Give me the BEST thing you've figured out about your Husbandry

[Jeff Jarry reef]

One and simple is Everytime I change my filter sick I take a clean sock and prewash with either RO water or fresh saltwater and my skimmer don't act crazy like a dry sock does sometimes.

 

[sde1500]

That water changes can be accomplished with the push of a button.

That water changes do not need to be done!

Absolutely love the juxtaposition here lol. For me, it was/is figuring out a balance with maintaining the tank. For too long I had a very small CUC. Basically an urchin, some hitchhiker snails, and a shrimp or two. Algae was always a challenge. I have lately felt like its turned the corner. Set up an auto water change system. Turned the skimmer section of my sump into a fuge has helped. Added more snails, the survivors seem to be helping. Aggressively removed algae by hand. Added more flow. Next step I think is to increase turnover through my sump with a bigger HOB overflow. The one I got originally should have been enough but I think the GPH rating on it was highly ambitious and overstated. I'm thinking more sump turnover means more water contacting my filtration which would further help to combat the algae.

 

[Scorpius]

Bare bottom system is way easier to maintain in the long run

 

[Phildago]

There is an important relationship among light, element and nutrient levels. But most importantly that the nutrient levels are the limiting factor.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

my Po4 is well over .1, no3 is 35, I have a lot of flow and light and my acros are growing like mad.
this whole high nitrates high po4 thing is a myth. There are tons if guys on here running similar numbers that have great success.

It’s a ploy to sell you more stuff

 

[ReefHomieJon]

I’ve learned that this is waaaaaay easier than people make it out to be.

 

[boacvh]

That "s*** happens" and I just need to make it a lesson and keep on reefing

 

[Salty Lemon]

Saying phosphates have no place or purpose in a tank may have opened a can of worms. Or Pandora’s box.

I prefer "Pandora's box" better. There is just something more exciting about a classical Greek story vs well...worms.

 

[Heart of Dixie]

Respond, don’t react

 

[AdamNC]

Stop trying to change things too much too fast.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Take pictures. Even in a fast growing tank, it's hard to observe growth in any meaningful way in real time. I'm usually doing better than I think I am in this regard.

 

[phatduckk]

That staring at an empty tank for 2 months has set me up to be patient and think long term

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Least I care, better it does. Also, thinking outside the box helps, discovery by accident, is the best feeling , almost as good as ........ Hahaha

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Snails.

If you are keeping sps, feed three times as much as you think you should and triple your snails to handle algae.

I know when nitrates and phosphate gets low because my corals wash out.

Feed the fish more than they can eat and keep your alkalinity stable.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Learn which coral is your “canary in the coal mine” and listen to it!

Water changes are not required!

Nitrates and phosphates are not the enemy!

 

[ZoWhat]

.....that I would have actually saved more money marrying high maintenance Angelina Jolie than reefing with a 180g tank

 

[ReefRy]

Give me the BEST thing you've figured out about your Husbandry...the look on my wife's face when she found out the term for spending my day off working on the tank rather than spending time with her is called..husbandry.

 

[code4]

Have fun. Read about others problems and help where you can. What you learn today will help you later. And be careful of keeping mollies. They multiply like bristleworms. I put them in my display tank so the babies no longer survive. There are around 70 of them. And the males have long top fins with a stripe of copper on the top edge. I just could not get rid of them.

And keep spare parts of everything essential. You never know..

Shelley

 

[michael giordano]

Everyone’s tank and Success is totally different, don’t measure your tank to anyone else’s. Also just because someone else feeds like crazy or Doses all kinds of stuff and it seems to work, does not mean it will work for your system. each ecosystem is totally different and requires different needs and husbandry techniques. Also “some” of the most go to threads and systems are run like Instagram stories, you only hear about the success not the failures so don’t be fooled.

 

[Cory]

Never trust your test equipment blindly. Reference solutions for everything! Especially alkalinity and salinity.

Buy things that dont go in the tank to avoid frayed power cords, and rusting magnets. Kills corals! I use an external pump.

Remember what you what food you put in the tank must become biomass or get out eventually some way.

Ive got more..