Lets talk general husbandry/maintenance

[rustyjames]

Ok noobs, I'm assuming the majority of you are new to reef keeping. You've cycled your new tank by ghost feeding, straight ammonia or, *gasp* some bacteria in a bottle. Now you have a couple fish, some coral and are freaking out because your frogspawn is deflated or your zoas and gsp aren't opening.

Chill baby.

You can't build a reef, you have to grow one.

There are a few basic life support systems that must be in place to enable your reef to grow. This might also be a good time to insert IMHO.

Lighting, maybe you have some fancy led system, be sure your intensity isn't too much to burn your coral.

Flow, there are several fancy schmancy pumps out there. Mp's rw's gyer's. I assume they do a great job at creating random, chaotic flow, I've never used them, so can't comment. Just make sure you have good flow. 40x your dt volume is a good place to start.

Skimmer, I really like having a skimmer. Once you see what a decent skimmer can pull out you'll be a believer.

Water quality. Stable parameters will really keep your tank and it's inhabitants happy.

So, lets talk about what you all do to keep your tank happy

[Heatherabel3]

Right now I have a JBJ 28g with stock lighting and pumps. Everything seems to be doing fine. Since adding the skimmer flow actually seems to be higher and corals are opening up more than ever before. I have the JNS Ice Cyclone hang on back skimmer and yeah, the crap it has pulled out since we got it in on Monday is insane. I just thought the water was clear before. I am actually quite excited to see what happens once it's broken in good.
I check parameters every 3 days. It's part of the freak out thing. If something is even thinking about going haywire I wanna know it. Everything has been really stable since cycling though. 0 ammonia and minimal nitrates. Calcium, Alk and Salinity all in normal range. Calcium seems to be climbing lately and I can't quite figure that one out but am thinking its my salt. Gonna switch to the Red Sea salt and see what happens.
Other than that I just do a lot of watching. Learning what is normal and whats not in my tank, what to expect from everything after water changes and feedings, etc.

[Buddhatank]

Water changes

[tdtreefer]

siphon out detritus. replace bulbs every 6 months. change filter socks. all i have off top of my head

[mmittlesteadt]

While I'm a 35 year vet with freshwater, even complex planted tanks, I'm a newbie to reef keeping although I understand the concepts and principles of reefkeeping as well as the differences between FW and SW.

"Chill baby" being probably the utmost importance. PATIENCE. That's the number one thing I'm doing. I'm only going to be filling my tank with water this weekend, but I've been researching every single aspect of reefkeeping and painstakingly checking and double checking every single piece of equipment and making sure it is setup and will be operated correctly, for the last three months.

I plan on using the cycling time to get used to checking all the water parameters and doing the regularly scheduled maintenance chores that will keep things stable over the long haul, while I further research every single intended purchase of living creatures that may inhabit it. Things like how much light, water flow, feeding, dosing and compatibility with each other that they each need to thrive. Not just exist, but thrive.

And I fully expect to make mistakes and can only hope my research along with questions asked and answers received by more experienced reefers, help me minimize the impact of those mistakes. I read posts by newbies as much as I do from experts in hopes that I not only learn how to do things right, but how not to do things wrong.

That's all I got so far.

[Gagonzalez]

Don't go cheap.

And I don't mean "Don't Buy on Craigslist or anything like that". I mean, don't cut corners.

eg. If everyone tells you to get a decent skimmer and give you suggestions that will be in the ballpark of $300. Don't go buy a no name brand skimmer for $150 that says it will be good on a 500g tank so it should be fine for your 75g. 6 months down the road, you'll be buying that $300 skimmer anyway and end up spending $450 total and 6months+ of fighting an algae plague because of the water quality.

This goes for "ALL" equipment. Save up and don't purchase livestock before you can afford the equipment. The death of all your fish/corals will end up being just as expensive as buying the right equipment in the first place. In the end, you'll end up with A LOT of frustration and spend just as much money. And there really is no reason to do that to yourself.

[dbl]

I'm a year in to this addiction and I've come to the conclusion that stability is key. Get the parameters where you want them (and within the acceptable range) and do what you have to do to keep them there. The brand of test kits doesn't really matter as long as you get a consistent reading test over test. Research has proven to me our hobby grade kits are likely not that accurate anyway, so pick a testing device that is easiest for you to use, and most importantly, use them.

To answer the OP, I personally do a weekly 20% water change, keep the socks and skimmer clean, and monitor parameters, adjusting dosing when and if necessary.

This is all of course just one relatively newbie's opinion.

[Bpb]

lol @ 6 month bulb replacements. I suppose some people do it. Most people go longer depending on the bulbs and wattage.

I'm a big proponent of the buy nice or buy twice philosophy. I haven't always followed it, but that is mainly due to ignorance. One often doesnt understand that they have crap gear until they use it a while and become aware of alternatives. That being said...lights and water quality are the two main things I would never think about cheaping out on. Don't do it. Don't get the bare minimum. Don't buy what "may probably be fine for some easy stuff at first." You don't have to get ecotech radion pros, but dont go buy the cheapest FW light on the market and say "can i use this on my reef, after all I already have it, and would hate to buy something else when this light is perfectly good" I read tons of newbie posts, not necessarily asking, but insisting that their marineland single brite leds, or fluval leds be appropriate for coral growing, and keeping their threads going until SOMEONE agrees with them, rather than just scrapping and buying something appropriate. RODI is a must. I'd buy an RODI filter before I even bough sand and rocks. Before a fish or coral even crossed the threshold into my home, I would have an rodi filter mounted, and working.

[Kenpo guy]

OP you hit the nail on the head for me. Great thread and yes my first corals aren't looking so good and yes I'm trying to chill about it. The finger leather seems to be fine but my frogspawn and xenias look well... bad. As for what I do regularly, I clean the glass every other day it seems. I've had my tank going now for two months so I've cleaned the canister and added chemi-pure blue and some extra filter media. No skimmer yet but my water is still crystal clear. I have a large cuc so the rocks are staying very clean. NO2, NO3 and Ammo all at zero but I've only had two clowns in the tank until yesterday when I added a blue reef chromis. We'll see if that stays the case as my bio load increases. That's about it for now. I have to say I love this tank and while its not perfect and its been a lot of work I've loved every minute of it. I'm hooked.

[Sk8r]

Logbook. Why? 1) Because life happens and you forget. Or vacation happens, and you need to have a record that shows your tanksitter how things are supposed to be---assuming you have one that can learn to run a simple test. I've had a phone call with a test result enable me, 1000 miles away, to say, add x amount of Y tonight and check it tomorrow, and fix it, by remote. That easy. 2) a written record spots trends before they become crises. The good params are given in a RANGE of several .00ths. As long as your tank stays within that zone, your corals and fish feel no discomfort. This is why your record going from .09 one week to .08 the next tells you that the reading is falling, ergo that one of the 'fixed' parameters of your tank has begun to wobble. This is like finding the dining table has a loose leg. Let that go on, and bad things happen. You correct that back to ideal, and everything goes on functioning like clockwork, happy corals, happy fish, and it has NEVER become a crisis.