How do you set up for maintenance when storage is an issue?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Ok, so full disclosure here... My BIGGEST struggle in the hobby is maintenance, and if I'm honest, one of the main reasons is not having anywhere to set up for maintenance. Basically, anything I use needs to be moved out of the way (usually back to the garage) once maintenance has been done. Even my RODI unit is mobile. LOL

One of my biggest frustrations has been doing water changes because of needing somewhere to store the water while it's making and mixing, and then having to bring in the pumps and hoses for draining out of the DT and adding it back in.

I know I'm not the only reefer struggling with maintaining a reef in a 2 bedroom apartment...so help me out, guys. What's your method for mobile maintenance? How do you handle the hassle of the pulling out equipment for temp use and then storing again when space is super limited?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Basically put it anywhere you can. In the old house I would store my buckets and salt boxes behind the door of our front room. And all the rest of my test kits, filter socks, and tubing ect... was in a little white cabinet next to the tank.

 

[Taxus812]

I do have a house however my tank is in my bedroom and my RODI, mixing and supplies are in my basement.

I break it all up. My testing supplies and equipment are in my bathroom.

My feeding supplies and equipment is under the tank.

I use a python to drain my tank outside. I use 5 gal bucket with a pump to add new water.

I thought about setting up an automatic water change system that uses the same container for clean and dirty water. It just basically circulates the water until the container contains 90% dirty and 10% clean water. One container with a pump and clean saltwater and two short hoses. When done you use the pump to empty the container of dirty out.

 

[fish farmer]

Start a purge of other household items! Seriously....limited space limits your hobbies.

I don't brew beer anymore....so that hobby stuff is gone....saved the buckets and hydrometer!

Those old vinyl records you got from you grandmother/roommate..........off to the used record store!

I own a small house but was still able to get all my wife's stuff in....most of my crappy furniture is gone.

We maximizes spaces, containers under the beds, lots of cabinets/verticle storage in living areas. I have plastic bins for some of my bulky aquarium "extras". That can stay in the basement with all the mixing components. Buckets and hoses stored upstairs in a pet closet. Testing kits in a little container in a cabinet by the tank. I built a shelf above my sump for supplies like carbon, phosphate remover, coral dip, etc.

 

[Brew12]

Having a house gives me some advantages, but I do wish my mixing station wasn't in the garage so I still do water changes by hauling buckets. ;Blackeye

What's your method for mobile maintenance? How do you handle the hassle of the pulling out equipment for temp use and then storing again when space is super limited?

A year or two ago I recall seeing someone had set up a cart for their aquarium maintenance. I think it had 2, 20g water containers on the bottom and the top shelf was for holding the cleaning stuff. They would roll the cart to the tank, drain 20g into the empty container, pump the 20g of fresh saltwater into the tank and then roll the cart to the kitchen to pump out the old water.

The biggest problem they had was finding somewhere to store the cart.

They used something along these lines.

Of course, you could just save time for aquarium maintenance by not updating your build thread as often. ;Troll;Troll;Troll

 

[BeejReef]

Yeah.. lol. It's conceptual. Don't think of your tank like a flat screen television. It's more like a piece of furniture (circa 1968 GE Television Set) or an appliance (washing machine or toilet).

No one bats an eye when there is a toilet brush holder and plunger next to the toilet, or a hamper and a big bottle of soap on the washer! You put the bucket next to the tank.. lol. You just have to convince your mind that's where it belongs. A little stand, a pretty bucket, whatever it takes!

 

[fish farmer]

I actually use a cart very similar to that at my work for moving buckets of feed along the line of inside raceways. We have paper towels on it for clean up and a trash bin underneath. They are somewhat bulky and for us the castors rusted being in wet conditions. They are a nice platform for doing things that spill.