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

[Dabcrusher]

im excited to take the weekend off so I can play with my tank and do some needed mainainence instead of taking care of clams and chaeto at work. its hard to do it after being at algaebarn 60+ hours a week even though its the coolest job and boss its still hard to bring my self to do it. Cant wait till morning to play with my clams.

 

[Bob Weigant]

Because of my new work schedule I have a 3 day weekend every week. This is when I can get some things done and enjoy my tank even more.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Though I do very little during the week I should say work week with the tank and system, like changing out filter socks....etc Weekends are typically time to do work with the system. Family does come first, and I usually limit what I'm doing to less than an hour. There's always something that needs to be done.

 

[Jen1978]

I guess I have to choose other. I babysit a lot through the week. Monday Tuesday and Wednesday my twin grandsons (4 months old) Thursday and Friday my great nephew (11months). Dont have much time for tank maintenance during the week so do my testing and water changes on the weekend.

 

[Joekovar]

I prefer take the weekend off, you've prepared for it. The whole "I deserve" mindset seems to lead to disappointment. Not just with aquariums, but in general.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I’ve talked before on here about how my position of managing other people’s reefs forces me to keep my hands out. At best, I might get 1-1.5hrs/wk to work on a tank...and then, 2/3 of what I do is cosmetic.

Some of the tanks I do could benefit from a little extra time and intervention, but most of them just sorta cruise right along.

A lot of you here are way better at this game than I am, so if I can make it work...

 

[DSEKULA]

Other.
I think this is situation dependent. If you are keeping a tank and all is going well, when a minor upset occurres (pH swings a touch or alk spikes a bit) sometimes it's best to let the system balance it self out and not just wait till the weekend and over correct etc. In general playing around with your tank all weekend making changes bc your off doesn't sound like a good thing. But, if you normally hand dose something like vodka, two part etc I can't see just stopping a few days a week as good either. In general I keep a pretty hands off approach but if your battling something that's persistent like a type of algae that's taking over the tank and blaently not coming into control sometimes you have to roll up the sleeves glove up and fix the issue enough to let the natural process get ahead of the mess, but even things like this should be a small continuous process not bombing the tank in one weekend imo. So for me weekday or weekend doesn't really make a difference the normal things you do should be done and hands should be out if possible.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

“Take the weekend off, you’ve earned it”

“Keep your hands out of the tank!” “Stop chasing numbers!” Some pretty harsh statements but is there an element of truth to them?

We are all guilty of it! It’s not as if we’re given a choice, when we come face to face with a problem, we are inherently hard wired to seek out a solution. Only to realize that our actions had adverse consequences. Were we too quick with our diagnoses? Did we start down a path that by our own intervention made things worse?

There is no shortage of testimonials from people taking a week long vacation to come back and see their tank looking better than ever. And reports that once someone decided to stop tinkering and let things happen, their tank turned around.

Take the weekend off! Is that sound advice or is it a recipe for disaster?


@d2mini relax and enjoy the view...

Thank you to [goUSER=9354]@Sisterlimonpot[/USER] for today's QOTD!!

I like to treat my tanks as if it was a business. As they say time is money. I like to keep an eye on water parameters and my children of the sea make sure they're happy,if I was married, my wife would know that my reef tanks are my mistress. She would always know where I'm at.
Anyway by treating my tanks like a business , I know that my children of the sea are not neglected. Because if they are neglected it's like losing money. That's the mentality I got to have.
Here's 1 of 12 , notice they have their father's eyes

 

[Backreefing]

Taking the weekend off from the aquarium good or bad depends on what state it’s in . If it’s humming along then yeah have fun at the beach .if it’s in the middle of a crash then stay on it .

 

[Timfish]

I would say it's an necessity! These systems we set up should be rewarding and relaxing. Always stressing over trying to get it perfect, especially when it never can be, is missing the whole point. And for those who always need to be messing with the equipment (I've known a few over the years, always thinking up a better way and changing things) ask yourself if the stress caused by altering how nutrients are cycled or making corals adjust thier photobiology is what's best for your animals.

 

[tamanning]

I said bad. That said I believe in the natural tank. I don't really do much aside from scraping the glass and dosing. I've not done a water change in years so i'm fairly sure i'm in there less than most. I dose weekly because my tank is not very high demand.

 

[ss30]

It's neither good or bad advice as it depends on the tank and how you run it.