The best tip I can give is....

[jgvergo]

...go on vacation and let a newbie care for your tank!

I retired (whoot!) and headed south for two months. I left my tank in the care of my nephew, who is really a novice aquarist at best. I left him very specific, regimented rules for feeding, dosing and general maintenance. Lo and behold, upon returning my tank looked better than it ever has under my care!

Some of the most obvious changes in care were that I used to feed daily and dose about once a week. While I was gone, the tank was fed 3x per week and dosed once a week without fail. I've now adopted that routine.

Live and learn!

 

[Miami Reef]

...go on vacation and let a newbie care for your tank!

I retired (whoot!) and headed south for two months. I left my tank in the care of my nephew, who is really a novice aquarist at best. I left him very specific, regimented rules for feeding, dosing and general maintenance. Lo and behold, upon returning my tank looked better than it ever has under my care!

Some of the most obvious changes in care were that I used to feed daily and dose about once a week. While I was gone, the tank was fed 3x per week and dosed once a week without fail. I've now adopted that routine.

Live and learn!

Better in reduced algae growth? In what ways did your tank improve?

 

[Wasabiroot]

That's funny. I left a 10 point single spaced two page letter for my brother and father and my tank looked like the polluted harbor in Finding Nemo when I returned. ;Dead

In their defense, one's retired and the other is super busy. I'm also curious what improvements you saw.

 

[Chrisv.]

I feel like with reef tanks there really is a "first do no harm" approach that helps a ton. Keep your hands out of the freaking tank. Dose the same thing in the same amount at the same time (mostly)... And just be patient. Procrastinating helps in many cases.

 

[Miami Reef]

I feel like with reef tanks there really is a "first do no harm" approach that helps a ton. Keep your hands out of the freaking tank. Dose the same thing in the same amount at the same time (mostly)... And just be patient. Procrastinating helps in many cases.

Do no harm approach won’t really help. We usually love our tanks to death.

If you more nonchalant you’ll probably have better results than tweaking every little thing.

 

[Chrisv.]

Do no harm approach won’t really help. We usually love our tanks to death.

If you more nonchalant you’ll probably have better results than tweaking every little thing.

I try VERY hard to not put my hands in the tank. Maybe once every 3 weeks or so. Otherwise I do not touch the water.

If there is an actual problem (like a coral falls) I deal with it. Otherwise I take a wait and see approach for almost everything.

 

[Miami Reef]

I try VERY hard to not put my hands in the tank. Maybe once every 3 weeks or so. Otherwise I do not touch the water.

If there is an actual problem (like a coral falls) I deal with it. Otherwise I take a wait and see approach for almost everything.

Hmm. I don’t think putting hands inside the tank is the issue (unless you use soaps, sanitizers, lotion etc).

I think the main issue is changing the alk, ca, mg parameters too quickly via chemicals or adjusting the lighting too much. Stripping the tank of nutrients too quickly seems to be a problem as well.

 

[Chrisv.]

Hmm. I don’t think putting hands inside the tank is the issue (unless you use soaps, sanitizers, lotion etc).

I think the main issue is changing the alk, ca, mg parameters too quickly via chemicals or adjusting the lighting too much. Stripping the tank of nutrients too quickly seems to be a problem as well.

I completely agree that alk calcium tweaks are an issue, but I really think that the oils on our hands and skin are not great for tanks. There is no need for my hands to be in there. I let "hands in" maintenance accumulate and do it all at once if I can.

I tend to add corals in batches and tend to never screw with my light. Tinkering is the enemy. People love to talk about "tank stability" as if they aren't the ones constantly screwing with things.

 

[jgvergo]

Better in reduced algae growth? In what ways did your tank improve?

Actually, algae growth was the one area where I saw a little problem. The biggest improvements were in coral growth and health. All my corals seem to be 20% larger and fleshier.

 

[jgvergo]

That's funny. I left a 10 point single spaced two page letter for my brother and father and my tank looked like the polluted harbor in Finding Nemo when I returned. ;Dead

In their defense, one's retired and the other is super busy. I'm also curious what improvements you saw.

I should have mentioned that my nephew is an aerospace engineer, so he was more than able to follow my detailed instructions;Bookworm