Keep It Seriously Simple

There are a lot, and I mean A LOT, of experienced aquarists here at Quality Marine. Some of us have been keeping marine aquariums for 4 decades or more. Many of us are now or have been husbandry experts at public aquariums. As such, we've answered questions about a huge variety of questions about an even bigger variety of problems. We've found over time that there are many questions that frequently boil down to just a few answers.

The first rule is in regards to patience, which is the key to a huge variety of developments in your aquarium. So many common aquarium problems can be solved by being patient when you start your aquarium up. It is imperative to take the time to cycle your aquariums. We strongly suggest using some biological boosters, like Dr Tim's One and Only, which has been vetted and is quality stuff. You could go ahead and add fish to an aquarium that you seeded this way and their impact on the nitrogen cycle would be nominal enough for them to be fine.

This being said, a better way to use bio-boosters is to add them and wait. Let the system cycle further, add some food for those bacteria so they can multiply. Let the system mature a bit. Add some of the Nutramar Live Phyto, our suggestion would be the CRIT product. CRIT is a blend of different phytoplankton species that will really pump up the diversity of microfauna in your aquarium, this has a myriad of benefits. CRIT stands for Chaetoceros, Rhodomonas, Isochysis, and Tetraselmis.

Chaeto is a huge phytoplankton family which will help boost the oxygen in your systems and is an important food source for your micro-crustaceans. Rhodo is is a red algae, chock full of nutrients, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids. Iso is ideal for filter-feeders, but is also a great food for zooplankton, boosting their populations and enhancing their nutritional profile. Tetra, is a bright green phyto that is super lipid rich. Adding all of these together will help your aquarium support micro-critters, many of which consume the things that build up and cause issues later. Having a healthy phyto population will also help balance oxygen levels, pH and water chemistry.

Being patient is also important when and if problems start to rear their heads. Trusting your process and knowing that “this too will pass” is a super important lesson when new-tank style problems rear their ugly heads. If your system was well cycled, with a robust biological filter and abundant micro-fauna, many of the potential problems you could face won't pop up (or at will be turned into minor inconveniences). The problems that do pop up, pass in time, as long as you don't panic and take rash action. Avoid reactive responses like broad spectrum medications for your whole tank as these are almost always a bad idea. They are usually either copper based, or anti-bacterial in nature, both of which may address whatever symptoms your aquarium is suffering through thus making your tank look better in the short term, but by nuking your bacterial profile (and / or your micro-fauna population), they can often make the problem worse, and whatever your symptom was, will come back even worse when the medication wears off. Medication as a place in aquarium keeping, but not usually in your main display. We'll talk about targeted medications in another article.

Patience also mean making changes gradually. Changing this like your photoperiod (how long your lights are on) can have a big effect on your aquarium. Many algae based issues can be controlled by just changing how many hours of light happen in your tank, and these changes should usually be made slowly over time. Decreases in lighting can happen pretty abruptly, with less intense ramifications, but increases in the duration or intensity of lighting should always be an exercise in patience. Bring lighting times up by 15 minutes per day or less. You'll have less algae issues, and you'll be much less likely to shock fish / sunburn inverts.

One of the few places we've found that patience isn't necessarily a virtue is in water changes. Water changes will fix a massive variety of things, just keep doing them, and be methodical about it. As long as the water going into the tank is mixed from the same water and the same salt, is well mixed and aged, and is the same temperature, you can do water changes up to twice a week, and do changes as big as 50% of your tank volume with little or no downside. Our recommendation for regular water changes is up to 25% a week, but you should see our article on water changes and look for our upcoming tutorial on deep cleans.

The other major point we'd like to impress upon you, especially if you're a newer hobbyist, but even for some of you with more experience, is one of trust. Trust somewhat ties into patience, because you need to trust your process. However, we always say there is a limit to this trust. You always want a second opinion when researching your aquarium. One of the greatest educational websites around has been with us for many years, and was pioneered by the late, great Robert (Bob) Fenner. WetWebMedia has a unimaginable wealth of information trapped within it, and one of the best things about it is that it has long been curated by a variety of experienced hobbyists. If you spend enough time reading on this site, you'll find that many of these hobbyists will diverge in their opinion about specific things. As you get advice about your aquariums, look for themes instead of specific “cures.” Trust the general vibe over the exact instructions. Over time, you'll find that aquarium keeping is a lot like the Pirates Code; “more guidelines than actual rules.”

The second, and perhaps more important, aspect of trust applies to your measurements and equipment. You have to have equipment you can trust, but keep in mind that sometimes your equipment can go rogue too. The absolute most common cause of problems in established aquariums happens when people trust heaters to maintain temperatures without actually measuring the temperature. You can set the heater to 78, but that doesn't mean that your aquarium is staying there; heaters can be overpowered or underpowered, and occasionally, they fail (sometimes catastrophically). Use a good thermometer, and test it on a schedule, or use another one to make sure the first one isn't a liar. Calibrate your instrumentation regularly. Do not trust a pH meter that hasn't been calibrated recently. They can and will betray you (back to pirates again). The point here is that you should: a. buy quality equipment, and b. double check it, especially if you are diagnosing problems.

Lastly, balance and stability are your friend. You find that the number one rule in maintaining a healthy aquarium environment comes down to diligence. Those of you who pay attention and immerse yourselves in your hobby will have gorgeous aquariums that are fun to watch and work with. Those of you who only pay attention when there are problems will find yourselves with even more problems. When you settle on lighting, feeding and maintenance schedules that result in a stable, beautiful environment for your aquatic friends, stick to it! If you are doing a 15% water change every Saturday morning, don't skip it one week and think that a 30% change the next week is accomplishing the same thing! You'd be better off doing a 20% change on Sunday morning and getting back on schedule next week. Stick as closely as you can to the regimen you develop and you'll reap rewards for a long time to come.

In the end, you've likely all heard someone say KISS when learning about something. It stands for Keep It Simple Stupid, but because we know you aren't stupid, we've adapted this to fit the kind of folks who like aquariums and now it goes Keep It Seriously Simple. As you progress in the hobby, your aquariums might get bigger, or more technical, but your approach should always be rooted in a few basic tenets. Do the simple stuff first, then double check everything and the rest will come. (Also, support your Local Fish Store and tell them Quality Marine sent you.)