The best thing about a reef system is that if you set it up properly, it really doesn't require much maintenance. Thus, this page is pretty short. The evaporation replacement is automated, the lights are on timers, so there isn't that much left to do.

I spend an average of about 1 hour per week on my aquarium. Some weeks I spend a couple hours, some weeks I spend none. At a minimum, I usually spend 15 minutes cleaning the skimmer, testing calcium and alkalinity, and running the magnet over the outside panes to clear out the "dusting" of algae that makes the panes look cloudy after about a week. Because the acrylic is so thick (about 1 inch thick) I had to buy the really expensive magnet. I use the Magnavore VIII, which does the job really well. The only pain is that you have to be extremely careful that you don't get anything trapped under the magnet or it will scratch the acrylic.

I use Lamotte test kits; I test calcium and alkalinity something more than monthly (around 8 dKH and 400ppm Ca), nitrates every couple of months (always reads zero) and phosphate every couple of months (always reads zero). During the break-in period I had a brief time when algae was thriving, but fortunately I had enough macro algae to consume the nutrients that I never had any significant hair algae. Even during this period, I never measured phosphate and nitrates never went above about 3 ppm.

I feed a pinch of flake food for the fish most days. The food is mostly ground up fish, which rounds out the diet of algae that they get grazing on the rock all day.

I have no real water-change schedule, and I am not a fan of big water changes for reefs.  I change a 40 gallon trash-can worth every couple months when I feel inspired.

I put in a little squirt of Combi-san every week. How's that for scientific measurement?

Once every month or so I scrape the calcareous algae from the back of the tank. I tried letting it go for a few months, but I prefer the look of the clean blue background.

This seems like a good place to air my problems with my reef. If you have solutions or ideas, please, please, let me know.

1. I have mantis shrimps that eat the fish and possibly clams. I have been thus far unable to trap them, and I am unwilling to tear apart my reef. I know they are mantis shrimps because I hear the tell-tale clicking/popping sounds, and because in early August 2001 I saw a largish mantis (size of my little finger) dash out in full daylight right in front of me. He ran up to the front of the aquarium and just looked at me for a moment, his face just inches away from mine, as if to challenge me. No mistaking it was a mantis. My 2 yellow tangs and 1 purple tang and 3 scooter blennies have survived for over a year now - so they apparently know how to stay clear of the mantis. Seems odd that scooter blennies would survive, but hey, they must be smarter than they look. I once had about 30 fish, but they disappeared one by one over the course of about 2 months. I have not replaced any fish because I figure I need to get the mantis first, or they will be gone as well.
   UPDATE - The picture says it all - a bit blurry since the guy won't hold still! I used a piece of shrimp meat in a decorative bottle - I think I'll put him in a tiny aquarium and take him to work as a trophy! I will wait to see if I suspect any more before restocking with more fish.
2. I have the dreaded rust colored planaria - flat worms. They don't seem to bother much of anything, other than choking out a few small polyps where they pile on very thick. They hang out a bit on my mushrooms and leather corals but don't seem to bother them at all - they still expand fully and grow well. The population has stabilized now and is no longer increasing, but there are millions of them in the shady areas. I am searching for a source to get a sea slug (chelidonura varians), which will eat them.

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Last modified: January 29, 2002