Where do you tank on tank upkeep?

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Just curious where everyone stands, where do you stand as far as:

Regular water changes

Blowing out rock work

Vacuuming sand

Scraping back glass etc

I know some people claim great success never doing water changes. Some people claim blowing their rockwork out obsessively is the key to their success. Meanwhile some people haven't touched their sand since they started their tank 10 years ago. Also curious about what other "chores" people attribute to their success.

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

I never vacuum the sand or scrape the back glass. There's a CUC for that.
I do water Changes on schedule, +/- no more than one day.
About once a month I turkey baste my rockwork.
I dose and top off daily (both manually).

 

[Reefer Matt]

No sand for me, but I do monthly water changes, and weekly (front) glass and rock cleaning.

 

[exnisstech]

Similar to @Euphylliaphyle with the sand and back glass. My back glass is a food source especially when it grows GHA to provide habitat for little critters. Rock work cleaning varies between tanks. My SPS tank I blow rocks daily or EOD because I have pockets where detritus settles which bubble algae seems to love.

PS. I try not to disturb the sand bed on tanks that have one. I've always been a clean it always or never mindsets when it comes to vacuuming sand.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I never vacuum the sand or scrape the back glass. There's a CUC for that.
I do water Changes on schedule, +/- no more than one day.
About once a month I turkey baste my rockwork.
I dose and top off daily (both manually).

My rear glass is left alone as well. And I definitely need to get better at cleaning my rock work... I vacuum a few spots in my sand when I do a water change, but thats mostly because i'm paranoid about letting it sit too long. I dont entirely trust my CUC, they're dumb as snails...

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Similar to @Euphylliaphyle with the sand and back glass. My back glass is a food source especially when it grows GHA to provide habitat for little critters. Rock work cleaning varies between tanks. My SPS tank I blow rocks daily or EOD because I have pockets where detritus settles which bubble algae seems to love.

Everyone so far blows out the rock work regularly, and im terrible about it... do you use a turkey baster? Or small pump? I ought to do this more but i hate it so much haha. I think mostly because I like keeping my hands out of the tank. Working in the trades, and having a toddler who at least once a day hands me something that makes me say "what even is that?" Causes me mild paranoia that something bad on my hands lol. Even after a quick rinse.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

No sand for me, but I do monthly water changes, and weekly (front) glass and rock cleaning.

I'm impressed yku can find rock in your sps tank to blow. Seems like theres not much exposed anymore! What method do yku use to blow off your rocks? Turkey baster? Small pump?

 

[Reefer Matt]

I'm impressed yku can find rock in your sps tank to blow. Seems like theres not much exposed anymore! What method do yku use to blow off your rocks? Turkey baster? Small pump?

Lol! I use a long turkey baster to siphon and remove the detritus I can see, then blow the rest off. This is part of the reason the encrusters cover so well. If detritus builds up, algae usually follows. My coral doesn’t like to grow over algae. So with the detritus removed, it gives a clean slate for more growth. In a perfect world the flow in the tank would take care of it. But in reality, there’s always a few spots that collect waste.

 

[exnisstech]

Everyone so far blows out the rock work regularly, and im terrible about it... do you use a turkey baster? Or small pump? I ought to do this more but i hate it so much haha. I think mostly because I like keeping my hands out of the tank. Working in the trades, and having a toddler who at least once a day hands me something that makes me say "what even is that?" Causes me mild paranoia that something bad on my hands lol. Even after a quick rinse.

I have a couple of Kent Marine extendable coral feeders I use. It's strong enough to do a decent job. Long enough so no hands in the water. Also the bulb is well made. Ive been using mine for several years with no cracking or rubber getting brittle. I can't remember where I bought them. I have a pump rigged up also using RO tubing but the bulb syringe is so easy to grab and use i rarely break out the pump. Corals usually show a pretty strong feeding response when I blow the rocks so I figure thats a plus.

Pic of the tool.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Lol! I use a long turkey baster to siphon and remove the detritus I can see, then blow the rest off. This is part of the reason the encrusters cover so well. If detritus builds up, algae usually follows. My coral doesn’t like to grow over algae. So with the detritus removed, it gives a clean slate for more growth. In a perfect world the flow in the tank would take care of it. But in reality, there’s always a few spots that collect waste.

I think, if anything, adding this to my regular maintenance schedule is probably a good idea that I should look into further. I have a 30" ice cap feeding syringe/slim turkey baster that works decent enough. Maybe i'll make this a weekend staple for awhile and see if it helps!

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I have a couple of Kent Marine extendable coral feeders I use. It's strong enough to do a decent job. Long enough so no hands in the water. Also the bulb is well made. Ive been using mine for several years with no cracking or rubber getting brittle. I can't remember where I bought them. I have a pump rigged up also using RO tubing but the bulb syringe is so easy to grab and use i rarely break out the pump. Corals usually show a pretty strong feeding response when I blow the rocks so I figure thats a plus.

Pic of the tool.

I like the extendable version! I have a 30" ice cap feeding tool that probably works very much the same(besides being really tall and bumping my lights when trying to get to tight places lol) i'm going to try and do this more often I think.

Now that you mention it, I have noticed when I do blow out my rocks, there is definitely a feeding response... everyone goes and tries all these expensive additives nowadays and turns out the rock works full of a good coral food already haha

 

[exnisstech]

Ya I have a long fixed length baster but the bulb is wimpy and the extendable one as you mention is great to work around lights and other obstacles.

EDIT: Now that you mention it, I have noticed when I do blow out my rocks, there is definitely a feeding response... everyone goes and tries all these expensive additives nowadays and turns out the rock works full of a good coral food already haha

I think it's called nutrient recycling or something like that. I have no shortage of life that lives in the filth in my tanks and sumps lol

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

Corals usually show a pretty strong feeding response when I blow the rocks so I figure thats a plus.

I usually baste my rocks on coral feeding day just for this reason. I target feed first, then baste, then water change one right after another. I target feed twice weekly, w/c every 10 days, baste rocks monthly. I force them into co-scheduled days when the due dates for each are close. That usually means pulling in or pushing out coral feeding and/or basting to coincide with a water change about once per month.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I usually baste my rocks on coral feeding day just for this reason. I target feed first, then baste, then water change one right after another. I target feed twice weekly, w/c every 10 days, baste rocks monthly. I force them into co-scheduled days when the due dates for each are close. That usually means pulling in or pushing out coral feeding and/or basting to coincide with a water change about once per month.

Yea, I think the fact that the first three people to comment all include blasting rocks, i will probably start doing it more often. I do it roughly every 3 or 4 months currently, and im sure, if I did it once or twice a month, i'd only see benefits

 

[X-37B]

Regular water changes

5% once a month.
Nano's 13,15g. 20% 2× a month

Blowing out rock work
Once a month

Vacuuming sand
Never
Gobies keep it clean

Scraping back glass etc
Never
I like coralline

 

[Maho.B]

I'm happy to hear so many are blowing off the rocks, every time I do it I admittedly think to myself "isn't 99% of this gonna just settle back down on the rocks somewhere" lol

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Regular water changes

5% once a month.
Nano's 13,15g. 20% 2× a month

Blowing out rock work
Once a month

Vacuuming sand
Never
Gobies keep it clean

Scraping back glass etc
Never
I like coralline

Very similar to this. Although I do slightly bigger water changes. Probably around 15% or so. Rarely blow out the rock(this thread made me decide to try changing that) and my sands spot cleaned each water change. But only the dirty parts.

This thread definitely opened my eyes on a thing or two

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I'm happy to hear so many are blowing off the rocks, every time I do it I admittedly think to myself "isn't 99% of this gonna just settle back down on the rocks somewhere" lol

Yea, thats kinda why I never did much with it, but now I think i'm going to try doing a bit better with that

 

[MasterClassReefs]

Just curious where everyone stands, where do you stand as far as:

Regular water changes

Blowing out rock work

Vacuuming sand

Scraping back glass etc

I know some people claim great success never doing water changes. Some people claim blowing their rockwork out obsessively is the key to their success. Meanwhile some people haven't touched their sand since they started their tank 10 years ago. Also curious about what other "chores" people attribute to their success.

If you want to spend your days tweaking chemistry and chasing numbers dont bother with water changes. Ime this is like playing russian roulette. A crash is inevitable.

If you want to keep things consistent, minimize build up of unknown or untested elements and toxins and prefer an overall more stable system work out regular water changes and stick to a schedule like its religion. Really make it a habbit.

Blowing out rockwork will be necessary for some and not others. With adequate flow and a properly built scape you wont have lots of detritus pockets to begin with.

I use sand for fish and inverts who live in it or require it. That said I tend not to mess with it. I let nature do its thing unless I mess up and fail in the design or clean up crew selection resulting in the need to "clean" it.

Scraping back glass depends on the scape. You making a 1990s scape? Picture a wall of live rock against the back of the tank. Then no. Doing an NSA or HNSA aquascape? Yes, clean it for contrast and general appearance. Also obviously if your tank is a peninsula then you have some scrubbing to do on at least 3 sides.

I believe success in this hobby comes down to proper homework/research being done, proper design and consistency largely. Fluctuations can be a disaster when they get out of hand.

 

[Shnetts]

Two tanks get wc’s weekly. One gets once a month and one has the same water since the day I filled it. Typically if everything is good I won’t ever touch the sand. If I’m dealing with an algae outbreak then I’ll vacuums it. Sometimes if I notice the rocks getting a bit dirty I’ll blow them off but I don’t do it regularly. And I only scrape the glass on the viewing panels. I try to keep at least 2 unscathed and just let them be.