Quote:
Originally Posted by macclellan
Remind me what about this tank is low maintanence?!?  |
Good question. Answer: Nothing since this algae took off. Before that was another matter though...
For most of the life of my tank, my maintenance regimen has as follows:
Daily
Feed Fish (much of that can be automated - I choose not to)
Weekly
30 minute algae clean and plant trim
Monthly
15 minute test of pH probe
30 sec check of water pressure
Every Two Months
30 minute mixing of new fert stock and refilling fert jugs
Quarterly
1 hour filter media change
Every Nine Months
30 minute change of DI carbon matrix filters
Annually
1 hour replacement of UV lamp
30 minute replacement of Halogen lamps
30 minute replacement of pH probe
My regimen will get back to that soon enough. And IMO, that is pretty low maintenance for a 180g planted tank with 9 adult discus - probably approaching some kind of theoretical minimum, provided you strive to have a tank that also looks very attractive. If you lower your aesthetic standards, you could get away with less maintenance I'm sure.
And all that does not include one reality of this tank - on multiple occasions I have tinkered with my aquascape and plants around to find the optimal mix for what I'm trying to do. That has taken AT LEAST 20 hours work, twice in the 9-10 months I've this tank up.
So, is it fair to look at the maintenance schedule above and say that is "THE" maintenance schedule for this tank? No. I continue to tinker with plant variations, and algae control. And that takes very significant amounts of additional time. Instead I would like to think of this a "usually" low maintenance tank... one slowly making its way to an "always" low maintenance planted discus tank.