How do you maintain a monster tank?

[D. Hedington]

i really dont enjoy maintaining my tanks, i dont have giant tanks but my twin 120g's are painfull to work with.
i just keep a very fine layer of sand as a substrait.
and had to set up a wire arm to reach the substrait with the vaccume,(very sick of overly agro jar, 15'' bad tempered oscars, and then the catfish...)
nearly every day i stick in a small hose to get big bits of crap,
and wipe the glass twice a week inside and out.
and cant forget a 40 - 50% water change weekly....
maby im just paranoid. all and all time spent: around 2-1/2 hrs together, not including my 50g's and 30g's...

 

[sashimimaster]

What if the tank was bare bottom with intakes near the bottom and jets on the opposite end? That should take care of any vacuuming duties. Then all there is left is water changes and that can easily be automated.

 

[bkbrianbk]

I have a 125 that is pretty easy to maintain. I have sand for substrate and I will vacuum the crap out once a week and change the water. It doesnt take me that long. What i will do is take a 5 gallon bucket and take my submersible pump and throw it in there and pump the water through a hose into our house sump pump and just let the water syphon into the bucket and keep pumping the water until I reach the desired level. (I dont want to put the pump directly in the tank as it is pretty loud). Once the water is drained, I take that pump and put it in my 105 gallon holding tank that I keep at the same temp as my fish tank and pump the heated, treated water into my tank. Pretty easy imo.

 

[siebertn]

150 gal isn't monster but it takes me hour to gravel vac, 60% water change, clean out and replace the filter wool in sump and rearrange fake plants. But i like doing it.
When my 300gal arrives it might take up allot more time.

 

[Madding]

Be prepared to get very, very wet if you're OCD about your decor placement like me. If my driftwood isn't right I am not above going swimming until it is placed how I want it.

 

[gtgg]

a long gravel vac and 20 5g buckets every weekend

the enjoyment:
getting attack by your fishes
nice and clean tanks
happy fishes

 

[TheCanuck]

SW is super easy.... all derbis and particles eventually get sucked up or get eaten/dissolved by the liverock/saltwater. All i do is change the water once a month..

 

[zennzzo]

a long gravel vac and 20 5g buckets every weekend

the enjoyment:
getting attack by your fishes
nice and clean tanks
happy fishes

just try to carry a bucket of water around gtgg...you won't get too far...this guy got zero fat and can pack some water I tell ya...bet he's more ripped than Bruce Lee!!

 

[duster1971]

good ol fashond manual labor. lol at least thats how i do it. but hey i love swiming and work so geting wet dosnt bother me at all but i have used a pool vack thing the one that you atach a hose to. i just used return off a canister filter to power it and the same filter to suck up all the junk out of the grav keeps ya from geting wet but ya have to clean the filter sponges like crazy.

 

[duster1971]

ya it does get a lil heavy just figure this each galon of water 8 pounds and the bucket around mabe 2 or 3 pounds so a 5 gal bucket weighs around 42 or 43 pounds and i usually carry 2 at a time but i train for fights and weigh like 295 so its not a big deal to me lol.