What are the Secrets to Stability?

[rovster]

I do my waterchanges on the weekends. Could be Friday, could be Sunday. Depends on what my schedule is like but I will get it done. Clean my skimmer cup as needed. Refill my dosers as needed.

I do keep a log book which helps. I write down the date and what I did. Usually its a bunch of test results. But I write down when I did my water changes, when I changed GFO and Carbon, and when I dosed my Prodibio products. This helps me keep track of everything. My buddies make fun of me, but in all honesty, its simple, takes no time, and really helps keep things straight. I use the back of my log book to write down stuff I don't want to forget....names of corals, dip methods, conversions for my Alk and Phos checkers, all my notes for my AEFW and RB treatments, how to bring down Alk with muriatic acid, Carbon dosing guidelines, etc. I keep the logbook right on top of the fridge in the cabinet where all my testing stuff and additives are.

 

[Mock]

No need for any great big complicated schedule.

Agreed but you do have a "routine" it sounds like.... Thats kinda what I was hinting at.

What are the little things that you do and how your routine goes. Seems like getting into the habit for me with three kids a wife and cats and dogs and loving to fish and be outside during the summer, routines are so hard to keep.

 

[Wazzel]

Agreed but you do have a "routine" it sounds like.... Thats kinda what I was hinting at.

What are the little things that you do and how your routine goes. Seems like getting into the habit for me with three kids a wife and cats and dogs and loving to fish and be outside during the summer, routines are so hard to keep.

Yes I do have a routine. My whole life is a routine, if it were not things would not get done because I am so busy. I am married, wife works, three very busy band kids, two cats, a dog, I play sax in a concert band, I play sax in a swing band, run 4 miles 3x a week, bike 40 miles 2x a week, do all my own yard work, do all my own home improvement projects, etc, etc. Needless to say I next to never watch TV. My wife kind of gets aggravated with me and how much I stick to my routine, but I am all go from the time I get up until the time I got to bed, usually 5:30 am until 11:00 pm

 

[lionfish300]

Yes I do have a routine. My whole life is a routine, if it were not things would not get done because I am so busy. I am married, wife works, three very busy band kids, two cats, a dog, I play sax in a concert band, I play sax in a swing band, run 4 miles 3x a week, bike 40 miles 2x a week, do all my own yard work, do all my own home improvement projects, etc, etc. Needless to say I next to never watch TV. My wife kind of gets aggravated with me and how much I stick to my routine, but I am all go from the time I get up until the time I got to bed, usually 5:30 am until 11:00 pm

That is awesome routine. You have to be in great shape

 

[Dbondaruk]

honestly i dont temp swings are all that bad...people have temp swings of 3 degrees during day and night and have nice tanks

 

[JB NY]

I agree that you should absolutely have a routine. I do all my water changes on Saturday morning, clean out the skimmer on Sunday. Do any major water testing on Sunday night. My tank is automated via an apex, so the lights, heaters, chillers, ATO and make up water is all done without me having to worry about it a all. Just feed the fish and some maintenance on the weekends.

I also keep track of what I add to the tank, what the test parameters are, when I last changed lights, changed reactor media, all maintenance I have done, and any problems I am having. Have a log of all that makes it nice when you are tracking down a problem and you can not remember what or when you did something.

Also my temp swing is about 4 degrees in the summer 78-82F.

 

[Wazzel]

I agree that you should absolutely have a routine. I do all my water changes on Saturday morning, clean out the skimmer on Sunday. Do any major water testing on Sunday night. My tank is automated via an apex, so the lights, heaters, chillers, ATO and make up water is all done without me having to worry about it a all. Just feed the fish and some maintenance on the weekends.

I also keep track of what I add to the tank, what the test parameters are, when I last changed lights, changed reactor media, all maintenance I have done, and any problems I am having. Have a log of all that makes it nice when you are tracking down a problem and you can not remember what or when you did something.

Also my temp swing is about 4 degrees in the summer 78-82F.

I keep a log also, it helps a lot. I keep test results, amount of 2-part added, treatments, equipment added or serviced, etc, etc.

 

[Mock]

I used to log everything on a dry erase board in the fish room, I have turned to Aquaticlog though in the past couple months and have been impressed. I forgot I opened one 5 years ago and they still had my tank there and all I had to do was start adding information back in. Now if I could just get a laptop solely for the fish room I would be golden.

 

[fessoclown]

+1 on Aquaticlog. Awesome tool!

 

[Wazzel]

I use a simple spread sheet on my ipad.

 

[ycnibrc]

The most important piece of equipment for my stability is the calcium reactor. I use it to keep my Alk rock solid and then dose cal and mag for supplement to get desire result. Dosing is fine but only for smaller tank if you have a big tank then cal reactor is a must.