Reef Records: You Writing Stuff Down—or Trusting Your Memory?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Three months later, something in the reef looks different and you’re trying to remember what changed.

Did you move a powerhead? Add a new fish? Change the lighting schedule? Adjust dosing? Or has it been so long that you’re basically reconstructing the scene from blurry memories and old phone photos?

How useful has record-keeping been in helping you understand your reef?

BONUS POINTS: Tell us about a time when your notes, photos, or test history helped you identify what was happening—or when you wished you had kept better records.

Btw, one easy way to keep a running record is with a tank thread—or “build thread”—here on Reef2Reef. It can become a timeline of livestock additions, equipment changes, photos, and lessons learned, and it may be surprisingly useful when you’re trying to figure out what changed.

Got a thread going for your tank? Post a link in here!

 

[exnisstech]

I voted for 6 of the choices. I used to keep track of everything on paper but find an app much easier to use. Often I'll go to the basement to get something and forget what I went for so I don't rely on memory.
I've actually started combining my tanks on my single tank thread.
My tank thread

 

[Biokabe]

I use a combination of four things:

First, I try to take photos of the tank every 1-2 weeks. I have a catalog of photos that I like to take, mostly so I can track changes in corals and ID when something was added to the tank.

Second, I email myself my testing results. My Apex tracks some data points automatically (KH/CA/MG/Temp/PH) and I'll email the results of my manual results plus NO3 and PO4. Then I can just search my email for a given time and find the value in question.

Third, I keep a tank thread here. It's mostly duplicating what I'm keeping track of through other means, but I should probably be better about just putting my random tank-related thoughts there.

Fourth, I have a project in Claude that I use to track the tank. I have a sub for my writing (I use it to outline and organize notes for a book I've been writing for way too long - I never let it write for me), and so it was a pretty lightweight addition to also put together a tank tracking project. I'll do things like log changes to dosing programs, plan changes to the tank, or track growth on specific corals.

On that last one, I wouldn't recommend using Claude (or any other AI tool) as the sole logging tool, nor relying on it too much for tank advice. What it suggests is generally correct, but it presents its incorrect suggestions with just as much confidence as its correct suggestions, so if you don't know enough to spot potentially suspect information and push back it can easily lead you into mistakes. I've had to push back on it multiple times.

 

[flashsmith]

I voted almost nothing. I stopped chasing and only test alk and nitrates and check salinity weekly. Went from a 180 gallon system and an 80 along with a frag tank down to a 53 gallon AIO. Switched to AF component 3 in 1 dosing. Pretty simple system compared to what I was doing. I do my best to run a ULN setup with very few fish and feed lightly. However the only thing I do that is over the top is keeping a pristine tank. I never miss a day where I’m not cleaning something.The only thing I keep a real record of is all the coral in the tank. I keep the invoices so I don’t forget what I have. I like to keep it a hobby and not a lifestyle now. Some of y’all are in deep. I get it I was there. lol