Unmaintained system?

HotRod68Camaro · #1 03/08/2007, 02:10 PM

If there were no fish in the SPS system so that no feeding was required, how long do you guys/gals think an SPS system can go w/o maintainance? Assuming everything is automated (lights, ATO, etc.).

Serioussnaps · #2 03/08/2007, 03:01 PM

i also thought about this.......you would have to feed the corals though

HotRod68Camaro · #3 03/08/2007, 03:03 PM

thats what i was thinking b/c the skimmer would probably pull everything out of the tank pretty quick w/o a bioload.

Maybe if there was 1 fish and an auto feeder.

epon · #4 03/08/2007, 03:27 PM

about 15 mins

cromegu · #5 03/08/2007, 04:24 PM

I´ve tried to do this before but as Serioussnaps said It´s very important to feed our corals so even if there´s no fish it´s going to be necessary to make water changes and all that stuff...

HotRod68Camaro · #6 03/08/2007, 04:25 PM

well with a kalk and calcium reactor would that still be necessary?

cromegu · #7 03/08/2007, 04:32 PM

In my expierience no matter if you have calcium reactor and those devices finally what pollutes your tank is organic concentrations produced by coral food, and fish poo there´s a theory that asumes that live plancton can solve this issue because it´s alive using nanocrolpsis or tetraselmis as coral food but for me its very complicated, so I´d rather make partial water changes in order to keep water quality than try with this but it´s up to you my friend...

RCS · #8 03/08/2007, 04:37 PM

My maintenance schedule with my tanks generally consists of feeding the fish and topping off. I generally only do water changed when I'm selling frags or corals out of the tank and replace it. It's a 65g tank with a 50g refugium. I'm working on an auto-topoff system as well, possibly with kalk so the Ca supplementation keeps up with demand (this might have to be upped to a CA reactor when the tank is fully stocked). once that's complete it will look like this:

Daily: feed fish (though they're likely fine for up to a week or more with the available food growing in the tank)

Small changes once every week or two on the range of about 5 gallons should keep most of the micronutrients in line. Once I have a better idea of the long-term usage of some other elements like Ca, Mg, I, etc. I may have to design a dosing scheme...but in all reality, that should only happen 1-2 times a month.

This kind of schedule is most easily accomplished on larger volumes of water, and there are plans to add a 100g refugium to the setup and convert the current 50g into more of a true sump, with the skimmer and other filtration media housed in it if necessary (though I generally don't run anything other than a skimmer).

So, how long can a system go without maintenance? Really depends on how you set it up and what you expect. I do minimal maintenance on my system per the above.

RCS · #9 03/08/2007, 04:39 PM

Quote:

In my expierience no matter if you have calcium reactor and those devices finally what pollutes your tank is organic concentrations produced by coral food, and fish poo there´s a theory that asumes that live plancton can solve this issue because it´s alive using nanocrolpsis or tetraselmis as coral food but for me its very complicated, so I´d rather make partial water changes in order to keep water quality than try with this but it´s up to you my friend...

Unless you're 100% confident in your abilities, I agree with you 100%. That said, I've alays designed my systems for a "natural" sort of filtration, complete with refugium, macroalgae, filter feeding and sponge filtering, deep sand bed and good water movement. These coupled with a good skimmer have always given me excellent results. I won't say my growth wouldn't be better with more water changes, but my nitrates and phosphates stay at zero and growth is moderate or better on everything I keep.

jocoxVT · #10 03/08/2007, 04:50 PM

I run a SPS dominant system but travel more then 75% for my job. I have my system run by itself with no one checking on it for usually 6 days a week (I come home Saturday evening and head back out Sunday afternoon usually). I have been out of town straight with only that Saturday night to Sunday at home (mix in a few full Saturdays here and there) since the second week of December and that will continue until the second week of April. The biggest issue I have noticed is that since I only feed the tank heavily one day a week sometimes two depending on when I get home Saturday (no auto feeder as I dont trust them), my corals have lightened but still maintain color. So far I have only had one issue with a return pump seizing other then that my tank has run successfully. Now I realize that this isnt totally hands off as I am home and feeding for that one day but I thought I would share my experience. On my one day home I usually only feed and if need be clean off corraline from the glass.

HotRod68Camaro · #11 03/08/2007, 05:07 PM

thats what i am talking about b/c my new job is taking up alot of time. and i am not home sometimes up to a month. so having some one come by once or twice a week to feed wouldnt be too hard.

If i cant figure out a good way to take care of the tank then i might be getting out of the hobby pretty soon.

cromegu · #12 03/08/2007, 05:33 PM

Don´t give up my friend, RCS gave us a valuable testimony, It´s not possible to you to make even one partial water change monthly? I think your reef worth it, don´t you?

HotRod68Camaro · #13 03/08/2007, 05:39 PM

I can possibly do it once a month just depends on the project i am on. So far the longest i have been away is one month. But i will be enlisting National Guard pretty soon so who knows what will happen with that.

cromegu · #14 03/08/2007, 05:44 PM

I hope you decide to keep your reef if not I´m sure that later you´ll want to set up another, take care :-)

epon · #15 03/08/2007, 05:46 PM

At the very minimum someone needs to check the tank daily, if only to verify the pumps are still running. Tanks wait untill adults aren't around to start pulling stupid ish.

jocoxVT · #16 03/08/2007, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by epon
At the very minimum someone needs to check the tank daily, if only to verify the pumps are still running.

To avoid dropping a lot of money (ie AC 3, etc) I would say that is true but I literally let my tank run with no one even seeing it for weeks at a time. If you have everything set up properly it can definitely be done. Just by getting per say an AquaController and say a web cam in which you can access your tank away to see how it is you can get by. My next project is setting up a web cam so I can check on the tank at any time therefore if I see that something went wrong I can call someone to go check on the tank and fix whatever needs to be fixed.

Quote:

Originally posted by epon
Tanks wait untill adults aren't around to start pulling stupid ish.

Murphy's law in full force.

HotRod68Camaro · #17 03/08/2007, 05:52 PM

Iv got an ACJr right now and i have been fine leaving it for a week with nobody checking on it.

cromegu · #18 03/08/2007, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by epon
At the very minimum someone needs to check the tank daily, if only to verify the pumps are still running. Tanks wait untill adults aren't around to start pulling stupid ish.

Unfortunately that´s usual but not a rule...

bubblethumper · #19 03/08/2007, 08:07 PM

My tanks can go a week without any attention thanks to automation like Auquatronica and Litermeter

epon · #20 03/08/2007, 08:45 PM

All that stuff is great untill it isn't. Imagine coming home to a tank that has crashed a month ago if you even had a house left.

jocoxVT · #21 03/08/2007, 08:49 PM

I agree it isnt something that you would want to happen but with the appropriate precautions you can maintain a system without being there every day. There are many pieces of equipment out there that will notify you if something goes wrong if that happens you call someone to go take care of the issue. I agree the ideal situation is being able to see your tank day in and day out but at the same time it is possible to run a SPS system "hands off" for a lack of a better term.

RCS · #22 03/08/2007, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Tanks wait untill adults aren't around to start pulling stupid ish.

This seems to be an unfortunate truth in a lot of situations. If you look at it this way though, it doesn't matter whether you do maintenance or not!

It would be nice to have all the gizmos and gadgets, but I've found the simple approach works best for an easy-to-keep tank. There are some easy precautions you can do as well. Drilled tank vs. siphon overflow is safer in most cases. Auto topoff will help. Eveything on timers is really nice. Sump/fuge drilled for overflow in case you lose power. All basic stuff, but they can be real lifesavers.

If you think you're going to be gone for that length of time though, and I'm guessing the National Guard may be somewhat of a commitment, state of the world what it is, then it may be best to tear it down, and either sell it or save it for a rainy day. In the meantime, you can save on some bills and save some cash for that 100% automated tank you'll be setting up in a couple years.

reefkoi · #23 03/08/2007, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by epon
about 15 mins

priceless

so true

nava405 · #24 03/09/2007, 12:03 AM

this is really hard to say because i know some friends that do water change weekly, if they dont do it weekly, sps start looking bad. however, 2 of my friends with FULL SPS in 200 gal with like 30+ fishes with super crazy strong water flow, and one of them do water change once in 3 months, and the other one only do it once a year.

btw, both of them feeding their fishes 3 times a day and 1 time for SPS

RCS · #25 03/09/2007, 12:48 AM

Nava, I ran my old 155 for about a year and a half with no actual water changes aside from the aforementioned replacement after bagging frags a couple times a month. Corals and fish grew like crazy. Raised Banggai cardinal, had breeding cleaner shrimp, crazy growth on my Montipora, decent growth on my Acropora....and I only ever had one of my pumps going and maybe 5-600gph worth of flow in that tank.

Sometimes I think we do TOO much work, and if we simplified things, we'd get better results than we expect...