aquarium maintenence

[gorelow]

hi just joined this forum. very excited that this exists. i apologize in advance becauuse im assuming this thread is in the wrong place. i am thinking about starting up an aquarium again after 5 years. i have found a place that will do maintenence twice a month for 300 dollars. i had pretty bad luck 5 years ago when i was doing water changes, testing etc myself. my question is have things changed alot where if im willing to by some realy good equipment that a simple water change will suffice? or is it worth spending this kind of money to greatly increase my odds of my animals and coral surviving . thanks

[Saltwater To Go]

Tell us more about your tank and filter system. What type of aquarium are you setting up?

Fishman

[gorelow]

id prefer a 180 and as far as the filtration etc im willing to spend some decent money. i wont soend 4000 on a flitration system but im happy to spend quite a bit for everything i need if it would help me avoid a lot of maintenance. id prefer a mixture of reef and animals but id be happy with just reef if that might prevent me from doing as much work on the tank but perhaps that's just the opposite

[Original Fin]

Without getting into the details, alot has to do with just how hands off you want it to be. If you basically just want to sit back and watch, having someone service just every two weeks will not work...it would need to be daily.
I spend most of my tinkering time dosing supplements, feeding, testing, cleaning glass, emptying skimmers, filling top off reservoirs, and doing the weekly water changes. It's a lot of time. and I wouldn't be able to leave this thing for much longer than 24 hours without the help of a professional (and trusted) maintenance service.

[Original Fin]

Without getting into the details, alot has to do with just how hands off you want it to be. If you basically just want to sit back and watch, having someone service just every two weeks will not work...it would need to be daily.
I spend most of my tinkering time dosing supplements, feeding, testing, cleaning glass, emptying skimmers, filling top off reservoirs, and doing the weekly water changes. It's a lot of time. and I wouldn't be able to leave this thing for much longer than 24 hours without the help of a professional (and trusted) maintenance service.

There are a lot of automation options, but to be completely hands off (besides feeding...can't get away from that one) you would need a very large budget.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Having a marine tank takes a lot of commitment for it to be successful and stay that way. I didn't realize just how committed I had to be when I first started. Luckily, I fell in love with the hobby and the daily maintenance has become part of my normal routine.

[Saltwater To Go]

With most of my clients with fish only tanks we come every two weeks. Those who have reef tanks, We come out once a week which seems to work just fine. Of course we will teach you all you need to know about your system, fish, and corals, any potential problems, such as fish not eating, tattered fins, fin rot, white spots, white patches, cuts, scrapes, lesions, cloudy eyes, corals not opening, nuisance critters to look out for etc. The type of system you set up will have a lot to do with how much maintenance you'll have to do. If you have a good system and service company, all you should have to do is wipe the glass between service and feed your fish and corals. Make sure to find a service guy who will come out at the drop of a hat. If you can't find someone who does aquarium service for a living. find a good store who does. Problem with guys who do it on the side is they usually have another job. Good luck

Fishman

[Original Fin]

With most of my clients with fish only tanks we come every two weeks. Those who have reef tanks, We come out once a week which seems to work just fine. Of course we will teach you all you need to know about your system, fish, and corals, any potential problems, such as fish not eating, tattered fins, fin rot, white spots, white patches, cuts, scrapes, lesions, cloudy eyes, corals not opening, nuisance critters to look out for etc. The type of system you set up will have a lot to do with how much maintenance you'll have to do. If you have a good system and service company, all you should have to do is wipe the glass between service and feed your fish and corals. Make sure to find a service guy who will come out at the drop of a hat. If you can't find someone who does aquarium service for a living. find a good store who does. Problem with guys who do it on the side is they usually have another job. Good luck





Fishman

Nice to have a pro weighing in on this!

Would I be correct in assuming that on the reef systems you service weekly, let's say a large, heavily stocked SPS tank for example... the owners would have to also invest in some combination of the following equipment?:

-ATO with a fairly large reservoir
-A reef controller with temp/ph/salinity probes etc..
-Calcium or Kalk reactor
-2 part dosing pumps for Alk and CA...possibly Magnesium too

If they did not have this equipment, I would imagine the owner's daily involvement would be much more significant.
Do you have clients that wait a week before replenishing Calcium and Alkalinity, and how is that working out for them?

[Saltwater To Go]

Nice to have a pro weighing in on this!

Would I be correct in assuming that on the reef systems you service weekly, let's say a large, heavily stocked SPS tank for example... the owners would have to also invest in some combination of the following equipment?:

-ATO with a fairly large reservoir
-A reef controller with temp/ph/salinity probes etc..
-Calcium or Kalk reactor
-2 part dosing pumps for Alk and CA...possibly Magnesium too

If they did not have this equipment, I would imagine the owner's daily involvement would be much more significant.
Do you have clients that wait a week before replenishing Calcium and Alkalinity, and how is that working out for them?

Yes tank w/ internal overflow(s), Large sump w/ algae scrubber or refugium, internal protein skimmer, closed loop or internal pumps for circulation, Calcium reactor (depending on load and types of corals being kept ), Digital controller (apex ) and or good test kits work very well, and as a good second reference, refractometer (salinity). Don't worry about magnesium to much with good salt for PWC. We can make it fully automated dosing, auto top off. Or just the basics ( depending customers involvement types of coral and load )

Most of my clients with LPS and soft corals can go a week. But SPS, LPS, tanks three to four days tops. With all the extra circulation plus metal halide lighting it creates so much more evaporation. But these new LEDs should help some on evaporation

Fishman

[gorelow]

thank you thank you boys for all input. two questions. first is im a flight attendent so im only homne half the week. has feeding systems evolved so i can count on them to feed and the equipment that fisherman was asked about. can you give me an approximate dolllar amount in thousands for that type of set up? the guy quoted me 278 for a bi weekly 2.5 hour visit. cant even fathom a weekly visit. does that price seem reasonable?
thanks for all your help guys

[Saltwater To Go]

[QUOTE=gorelow;233776]thank you thank you boys for all input. two questions. first is im a flight attendent so im only homne half the week. has feeding systems evolved so i can count on them to feed and the equipment that fisherman was asked about. can you give me an approximate dolllar amount in thousands for that type of set up? the guy quoted me 278 for a bi weekly 2.5 hour visit. cant even fathom a weekly visit. does that price seem reasonable?
thanks for all your help guys[/QUOT

Price is on the high end. Most professional aquarium service companies charge $85.00 - $125.00 an hour. alot of the time you will get a price break if you do it weekly, because two of those visit are just going to be a wipe down, top off, check filters, water quality and denizens. If you decide to do a reef tank i would have your service guy come during the week when your gone, this way someone will be checking it while your gone. How many days a week are you gone? I have feeling you are probably are gone to often to pull this off. If you decide to do this let me know i will help you out as much as i can over the phone. good luck

Fishman

[gorelow]

do you guys feel ever clear aqua system really effects the amount of water changes you have to do and how the heck do you thank someone on here. i cant find it

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

I don't know anything about the ever clear aqua system so I can't comment on that.
there is a thanks link on the bottom left of the post window.









Right around here, just lower and to the left
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[berrymilan]

Aquarium type is really meter, I have 80 gallons pond and I don’t have any exact idea about your aquarium, tell me something more about it to get the better advice.