Guide to reef care for spouse as I may be going away for work

[RouJr]

Hey guys.

I may have to go away for a few months for work and I am trying to write an instruction manual for my partner to care for our tank whilst I am away.

I have not got anywhere near finished but I'd love some feedback on advice on what I have said so far and also what people think I need to add.
I am not long in this hobby only about 6 months so I am sure I have made some factual errors that you guys could pick up on for me.
I intend to add a detailed section like the corals one for each species of fish we have and its husbandry as well as an explanation of my weekly and monthly maintenance routines.

Any help I can get from you guys would be great. It could also easily be updated and broadened in detail and we could make an open-source guide of some form.

Guide to Reef Tank Care

By Rou​

Tank details​

Measurements:
1500mmx360mmx480mm(LxWxH)(5 foot tank)
260L in display tank
10ish L in cannister filter
Total system volume 270L(71gallons)

Components
Light = MarsAqua 165 watt Reef LED(also called Chinese blackbox lights)
Protein skimmer = Aqua One G220(for system volumes up to 800L)
Cannister filter = Aqua One Aquis Series 2 (max system volume 300L)
Live Stock
Live Rock = 25kg
Live Sand = 7.2kg

Fish
2x Yellow Tailed Damselfish (Chrysiptera parasema)
1x Niger Trigger Fish (Odonus Niger)
1x Ocellaris Clown Fish (Amphiprion Ocellaris)
1x Keyhole Angelfish (Centropyge tibicen)
1x Reef Lobster (Enoplometopus Spp.)
2x Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni)
3x Strombus Snails
Assorted snails and hermit crabs(around 30 total)

Corals
2x Torch Corals (Euphyllia glabrescens)
1x Frogspawn (Euphyllia Cristata)
1x Hellio (Helliofungia)
1x Goni (Goniopora spp.)
Several zoas
3 x Morphs
1x Toadstool (Sarcophyton sp.)

Tank parameters

Ideal Values
Salinity = specific gravity of 1.024-1.027(tank is 1.026 atm and shouldn’t be changed)
Ammonnia = 0ppm
Nitrites = 0ppm
Nitrate = <20ppm(0 is best)
PH = 8.1-8.4
Temperature= 24-28degrees

Ideal values for things we don’t have tests for
Calcium(pickling lime) = 400-450ppm
Alkalinity(baking soda) = 7-11dKH
Magnesium = 1300ppm
Phosphates = <0.03ppm

What do these nutrients do?


PH:
PH measures the acidity of a solution ranging from 0(Extreme acid) to 14(extreme base). Natural seawater has a PH of 8.0-8.3. Tank PH should stay in a range between 8.1-8.3(this will vary over the course of the day)

Test with kit
5ml into test vial
5 drops of High Range PH Test
Shake and compare colour to chart.

Ammonia:
TOXIC TO ALL TANK INHABITANTS

Ammonia is the toxic waste biproduct of the decomposition of excess waste in the system. i.e. rotting food, fish waste, rotting dead things.

Test with kit
Test 2 days after adding a new fish as well as before every water change. If ever reads >0 start testing daily till =0
5ml tank water into test bottle
8 drops Ammonia 1(shake for 1 second)
8 drops Ammonia 2(shake for 5 seconds)
Wait five minutes
If colour is yellow all good. If there is any green tinge immediately cut back feeding and start testing daily till 0ppm achieved.


Nitrite:
TOXIC
Ammonia is decomposed into nitrite as part of the cycle that leads to it becoming nitrogen. Whilst it is toxic I don’t bother testing for it as I have never seen levels above 0 on the test so it seems a waste of time.


Nitrate:

Essentially this is fertiliser. It will feed algae and other photosynthetic organisms and promote their growth. Ideally this is <10ppm.

Testing
Test before water changes(ie monthly)
5ml tank water into vial
Add 10 drops from Nitrate 1 to vial mix
Shake Nitrate 2 for 45 seconds
Add 10 drops to vial
Cap vial and shake for 1 minute
Wait 5 minutes
Compare colour to table

Removing nitrate

We remove nitrate through a mixture of bacteria(making nitrogen gas) and using plants to break it done into nitrogen gas as they grow.

As far as bacteria goes we can feed the tank simple carbon compounds (sugar, vodka, white vinegar) that provide the bacteria naturally in the tank to be able to grow faster. As they bloom the protein skimmer is able to remove them from the tank taking the nitrates along with them.

Algae in our case chaetomorphia(chaeto) as it grows absorbs nitrates, phosphates, and silicates from the water. So simply growing it in the tank helps reduce dissolved nitrates and whenever it grows to big trimming it will remove those chemicals to your bin. Remember when chucking out chaeto to give it a quick dip in fresh purified water then strain out all the little animals and add the back to the tank.


Salinity:
Salinity is the amount of dissolved salt in the water. Natural seawater has a specific gravity(sg) of 1.025-1.027. The aquarium is set up with a specific gravity of 1.026 and shouldn’t be changed except very slowly(over several days).

How to ensure SG stays stable.
Adding a little bit of purified water every day to make up for evaporation which concentrates the salt by removing water. (this has tended to be around 3L a day)

When doing water changes ensure that the mixed up salt has the same SG as the tank water.

Testing salinity
We test the salinity using the refractometer. This device tests how much the water bends light as a way to test the salt content of the water.

Its use is extremely simple. Just place a drop of water on the glass under the flap then look through it at a light. Read the number in line with blue line. The number to the left is SG and to the right is %solution(which doesn’t matter to us here)

Check weekly.

Alkalinity
Alkalinity is a way to approximate the amount of an ion(chemical) called bicarbonate which is used by corals to build their skeletons and other functions. Corals use bicarbonate and calcium in tandem to generate calcium-carbonate skeletons. Measured in dKH(carbonate hardness)

There is some evidence that having a higher dKH increases the rate at which corals grow their skeletons.

If you test for alkalinity and it is low then you can use bicarb soda dissolved in purified water as a dosing mix. It is possible to calculate the daily usage and just add that amount to your top of water every time you fill the bucket. Use this calculator https://www.ultimatereef.net/pages/alk_supplement/
Dosing instructions can be found at

https://www.ultimatereef.net/thread...-to-dosing-your-reef-tank-as-promised.824538/


We do not possess a test for this at this stage (comes with reefmaster test kit)

Calcium
Calcium along with alkalinity are the building blocks of the reef. Calcium is absorbed from the water by corals and other tank inhabitants to build shells and skeletons along with other biological functions. Natural levels of calcium in seawater is 420ppm we wish to maintain this level in our aquarium.

Once we have a test for this a solution of purified water and Calcium Chloride Flakes.

Found this place that sells 1kg(more than a years worth) for $4.50

https://pacificwater.com.au/product/calcium-chloride-flakes/

Phosphates
Phosphates are much like nitrates and act as a fertiliser in our system. Higher levels of phosphate lead to blooms of different types of microorganisms as well as nuisance algae growth.

We don’t have a test kit for this yet. Best to aim for as close to zero as we can.

Magnesium
Epsom salts and magnesium chloride. Used by corals and other tank inhabitants for various biological processes. Dosing is not as important as calcium and alkalinity and some people say that the amount regained through water changes is enough. If you do decide to dose just buy a bag of Epsom salts from coles and dissolve in purified water along with magnesium chloride hexahydrate flakes(from ebay). Using instructions found here:
https://www.ultimatereef.net/thread...-to-dosing-your-reef-tank-as-promised.824538/


Live Stock
Corals

Heliofungia Actiniformis(Helio)

This is a solitary large stony polyp(LPS). It has a large central mouth and can eat much larger food items than our other corals. It likes to have a position on the sand bed with moderate flow and light. Be very careful if you ever have to handle this to slide your fingers underneath and pick it up buy sitting it gently on your fingers. It has a razor shard skeleton and extremely soft tissue so any squishing can cause serious damage and infection.

To feed this coral you make a paste with the coralific delight food usually 1 part food to 3 parts water, then let this set. Use a syringe to feed directly into the polyps mouth.

Euphylia Glabrescens(Torch Coral)

Another large polyped stony(LPS) coral the torch corals that we have are of the branching variety and each polyp grows on its own stem. Torch corals tend to prefer medium current with med/high lighting. You’ll come to see as you feed it where each polyp is as the tentacles pull in toward the mouth at the centre of each polyp when they grab food. There is current 3 polyps on the green and 4 on the pink.

Feeding. I feed the same paste I feed to helio for feeding the torch corals. I try and squirt a little strip of the food paste to the centre of each polyp. It will also eat the foot when it is much more dilute by sliming up to catch the particles.

Euphylia. Cristata (frogspawn)

A large polyped stony(LPS) this coral can be feed and likes similar conditions to its closely related torch coral. It has a distinctively different skeleton form with a couple of mouth in each section. As you feed it you’ll come to learn where the mouths are.

Goniopora Sp.

Goniopora is an encrusting(skeleton growing) large polyped stony(LPS) coral. It thrives in moderate/gentle flow with good bright lighting and weekly feeding. Each of its tentacles is an individual animal but they are all clones of the original polyp that start the colony and are able to distribute nutrients between each other as needed. This is generally true of all colonial corals. Goni’s also possess some of the smallest mouths in the aquarium as they generally feed off of plankton in the ocean. Because of this it is recommended to get special food for them. The most popular of there is called ReefRoids by PolypLab

Feeding. Currently I am feeding it coralfic delight after I have fed the helio I dilute the remaining food paste with about three times its volume of tank water. I then gently spray it around the goni making sure it drifts into the tenticles I then use the remaining food to spray over all the zoas and the toadstool.

 

[RouJr]

#reefsquad

 

[Flippers4pups]

I personally love what you wrote, but if I handed this to my wife she would roll her eyes at me and say "are you kidding!"

All jokes aside, the basics are what she needs. Mostly basic husbandry tasks and what to do if something goes wrong like little things and more importantly, big issues. Safety is up there too.

I need to do this and I thank you for the topic. I need to put together a binder that my wife can pick up and read as needed. Even a calendar with days that requires tasks to be done and checked off wouldn't be bad either.

If she's got all that down, a back up plan is needed. Possible somebody In a local club or LFS that you trust. Back up plan is always good. Family members are possible help as well.

At the front of the binder would have names and numbers of people she could call for advise or help if needed.

Anyway, thanks for the topic. It's one that needs more attention in the hobby.

 

[RouJr]

I added all the tank details so if something goes wrong she can go to one page and have all the information someone will need to assess the tank. Fingers crossed its not needed

 

[MnFish1]

I have a basic list - and I assume if there is a question - whoever is taking care of the tank will call me - or an LFS that is in the area that knows the tank. Its a hard thing - but - I think you need an expert - you could write 400 pages - and it will be difficult to explain every scenario - or every permutation of every scenario. (I like your try though)

 

[GThompson]

Everything looks good on your list. The only thing I saw was in your magnesium section, you suggested going to coles to buy Epsom salt. You need to specify “ plain Epsom salt”. There is a lot of added ingredients to the “flavored “ salts. Other than that, you could publish your instructions as a how to pamphlet. Wishing you the best on your trip and the tank.

 

[JustAnt]

Just get a tank maintenance service to come in while your gone for peace of mind it’s worth it. I pay 40$ (In NYC Area) for 30 minute visit.

 

[IPHY]

I think this is a great Knowledge Base. Have worked for years in Production Operations in Tech, where we have to get paged in the middle of the night about emergencies sometimes, I can tell you that a Knowledge Base is amazing and a must have; but, a Run Book is what saves the day.

So, I would suggest you pair this with a Run Book. I'm making this up off the top of my head without having spent a ton of time thinking about it; but as a straw man for you to burn down and then build better, something like:

First page: Just the schedule

You've already done the work of explaining in detail what feeding each thing looks like and so on in the Knowledge Base; don't repeat it here. This would just be, like a bulleted list like...​

• Tuesdays
  • Feed all corals; check for bleaching while you do it
  • Broadcast feed fish
  • Test Calcium and Magnesium
• Thursdays
  • Broadcast feed Reef Roids
  • Broadcast feed fish; make sure the mandarin eats something
  • Check salinity and phosphates

Other pages: FAQ

This is going to be the place whoever is watching your tank can go to for emergency help and just to make sure that weird thing they saw/heard is ok...​

• The salinity check did not come back within parameters!
  • This is not an emergency; but does need to be addressed
  • It's high:
    • Add about 3L of the purified water
    • Check the automatic top off (see knowledge base)
    • Check again tomorrow
  • It's low:
    • That's really weird; send me mail
• I found water next to the sump!
  • Etc.

It's ok to refer to the Knowledge Base in the FAQ for non-emergency measures. But, when people are worried that something is wrong and especially if they're maybe a little freaked out because this is not their thing, it's nice to have things a little simpler when you're trying to look things up.

 

[Billdogg]

Nice write up!

My suggestion would be to get her doing the daily chores now with your supervision. That way she'll already know what to do and when. IMO, feeding frequency and amount are two of the biggest issues. Get her used to the correct amounts way ahead of time or she will almost certainly overfeed unintentionally. Have her do a few water changes from start to finish. If she already has the hands on knowledge she won't have to run to a notebook (as often) when and if things go off kilter.

When we go on vacation I have one of the neighbor kids come over to take care of things. I bring them over a couple weeks ahead of time to show them everything and then every few days until we leave so I can watch and offer help. I also pay them very well.

On that note - if you have a lick of sense, you'll be bringing her home something shiny/sparkly for her efforts!!!

 

[rkpetersen]

Very nice work.

My wife would be completely intimidated by something like this and probably decline to participate!

Euphyllia cristata is commonly called Grape Coral.
Frogspawn and octospawn is Euphyllia divisa.

 

[saltyhog]

Very thorough write up. I can see if you're going to be away for an extended time the need for something of this magnitude.

Only errors (and some might not agree) were on your ideals for parameters. You listed Nitrate (best at 0) and think that is pretty widely recognized now as not being a good idea. Lots of bad things have been known to happen when nitrate gets that low. Likewise ideal for phosphate is listed at less than 0.03. Most hobby grade kits have difficulty telling the difference between 0 and 0.03. For me the ideal phosphate is something like 0.03-0.06 although I've kept min around 0.08 to 0.1 lately with no ill effects.

I also like my Mg to be a little higher than 1300, in fact mine is usually closer to 1400.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Bumping this back up! Absolutely excellent discussion! Creating a simple to understand tank care guide is super necessary.

 

[RouJr]

Unfortunately it appears you cant attach a .docx file to a post here. if anyone is interested in having a play around with the document Im happy to email it around and if i get back everyones edited versions I could compile it all into a single document and start a new sticky thread for the beginners forum.

anyone interested?

that project fell through so now im not going away id have time to edit it

 

[RouJr]

itd be good if people with experience with the different beginner corals and fish could add sections on them. Ive never kept Chromies or anthias

 

[Tastee]

I personally love what you wrote, but if I handed this to my wife she would roll her eyes at me and say "are you kidding!"

If I was to write something for my wife I have to say I agree completely. What you are putting together is great for someone who wants to be a Marine Aquarist. The question I have to ask is that what your wife aspires to be?

We use house sitters when we go away - have only done so a couple of times now with the tank but plan to use the service much more in future. Here is what I put together for my house sitter for the tank when we went away for a week a few months ago (some of the formatting was lost). Obviously it needs beefing up for a longer time but you should get the gist of how I am trying to pitch this. I have automation in place so for a week nothing beyond feeding was needed. For a month or longer I need to cover more bases.

What do they eat?
* Pellets and frozen food
* The pellets are enough for them if needed however I like to alternate between pellets and frozen food for variety
* For the saltwater tank I also alternate between the two types of frozen food I keep, so ideally Pellets, Mysis, Pellets, Reef mix each 4 day cycle

How often do they eat?
* Once a day

Where is the food?
* Pellets
* For the small freshwater tank they are kept in the right hand drawer under the tank
* For the larger saltwater tank they are kept in the stand under the tank, on the right hand side - look for two zip-sealed pouches
* Frozen food
* In the kitchen freezer, in the middle drawer
* You will see some boxes or flat packs of food
* There are three types:
* Brine shrimp: This is for the freshwater tank
* Mysis shrimp: This is for the saltwater tank
* Reef mix: This is for the saltwater tank

How much do they eat?
* Freshwater
* Pellets: About 6-8 pellets is plenty
* Frozen: About 1/3 of a frozen cube - you should see some cut pieces wrapped in foil in the box, each is 1/3 of a cube
* Saltwater
* Pellets: 4 of the large pellets and about 10 of the small ones
* Frozen: 1 cube of either Mysis or Reef mix

When do they eat?
* It doesn’t really matter
* We normally feed them in the early evening, 6:30 or so, but if you are going out and want to feed them in the afternoon or even morning before you leave, that is fine

How do I feed them?
* Pellets
* Freshwater: Open the lid and sprinkle them in
* Saltwater: Spinkle them around the tank through the mesh top - no need to remove it
* Frozen food
* In the spare room, where all my fish equipment is located, are a couple of small plastic containers - round, about 6 cm across and 1 1/2 cm high
* Partially fill them with some RO water from the blue barrel in the spare room - don’t turn the tap on too far or you will spill water - ensure you turn the tap off afterward
* Put the frozen food in each container and let it thaw, takes about 10 mins
* For the freshwater tank, just open the top and pop the contents of the container in - water and all
* For the saltwater tank
* Start feeding mode using Alexa - say ‘Alexa. Tell Apex Fusion to feed the fish’
* This will turn on a 10 min cycle where the pumps in the tank will stop and then restart automatically
* Lift up the aquarium cover a little and gently distribute the contents of the container across the tank
* It is good to distribute it reasonably evenly so everyone gets a bit, but don’t worry if it goes in a clump
* Rinse the containers under tap water, let them dry and put them back in the spare room

Do I need to clean the tank?
* If we are away for a week
* There is no need to do anything for this period, they will look after themselves
* If you would like to clean the glass that is fine and there are magnetic cleaners located on the left hand side of each tank
* If we are away longer than a week
* TBC

What do I do if I think there is a problem?
* Just give me a call (mobile)
* My son is a reasonably experienced fish keeper and will be able to pop over to help if anything goes wrong

 

[NPRW]

I can't speak for your wife but I kept it simple with mine.
Push this feed this on x day then push that. I know she wouldn't understand spot feeding or dosing so I didn't bother. Slowed growth beats a crash imo.
I had her sending pictures every morning and night to see if anything needed special attention: snail flipped over...
Key for me was water change and general servicing before leaving.
In hindsight I would've even cut the feeding down, by the time I got home everything was happy but I swear she was feeding the sand bed.. No death though, right?

On another note, my daughter is now so vigilant I'm about to change her name to Apex

 

[Rich Klein]

Sorry, but make a choice: Kiss your fish or your wife goodbye (sorry, couldn't help myself), and take a lot of pictures of both before you leave.

 

[ESH]

Great write up. I go away for weeks at a time, and pretty much everything that can go wrong has. My tank is near fully automated so my wife doesn’t have to do anything other then check the ATO tank level, but even then things always happen. Automated testing and other systems still need to be checked on and shouldn’t be fully relied on as when they fail, they can be a pretty big critical vulnerability to the health of your tank. so the more you plan for the unexpected the better. Usually my tank is going fine when I’m around but the minute I leave it goes crazy.

 

[Katrina71]

Videos help too.

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

That's a great write-up. Nice work!