“Take the weekend off, you’ve earned it” Good or Bad Advice?

Taking the weekend off from your reef tank....

  • Good advice

    Votes: 200 43.7%
  • Bad advice

    Votes: 210 45.9%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 48 10.5%

  • Total voters
    458

BeckyW

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i voted other. contrarian reporting for duty! lol
in my life it became apparent that i over-steer. in driving they say keep your car in your lane as defined by the stripes. if you look just past your hood to the stripe and try to hold position, your wheel is constantly making adjustments. my corrections would be too much requiring me to swing the other way, then the other. I can do that in all areas of my life. The pro tip is to look ahead and drive the road. Then I find I am making small gradual adjustments. So, Speed up. Slow down. Two pieces of advice, each "good advice" in some situations. I try to 'do my part', in partnerships each participant has a role. I do my part and the other life forms are allowed to do theirs.
Very good question, it actually reminded me to relax a little and be part of my aquarium experience, not god of it.
Love this!
 

Treefer32

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Part of my strategy is making routine things as easy to do as possible. Changing the cannister filter from Marine and Reef - is simple, takes 5 minutes. Cleaning the old filter took longer, but I found, spraying it down with a hose for 5 minutes then soaking it in a bucket of hot water and bleech for a day or two does wonders. Then spray it down again and soak in RODI water for a week or two. By the time the other filter is full of crap, it's time to change it.

I bought a scraper that makes it easier to scrape the glass. I've got a valve plumbed to a floor drain, so I can pump 25 gallons out of my tank and a mixing station of two 75 gallon drums. Water changes take around 5 minutes now. I was doing 2 a week for a while to solve some nutrient / algae problems.

I clean the algae scrubber once a week during the week.

In an hour I can have all maintenance done if I'm doing it all at the same time.

I'd say the part I hate the most is cleaning powerheads and lockline nozzles etc. I do that when I know I'm having people over.
 

sghera64

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I selected other: If stability is king, then we simply keep to our schedules. If you siphon your tank bottom 1x / Month and this is not that week, then take the weekend off. If this is your week, stick to the plan. If you do weekly water changes on Saturday, then stick with it.

In addition to not chasing numbers (as mentioned above), I highly recommend writing down notes of what you do and all that happens to your parameters, fish, algae, coral, glass, sand, rock, etc. Use a notebook (either paper or electronic). I switched to an electronic notebook (OneNote) because it is more easily searchable and I can paste in pictures and links. It is amazing how so many effects from what we do are delayed and separated by time from the actual cause.

Taking a vacation, or simply ignoring your tank for a week or two can increase stability and make it appear things are better off (in the short-term), but it might also find a "new low" that, after some delay, can cause visibly negative effects - - with seemly no cause. Well, there is a cause, it was separated by time making it hard to connect cause and effect.

This weekend, I need to siphon my sand. So, I'm sticking with the plan (no more, no less).
 

Ippyroy

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I have to go with other. I work 6 days a week 14 hours so I have very little time for my tank which is still very new. I am developing good habits now and have no choice but to water changes every week and clean as much as possible. With that said, once a tank is somewhat stable I would think taking a weekend off would most likely be a good thing seeing as how there is too much of a good thing. Doesn't your tank deserve a break sometimes?
 

Ippyroy

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I think once you have your tank established, you good to take a weekend break. We can all get consumed by little things. Making mountains out of molehills. A break sometimes gives you new perspective.
Exactly. Your tank deserves a break as well sometimes I would think.
 

Buckster

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Taking a weekend off can go either way. I voted to take it off since orders generally arrive during the week. I take care of the tank after golfing each day. The fish know my schedule. Due to covid, does it matter to take the weekend off? I'm learning to have patience!
 

RJKain-777

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In order to enjoy life or anything else in general, you have to stop and smell the roses. I try to get everything done during the week and nothing on the weekends.
My weekends are a week long at a time, and my week is 2 weeks long! I get nothing done during the week and everything done on my first day off once I get home, then procrastinate the water change till the last day
 

Billldg

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I picked good advice. The reason is that sometimes we are way to busy chasing parameters and such that we forget why we got into this hobby, to enjoy it. Sometimes you just need to sit back and just look at the tank and enjoy the corals, the fish, everything about it. :)
 

clffthmps

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In my opinion I think people spend too much time on their tank. Only check my parameters every three days tanks been running for over 18 1/2 months and is stable as it can be and running perfectly fine.
 

JLynn

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Depends on the person, IMO. For me, taking a weekend off would be a terrible idea, because it would tempt me to slack off on maintenance in the future - I make an excuse for myself once, then I'm much more likely to do so again. But some people are more naturally self-disciplined, and don't need to worry so much about forming bad habits and maintaining good ones.

I would also tend to say no, though, just for the sake for maintaining the rhythm of your reef. If you have a good maintenance rhythm going on, and your reef is flourishing as a result, I wouldn't want to do anything to interrupt it. Especially if you know you have some finicky corals in your tank.
 

tinhorse

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Take time off and leave the tank alone for a few days, come back and see what it looks like. If it is a well established tank and stable, everything should be great. If it's not up to snuff yet then look after it as needed. Last Christmas I went away for a week and came home to a near disaster....1 more day and I'm sure my bank would have been toast. 6 months later and this summer in was gone for 8 days and just had to wipe a bit of algae off the glass as the tank can run itself for an extended period with the filters and system I set in place. Now I dont have auto doses or a sump or an auto top up so I made sure the tank was full before I left, all lights and timers were bang on and the auto feeder was appropriately working. I couldn't believe the coral growth over the 8 days I was gone. Really cool to see.
 

drblakjak55

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Nobody vacations (before Covid and hopefully after)? Leaving four tanks, especially the fresh waters, for one week has never been an issue. If I fill the 90g mixed reef up real full it will last four days without a top off or anything. After that my daughter is my auto top off for one visit. Drop a few flakes and pellets in and good another four days
 

Suohhen

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For me it would be bad advice but that is because I get about 2 water changes done per month if I am constantly trying to get one done, I always strive to do 2 filter cleanings a week and probably average about 1.2, and would honestly sometimes miss months of action in my tank if I didn't periodically do checkups on the number of CuC members alive and kicking, and the behavior of each of my fish. But that is just me, everyone is different.
 

Calm Blue Ocean

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I really get so that I can't stop fussing. I obsess and worry. I really like those guys in there, even the hermit crabs (who all have names). But if I don't walk away every now and then there is a good chance that I end up creating a problem that wasn't even there before I started mucking with things.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your tank is let it be...

...but be prepared to scrub and syphon all the GHA that popped up while you were taking the weekend off. ;)
 

Jimbhoy13

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I am fine doing nothing for a weekend except feeding. But I usually spend half hour to do a weekly water test. Being retired I can always say ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ and I usually do.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 65 37.1%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.7%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.3%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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