New Dad & A Reef Tank

phenom5

phenom5

Member
My wife and I are expecting our first this Dec. We're excited, we're nervous, our heads are spinning a bit. One thing I have thought of some is my tank.

My tank is a well established SPS tank. My routine is:

Daily: Clean the glass (if needed), feed, vodka dose

Weekly: Clean skimmer cup, clean glass, add RO/DI to ATO reservoir

Every other week: Water Change

Monthly: Clean pumps

Quarterly: Make/ fill 2-part, Change media



So any tips on surviving with a newborn and a tank?
Considering switching up to monthly water changes now, so I can see if/ how it impacts things. Or maybe I really ramp things up as far as maintenance since it will probably fall off a bit after the baby is born. Considering taking the GFO/ GAC reactor offline completely.

Honestly, selling the whole setup is on the table. But my concern is that with the pennies on the dollar that'll I'll get for it, I may never set up another tank.


On a related note, has anybody re-skinned their stand with a tank in place? I am kind of 50/50 on whether it's doable, or if that is a colossal disaster waiting to happen. I know I have some time, but my stand isn't kid proof, and in its current config, will be hard to do so. Do they make super heavy-duty magnets to mount doors? My doors don't have hinges, just held on by magnets. Beyond that, I would just love to change up the style/ look of the stand and rebuild the hood.

Also, I don't think there's much of a chance of it going anywhere, but how about anchoring it to the wall? 2x4 frame with ply exterior. Thinking I could get something into the studs behind/ under the tank, and then attach it somehow coming off the bottom of the top frame?
 
Why change your husbandry just bc of the demands of a newborn? You have time to do laundry, cook dinner, other house chores.....

The only conflict I see is your WIFE feeling abandoned during your tank maintenance time. All being all difficult bc you aren't at her side 24/7

If I were you......I would sit down with her and SET PRIORITIES.

- Baby needs come first
- Her needs come second
- House chores come third

- Tank mainentance comes somewhere down that list.....even if that means your doing WCs at 1am on a Friday nite

Don't change your maintenance habits just CHANGE WHAT TIME YOU DO THEM.....making sure the Baby and Her needs are met first.

You can do this
 
You could anchor your tank to the wall if you feel it necessary. But, depending on the size of your tank, it's unlikely that a toddler or even a small child would be able to pull the tank over. Consider your tank to be at least 10 pounds per gallon

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As a new first time dad myself (son born the day after xmas) I will give you my input..

I will tell you that ALL of my "new/planned" reef projects got put on hold and will be for a while..
But my tank is still running just fine and all my corals/fish are doing just fine..

Your maintenance schedule doesn't seem to hard and should be quite easy to accomplish.. I don't see you having any problems keeping it all running if you want..

You've got quite while before your tank needs to be "kid proof" too.. Mine is coming on 6 months old now and I would have no problem placing him within 6 feet of a flaming bed of knives.. (ok DCFS.. please realize I'm over exaggerating to make a point and would never do that so don't come knocking on my door..) Its a while before they are movable enough to get into any real trouble.. Their "danger zone" is about a 2ft circle around the exact spot you put them.. Nothing more..

It can certainly be skinned/kid proofed when complete/running though.. You may just not be able to make it look "as pretty" as if you had move freedom to move it..

Like I said though.. If you have projects you want to do.. DO THEM NOW.. because once that little one comes your priorities in life change drastically.. I basically bought a new house last year and built my "Dream tank" and now I dream about totally different things and every penny that went into the tank now goes to toys/clothes and all the fun stuff associated with him..


Of course I also know what it takes to have a successful tank and it basically runs itself.. About all I do now is fill up the autofish feeder every month or so and change the skimmer cup every 2 weeks if that and just fill up the vinegar/alk/cal dosing bottles as needed..
It takes care of itself.. I've got better things to take care of now..
 
phenom5 said:
Also, I don't think there's much of a chance of it going anywhere, but how about anchoring it to the wall? 2x4 frame with ply exterior. Thinking I could get something into the studs behind/ under the tank, and then attach it somehow coming off the bottom of the top frame?
Click to expand...

oh and this absolutely does NOT need to happen..
Unless your kid is bam-bam..
Even multiple adults are going to have problems tipping a 155G tank...
 
My kids are a little older, but here are my 2 cents.

No need to anchor your tank. A baby can't tip it over.

The hardest part will probably the first 6 weeks until the baby is sleeping through the night. Once the baby can sleep 4-6 hours you'll feel your life slowly returning to normal.

I would do a big round of maintenance right before the baby is born to plan for that first month when you might not have the time, that will but you some time during the no sleep period.

After that you can start getting back to normal.

Take the next few months to decide if you need to kids proof. We did for all our drawers and cabinets for our first child, but I never saw either of my kids try to open any of them. It may be unnecessary.

Good luck!

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NO3 said:
Why change your husbandry just bc of the demands of a newborn? You have time to do laundry, cook dinner, other house chores.....

The only conflict I see is your WIFE feeling abandoned during your tank maintenance time. All being all difficult bc you aren't at her side 24/7

If I were you......I would sit down with her and SET PRIORITIES.

- Baby needs come first
- Her needs come second
- House chores come third

- Tank mainentance comes somewhere down that list.....even if that means your doing WCs at 1am on a Friday nite

Don't change your maintenance habits just CHANGE WHAT TIME YOU DO THEM.....making sure the Baby and Her needs are met first.

You can do this
Click to expand...
You are nuts. No way I am doing a water change in the middle of the night.

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Here's what I didn't realize about a newborn when people talk about not sleeping.

It's not like pulling an all nighter in college. It's like this. The baby wants to be fed, do you fed the baby. That takes like 30 minutes. Then the baby poops, so you change the baby. Then the baby falls asleep, for like an hour and a half. That's when you sleep.

So you fall asleep for an hour or so. Then it gets hungry and cries. You wake up and feed the baby... 24/7 for about a month...

A week in and you're a zombie. A month in and you're ready to kill yourself.... Then the baby sleeps for 4 hours and it's like... Angels from heaven....

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journeyman said:
Here's what I didn't realize about a newborn when people talk about not sleeping.

It's not like pulling an all nighter in college. It's like this. The baby wants to be fed, do you fed the baby. That takes like 30 minutes. Then the baby poops, so you change the baby. Then the baby falls asleep, for like an hour and a half. That's when you sleep.

So you fall asleep for an hour or so. Then it gets hungry and cries. You wake up and feed the baby... 24/7 for about a month...

A week in and you're a zombie. A month in and you're ready to kill yourself.... Then the baby sleeps for 4 hours and it's like... Angels from heaven....

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Click to expand...

Nailed it.
 
Congrats! My first was born this past November. It is easy for people to say don't change the routine. I feel they are either non-parents, or far removed from the infant stage. Its insane how demanding and time consuming those little buggers are. Enjoy it. My tank was neglected, I'll be the first to admit it. Best thing I did was rig up an auto water change system.

Stenner dual head peristaltic pump, it runs daily for half an hour pumping new saltwater from a Brute can in my basement to the return section of my sump, while the other head pumps water from the skimmer section of my sump out and down the drain. All I need to remember to do is check the water level in the Brute every week or two. Plus observe salinity to make sure there is no creep, the amount changed is almost but not quite identical. With a new baby reducing what could be an hour or so of work every week/every other week to literally no work at all is a massive win.
 
Thanks guys.

I love hearing the reef tips, and the general new dad tips too!

I read somewhere about a small child rocking a tank back and forth...but I think they were talking about a nano. Can't imagine anything short of a dump truck could pull the tank over, but I figured what's the harm. Probably pass on the anchors.

I may remake doors, hood and bartop (around tank). But not sure if/ when I will have time.



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Non issue until they are 2+. Kids are lumps that just eat and poop first 6 mos. They start moving around after that, but local to a single room. At year mark you have to watch them, etc., but remember, you can't really do anything adult/fun anyway, and staying home in you're baby-proofed house becomes a much less stressful option to virtually anything, so you free up that time, you're pretty much home bound and governed by nap and sleep schedule. Plenty of down time while waiting for kid to wake up or fall asleep.

At 2 they require attention and entertaining; at 5 sports and "œactivities" start to dominate your life. I've got a 5 and 8 year old in sports, and we have 5 games between them, I won't see my wife most of tomorrow.


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just minimize or skip altogether using FB and RC, you'll be surprised how much more time you have to do other things. :)
 
journeyman said:
Then the baby sleeps for 4 hours and it's like... Angels from heaven....
Click to expand...

Mine slept in his own crib last night for the first time..
(We had a co-sleeper bed between my wife and I up till now)...
It was fantastic having that little bit of the bed back and nothing in between us (we can spoon again :) )..
He still gets up at 3:30am to feed but at least we have our bed back finally..

For the whole 5 +months he slept through the night once.. We were up checking on him every hour thinking something was wrong.. So even when he slept.. We didn't
 
phenom5 said:
You are nuts. No way I am doing a water change in the middle of the night.
Click to expand...

No you won't.. You just learn to do them really quick..

Instead of a slow siphon with 1/2" tubing to remove the water you pick up a shop vac with a 4" hose and suck that water out in under a minute..

Instead of a 1/4" tube filling the tank back up you are bench pressing the saltwater jugs over your head dumping it right out the large spout..

All the time you are rocking the baby with your big toe... :lmao:
 
mcgyvr said:
No you won't.. You just learn to do them REALLY QUICKLY...

Instead of a slow siphon with 1/2" tubing to remove the water you pick up a shop vac with a 4" hose and suck that water out in under a minute..

Instead of a 1/4" tube filling the tank back up you are bench pressing the saltwater jugs over your head dumping it right out the large spout..

All the time you are rocking the baby with your big toe... :lmao:
Click to expand...
 
journeyman said:
Here's what I didn't realize about a newborn when people talk about not sleeping.

It's not like pulling an all nighter in college. It's like this. The baby wants to be fed, do you fed the baby. That takes like 30 minutes. Then the baby poops, so you change the baby. Then the baby falls asleep, for like an hour and a half. That's when you sleep.

So you fall asleep for an hour or so. Then it gets hungry and cries. You wake up and feed the baby... 24/7 for about a month...

A week in and you're a zombie. A month in and you're ready to kill yourself.... Then the baby sleeps for 4 hours and it's like... Angels from heaven....


HAHA:rollface:
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Click to expand...
 
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