How many of you use a log?

[RTR]

Daveedka - wait until your tanks are tallied in dozens. I do not track details of water chemistry or feeding or individual fish, there are too many tanks. Despite having been married to Excel and Access for too many years, I have at least partially recovered.

All I track on most tanks is the partials and filter upkeep, and some of that is done on Post-its on individual external filters. Internals are on the calendar.

Experiments are logged via hard copy. Again too many years of the FDA. At least I don't sign every page anymore.

Non-recurring info does get noted - including much of dosing in planted tanks - until it becomes routine, or needs to modified for a given tank, then if routine at standard intervals it gets dropped, only changes from SOP are noted. If dosing is being changed from SOP, the changes are noted and tracked until a new SOP is set. New plants are noted at introduction and perhaps some comments while I learn them. Once they are routine, they too are dropped from notation. Ditto for new fish.

I definitely use the processes from the lab to work on my fish-keeping, but I absolutely refuse to allow my hobby to become work. Why do you think that I am so resistant to high-tech tanks? :dance2:

 

[Remmy]

i bought a small notebook a few days after i started my tank having read on forums that it is a good idea to keep a log
so far i havnt really had any use for all the info ive jotted down, but its nice to know how long you've had such and such fish/plant or whatnot

 

[SnakeIce]

Most logs I see won't fit in the tanks I have, best I can do is some small drift wood branches or roots..... Oh wait, not that kind of log. :thud:

I write out stuff I am trying to get to a routine or figure the ammounts for that routine but once set may or may not get saved depending on where I write it down. Not getting a dedicated note book and moveing several times is the cause of that, but somewhere I have some notes on the fish and other aquisitions I've made.

 

[mogurnda]

I have a log of the reef. From it's start as a 20 gallon FO, to its transformation to a nano, and finally to the 90 gallon. A little over 4 years of handwritten notes, some entered into excel, plus compulsively stored receipts. The log has been handy on occasion, the receipts have been invaluable for remembering where and when I got things.

I have tried logging the planted tank and mantis nano, but I guess I only have energy for one tank's worth.

 

[Bmeasure]

What would you like to see added/changed? I'm pretty much finished with the H2Overview program but my fert calc is open to suggestions.

Basically, I would want a downloadable program that can be stored and adapted to each person. Gadd's fert calculator can be downloaded (as I've had it for about 2 years now), but it doesn't contain very many types of fertilizers. I love how detailed and easy to use his system is, and would like something similar, but just more complete. The ability to enter in your weekly or monthly dosing/water change schedule would be great if you could save the new info to your computer (not have to re-enter everything each time).

I have been using fertilizers that simply aren't listed on Gadd's system (he only lists 6 fertilizer compounds. I would like additions of various optional compounds also listed. Don't know if this is confusing, but for instance: Potassium Nitrate, Mono Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Sulfate are just 3 options you can use for Potassium (I have a pound of each). The options I have for dosing PO4 are: Enema products, Triple Phosphate, or Mono Potassium Phosphate. Get my point? It would be extremely user/newbie friendly to point everyone to one chart that lists them all (if possible) and if you could even add to it if people found or mentioned another compound via downloads.

Once you got all the compounds listed you could list "suggested dosing amounts" for a specific ppm or mg/L (both is better). Another thing that is confusing when there is no calculator is how much K is in KNO3 vs K2SO4? Which one adds how much K and how much Nitrate or sulfate (ppm or mg/L).
If we could get this all in a chart that we could keep saved as aquarium A, B, C, etc. to keep track of them separately would be awesome. Each of our setups requires different maintenance sometimes, and it would be nice to have a terrific fertilizer calculator and log chart that would keep each of them straight for us.

Just another thought would be a graph that could approximate our fertilizer amounts in the water during the week (what ever time is between water changes) based on our testing the water directly after water change and dosing, then we enter enter in how often we fertilize each compound and again enter in the measured test readings directly before a water change. That would be a great visual aid to people who are having difficulty knowing when during the week to re-dose a compound (and if necessary).
Let me specify a bit:
Day 1: water change (list %), dose ferts to desired levels and test this.
-----Graph starts at reference,lists each fert (maybe color coded)
Day 2: (Assume no dosing)
-----Graph drops proportionally for each fert
Day 3: (assume that we dose again)
-----Graph adjusts up the chart each fert added (proportional with ppm)
Day 4: (Assume no dosing)
-----Graph drops again
Day 5: (assume dosing 3rd time -for really high light tank)
-----Graph again adjusts upwards
Day 6: (no dose)
-----Graph drops
Day 7: (no dose)
-----Graph drops

Bye the way I do know that it would take at least 1 week of entries before a fairly accurate graph could be shown! I'm sorry this is so long! This graph could help us to figure out if we are dosing too quickly or slowly during the week. For instance to dose on Wednesday instead of Tuesday (maybe only a couple of ferts, etc). I hope you understand my wishes. I'm sure they can be done, it may just be more work than someone is interested in doing. This is just my ideal program (for the moment!

 

[Bmeasure]

By the way Riverix, I lost your web page. Could you put your link in your reply please? thanks.

 

[Holly9937]

wow you guys are fancy !!! Then again, I have plastic plants so I can see how it would be handy with dealing with fertilizers etc. Probably a great idea anyhow, I've been lucky enough to only have minor problems, and I do like the other post said, vacuum/water change on Sunday, feed, thats about it. Tank is about stocked, so I don't have new additions very often. I guess whatever works right :hi:

 

[pjfish]

I track everything that happens to my tanks. I've learned thru the years that it's better to have too much info than not enough. If there aren't any problems, then just ignore it. If there are problems, you can see what's happened and maybe make better decisions.

 

[reiverix]

ok Bmeasure I'll have a think about all the stuff you mentioned. My site is in my signature. If you download just the fert calculator (I think I called it H2O Buddy, lol) you can add/edit/delete your own fert entries. For now that means editing the XML file but I will get round to having the program do that stuff. It also works by molar mass so you can enter basically any compound you wish.

 

[Shekoi]

voted yes...

...even though only started it today. i've put columns like live food, new fish, dead fish, new bulbs, water changes, filter clean etc. then under i've put dates of when i last did them.

i've also got note pages where i can write anything that i need to remember.

Should be very helpful.