how do you keep your tank looking good?

mattsilvester · #1 10/12/2007, 05:07 PM

Hi guys,

I see lots of pictures of folks FOWLR tanks, and they really look like reef tanks without corals.......

By that I mean plenty of good coraline growth, nice deep purple rocks, clean looking sand, no algae growing on tank walls etc.....

What do you do to keep your tank looking this way? Do you dose with any calcium supplements, use kalkwasser etc.

Thanks,

Matt

Titan*69 · #2 10/12/2007, 06:27 PM

My regime as follows......

20% weekly water changes,

clean glass daily with mag,

allow no dead zones as far as current goes,

blow LR with a turkey baster daily,

change carbon every 3-5 days,

maintain a clean skimmer for maximum performance,

feed fish slowly and sufficiently so no food gets stuck inside porous rock,

over-stock tank at "night" with snails/hermits and replenish on a regular basis,

I dose my tank with Ca and trace elements, but do not use a reactor,

I'm pretty sure that's it.

mattsilvester · #3 10/13/2007, 02:45 AM

Thanks Titan*69

Thats quite alot of maintenance indeed!

My thing at the moment is that I'm going through a "phase" with my 240 (8x2x2). 6 months ago I began in earnest with setting up the system to be an sps tank WITH nice fish (angels / tangs / etc.). This event coincided with the birth of our first baby. To be honest, in hindsightat, I think it may have been too much of an undertaking both in terms of financial commitment and in terms of the time I can commit to maintaining it - not to mention the "do you have to do that now" comments from the Mrs. while I'm doing something or other........

Anyway - 6 months on, things aren't exactly playing out as I had hoped, and I am considering reverting to a FOWLR set up. This woldn't involved much - I only have 5 sps corals right now - remove them and its a FOWLR

So I am trying to size up my opions right, and determine if I would infact be saving time and money by reverting to a FOWLR - but at the same time, I do not want a big muddy puddle with acres or hair algae and brown sand!

Thanks for your input.

Regards,

Matt

jmccown · #4 10/13/2007, 07:23 AM

I find two key elements in keeping mine clean are:

Feed lightly, sometimes every other day. Feed slowly like Titan said to make sure they get it all

Run lights as little as possible. This is for FOWLR of course. If you're not home, don't turn 'em on. Mine are only on from 6 p.m. till 10 p.m. which is bedtime.

latazyo · #5 10/13/2007, 09:25 AM

I have what I would call a predator reef...which includes SPS corals, etc

would you guys recommend running carbon 24/7

my fish are a picasso trigger (only)

Sicklid · #6 10/13/2007, 11:31 AM

Ozone. Period. The one thing that has improved my tank when nothing else would.

joy solomon · #7 10/13/2007, 02:48 PM

I have run FOWLR tanks for 5+ years. I have nice coralline algae growth and no issues with hair algae. I like to use the livestock to help keep the tank looking good. I've found that one or two sleeper gobies (Valenciennea puellaris) will do a great job of keeping the substrate clean and white. A Kole tang and a yellow tang will keep the algae off the rocks. A wide assortment of snails and hermit crabs will also help.

I don't dose calcium, but I do use Reef Crystals or Seachem reef salt for water changes (10% per week). I also run Chemi-pure in the sump continuously. I change it every 2-3months.

My maintenance consists of the weekly water changes and cleaning the viewing panel with a magnet cleaner once or twice a week.

pv1191 · #8 10/14/2007, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Titan*69
My regime as follows......

20% weekly water changes,

clean glass daily with mag,

allow no dead zones as far as current goes,

blow LR with a turkey baster daily,

change carbon every 3-5 days,

maintain a clean skimmer for maximum performance,

feed fish slowly and sufficiently so no food gets stuck inside porous rock,

over-stock tank at "night" with snails/hermits and replenish on a regular basis,

I dose my tank with Ca and trace elements, but do not use a reactor,

I'm pretty sure that's it.

X2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

techigirl78 · #9 10/15/2007, 12:44 PM

I agree with Joy. I have a tang and 2 wrasse that help to keep my FOWLR cleaner. The wrasse sleeps in the sand and stirs it up regularly.

It does depend what type of fish you want. Some fish will wipe out cleaning crews, putting more work on you. Others will co-exist completely or partially. I don't tend to get fish that continuously go after cleanup crews as I like having them.

mattsilvester · #10 10/16/2007, 09:09 AM

Thanks for the replies guys - been a little busy over the weekend.

Well I suppose my tank at the moment is just not looking as I had hoped. Since setting it up, I have done about 600 gals worth of RO water water changes, using reef crystals salt. It is lightly stocked, well skimmed, and not over fed.

At first, I noticed very slow coraline growth..... and it has never mproved. For me, good strong coraline growth is a must for a tnak to look good - and to be honest I have never really had to work at it.

I also have a bit of hair algae at the moment, which I cannot seem to shake off....... nitrate and phosphate undectable.

So - at this exact moment in time, I am on the verge of bringing back the sps stuff, getting a few nice tough leathers, polyps and 'shrooms and doing some big mega water changes.

I might get a kalk stirrer for the auto top off unit.

Cheers,

Matt