Salty Chores

TotalKhaos

TotalKhaos

New member
What Tank maintnance do you like the least?

I just finished a 15% WC, cleaned the sand, blew off the rocks, changed the carbon, cleaned the glass, emptied and cleaned out the skimmer, and a few other small tasks... The water Change has got to be the worst chore.

Water on the floor, me, side of the tank etc... buckets and tubs everywhere, hands are left feeling dry and cracked, and there is no instant gratification of seeing a cleaner tank as now the sand is stirred up and the tank is clouded. I hate water changes...

What bugs you the most and what steps if any have you taken to make the chore simpler?
 
I'm not sure how your system is setup, but I used to hate water changes the most as well. So what I did was add a valve/union system off of my closed loop. Using this system I am able to simply pull up an empty container and open the valves correctly to let the old water drain out, and then pull the new water up to the tank in my BRUTE, place a hose into it and open the valves in the correct order so that my closed loop distributes the new water into the tank. I'm sure that others do something similar, and that this is not a totally original idea, but it works really well and didn't take much to set it up. I use a union to remove the extra long hose so that it does not clutter around the tank. If you want to see pictures, I can probably take some tonight and post them ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ but it is nothing special. It makes my water changes take about 10 minutes (aside from the whole mixing/etc.)

-- Josh
 
my bro just bought my nano and is paying me to maintain it. standard fee a month is $10 (water change, change filter, quick magnet algae clean, check corals) but certian chores cost more acording to how much i dislike them

stir sandbed $1
manually scrub glass because some stuff is to tough for the maget to get (coraline, little tubeworms) $2
manually pull extra capulra algae (it got introduced before i knew what it was, it overgrows quick) $4
unclog powerheads $5

for me cleaning the powerheads and filter intakes is a pain! especially when a powerhead gets cloged so bad, or sucks in sand and you have to take it apart clean the bits then put it back together.

for me waterchanges are a pain for the same reason as you, i ALWAYS get it on me and the floor. atleast the floor is painted cement so i can do little harm to it, the worst i can do is dicolor or cause the paint to come off but we have like 5 gallons of the "battleship gray" we used. i feel sorry for any one who has a tank in a room w/nice lenolium tile or wood floors.

not to mention last time i tripped on the jug i use to fill the tank and basically landed in my bucket of dirty tank water!!

at least my kittens like it, they have an odd fasination w/water and bat the water in the bucket.
 
I just started my nano but I bought a new pump for (better)circulation from Dr F.S. and I plan to use the pump that came with the new nano tank to pull water out of the nano down to the drain, and then use the pump to push water up from my 5 gallon bucket (where I mix everything) back up into the tank to refill it.

I have not tried this yet, and I'm sure many others have better ideas, but this is what I though would make this task very mess-less.

Heck though if Lilleah maintains nanos for $10 bucks a month count me in!!! J/K :)
 
Doing a water change is my most liked chore now. I took the time to run PVC with ball valves, unions, etc., to my main sewer line and from my trash cans to my tanks. Now all I do is turn a few ball valves here, open or close a water spigot there, put some salt in over there and that's it. Turn ball valves to let water drain to the sewer line then close those and open a couple others and turn on my Mag 18 pump to pump water up to my main tank. Easy as pie and lickity split.
 
I like Freed's method, and intend on installing a couple ball valves in the system, one coming off the closed loop drain. Saves me having to wheel the cans around to the front porch and the neighbors won't think I'm (as much of) a moron for having a huge aquarium.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7119330#post7119330 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thereefgeek
I make saltwater in 32 gallon Brute garbage cans and the rolling dollys make life easy. I fill the "Fresh" can with DI water and transfer that with a big powerhead to the "Salt" can where I add Instant Ocean to 1.025 and mix with a big powerhead and keep it heated until I need to do a change. I carry the now empty "fresh" can into the "fishroom" and drain about 30 gallons of old water from the tank into it. Then I wheel the "Salt" can around to the front porch and pump the new saltwater into the sump through the window through a long hose (my neighbors must think I'm nuts on water-change Sundays). Once everything's full I turn the tank's main pump on and pump the water back into the tank. Next I pump the dirty water back out through the window into the sewer clean-out near my front porch and away it goes.
43056My_water.jpg
Click to expand...
 
The chore I hated the most was topping off my tank each day. I couldn't leave for a day without worrying about the tank. The auto-top off has made it so much easier.

The next chore I hated the most is water changes. I wish I had plumb a system like freed. Oh well. But Matt (Wombat2) loaned me a water changing system that hooks up to your faucet. It makes a siphon, and makes water changes much easier. Once I drain out the water, I hook it up to a mag 9.5 in my saltwater bucket, and pump water back in. Life is much easier - but if I ever build a large tank, I am going to try to make it even easier. :D

Minh
 
arn't ya guys afraid somthing may go down the drain besides water? i know w/me i'd be worried about my small fish or my lettuce nudi going in the tube and down the sink.
 
I read somewhere on RC once, that when scraping the algae, water changes, etc...got to be a hassle; that is when you know its time to quit. I probably spend a minimum of a 1/2 hour a day on mine doing preventitive maintence/upkeep.

What really bothers me is all the engineering homework waiting for me......now that is a PAIN!! Kinda cuts in on the tank time.

What bothers me the most is what my girlfriend fondly refers to as"fish-arm". Its that left arm thats always wet or needs to be washed because I always have my paw in it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7121621#post7121621 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lilleahseafreak
arn't ya guys afraid somthing may go down the drain besides water? i know w/me i'd be worried about my small fish or my lettuce nudi going in the tube and down the sink.
Click to expand...

At the end of the drain line that's in the tank, make sure you put a length of PVC that is capped on the end and has slits cut in it with a miter saw. Smooth cuts and only 1/8" wide so nothing will get sucked down.
 
I wish I could pay someone $10 per month to come by every day and top off the tank. mix my water on thursdays, and do a waterchange on Friday, sounds like a deal :)
 
I don't mind changing water, cleaning glass, picking at alge.... What I really hate doing is testing my water. I do that for 8+ hours a day already, and it's the last thing I want to do when I get home.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7121785#post7121785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sacramentodots
I read somewhere on RC once, that when scraping the algae, water changes, etc...got to be a hassle; that is when you know its time to quit.
Click to expand...

Well whoever said that is full of it. Just cause something is a hassle/ messy whatever doesnt mean its not worth it.

Sheesh, I'm potty training a 2 year old that we have nick named "Skid Mark" and thinks the bathroom is anyroom except the one down the hall to your left. I'm not going to quit working with him tho... I know it may seem like a completely different thing but its really not - My Tank is My Baby too.

I also love my computer and messing around on it, but I hate organizing files and doing maintnance to it - Not gonna chuck it through the window tho, and I'm certainly not gonna stop enjoying it... instead I came up with easy ways to keep the maintnance easy and fast.
 
Freed, I work as an environmental analyst. Right now I work in the inorganic side of the building testing for a lot of the compounds we find ourselves worried about. I run and fix IC's for nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, phosphate and other thingsââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Colorimetric tests for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, T-phosââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦and ICP/ICPMS for elemental analysis. I do a lot more tests, but most of them wouldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t make any sense to most... like if I was to say I was the analysit for perchlorate and nitrocellulose...9 out of 10 wouldn't know the compounds.
 
I agree, I don't recall coming into the hobby because I saw someone changing water and thought - 'gee, that would be fun' - but I do enjoy coming up with easy ways to make my animals happy and enjoy them more.

It is the kind of hobby that I like to refer to as a tinker toy - because I just can't stop messing with it, and tweaking this or that. I suppose if I ever get to a point where I can't think of anything else to tinker with, maybe I would get bored.... but I doubt it.

-- Josh
 
Ah, thought you meant you tested your tanks water for 8+ hours a day. Thanks for clearing that up. Thought you had some serious OCD's about water testing.
 
Josh (or anyone else) I would like to see pics of your set up. I also have been trying to figure out how to make the water change less of a chore. Anyone got an extra mag 9.5 (or similar) pump they aren't using that they might be willing to sell for cheap? BTW - I'm not trying to jack the thread, just interested in more of the same info! :bigeyes:
 
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