What is your daily, weekly and monthly maintenance routine?

[kien]

I couldn't pull this up in a search so I thought I'd ask. Just curious what peoples daily, weekly and monthly reef/tank maintenance routines are?

Daily:

- Feed fish before lights out (9pm).
- Watch fish, corals, general tank inspection (is that boxfish stuck to the powerhead again?? What frags/colonies has that urchin knocked over now!? ).
- feed LPS corals with turkey baster (every 3 days)
- Clean glass (every 3 days)
- Refill auto top off reservoir (every 2 days).
- replace filter sock (every 3 days)
- Empty Skimmer cup (every 3 days)

Weekly:

- 17% water change (mixed two days prior)
- Mix new batch of Alk and Calc. solutions
- Wash all dirty filter socks from the week
- Test Alk. and Calc. (moving to every 2 weeks)

Monthly:

- Change out GFO and Carbon in Phosbans.

Infrequently:

- Test, Mix and dose magnesium
- clean live rock with turkey baster
- clean salt creep in various places
- clean out pumps
- scrape coraline

Automated:

- daily fresh water auto top off
- hourly Alk and Calc dosing
- RO/DI made when need (stored in 50g drum)
- Parameters (Salinity, pH, Orp, Temp) measured via probes and displayed on display panel + emailed to iPhone every 4 hours.

[untamed]

Geez...looking at this makes me realize how insane I really am!

Daily:
- Feed 1x, sometimes 2x
- Drain skimmer cup
- visual check of tank pH, temperature graphs over past 24hrs
- manual dosing of VSV, sponge power, Amino Acids, Coral Vitalizer...and/or whatever else I'm experimenting with these days.
- Visual health check and fish count!
- Stop maintenance activities for 2 minutes to actually enjoy looking at the tank

Every 2 or 3 days:
- Clean 'glas

Weekly:
- Clean skimmer neck/cup
- Alk test, Nitrate test, Phosphate test
- 10% water change

Biweekly:
- Replace Kalk in Reactor
- Replace RowaPhos/Carbon (rotating schedule)
- Pull out dead coral and replace with new $50 piece (kidding)

Monthly:
- Ca test, Mg test
- Get right in there and scrape coraline

Annually:
- Replace all bulbs
- Calibrate probes
- Replace all peristaltic pump tubes
- Service all pumps and OM4ways
- Replace CO2

Biannually:
- Replace probes

[marie]

Daily:
Look at tanks
feed fish
look at tanks
top up fresh water
stare at tanks
empty skimmer cups
stare at tanks

Weekly:
scrape coraline algae


monthly:
see daily


Every 2 Months:
clean pumps
maybe a water change and change out carbon or let it wait until 3rd month...
Maybe check alk and salinity
Refill calcium reactor
Make up NSW (only if a water change was done)

Automated:
calcium reactor

[shrimpchips]

Daily:

- feed fish (1 - 4x a day depending on when I'm home)
- stare at coral
- laugh at jawfish antics
- clean glass (every few days)

Weekly/biweekly:

- 5g water change (~20%)
- check SG, Ca, Alk
- top up ATO reservoir
- make 20g of RO/DI for next two weeks
- wash skimmer cup

Monthly:

- Change out GFO and Carbon in Phosbans.
- test Mg

Infrequently:

- frag where necessary to prevent deaths
- scrape coraline

Automated:

- RO/DI water auto top off
- Alk, Ca, Mg and vodka dosing

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Wow, most of you make it sound like WORK!!!

Daily:
Feed several times (frzn, pellets)
Add Kalk saturated water from 2L juice jug
Observe at fish & corals throughout day & reposition fallen corals.
Surf Net for new fish/corals/inverts to add to tanks
Visit Canreef/BCA (throughout day)

Weekly:
Clean glass (3x)
Empty skimmer collection cup (2x)
Top up sump/reservoir (2x)
Dose Mg/Ca/Lugol's (1-2x)
Feed Nori (3x)


Every 3-4 months:
100-140g water change (recycle 210g reef water into 120g fowlr/softie tank)


Every 16-22 months:
Change out 14000k Aquaconnect or Phoenix bulbs

[Lance]

Daily
check controller numbers
top up reservoir with feshwater and calcium
dose alk/Mg by drip tubes
replace any corals that Bubba (trigger) has knocked over
feed fish flakes/pellets in morning
feed fish nori in the afternoon
feed fish fresh/frozen in early evening
feed nem & some LPS twice a week
clean glass every second day

Weekly
clean all 3 skimmers: cups and necks
10% water change on the 225g (I have a lot of fish in this tank :redface:)

Bi-Weekly
10% water change on 90g and 35g

Monthly
change all media
clean Becketts on skimmer
clean any pumps that need it
clean salt creep where necessary
clean algae, etc from overflows if required

Annually
change all bulbs
replace probes

[Leah]

Mine is really basic compared to some of you
Daily

Feed twice frozen/flake
Top up daily
Scrape algae
Empty skimmers
Pull out dead fish/corals

Weekly

Combined water changes of about 20 gals
Make new water for the following week
Blow yuck off rock
Replace dead stuff

[Delphinus]

Every 5 minutes, or thereabouts

Check Canreef
Check RC
Check J&L New&Noteworthy Page
Check Canreef

Oh, wait .. you meant just the tank stuff. Uh, never mind ..

[Borderjumper]

Every 5 minutes, or thereabouts

Check Canreef
Check RC
Check J&L New&Noteworthy Page
Check Canreef

Oh, wait .. you meant just the tank stuff. Uh, never mind ..


^
LOL isnt that the truth!

[kien]

Mine is really basic compared to some of you
Daily

Pull out dead fish/corals



you pull out dead fish and corals on a daily basis !?!? That is sad, I'm sorry to hear that :cry:

[whatcaneyedo]

Daily
Feed fish once
Inspect tank

Weekly
Clean glass
change filter sock
perform 10% water change
Test Ca, Alk, Mg and Salinity then adjust if needed
Dose Lugols Solution Iodine
Feed coral powdered coral food
Clean skimmer
Harvest macro algae
Frag

Monthly
Test PO4 and NO3
Change carbon and GFO
Top off Kalkwasser reactor

Semi annually
Calibrate pH probes
Service Ca Reactor

Annually
Change bulbs
Change RO/DI filters
Calibrate Refractometer
Repair/service pumps if needed

The rest is automated

[lobsterboy]

Daily

morning:

test CA followed by dose of CA
dose zeostart

nightly:

top up water manually
dose zeostart
test KH followed by dose of KH

dose zeo supplements

prime zeo reactor 12 times

clean glass every 3 days
same time clean skimmer cup
same time clean arcylic cover on light and well, give a dusting, all around the tank, vaccum up rouge snails, alot of small snails make that leap of faith outta the tank.

every two weeks:

10% water change, mixed 15min before water change

replace carbon

30min after water change, check salinity, test CA and test KH

replace filter sock


monthly: test MG, K+, P04

replace zeolites

replace blubs, every 3months

[christyf5]

Daily:
Look at tanks, count fish (glad to hear I'm not the only one), look to see if any of my SPS have turned into the "rare and elusive white solomon island acropora" overnight
Feed nori
Feed mysis or whatever other frozen "flavor of the month" food I've bought
Inspect rock/corals/fish for various cooties.
Look at controller to see that temperature is in range.
Right any turned over or fallen frags.
Watch fish to make sure they're all behaving relatively "normal"
If tank is doing well and decent looking, spend more time looking at tank and admiring progress. If tank is sucking hard, walk away and check internet for possible solutions/look at pictures of better tanks/corals.
Look at coral websites and lament not having won the lottery.

Weekly:
Fill up top-off tote
Clean skimmer cup, spend 30 mins trying to get skimmer restarted (impeller is old and crusty)
Waterchange (volume varies with enthusiasm/state of tank levels 10-40%)
Change carbon
Clean glass


Monthly:
Make up new Mg, Ca, Alk solutions for dosing pump
Check Mg, Ca, Alk to make sure its in line
Check various other parameters just because I bought the tests and I should be using them
Clean Tunze powerheads


Every couple months:
Change phosban and wonder why I still have algae growth
Take skimmer completely out and clean with vinegar

Yearly:
Change out bulbs (Yeah boxing day sales!)

[shrimpchips]

Lobsterboy - why so much testing of Ca and Alk?

[Dez]

Daily:

Morning-
Prime Zeo reactor and dose zeo products before I go to work
Look at the tank in the dark

Evening-
Feed frozen soaked in selcon/garlic
Look at tank
Dose zeo/prime reactor

Weekly:
Empty skimmer collection container
Turn RO unit on to fill resevoir
35 gallon water change (I will probably change this to every 2 weeks)

Monthly:
Clean skimmer neck
Siphon crap out of sump and other areas

Every 8- 10 months
Change lights? (haven't gotten to this point yet)

[lobsterboy]

Lobsterboy - why so much testing of Ca and Alk?

force of habit. parms dont really change much, maybe up or down 10 parts.

[JDigital]

Daily:

Stare at tank
Feed once
Dose: Ca, Alk & 4 misc Zeo products
Clean glass
Stare at tank more
Fill ATO Res. (every 3 days)

Weekly:

16% Water change
Manually remove GHA

Monthly:

Replace Rowaphos
Test Ca, Alk, Mag
Scrape Coraline

[e46er]

daily
feed
dose vodka
check tank make sure all fish are still in tank not in overflows,sump ect


every couple days
test Ca alk mag dose as required (just started adding sps so not sure about consumption rates thats why testing is done so often
clean skimmer cup
top off sump
weekly
20G water change more if i feel like it and its mixed up
monthly
change out carbon and GFO

every couple months
clean out skimmer
clean out ruturn pump
clean out CL pump

[BlueAbyss]

Daily:
-Observe heavily, noting changes in coral and macroalgae growth, anything up with the fishes, all livestock still accounted for, etc.
-Top off with distilled water
-Dose according to schedule
-Clean off rocks with turkey baster
-Check temperature throughout the day

Every 2-3 days:
-Feed Trachyphyllia and Purple Firefish
-Clean glass
-'Prune' macroalgaes if needed

Weekly:
-Stir the top layer of sand a bit if it's not getting turned over enough
-Attempt to ID all the wierd things I've been seeing around my tank (Hmm, sundial or collonista snails? And what is this red macro?)
-Test all parameters, I really need to start doing this again

Biweekly:
-25% water change
-Change polyester filter floss
-Suck air out of the non-breaking siphon

There are a few changes that I will be making to this schedule soon, now that I can see a few problems with my husbandry :neutral:

[Sencha]

bump

[Milad]

Daily
nothing

Every 3 days:
change out filter sock

Every week:
clean glass
Empty skimmer
15% water change with water that was mixed week prior

Monthly
Change carbon

I just got into this zeovit stuff so i just started dosing every night so techincally this was my schedule last week.

my autotop off is automated from ro/di, feeders are automated, and i almost got a water change automated.

[Myka]

I keep a hand-written log of all maintenance and test results. I use colored highlighters for carbon, GFO, Spur2, change-outs and dosing etc so it is easier to find in my logs. I log new fish additions, difficult coral updates, any losses, out of ordinary dosing, bulb changes, lighting schedule changes, pretty much everything. I also refer to my log regularly to note any patterns or reactions.

Daily(ish):

Inspect tank and replace knocked over corals if needed
Check temperature
Feed fish smorgasbord (every 2nd day) add Selcon and Garlic Xtreme

Weekly(ish):

10 gallon water change, blast rock with baster, scrape front 3 sides of glass inside beforehand, use gravel vacuum on sandbed.

After WC, let carbon reactor run for 24 hours (once per week)
Refill ATO bucket
Refill 65 gallon barrel with RO/DI water, check TDS on every use
Refill salt mixing bucket, mix in salt, add K and Mg.
Empty skimmer cup, clean neck
Replace filter pad in sump (2x weekly)
Test salinity (w/ hydrometer), Cal, Alk, Mg, K and adjust if necessary (usually ok)
Feed anemones and some LPS corals frozen mysis
Dose Zeovit Coral Snow
Inspect corals closely for signs of parasites/disease/pests/etc.

Monthly(ish):

Replace GFO in reactor (every 6 weeks)
Replace carbon in reactor (after 4 uses)
Test salinity with refractometer, pH, nitrate, phosphate
Mix calcium and carbonate solution for dosers
Siphon detritus from sump
Frag corals
Clean salt creep
Scrape coralline from back glass
Dose Spur2 (every 3 weeks)

Quarterly(ish):

Clean all pumps inc powerheads
Remove entire skimmer and clean
Calibrate all meters (pH, TDS, refractometer)

Yearly(ish):

Replace T5 bulbs (actinics)
Replace MH bulbs - NOT at the same time!
Replace all doser tubing
Replace 50% of the sandbed (I sterilize and leach PO4 and NO3 before reusing the next year)
Replace heaters every 2-3 years

Automated:

Top off water
Calcium and alkalinity dosers
Lights on timers

[reeferious]

wakes up regular as clockwork flick on tank lites scare the **** out of everything stare at tanks 15 minutes till wife shakes me awake goes to work come back stare at tanks 15 minutes till wife pulls me up for dinner goes back down basement stare at tanks some more till bed time and repeat next early morning. i swear to the good lord this is what i do most days.

[Murminator]

Whenever

Feed fish

Add water when pump is gurgling and sucking air into display

Wonder why tank looks like crap

That is all :wink:

[christyf5]

Whenever

Feed fish

Add water when pump is gurgling and sucking air into display

Wonder why tank looks like crap

That is all :wink:

LOL, I was looking at my earlier post on page 2 and noticed that my current routine is closer to this (except I have an ATO).