It’s easy to get into a rut, is it not? When it comes to maintaining a tank, we can get stuck performing the same old husbandry tasks we have always performed without ever taking the time to reassess our overall approach. Approaches to husbandry in the hobby are always changing, and the dedicated hobbyist makes sure to stay abreast of the latest information regarding new husbandry techniques by spending time in the forums, reading the hobby literature, attending conventions and conferences, and speaking with other hobbyists.
I encourage you to keep up with the latest, but I also want to suggest you seriously consider the following five fundamental improvements to your husbandry practices. All five are widely touted as being important, yet they are all frequently overlooked.
Replace Your Bulbs Every Nine Months – Do you replace your bulbs in the lights over your tank every nine months? You should. Over time, the light spectrum produced by bulbs changes. This can have two negative effects on your aquarium: 1) nuisance algae blooms and 2) damage or death to photosynthetic corals. Keep a log and change your bulbs every nine months.
Top Off Your Water Daily – Do you top off your tank with freshwater daily? You should. Not topping off your tank daily causes the salinity to increase. While this increase may happen gradually and not have a noticeable effect on your animals, suddenly replacing several days or a week’s worth of evaporated water with freshwater can rapidly decrease salinity and create massive stress to corals and other invertebrates. Top off with freshwater daily.
Bolster Your Clean-Up Crew Annually (or as Needed) – Do you ever bolster your clean-up crew? You should. Sure you may have added that big clean-up crew package back when your tank was new, but two things have probably happened since then: 1) some of your clean-up crew has died as a result of predation and natural causes, and 2) your tank has changed (e.g., increased bioload). Know what each animal in your clean-up crew does (e.g. herbivore, detritavore, sand stirrer) and add more of that type of animal when needed over time.
If You Have Not Done So, Start a QT / Hospital Tank – Do you have a separate small (say 10-gallon) tank set-up as a quarantine / hospital tank? You should. Having this tank on hand is essential to good husbandry. All new fishes and corals should be quarantined before being added to an established system, and many parasites and diseases are best treated in an isolated environment. While you can plan for new arrivals, you can’t plan for when parasite outbreaks or diseases will strike. Set up a QT / Hospital tank today.
Set-Up a Refugium – Do you have a refugium plumbed to your display tank? You should. Many fishes and other animals benefit from a refugium, which cultivates foodstuff that would not survive in the display tank. Healthy pod populations and macroalgae growth can prove critical to successfully keeping many hard-to-keep species, but almost all animals will benefit from a mature refugium. In addition to direct benefit to your animals through diet, a refugium on an alternate light cycle (refugium lights on at night) can help to stabilize daily fluctuations in pH and can provide a mechanism for nutrient export.
Sammy, Regarding acclimation, best practices include acclimating your new fishes to a QT tank. The QT tank can be a very simple affair with a powerfilter, heater, inexpensive lights. The fish is quarantined for a period of time (14 days, as you suggest, is generally sufficient if you observe no problems. After acclimation, acclimating your fish to the display tank is much simpler so long as pH, salinity and temp are identical (unlike acclimating from the often poor water quality of a shipping bag to the great water quality in your QT tank). Some people employ dips (either freshwater or medicated) as a standard part of QT. Other only use dips if they observe an issue. I will do a future blog entry on effective dips and medications. Hope that helps! -Ret
Posted by: Ret | May 08, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Sammy, I'm not sure I'm following. What exactly is the promblem you are experiencing with the 90?
Posted by: Ret | May 08, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Chris, If indeed the white spots indicate the presence of crypto in your tank, you will need to allow the tank to run with NO host animals for a period of 30-40 days. This should interupt the life cycle of the crypto and get the problem under control. There is some anecdotal evidence that cryto may remain dormant in a system even after the period, but unless the animals are stressed by poor/unstabel water quality, inappropriate stocking, etc., they should be able to ward off any additional outbreaks IME. Does that help?
Posted by: Ret | May 08, 2009 at 11:51 AM
pls check this?
>new fishes-acclimate to the QT after(2 weeks), then acclimate again to the main tank? tnx again!
Posted by: sammy basco | May 04, 2009 at 04:39 PM
can you pls educate me about QT/hospital tank? and what medicine or cure to put to my fishes? new fishes to be acclimate to the QT water? i read other aquarist new fishes need to dip and rinse to fresh top water before putting to the main tank, is this effectve also?
Posted by: sammy basco | May 04, 2009 at 04:30 PM
not a comment,,i have a problem with 90 gal also. i re set up my tank, i made a shortcut,i put a top water and rock salt. is it ok????tnx!
Posted by: sammy basco | May 04, 2009 at 04:20 PM
I have a 75 and a 55 my 55 is absolute perfect ,but having problems with the 75, I have some corals ,snails,and crabs and all are great, but everytime i put a fish in after a few days yhey start getting little white spots then die, I have tried treating with ick-cure and no help, tried water changes and even a new filter with a uv sterilizer. what can I do somebody please help I am going crazy. my 55 is so good and crystal clear and the fish are as healthy as can be, why cant I get the 75 the same way.
Posted by: chris stewart | May 01, 2009 at 03:41 PM