What's your maintenance schedule?

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...
I've read about people spending half an hour a week (or less) maintaining
their planted tanks. I simply don't frickin believe it! Either they live
in a perfect world or they're doing an awful lot of daily maintenance
that's not being included in the weekly total.
[snip]
5 tanks: 1 30-G long, 2 20-G longs, 2 10-Gs

Vac gravel and replace about 20% water once per month.
Do light pruning at that time. Next to Zero daily/weekly
maintenance. Once in awhile I'll remove a floating leaf or
a yellowed leaf if I happen to notice it. I do get some
floating algae that will clog the filter intakes & about once
a week or so I remove that with my fingers. If you
call that "maintenance", fine.

Except for the brackish 10-G, glass is clear (thanks to
snails & otos). Stocking is average or low (only 2 fish
in the brackish tank). All are heavily planted. No CO2
injection. Power filters on the side (most have no
filter media inside, just the biowheel). Bubble wands
on a schedule on three of the tanks, running at night
when lights are off. 30-G bubble wand runs 24/7.

It's been like this for about a year. Minimal fish loss,
water parameters very good to excellent. New fish
are quarantined in an Eclipse 6 for 3-4 weeks.

I credit the low maintenance needs to:
1) average to low stocking of *small* community
tropical fish (my largest is a 3" YoYo loach)
2) lots and lots of mostly low maintenance plants
(crypts, Java Fern, etc.) (substrate is Schultz
Aquatic Plant Soil, aka Profile, with gravel on top
except the 30-G - I haven't converted that yet so
plants are growing in gravel)
3) Snails helping with cleanup.

Gail

On Sun, 9 Oct 2005 23:51:49 -0400, "Bill Stock"
wrote:

I've read about people spending half an hour a week (or less) maintaining
their planted tanks. I simply don't frickin believe it! Either they live in
a perfect world or they're doing an awful lot of daily maintenance that's
not being included in the weekly total.

snipped for brevity

It's hard to say for certain just how much time I spend on tank
maintenance: I do all the routine water tests weekly on Friday
afternoon - I figure about ten minutes per tank (I have a 20 gallon
plants tank, two 30 gallon tanks, and a 55 gallon Barb Community tank
up and running right now. I've also got an old 20 gal. long in the
bath tub right now being cleaned and sanitized for a new set-up, and
two 10-gallon tanks waiting their turn in the tub.) I also do weekly
tests on my tap water (I have a dee-ee-eep well in limestone country).

I do the routine 20% water changes, filter/sponge rinsings, and inside
front-of-tank wipe downs weekly on Saturday mornings: that takes about
2 hours with buckets, not counting time-outs to rest my back ... I
bought a Python recently, and plan to try it out on Saturday. I do any
plant trimmings or plantings just before the water changes. If there
are any problems with the water tests, I do what I have to: more
frequent water changes, change in lighting, etc.

Then, on inspections (twice daily feedings, etc.) if I see anything
out of place (broken leaf, uprooted plant, moss pieces pulled free,
excess algae growth, etc.) I take care of that right away.

Once a month with the water change, I scrub out the filter intake
tubes and filter impellors, clean the undersides of the glass canopies
and hoods with a mild vinegar solution, and wipe a paper towel around
the inside top of the tanks and rims to remove any stray food and
mineral build up. I also wipe down the heaters and thermometers.

Spring and fall, I wash down the walls behind and the shelves above,
and clean the floors beneath the tanks, make sure all the electrical
wires are in good shape and labelled, clean the surge-protector, make
sure the plugs are all tight, etc., but this is part of my Spring/Fall
House-cleaning regime.

sigh I'm also making a test-tube holder for the water tests ...


--
Patricia
Proud Citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia

Mine is a 75 gall, low light, very heavily planted low light plants, CO2
injection (automatic), I fert regularly, give an overdose of Seachem Excel
every 3-4 days, water change about 25% every two weeks. I never get BBA and
very little green spot algae on the glass. Filter change about once every 3
months, if that! I have to prune back the plants every water change as they
would take over the tank! Probably takes me about an hour and a half to do
the 2 week thing. I used to do chemical samples constanly when the tank was
new but now do very little. Rarely loose a fish or plants. Tank is now about
12 months old.