How do you achieve stability?

[kevgib67]

Everything I do is old school because I am old.

Me too!

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

I stopped doing water changes; went to using a calcium reactor and may occasionally do a supplemental dose of something if testing calls for it.

Basically just found a way to stop having to frequently interact with the tank from a chemistry view point myself. By letting the tank do as much of its own care and then just monitoring my growth has gotten faster and healthier all while being less stressful on me.

 

[schooncw]

The rock in my 120-all live rock-LPS/Softie system is 20-30 years old and I do regular water changes with quality salt. This is what "stability" means to me and the trend away from live rock to dry rock and only bottled ingredients is antithetic to me.
I have changed with the times, in that I would also describe this system as a "bacterial driven" one, in that I carbon dose and add quite a few Fauna Marin bacterial products on a regular basis.

 

[MnFish1]

Hello all,

Stability is something most reefers will attribute their beautiful show tanks to. What does it mean to you, and how do you achieve stability in your aquarium?

Long term stability is something I've struggled with from time to time with my 40g tank. It's my number one area I've marked for improvement with my newer 120g system. I'd love to hear others input on how they keep their tanks stable.

1. Keep it simple, try not to use every new gadget - since when one of them fails, there goes your stability
2. Have a back up generator if you're in an area where power issues are common
3. Don't rely entirely on automation (see #1)
4. Trust how your tank/corals/fish look as compared to testing 3 times/day. It's easy to over-react to a bad test result - which is very unstable.
5. Buy your fish/corals/etc from reputable sources - hopefully sources that are local to you as compared to 2000 miles away. 1 fish that has velvet introduced into a tank can result in a lot of instability 1 coral that has a disease can result in a lot of instability.

Hope this helps

 

[CRABDADDY]

I kept a log book for about the first 20 years and I still have it. It started in a spiral notebook before it was way before computers were invented and went up to about the early 90s.

Your handwriting is really nice. I'd probably write things down if I could even read my own handwriting...

I caught you on the reef bum podcast a while back Paul and I got a kick out of you talking about putting pennies in your reef tank back in the day.

Really cool to see these old notes. I often wonder when I added a certain fish or coral. Maybe I'll start some sort of basic log of those things.

 

[Keko21]

A glass or two of wine every night. Good work, family, tank time balance. A good therapist.

 

[X-37B]

Stabilty is easy if you have a plan. Many fail for this reason. I also use a written log book, im old too, lol.

 

[CRABDADDY]

Lots of great responses here. It seems to me stability boils down to a few key things that could be applied to any tank:

Consistency and routine
Watching and being in tune with your tank
Not making changes
Logging what's happening with your tank

I'm trying to keep this list to items that can be applied to all tanks. Of course everyone runs things differently, but from what I'm reading here, these seem to be common themes most would agree upon.

 

[Paul B]

Your handwriting is really nice. I'd probably write things down if I could even read my own handwriting...

I caught you on the reef bum podcast a while back Paul and I got a kick out of you talking about putting pennies in your reef tank back in the day.

I also find it interesting to see all the really stupid things I did and how many fish I killed. But in my defense, there was no one around with a salt tank and no real books that made any sense.

I still like to print and normally print things instead of using a computer if it is possible.

 

[Midrats]

Don't succumb to the latest fads, gadgetry, and marketing videos. Read a book or two. Large piles of real (aquacultured these days) live rock for fish to hide in. Don't be afraid to feed. Focus more on biology than colored piping and elaborate manifolds running multiple reactors. Throw away your Trident.

 

[rpgraff]

I did start my new tank with dry rock, but ended up seeding with a few pounds of live rock and sand a few months in. I'm hoping this has a similar effect to starting live rock, with less cost. If I had to do it again, I'd probably go full live rock, just so I could stop wondering "what if?".

I am starting a new system with dried structures and with live rock and live sand. I am using dried rock to build two structures that wouldn’t be possible stacking live rock only. I am leaving some space to add a number of premium live rock pieces in the display tank. In a cryptic sump I will use all live base rock and the display tank will have live sand. Still debating on a refugium or not.

 

[vlangel]

I am an old school reefer and I have found that knowing some basic biology, doing some consistent water changes when the tank is new, then letting the tank mature instead of upgrading a year later and finally not relying on the latest gadgets. My tank is 7 years old, has no skimmer, no reactors, no controllers, not even socks! I am down to about a 5 gallon water change once a month in my 80 gallon system. The ornamental macroalgae and coral utilize the nutrients given off from my well fed fish. I have never had a nicer looking tank nor an easier one to care for!

 

[DaveC]

By looking at my tanks, and testing parameters as frequently as required. Even with automated equipment, something always seems to happen that could compromise stability if I didn’t pay attention. Also by doing what I know needs to be done when it needs it. Procrastination kills stability, imo.

<Highlighted>

Ain't that the truth !!!

 

[shcrimps]

Hello all,

Stability is something most reefers will attribute their beautiful show tanks to. What does it mean to you, and how do you achieve stability in your aquarium?

Long term stability is something I've struggled with from time to time with my 40g tank. It's my number one area I've marked for improvement with my newer 120g system. I'd love to hear others input on how they keep their tanks stable.

to me stability lays more with livestock
i like to get things as diverse as i can from all kinds of microfauna to things that might not matter or be a nuisance to some such as collecting different colors and types of coralline algae

my current tank was started with dry rock then seeded with some rubble and more recently aussie live rock
currently that i know of (not all them)
tanaid shrimp, mysis/mysid¿, tons of brittle stars, tons of different copepods, different colored amphipods some brown some black some a blue hue and one or two that are green, a couple small limpets that aren’t infesting the tank, stomatella (prob spelled that wrong)
a couple different clams, tons of little micro and macro algae’s, sponges and so much more i’m probably forgetting

but yeah that was a lot
to sum it up for anyone skimming through:
i get as much as i can of everything i think might be good, small or large amounts
time lets things settle, some will die off some will flourish
in the end T I M E ultimately rules