Tips for Long Term Success

[HardyG]

What are some of your biggest tips and tricks that you have learned and personally used to help ensure long term success in a reef tank? Also, what is something that you do that makes this hobby easier on you and helps ensure success with minimal need for intervention.

My biggest one I have learned from my nano recently is that a daily 3ish cup water change from my salt storage is SUPER easy and effective instead of lugging buckets through the house once a week to do messy water changes. Now only do a full size water change if something has gone wonky!

What about you? What wisdom can you share?

 

[Euphyllia97]

To not only filter your tank, but also the information you find on the internet. It makes you overthink too much. On the other hand, in this hobby, don’t be impulsive and research before you buy.

 

[ColorMeGone]

 

[Nordy]

Challenge yourself to learn as much as you can, not only will your reef mature, but so will your practices of upkeep.

 

[HardyG]

To not only filter your tank, but also the information you find on the internet. It makes you overthink too much. On the other hand, in this hobby, don’t be impulsive and research before you buy.

!! This is so good! It can be so confusing though for newer people. You read one person tells you that you need no nitrates/phosphates to be successful and the next comment says they have ran 40 nitrates and 1.6 Po3 for the last 35 years with great success. What did you do at that point??

I agree. It can sometimes be information overload!

 

[BonnieB]

What are some of your biggest tips and tricks that you have learned and personally used to help ensure long term success in a reef tank? Also, what is something that you do that makes this hobby easier on you and helps ensure success with minimal need for intervention.

My biggest one I have learned from my nano recently is that a daily 3ish cup water change from my salt storage is SUPER easy and effective instead of lugging buckets through the house once a week to do messy water changes. Now only do a full size water change if something has gone wonky!

What about you? What wisdom can you share?

I’m too new to share any real wisdom but what I’ve learned is everyone has a different opinion and you can go on information overload very quickly…go with the flow and address things as quickly as possible without over thinking and analyzing everything…not everything is an emergency…and, look to experts when in doubt and to learn how to care for and mature with your tank!

 

[lombeard]

I used to travel a fair bit for work and I'd leave my tank home alone for up to a month, and I always found it to be even happier when I returned than before I left. So I've learnt that not fiddling is good, however, I still fiddle daily when I'm home.

I've learnt that adding corals (not fish) helps a tank mature faster. So rather add more corals in the early stages than tons of fish.

Be patient, be consistent and keeps things stable and your tank should be happy.

 

[lombeard]

Oh and take what people on social media say with a rather large grain of salt, most of the content appears to be undisclosed ads. So find people who talk about their reefs and not products.

 

[Nordy]

I’m too new to share any real wisdom but what I’ve learned is everyone has a different opinion and you can go on information overload very quickly…go with the flow and address things as quickly as possible without over thinking and analyzing everything…not everything is an emergency…and, look to experts when in doubt and to learn how to care for and mature with your tank!

Go with flow, keep a lot of flow in your system.

 

[HardyG]

I used to travel a fair bit for work and I'd leave my tank home alone for up to a month, and I always found it to be even happier when I returned than before I left. So I've learnt that not fiddling is good, however, I still fiddle daily when I'm home.

I've learnt that adding corals (not fish) helps a tank mature faster. So rather add more corals in the early stages than tons of fish.

Be patient, be consistent and keeps things stable and your tank should be happy.

Great advice. I am trying this myself. Had coral and live rock in the tank before I even started my QT! So far so good!

 

[exnisstech]

For me its keeping it simple and consistent. I think lack of patience and trying to control everything going on in the tank vs letting it mature naturally is one of the largest causes of failure for people new to the hobby. Grab a bottle of this to treat that etc when patience and good husbandry can overcome many hurdles. But in an age of instant gratification that part seems to be difficult especially for people new to the hobby. JMO

 

[i cant think]

What are some of your biggest tips and tricks that you have learned and personally used to help ensure long term success in a reef tank? Also, what is something that you do that makes this hobby easier on you and helps ensure success with minimal need for intervention.

My biggest one I have learned from my nano recently is that a daily 3ish cup water change from my salt storage is SUPER easy and effective instead of lugging buckets through the house once a week to do messy water changes. Now only do a full size water change if something has gone wonky!

What about you? What wisdom can you share?

Never keeping anything stable. It’s unnatural, corals love variety not 3 years of “oh my Phosphates are at 0.5” or “my Nitrates are at 10”. Instead mine have a range, I don’t care where they are, my corals are happy and I get a stunning amount of colour from them within days of hitting my 5 foot. And the growth, well it’s not rapid but it’s there and obvious!
Here’s a Rainbow Loom I’m growing out to frag for my LFS and, only a month or so ago it was brown/green. It’s now well, rainbow!

 

[HardyG]

Just saw this and felt like it fits in with mostly everyone’s comments. Crazy to thinks both to this way, but so true!

 

[EricR]

Never keeping anything stable. It’s unnatural, corals love variety...

I've always felt like it was silly (maybe even bad) for most of us to keep our tanks at a consistent temperature at all times.
Unnatural and seems like it would be better to have livestock be used to temperature variations.
*alas, none of the temperature controllers I've owned had the ability to handle that (automatically)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Never keeping anything stable. It’s unnatural, corals love variety not 3 years of “oh my Phosphates are at 0.5” or “my Nitrates are at 10”. Instead mine have a range, I don’t care where they are, my corals are happy and I get a stunning amount of colour from them within days of hitting my 5 foot.

Is stability unnatural?

I’m not going to try to debate what corals like best, but alkalinity and all major ions are extremely stable in the ocean, only changing if there is a salinity change. Alk is never above about 7 dKH.

Phosphate and nitrate in the ocean are never more than a few ppm nitrate and 0.1 ppm phosphate. :)

 

[HardyG]

Never keeping anything stable. It’s unnatural, corals love variety...

I've always felt like it was silly (maybe even bad) for most of us to keep our tanks at a consistent temperature at all times.
Unnatural and seems like it would be better to have livestock be used to temperature variations.
*alas, none of the temperature controllers I've owned had the ability to handle that (automatically)

Do you think there is a reason no manufacturer has done this?

 

[EricR]

Do you think there is a reason no manufacturer has done this?

No idea. Price would likely have to increase for the added logic maybe,,, and constant temp has been working fine forever so who would pay extra?
*or maybe my thought was completely wrong and fish/inverts are healthier at constant temps and they just have to deal with swings in the ocean even though it's not ideal (to them)???

 

[Orito]

The more moving parts your tank have, more time takes to keep it working and more complicated will be for someone take care of it if you can't.

 

[Ehder]

Do your own thing. Everyone has an opinion but yours is what matters for your tank. I've spent 20 years with fads and do this or that. Honestly if you have stability, you can keep most anything no matter the parameters. There are definitely benefits to those best parameters but anyone can have a tank.

The advice I have is don't give up. Find your happy spot and stick to it. Stability.

Also keep everything! You never know when you might need it!

Also learn chemistry. Ha!

 

[ggNoRe]

If I'm going to keep corals in a system a temp controller and an ATO are mandatory.