated as necessary.
It may be difficult to find a high-quality refractometer at a good price, and things change over time. Do some research to find a good brand in your price range, and then test it yourself when you get ahold of it.
To test your refractometer:
1) To assess reliability, measure the salinity of your tank at least 3 times. If the measurements are the same, then your refractometer is reliable. If your measures differ by 0.002 or more, you may want to find a new refractometer.
2) To assess accuracy, use the calibration kit that is included with many refractomers. You may also want to check it against the refractometer at your LFS or other local reefkeepers.
3) Digital pH Meter
It is important to measure the pH of your reef tank, as well as the pH of the new saltwater being used in water changes. Test kits are too cumbersome and are limited use, so just get a digital pH pen instead. You can measure as often as you want, without having to buy more test kits later.
4) Digital Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Meter
It is important that you start with the cleanest, purest water possible for water changes and fresh seawater. How do you know your water is pure? With a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) meter. Pure water reads as zero, and anything above that indicates the presence of some kind of dissolved contaminant.
5) Salt Mix (and containers... and a powerhead for mixing...and a measuring cup)
I wasn't successful until I mixed my own saltwater, and used good testers to verify. I'm lazy, so I tried to make it an easy routine. I wrote 2 things right on the container: a fill line for 5 gallons of water, and the number of cups of salt required. A powerhead was used for mixing. This produced consistent salinity every time.
As for which salt mix to use, just pick one and use it consistently. Once you find one you like, buy the biggest container you can. You will eventually learn what you need to supplement to keep your particular tank happy, and using a consistent salt mix will remove a lot of the guesswork on your part.
Logic tells me that the bigger brands can afford to make larger, more consistent batches of salt. I could easily be wrong. Get whatever is consistently available in your area and makes your animals look healthy.
I found that by mixing my own saltwater, I felt more confident in doing frequent water changes, and could fix problems much more quickly. My mantra became "œIf the tank looks unhappy, do a water change." Because I was doing water changes with good water, I became successful in the long term.
As you can probably see, it wasn't the equipment I bought that mattered. It was how this equipment changed my reefkeeping habits that ultimately helped me become successful.
About the Author
The author has been keeping reeftanks of various sizes since 2005. After several years lurking on forums, and then avoiding them completely, he felt obliged to thank the reefkeeping community by sharing his knowledge and experience. Hopefully it will help others become more successful.
) Or maybe that's just me.
