Orion December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 Just curious how much time everyone spends working on their tank(s) each week? Not feeding, but changing water, cleaning, etc... Please list the size of your tank and time spent on each tank. 2 gal sw - 30min (mixing up salt and getting the temp/salinity right takes up most of the time) 29 gal fw - 30min. (Nothing too hard here, drain water once a week, replenish with fresh tap). This time increases to 1hr when I have to clean the filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubbleHead December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 probably averages out to 45 minutes a week for 47 gallon freshwater, 14 gallon Nano reef and 5.5 pico reef. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 15 minutes, 29 gal cube Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 600g - An hour per week 75g QT - When running about two hours per week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flooddc December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 According to my wife, TOO MUCH! Honestly, I don't really know exactly but I would estimate about 15-30 looking around and about the tanks as a basic routine maintenance to make sure everything in working order. 1-2 hours every 2-4 week for mixing and water changes - 125G and 29G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 About 30 minutes a day between checking the tank,the skimmer,cleaning glass, and of course a 5g water change on my day off... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 90g- 30 mins a day. 55g QT 30 mins a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddR December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 125gallons-15 minutes a day, 1 hour every 2 weeks for a water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 Well it depends. What is the minimal amount of time it takes to keep everything happy? About 30 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night. Add an hour on water change days. How much time do I actually spend? Maybe 2 hours a day. Looking at stuff, dosing stuff, cleaning up stuff, researching stuff, etc.etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 I just installed my first ATO so I will happily say 2 hours a week... but most importantly, those two hours are on the weekend and all at once. Now I can just come home from work during the week... feed the fish and watch in awe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 On my 120 it's about 90 mins a week. On the 500 it's about 2 hours. Most of the service accounts can be done in one to two hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 200 gallons about 30 minutes every 7-10 days for water change, cleaning sump, etc. About 20 mins a day just messing around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion December 27, 2012 Author Share December 27, 2012 Wow I am surprised at some of the times for larger tanks! I would have thought the bigger the tank the more time it would involve. For getting water prepared I am assuming most of you with larger tanks already have the water ready to go days in advance? Any tricks to getting the salinity just right every time? I spend at least 15-20min just trying to get the salinity right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djplus1 December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 I mix my water the night before. I do 15 gallons which I figured out is 8 cups of IO Reef Crystals to get 1.026. Throw in a pump and a heater overnight and change two tanks (14g bicube and 72g bowfront) in about 20-30 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 Most of my time is spent diving for frags that my lawnmower knocked off.... Anyone have a tiny harpoon I can borrow? Maybe an hour per week on the 360g and 180g, less for all the rest. Maybe less than 3 hours total. I don't think I should list all the tanks I have up right now...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 Wow I am surprised at some of the times for larger tanks! I would have thought the bigger the tank the more time it would involve. For getting water prepared I am assuming most of you with larger tanks already have the water ready to go days in advance? Any tricks to getting the salinity just right every time? I spend at least 15-20min just trying to get the salinity right. Use the recipe on the back of the salt container. 1/2 cup per gallon. Works every time. Mix it till it runs clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy357 December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 I spend about 15 minutes per tank a day so with 3 tanks 45 minutes a day plus about an additional 2 hours every 3 weeks for water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE December 27, 2012 Share December 27, 2012 (edited) Wow I am surprised at some of the times for larger tanks! I would have thought the bigger the tank the more time it would involve. For getting water prepared I am assuming most of you with larger tanks already have the water ready to go days in advance? Any tricks to getting the salinity just right every time? I spend at least 15-20min just trying to get the salinity right. When I had my big tanks up, I drilled pepsi barrels for float valves at just above the 50 gallon mark. I then adjusted the float valve height (with the little wing nut) so that I just poured in a 50g IO or RC bag of salt and it mixed it up to just the right salinity. I didn't even have to check to make sure (though I typically did). 5g Ecopico at school- 5 min (water change with pre portioned jugs and clean glass, everything else is automated) 11.4g at home- 30 min (My mom spends about 30 min a week on it for a water change and she does a really good job cleaning it) Edited December 27, 2012 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion December 28, 2012 Author Share December 28, 2012 Use the recipe on the back of the salt container. 1/2 cup per gallon. Works every time. Mix it till it runs clear. I tried that.. it seems that for 2 gallons it takes about 1 cup and +/- 2 tablespoons with Instant Ocean. Seems different every time. I recently bought a new bag of IO and the salt was hard as if the bag wasn't sealed (it was though). Is this ok to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals December 28, 2012 Share December 28, 2012 A lot and I love every second of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dipg December 28, 2012 Share December 28, 2012 36G - 15 minute every day and then 1.5 hours every two weeks for 25% water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite December 28, 2012 Share December 28, 2012 Wow, this is an interesting thread subject. I am too busy to spend a lot of time, so if feeding and viewing or poking around doesn't count, it's only about 10 minutes most days. I have only been doing water changes 30% about once a month, for a system volume of about 110g (75g DT+ sump). I'm testing more often than I used to do though, and if it looks like nitrate is going up, I do a water change. Before I was dosing Biodigest and VSV, I used to do 1/3 to 50% every freaking week plus about 2 g a day on top of that! If I forget or am too lazy for doing and skip some, the nitrate does go up because I tend to over-feed and then I have to do find time to do a water change. I would like to know more about auto water changes or some way to make water changes easier/less time consuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul b December 28, 2012 Share December 28, 2012 About 15 minutes or less a week. I change some water 5 or 6 times a year and that takes about an hour. This is not counting hatching brine shrimp which is another 5 minutes a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis Scott December 28, 2012 Share December 28, 2012 About 2-3hrs a week on 75g and 29g. + Unknown time just enjoying them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf December 29, 2012 Share December 29, 2012 Like a few have said about the wife, way to much!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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