Today on BRStv we are going to share out maintenance schedule
Hey guys my name is Ryan, welcome to another week of the BRS 160 where every week we do
our best to help you guys, members of the reefing community enjoy your tanks and find
new ways to explore the hobby.
We do that by following the set up and progression of this one hundred and sixty gallon reef
tank.
This week are going to share what our daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly maintenance
schedule looks like for the BRS160.
Done well properly maintenance can be part of the fun of owning a take rather than a
chore.
It can also be the difference between a nice tank and an epic tank as well as a two year
success or ten year.
Before we get too far into proper maintenance it’s different for each tank.
In this case we have a sps dominant tank where we are looking for fast growth, ideal coloration
and low algae growth.
We are willing to put in a bit of extra effort to achieve these goals to the best of our
ability.
Let start with the daily tasks which total about 5-10 minutes and consists of four things
a quick glance at the tank with cleaning as necessary, feed the fish, one quick test and
a couple things related to Zeovit.
This handful of minutes can be viewed as a chore or as just part of the time you get
to spend appreciating it as well recognizing the fruit of your efforts.
I start by cleaning the glass and sand if needed.
The whole point of having a tank like this is that it looks awesome in your home.
If there is gunk growing in the sand I just give it a quick blast with the turkey baster.
The Glass doesn't really need cleaned everyday but I like to give it a quick pass with the
jumbo flipper just to make sure it is as crystal clear as possible and avoid build up which
has harder to remove.
This thing is pretty huge and frankly ugly but it does the job quick on the inside with
the blade and huge pad outside makes cleaning the tank quick.
As long as I park it on the side of the tank I don't notice it much.
If you are looking for something a bit lower profile the Tunze care magnets are probably
my favorite lower profile option.
Nice thing about these bladed options is they make cleaning the near the sand line really
easy without major concerns about scratching the glass.
We covered feeding the fish last week but as a quick review we feed a mixture of frozen
Canadian Mysis , Hikari seaweed extreme pellets and bit of reef chili each day.
Hit the feed mode on our power heads and use the baster to broad cast feed everything in
the tank.
The Zeovit system requires a couple daily tasks but this is probably the shortest of
the four Just pump the Zeovit reactor a dozen times, which is remarkably easy with the KZ
magnetic reactor.
Then dose the zeostart which feeds the bacteria in the zeo system.
We also dose LPS aminos and coral vitalizer on a daily basis.
This probably takes a minute and a half a day and the big question everyone asks is
can you miss a day, while its best to try and do it every day I skip weekends simply
because I am not at the office and the system runs just fine.
The last thing I do every single day I’m here without exception is test alkalinity
with the Hanna dkh checker.
I have to say this is the most I have ever checked alkalinity before but after doing
it I would recommend it to everyone, even more so if you own a checker and the test
takes less than minute.
Testing alkalinity daily not only ensures that the water chemistry is correct but it
also keeps you completely in tune with everything else you are doing to the tank and growth.
For instance we extended the lighting period and guess what; the alkalinity went from stable
to dropping a couple tenths of a point a day.
This shouldn't come as a surprise because increasing the length of time the lights are
on increases the amount of energy the zooxanthellae are providing which should result in increased
growth and additional alkalinity demand.
This could also happen in reverse of course, maybe the lighting period is too strong or
too long and the coral is suffering from this.
In this case the corals would start to consume less alkalinity.
Same can be said of coral foods and other related growth additives.
For the most part if a product claims to increase growth 10-20% well alkalinity consumption
should loosely match that claim.
End of story nothing will keep you as closely in tune with your tank as testing alkalinity
daily, particularly on a high consumption SPS tank.
If you haven't tried testing alkalinity this frequently before, give it a shot because
you might be surprised with how much value you get from it.
Particularly when you are doing things like tuning your lights for optimal growth and
selecting the right nutritional products like amino acids and particulate foods.
There is a real sense of satisfaction in seeing how all of this comes together and get testing
results that support all the theories the hobby has come up with.
So these four tasks, light cleaning, feeding, dosing and testing might sound like a lot
but seriously it takes less than ten minutes and for me is just ten minutes a day I get
to spend with the tank and admire how awesome these tanks are that we have all created.
The tank appreciates the effort and shows it.
Weekly maintenance is pretty simple with a couple other tests, dosing a couple zeo products,
water changes and emptying and cleaning the skimmer.
Every Friday I test calcium with the red sea kit because it is the easiest for me to read
and adjust my dosing pumps if needed.
Since calcium consumption is so closely related to alkalinity my daily alkalinity testing
will probably tell me if there is a calcium issue prior to even testing calcium.
Zeovit requires a small dose of zeobak and zeo food once to twice a week, we dose them
both every Friday with our other weekly maintenance, 30 seconds max.
I also test for nutrient levels, nitrate with the nyos test kit and phosphate with the Hanna
checker.
In my option they are respectively the best simply because they are the only ones I can
confidently read at the low range.
Because we are running Zeovit on this tank the nutrient levels are constantly at or near
zero.
Testing for nutrients like this weekly will allow you to ID an issue long before you and
the tank actually begin experiencing it.
The skimmer cup normally fills once a week or so depending on what we fed that week,
So we empty that as well as clean all the gunk out of the cup and make adjustments to
the water level or flow of water through the recirculating skimz skimmer.
For the most part I don’t have to tune it hardly ever, just does its job.
The last bit is the Zeovit system suggests 10% water changes every week which are small,
manageable and easy to do.
I will say on other tanks will say that I more commonly did 20-30% changes every two
weeks but I have to say that a lot of people might find this 10% weekly to be easier just
because it’s so small and quick.
For most people it’s just a couple five gallon buckets once a week.
So that’s all I do weekly and between or daily and weekly tasks pretty much everything
is covered.
We do have a few monthly and quarterly tasks starting with exchanging our carbon once a
month, checking and refilling our calcium and alkalinity containers.
I also like to use a pump or baster to blow of the rocks and let the roller matt capture
and remove the all the debris.
Generally speaking each roll on the roller matt lasts us around a month and a half.
So we replace that as needed as well.
Outside of that the only thing I do monthly is test for magnesium with the salifert test
kit.
Magnesium doesn't fall raise or fall as quickly as calcium so testing monthly is adequate
for most reefers.
Outside of that just shy of every quarter we will need to replace the Zeovit media and
yearly I just have a habit of stringing 3-4 30% or so water changes a few days apart just
to turn over and replace the aging water with various contaminants that build up over the
year with majority of new freshly mixed sea water.
For those of you that are curious all of the tanks here at BRS including the BRS160 use
HW salt mix.
Maintenance is one of those things most reefers try and avoid.
However I think when it is done well not only the results but also the
process can be rewarding and a fun component of owning
the tank rather than a chore.
Longer it stays fun the more likely your tank will be successful.
Last week we ask you what your favorite food was and combined frozen foods were a landslide
winning with Canadian Mysis eking out the win and most popular.
This week we are asking you what size and how often you do do your
water changes so hit that “I” in the upper right hand corner and vote.
If you learned anything new today hit that thumbs up and if you
haven't already hit that subscribe button because next week we start our mini-series
on controllers and the 160.
It’s going to be really interesting as we take a close look at some of the major options
out there.
See you next week with week 43 Aquarium Controllers.