✡ My normal maintenance activities:
- Water Change & Filter Cleaning Process
- Open two boxes of saltwater
- Using a funnel in the opening, top off these two boxes with pure freshwater
- Dissolve a teaspoon of kalk into 500 ml of pure freshwater in a glass beaker
- Pour half of this kalk mixture into each of the 2 saltwater boxes
- Put the cap on and shake the boxes to mix up the kalk
- Add a squirt or two of Mg into the two saltwater boxes
- Turn off the auto-top-off system
- Turn down the eco-techs a little
- Syphon off 10 gallons of tank water into the sink
- When the sump is low, turn off the pump
- Move the lighting fixture back
- Put towels in place
- Punch a hole in the top of the saltwater boxes
- Pour saltwater into tank
- Turn up the eco-techs
- Turn back on top off and pump
- Flush uv and chiller loop
- Top off freshwater refill with pure fresh water
- Sprinkle a just a dash of alkalinity buffer into the top off water
- Change filter materials
- Clear skimmer system
- Empty skimmer overflow
- Top off dosing reseviours
- Clean up mess!
- Filters – Every water change, I replace or wash the various filters to keep the sump flowing properly and remove waste products.
- pH/Alk/Calc – I test every week for Mg, Ca, Alkalinity, and pH
- Light Bulb Changes
- T5′s are replaced every 10 months or so
- HQI’s are replaced every year or so
- Moon lamps have only blown a couple times, but are LED and should last a really long time
- UV
- Flush the system once a week by flowing high pressure water through it.
- Take the unit apart and clean off residue on the quartz every 3 months
- Replace the bulb once a year
- Vacuum Sump – I rarely do this because all kinds of fun stuff lives down there! I do sometimes suck it out with a wet/dry vac on a rear occasion if it gets full of junk.
- Below is a lifted table of the ideal water parameters
| Parameter | Suggested Level: Reef Aquarium | Suggested Level: FOWLR Aquarium | Average Level: Coral Reefs |
| Specific Gravity | 1.023 – 1.025 | 1.020 – 1.025 | 1.025 |
| Temperature | 72 – 78°F | 72 – 78°F | 82°F |
| pH | 8.1 – 8.4 | 8.1 – 8.4 | 8.0 – 8.5 |
| Alkalinity | 8 – 12 dKH | 8 – 12 dKH | 6 – 8 dKH |
| Ammonia (NH3) | Undetectable | Undetectable | Near Zero |
| Nitrite (NO2) | Undetectable | Undetectable | Near Zero |
| Nitrate – Nitrogen (NO3) | < 1.0 ppm | < 30 ppm | 0.25 ppm |
| Phosphate (PO4) | < 0.2 ppm | < 1.0 ppm | 0.13 ppm |
| Calcium | 350 – 450 ppm | 350 – 450 ppm | 380 – 420 ppm |
| Magnesium | 1250 – 1350 ppm | 1150 – 1350 ppm | 1300 ppm |
| Iodine | 0.06 – 0.10 ppm | 0.04 – 0.10 ppm | 0.06 ppm |
| Strontium | 8 – 14 ppm | 4 – 10 ppm | 8 – 10 ppm |