With eight tanks, Maintenance becomes a problem. Time is the problem. There just isn't enough time to maintain this many tanks with buckets. I have all ready pointed out how I have a drain and water supply in my aquarium room which helps immensely, but there are things I did to help cut down on maintenance time.

I stopped using my glass tops, I know its not recommended by the light manufacturer but their such a hassle. Just about every night I am trimming a plant or moving one. It might do nothing more then clean out some floating debris but it was taking the tops off putting the tops on, off, on ,off that's allot of time when working on multiple tanks. By doing away with the tops I save time when cleaning my tanks. I don't have to clean tops but I do have to clean the reflectors, not as often as tops thou. One thing to consider if you go topless is be sure you use ground fault plugs for your lights. When I built my aquarium room I planed a head and installed them through out my room.

One other thing to consider is heat build up. With glass tops you have a insulator between the light bulbs and water. When you don't have tops you can have water temps that build up heat over the day. I considered this to be a problem so I started with just one tank with out the top. As it turned out it only increased my water temp just a small amount. I think this is do to the way I built my lights. Most of my tanks have DIY light kits. With my tanks being in my aquarium room and not in the house where I would have to have a great looking show tank. I would also have to have the tank and stand looking great too, but in my room I don't worry about the out side appearance. SO when I made my light fixtures I mounted the ballast on the out side of the fixture. This in turn helps keep the heat build up down. I work during the day and play with my aquariums at night so I keep light off during the day and on at night when I am there to enjoy them. I use a heavy duty timer for each tank to control the light time. You want to look for the type of timers that have a ground on them. Your ground fault plugs wont work without a ground for your lights. I also use a surge protection plug strip for each tank too. I live out in the country. We have power outages all the time so this helps any surge I might get on the power lines. Each tank light duration varies so by keeping them all separate helps control the amount of light each tanks gets.

When I had a 55gal show tank in my living room. I remember how much of a pain it was for me to work on. I had a nice stand that placed the tank just a little to high for me to reach over for trimming and planting new plants. I would get a back pain from stretching. With a room full of tanks that need maintenance all most nightly, it was time for a reality check. Yes folks I am not a six foot tall twenty-one year old studly man. I am a short old fat guy. Reality bits! SO when I built my stands I made them short. That way I could reach in each tank without having to bend or stretch. My tanks that are mounted on the wall work out this way too. I have a step stool that lets me reach with out stretching.

With maintaining multiple tanks, you need to be able to keep track of each tank. When the water change was preformed. What dosing schedule you are using for fertilizing and what you use (NO3, PO4, K, Fe, and trace) I use a calendar to keep track of them all. I mark the day I perform water change and which tank. I mark the tanks that get fertilizer dosing, what and how much. I keep track of filter cleaning along with the date of bulb change. I know there are software programs that will set up each tank with its on history and schedule. I have looked into a few but felt that it would take up more time setting it all up and entering all the information on each tank than it would to just use a notation on the calendar.

I use pressurized CO2 throughout my aquarium room now. I have two 20# tanks with three way valves to feed all tanks. By using a DIY bubble counter I save time by not having to refill them. That's one problem with the small counters you buy. I have two and have to fill them once a month at lest. The DIY bubble counters I made out of a 12oz plastic pop bottle will last a year or more without having to add water. Its not much time saved but every little bit adds up.

I keep my aquatic tools along with bottles of fertilizer on shelves at the ready. I have nets and all the cleaning brushes hanging on the wall. I have fish food on a shelf just over my tanks. Every thing I use on a daily bases is at the ready. I don't have to hunt for them. This small thing helps save time. Its not one thing that save you time, its a number of small things that adds up to be time savers in maintaining a number of aquariums.

One of the most helpful things I have discovered with setting up several tanks is the time I save on the cycling of new tank setups. When I set up my first tank It took about 6 six weeks to get things to settle in. It took even longer for the gravel substrate to build up nutrients with the use of root tabs to get a fertile substrate for growing root feeding plants. What I discovered is with the use of Eco-Complete I can start off from day one with CO2 and high light and a fully planted tank.
Its as easy as using plan gravel. In Fact its easier because you don't have to rinse it. What I do with Eco-Complete is fill the tank quarter to half way with water. Then I just open the bag and pour it in. Then I fill up the tank.

One thing I have done five times now and it has worked for me but others will disagree Is start every thing up the same day. What I mean is I add plants, lights, CO2 and ferts at the start. Others say you should wait at lest four weeks and gradually build up lights, CO2, and ferts. One thing I have noticed with the use of Eco-Complete is you don't get the ammonia or nitrite spikes. The tank starts cycling with in days.

Now should you do this on your first tank? One thing I think make this procedure work for me is I have well established plants I use from my grow out tanks. What this means is my plants are growing very well to start with and don't have to go through the shock of replanting from a LFS. So if you DON'T have well established plants you need to start slowly. Add your plants and lights. Wait a week to see if your plants are going to settle in and add your CO2. You need to be testing for PH, KH, NO3, and PO4. By getting these in balance as soon as you can will keep algae from being a problem. The goal here is to slowly bring NO3/PO4 in ratio of 10/1. By testing you can gradually add them little at a time. PH around 6.8 is a good goal. My KH here is 4-5ppm. I test a new tank twice a week are more in the first few weeks. You will start with NO3 and PO4 at 0 but don't add a lot of them in the start. Lets say you start off at 0 NO3. Does 3-4ml one day and wait two days test and see if it starts to show on the test kit. If not add 3-4ml again wait two days and test. Do the same for PO4 but in 1ml steps. I don't like PO4 over .5ppm but I have had tanks as high as 3ppm but my ratio on NO3 was over 20ppm. Both are high at these levels I think but this is up for debate. The big trick in a new tank is to get these up from 0. When people have to wait for a tank to cycle. That takes about four weeks. In that time every thing gets out of whack. Not only are you trying to get a balance your having to battle algae too. I find that Eco-Complete lets you start off with a cycled tank in the first week and you can gradually get the tank in balance with in a couple of weeks without having to fight algae. So far I have used this method in five tanks and have not had any algae showing up.

I don't think you can talk about maintaining plant aquariums without talking about fertilizing schedule. How it all must be kept in balance with CO2 and light duration. How it all ties together. There is allot of theories on this. Some prefer the test and guess method others does just enough to maintain certain levels of NO3/PO4 ratio. There seams to be two new theories.EI (Estimative Index of Dosing) By Tom Barr and PPS (Perpetual Preservation System) This system is by Phil Edward and others I think. In the months to come I will let you know how I am doing on the EI method and how I changed from the NO3/PO4 ratio method. Looking forward to next month and remember just keep it simple.

Hawk

One thing I have done five times now and it has worked for me but others will disagree Is start every thing up the same day. What I mean is I add plants, lights, CO2 and ferts at the start. Others say you should wait at lest four weeks and gradually build up lights, CO2, and ferts. One thing I have noticed with the use of Eco-Complete is you don't get the ammonia or nitrite spikes. The tank starts cycling with in days.