Excel Spreadsheet for Reef Aquarium Logging

[theop]

Member crumbletop and I have developed this spreadsheet to help with keeping a log of tank conditions, water parameters, addtives, and changes in livestock. I've posted it in the "New to the Hobby" forum here, but wanted to share it over here as well. It is fairly simple, but we hope you find it useful. Feel free to give us any feedback or suggestions.

The .zip file is attached, while the unzipped excel is available for download here (too large to attach).

Here are some features which I think make it useful:

1. There is a place to put additives and the quantity used. This list can be customized under the "Lists" worksheet.

2. The normal ranges for each water parameter are listed under "Lists" and can be customized. Values outside of this range are highlighted in yellow to indicate undesirable levels.

3. You can choose the units of temperature (F or C) and alkalinity (dKH or meq/L) via a drop-down list on the column title bar units. This will change the normal ranges to the indicated units.

4. There is some basic data validation, such as checking for numbers in appropriate fields.

5. You can delete a column if you never test for that item.

6. Entries are stored in rows rather than columns to make it easy to enter lots and lots of entries.

[andynyc]

Great spreadsheet!

But I never learned how to make the top columns remain even when I scroll down... how did you code that?

Thanks.

[theop]

1. Go to Window -> Split. This will split the pane. Drag the panes to the size you want (Move all the way to one side to get rid of that split).

2. Scroll the top window to show the cells you want to keep there.

3. Go to Window -> Freeze Panes.

[brettandlyndi]

Very nicely done! Thank you for sharing.

[crumbletop]

andynyc,

You don't need to split the panes. Just click on the cell that has the stuff above it that you want to remain the same for vertical scrolling, and the stuff to the left of it that you want to remain the same for left right scrolling and then select Window->Freeze Panes.

Jack

[Fastmarc]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[m1a1fan]

Thanks for sharing the file. It'll come in handy.

[crumbletop]

I've also thought about how to track light bulbs -- what was placed and when, to aid in knowing when to replace. I'm new enough to this that I don't really know how useful something like that might be. Could also do the same thing for RO/DI filters. Maybe this would best be done on the notes sheet or on a new sheet altogether as the entries wouldn't be frequent, and they aren't really "tank parameters." Any thoughts?

[Lordhelmet]

this will work great for my wife. she gets the privlage of watching my tank this summer while i work out of town for a few months