alishahlakhani
Community Member
Hey reefers,
So I was wondering that our hobby relies alot on attaining "stability" but in it's raw form, what does stability even mean? I have few theories on what, why and how of stability in a reef tank. Feel free to correct me or share more opinions.
What:
- Stability is a range not a fixed number - +-2 points of shift is alright as long is it's not too fast and gradual over the week.
- Benchmark keeps shifting to where tanks goes - it's okay to switch benchmark/target paramenter if tank is going that direction
- Gears + Automation = Stability - It's much easier to achieve stability with proper equipment.
How:
- ATO - For Salinity
- Doser - For Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium and trace elements, etc.
- Testing - For daily/weekly/monthly monitoring and benchmarking
- Maintenance schedule - For ensuring things don't go south unexpectedly
- Controlled Feeding - Nitrates + Phosphates ofcourse..
- Auto pilot reefing - No hands inside the tank, not moving corals, not micromanaging tanks.
- No drastic changes - Everything, and I mean everything, must be done over a period of weeks not hours
Why:
- Corals grow faster
- Fishes feel less stress
- Reduces manual work and anxiety
- No more mad scientist everyday.
- Tank matures faster + Coraline growth
- Less maintenance work overall because things are business as usual most of the days (Something I learned in my 1st year of reefing)
I'm doing a research for next podcast episode of KeepReefin(shameless plug, sorry) so your help is appreciated <3
Please checkout my previous episodes. I'm trying to cover new and intersting topics that most of us don't talk about in this hobby, you may like them.
Ali
So I was wondering that our hobby relies alot on attaining "stability" but in it's raw form, what does stability even mean? I have few theories on what, why and how of stability in a reef tank. Feel free to correct me or share more opinions.
What:
- Stability is a range not a fixed number - +-2 points of shift is alright as long is it's not too fast and gradual over the week.
- Benchmark keeps shifting to where tanks goes - it's okay to switch benchmark/target paramenter if tank is going that direction
- Gears + Automation = Stability - It's much easier to achieve stability with proper equipment.
How:
- ATO - For Salinity
- Doser - For Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium and trace elements, etc.
- Testing - For daily/weekly/monthly monitoring and benchmarking
- Maintenance schedule - For ensuring things don't go south unexpectedly
- Controlled Feeding - Nitrates + Phosphates ofcourse..
- Auto pilot reefing - No hands inside the tank, not moving corals, not micromanaging tanks.
- No drastic changes - Everything, and I mean everything, must be done over a period of weeks not hours
Why:
- Corals grow faster
- Fishes feel less stress
- Reduces manual work and anxiety
- No more mad scientist everyday.
- Tank matures faster + Coraline growth
- Less maintenance work overall because things are business as usual most of the days (Something I learned in my 1st year of reefing)
I'm doing a research for next podcast episode of KeepReefin(shameless plug, sorry) so your help is appreciated <3
Please checkout my previous episodes. I'm trying to cover new and intersting topics that most of us don't talk about in this hobby, you may like them.
Ali
