Editor's note: This article has been reprinted with the author's permission from his website http://www.characin.com

Introduction

When you keep as many tanks as I do (80 tanks, over 1200 gallons before rebuilding my fishroom), the time to run a fishroom is demanding. And if the aquarist doesn't meet the demands, his fish suffer from such things as a lack of water changes, pH crashes, and less than feedings. I have been guilty.

The best solution is to automate. You know, instead of applying all of your attention to doing something as if for the first time, have a system developed by which much more can be done with much less effort.

Virtues of Automation

First, automation saves time and/or makes the task easier so that the aquarist can enjoy the hobby more. Who wants to be committed to a couple of hours of work in the fishroom each evening? I like working in my fishroom, but I'd rather be doing creative things like shooting photos of fish, redesigning an aquascape, setting up breeding tanks, and just plain observing the interesting behaviors of my fishes. I don't keep fish so that I can do water changes, harvest baby brine shrimp, and turn lights on and off.

The second reason to automate is that by making tasks quicker and simpler to do, these nagging chores are more apt to get done. Even though I use a python to help with water changes, some nights I don't have the time or desire to spend a half hour moving water. I'd like to feed BBS (baby brine shrimp) to my fry in the mornings as well as the evenings, but without a BBS harvesting system, I can't justify getting up that much earlier to harvest. As a result the time and effort it takes to do certain tasks, I don't always practice fishkeeping at the level I would like. Am I alone? I doubt it.

The application of automation just might be one of the marks of a seasoned aquarist. And if you are reading this, odds are that a seasoned aquarist is something you want to be.

Criteria for selecting what to automate

How much one gains from automation depends upon three factors to be considered together: [1] how much work can be saved, [2] how frequently do you do this work, and [3] how much effort and cost does it take to automate?

This is pretty much common sense. For each automation idea that pops into your head, you have to evaluate if what it is going to take from you and if doing it will be worth it in the long run. But how do you target areas that could be automated?

You automate only what you do more than once. And in the fishroom a lot of things fall into the categories of daily, weekly, monthly, and in-between. As I planned the rebuilding of my fishroom, I reviewed my routines. That gave me a good list of candidates.

I have daily routines: water changes (a few tanks each day), turn lights on and off, harvest and feed baby brine shrimp, rinse my refrigerated black worms, and removing any dead fish I find. I have periodic routines such as checking the pH of each tank, scraping off algae, tearing down and setting up breeding tanks, maintain cultures of live foods like microworms. Tasks that are less frequent, but still repeatable, include maintaining pumps, checking air flows, changing light bulbs, and moving grown up fry off to market. Due to the repeated nature of these chores, they are good targets for automation.

Fishroom routines

I am writing this as I redesign my fishroom. Here are some of the things that I'm thinking about as I incorporate automation into my new fishroom.

Perhaps water changes are the most time consuming at least for someone with 80 tanks. A bucket and siphon might be adequate for him with one or two tanks, but as the number of aquaria climbs, moving buckets gets old really fast. Hoses and devices that move water, like the Python, help immensely -- but they still require a good amount of effort from the fishkeeper.

Wholesalers and owners of large fish stores need a more efficient way to change water. Their tanks are "drilled." PVC is plumbed for moving water in and out. These bigger operations have water constantly flowing in while the top water skims off into an overflow drain. Of course, the aquarist must commit some decent money, planning, and effort to apply this level of automation to his fishroom. But if he is serious about his hobby and plans to be in it for some time, plumbing to automate water changes can be well worth the time.

Lights can be centralized onto one or a few switches. Even better yet, timers can automate their turning on and off. Not only does this save the time of going around to turn lights on and later off, it guarantees that the lights will be on the desired duration for each day.

Many hobbyist use upside down pop bottles to conveniently harvest newly hatched brine shrimp. Can this process be improved further? Instead of using the same container to hatch and harvest, use separate ones. When it's time to harvest, pour the contents from the hatching container into the specialized harvest container. While the BBS is settling, you can fill up the hatching container with the next day's salt water and eggs instead of waiting for the BBS to settle. Doing two things at once saves time.

I'm sure if I put my mind to it, I could come up with a good system to clean my black worms. One friend recommended that I let the cold brine water from my r/o run into the black worm pan and have an overflow pipe so that the cold, new water will perpetually replace the warmer, aged water. I've yet to hear of anyone trying this, but it just might work!

A lot of fishrooms have air run through PVC with valves positioned throughout. Whenever another air supply is needed, it is available. This is a big time saver over looking for another 4-way gang valve unit. Of course, you don't have to have a centralize blower Vibrator pumps can also be used with PVC and tapped valves to form "regionalized" air supply. By saying "regionalized" I am suggesting multiple systems, each supplying air to just a "region" of tanks.

The aquarist can invest in time saving devices. Processing chemicals to read the pH or dH of the water in each tank is messy and takes lots of time. I invest in electronic meters that read pH, conductivity, and even temperature.

Dream a little, dream a lot

So look to your fishroom routines -- first your daily routines, but also weekly and monthly routines. Daydream about how nice it would be to have each routine automated. Then brainstorm about how you can automate or improve the process. Often the solution will not be immediately obvious, so ponder it for a while. And once you've got an idea as to how you can automate, think about if you can improve on it even more. You just might surprise yourself at how much automation you can conceive and reasonably implement.

Too often, once one conceives of an improved method, he stops dreaming. Contentment can stop one from considering how she can go further and do it even better.

While you are brainstorming, dream about the utmost automation. Think about what it would take to push a button and have you water changed with no further work. Can this be done? Sure it can! Of course, you'll have to invest in plumbing, electrical wiring, a powerhead, and some electronic means for turning water on and off. The work to automate to this degree might be more than you want to invest, but consider the benefits before you back off. Don't you plan to be changing water regularly for then next two years?

And if you are willing to go this far, dream some more to see if you can come up with even better automation. In the case of the water changes, maybe you could have a switch for each day of the week, so that in course of a week, all tanks will have water changes. But as you dream more, why not just have all these switches set on timers -- so you'll never have to think about changing water.

OK, OK, I'm dreaming. But it is possible to do this. It just depends how deeply you want to invest in automation. Your decision is based upon how much work (and expense) will it take up front to save how much time and effort in the days, months, and years to come. So dream, dream some more, and consider how far into automation you want to go.

Consider automation

My intention is not to tell you specifically what to automate nor how to do it. I have entered into near-arguments with friends over how to implement such-and-such task, and I'd rather not get drawn into these debate. Rather, I hope you think about automating the tasks that have become drudgery or simply time consuming. First, determine what things repeatedly tie up your time. Then ask yourself if there a better and faster way to do it.

I've been doing that lately, and I am thinking up some big time-savers over my current routine. Of course, it's going to cost some money and tie up some weekends of sweat. But I do plan on being in my fishroom for a number of years. The effort and money spent on automating is going to make me a better aquarist.

I admit it. I've been guilty of too infrequent water changes and other hobby "sins." But it's never to late to "repent" of bad fishkeeping habits and sing the sweet, sweet song of automation (a twist on the Larry Norman song, Sweet, Sweet Song of Salvation.)