The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[md4958]

Ive always wanted a salt-water tank.

On average how much time do you need to dedicate on a weekly basis to the maintenance of the average sized tank?

How difficult is that maintenance?

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by md4958

Ive always wanted a salt-water tank.

On average how much time do you need to dedicate on a weekly basis to the maintenance of the average sized tank?

How difficult is that maintenance?

That will vary.
For most, early on in the hobby, they either do too much or not enough.

I believe in hands free.
Great equipment, like a massive skimmer, triple to quadruple what the tank would require normally.
Water changes once a month - I do 50%.
Remove the rocks (in my case as I have to bleach them), once a month, when I do my water changes.
My tank takes once a month, but that day takes me about 3-4 hours due to the slow process in bleaching the rocks, to ensure no chlorine back in the tank.
The same regimen is what I did for my customers for years.

[GKitty]

Beautiful tanks and fishies!!

We had a couple of freshwater tanks while I was growing up. Loved to sit and watch them.

Thanks for the pics.

Please, sirs, may I have some more?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by md4958

Ive always wanted a salt-water tank.

On average how much time do you need to dedicate on a weekly basis to the maintenance of the average sized tank?

How difficult is that maintenance?

Hey Moe-sy,
I keep a reef tank, and it's super low-end. Despite that it's gorgeous and there are so many awesome critters living in there that you can see something new every day.
I spend maybe an hour a week doing maintainence. That consists of scrubbing the inside of the glass every other day with a magnet thingie (takes 2 minutes) and cleaning the glass with windex because a lunare wrasse I have splashes water out of the tank every time it eats.
The best thing I ever did that made this so much easier on me is:
1.) Added plants
2.) Bought an RO unit (makes 100% pure water).
My tank has been 15 years in the making and has frozen twice due to power outages while I was away.
Despite that, not everything died.
I do a lot of things that guys say that you should never do, but it's because I've wanted to create a self-sustaining biosphere, or a symbiosis.
Withh fresh water tanks it's very easy to do. With reef tanks it's taken me 15 years to get it right.
Carlos' tank is the extreme polar opposite of mine. His is like a hospital while mine is like a swamp.
His costs a fortune, and while mine isn't by any means cheap, it's definately affordable.
It takes a few years to cycle your tank, or at least it has mine.
If you get a good light, a good filter, and a good skimmer, and an RO unit you're on your way. Then you use a lot of live sand, coral, live rock, critters (crabs and snails), and some little fish and watch it like a hawk and do lots of water changes.
Add some razorwire chaeta (a plant) and it will come with all the "bugs" you need. Little shrimp and worms and stuff. They clean the bottom and process all the waste. In turn that processed waste feeds the plants. The plants clean the water. The baby bugs feed the live rock.
When it's time to add corals, everything is there that they need.
While my tank isn't a striking art statement like Carlos', it's beautiful in it's own right because of all the colors and activity. Much like cigars, it's one's taste that dictates what they want.
What you want will dictate what you have to do and how much work you have to do.
Carlos has to know a LOT to keep the environment he's created. He has to be right on top of it, too.
Mine is a lot less delicate, and it takes care of itself for the most part.
I still have to pay attention to it though. I'd say I do as much work on my tank as I do on my cat. Maybe less.
Nothing is "hard" either.

You should try a little nano tank. They're little tiny desktop environments and you can put a couple little fish in there, some live rock and some corals. They're inexpensive and a real bang for the buck. Easy to care for, too.
That way you could see if you like it before going crazy and spending millions. Plus you could just move your stock to a bigger tank.
I bet you'd love it.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by shilala

Carlos has to know a LOT to keep the environment he's created. He has to be right on top of it, too.
Mine is a lot less delicate, and it takes care of itself for the most part.
I still have to pay attention to it though.

That is the beauty of a reef system v. a fish only.
The reef is truly very self sustaining other than water changes.
The critters, the live rock, the fish themselves all maintain it for you.
In a fish only system, more labor involved in cleaning the corals.

Knowledge wise, not really hard. I feed them when I remember. I change the water once a month, the month I remember. Once in a while, I may even remember to change the dirty, nasty old pad on the wet dry.

Do you have a refugium? Wet dry? or combination of both?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Blueface

That is the beauty of a reef system v. a fish only.
The reef is truly very self sustaining other than water changes.
The critters, the live rock, the fish themselves all maintain it for you.
In a fish only system, more labor involved in cleaning the corals.

Knowledge wise, not really hard. I feed them when I remember. I change the water once a month, the month I remember. Once in a while, I may even remember to change the dirty, nasty old pad on the wet dry.

Do you have a refugium? Wet dry? or combination of both?

Nope, Carlos, no refugium.
Actually I do, though. It's a giant wad of Chaeta that's jammed behind the mountain of rock.
I just cut it back when it grows out too far. I have to cut it back or tuck it back in about once a week. I tear about half of it out every few months and throw it in the garbage. I always look in the bucket and I'm amazed at how many shrimp and worms are flopping around.

[md4958]

Originally Posted by shilala

You should try a little nano tank. They're little tiny desktop environments and you can put a couple little fish in there, some live rock and some corals. They're inexpensive and a real bang for the buck. Easy to care for, too.
That way you could see if you like it before going crazy and spending millions. Plus you could just move your stock to a bigger tank.
I bet you'd love it.

Thanks for the info Mr. Shilala!!!

[Mark]

I am loving this thread! I got my first tank about a year ago and quickly upgraded to a 30 gallon with tropical fish. Eventually I would LOVE to have a reef tank, but the set up cost is a bit steep while I'm still in school.

I will have to enjoy vicariously through all your pictures. Thanks for sharing!