My bosses have walked back their commitment to my maintenance schedule. Background: 50g classroom marine tank. Cycled in 7 weeks, livestock added, and running with animals a little over 3 weeks and doing great. All eating and growing, cleanup crew is currently keeping hair algae in check. My proposed maintenance for the first year (which includes summer and breaks) was ideally to have access every day (or at least 6 days a week) for up to 1.5 hours a day to feed, check chemistry, water changes/top off, and make saltwater. (I am not asking for overtime for this, I just do not want my animals to die or suffer). During breaks, it was cut to M-F for 1 hour. Now it has been cut to 30 min M-F. I physically can't get all that done in 30 min. They seem to think because the tank is doing great now that my schedule is over kill. Is my schedule over kill? What was your maintenance schedule in the first year of setting up a tank?
Ethical Dilemma
- Thread starter Icegirl
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Hi. If it’s ur own time why would it matter. Whose tank is it? Are u an educator or an employee of company that set up system?
Shouldnt take that long of daily
Just do what u can and prep for next day like making water for changes etc. prbly n best bet for tank over periods away.
My daily maintenance schedule is about 5 minutes for a 230 gallon system. I dose All for Reef and bacteria and add 3 gallons of RODI for top off. The skimmer cup gets emptied 2x a week and scrubbed which takes me another 10 minutes. I clean the glass every 3-4 days which takes about 5-10 minutes when I do. I test once a week unless I see a problem in the tank. Water changes happen every 6-8 weeks.
EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal
Just another girl who likes fish
As long as the temperature in the building stays in a reasonable range I would think the tank could go a few days to a week at a time without maintenance… mine’s in my living room and I don’t spend 30 minutes a day on it (enjoying it, yes. Maintenance, no)
OP
OP
Icegirl
New Member
oh my i do not think i can go 8 weeks wo a water change. I do 2 gall every other day. It's only had animals for 3 weeks. I know i am terrified of nitrates going up past 10. all that i have read said that the first year the tank is not stable, so is that just exaggeration?
I think u will b ok w 30 but ask for the hour, if not split the difference and get 45 lol
gbroadbridge
2500 Club Member
Why does it take so much time?
Outlaw Corals
Active Member
Get a algae scrubber and you won’t have to do any water changes, i haven’t done a water change in a year i just dose according including trace elements, those scrubbers work too good they will strip your water if everything if you’re not careful, this is the most stable my tank has ever been, don’t they have a janitor in the building at all times that you could contact whenever you wanna go in for them to let you in
I think target nutrient levels are different for everyone. My target is 15-20 for nitrates and 0.05-0.2 for phosphate. You can target whatever you have determined is best for your tank but don’t worry too much if it’s not within the dogmatic numbers everyone quotes. It’s all relative.
EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal
Just another girl who likes fish
No coral, correct? Then nitrate levels are relatively meaningless … they’re not going to jump from 10 to 100 over night (and fish are fine at 100, it was just a example).The stability primarily refers to keeping stoney corals.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2016
- Messages
- 22,852
- Reaction score
- 21,984
I would suggest you might not need that much maintenance (i.e. to use your language - it's overkill). But you have the tank - and it's your judgement in the end. IMHO 30 min M-F is enough. But - it wasn't clear what you're exactly doing M-F - Perhaps you could arrange an hour every other day? I have never in my life spent an hour daily doing maintenance (unless part of that was watching the fish). Back to your question - I would remind them (I assume it was the school) - that paid for the tank, etc - if it was you you should be able to go in any time. A controller accessible by internet could also take away a lot of the need for a daily trip. (Though I said 30 minutes - it's not likely that you live at the school - so your travel time is worth something as well). I would just say to the school - we paid xxxxx dollars - why are you not supporting (your - the teacher/manager's) judgement. I misread your initial post - I thought you said you were not being paid - now I see it's not being paid overtime). I would do what all of my kids did with class pets during the summer - the teacher took care of them - or gave them to a student to do so (In this case of a reef tank - it would be you - i.e. I would not want a student managing a tank..
Most importantly to me - can you share a picture of the tank
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2016
- Messages
- 22,852
- Reaction score
- 21,984
Stability is important for a couple reasons - it prevents (once you get there) - algae outbreaks, etc. You're absolutely correct - in the first couple/several (even months) the tank does require more measurements of nitrate etc - to prevent overgrowths. I think the discussion involves you telling your supervisors there are a couple choices - either you have the time to do it in school, they arrange for an aquarium maintenance company to do it professionally (especially over the summer) - or they just allow you to take the tank as your own property if the livestock is at risk. Its extremely disappointing that they are not following through with their original agreement
Similar threads
