Laziness

[Joe]

Okay, this is embarrassing but I'll post it anyway. I'm the world's worst at maintenance and checking stuff in my tank. I can't even vote in the Ph poll because I haven't checked it in over a year. I need to start some better habits checking on my tank. I checked the calcium last week and was down to 300. Hears the sad part. I had a small cyano outbreak on a rock, caulerpa and a portion of the glass in a corner of the tank. (I assume that's what it is. reddish/brown hairy/slime type of stuff) I went to CB Pets and got some phosguard. I put it in a bag in the return box from my hang-on protein skimmer (hopefully a good enough flow). It's been in there for 2-3 days now. I went over to check it this evening and noticed that there are no bubbles being produced by skimmer and it has very little flow through it. I haven't cleaned it since it has been running - 18 months. IMO I have had pretty decent luck with my first reef tank and live by - "if it ain't broke don't fix it" - at least that's my excuse. Basically I haven't take care of my tank like I should be. I took my skimmer apart and took out ~2 dozen nerite snails, slime, calcium deposits and half of a green mandarin skeleton. Anyway, I got it all back together and the skimmer is working properly. Hopefully the cyano will leave. I hope this will remind someone to check stuff on/in their tank that they have putting off before it's too late. I can't be the only procastinator.

Merry Christmas to everyone, Joe

[Yano]

Heh, I never check my Ph or anything like that, I can just tell if anything is wrong by looking at my tank. :D Saves me money on test kits

[Joe]

That's pretty cool that you know your water chemistry just by looking at the water - are you sure you need to be a psychiatrist - JUST KIDDING. I bought a bunch of test kits when Aquarium Sales went out of business. Does anybody know if they can go bad? Anyway, they just sit inside the stand on a shelf. They're covered in dust. Sometimes I think I'm just too busy to have this hobby. By the way, in case anyone was wondering, it's been pretty **** expensive too.

[Yano]

Its fairly easy, my shrimp will act up if the salinity is off, the fish will look diffrent when other things are wrong, all this is fixed for me when I do a 20% water change. After awhile you'll probaly get an eye for these things :D

[Joe]

That's another thing. I don't do my water changes like I should. I change about 10 gallons every three months. BTW it's a 43 gallon tank.

[Joe]

OK thanks for the info. How long do they last?

[Joe]

I can't remember exactly when Ken and Mike went out of business. I think it's been a little over a year, so I guess I've had my test kits for about that long.