How often do you test your water?

R

reefgazer

I saw Marc's tank pictures on here and it is so beautiful. Wonder how often does he tests his water and what does he test?

I tested my water twice a month for Ph, Alk, Ca, Nitrate, and salinity.

Now I think I should test for Mg as well. However, my tank is doing just ok. My RBTA is losing its red color and shrink most of the time.

Any suggestion ?Iodine? other trace elements I am missing here?

Thanks. I use Salifert test kits.
 
I test about once a month or whenever xenia started to acting up...

I usually do nitrate, calcium, KH about once a month. I do PH once a week or so.

SG stays at 1.023 constant even with top off RO and I do WC once every 2 weeks at 1.026 on the new water.

I added Calcium every 2 days, Iodine, iron, strontium once a week.

stan
 
Probably should test for Phosphate as well as Nitrate. I have a test kit that measured Ca and Mg with the same sample. First Ca then Mg but without have to start over.

And I test only occasionally but keep a log. I waited three months between tests this last time but I have a constant readout PH meter which tells me pretty much what my ALK is doing too and therefore also Ca ( since I dose Kalk by a litermeter ). Refugium seems to take care of any Nitrate and Phosphate. Mg seems to stay in balance by regular water changes solely. Tests confirm what I see by through observation, ie everything happy and healthy.
 
Once my tanks are established and things seem to be happy, I'll test Alk and Calc only on a weekly basis. pH is handled via monitor so its always available.

When I first start one, I may test things like nitrates and such as well for the first few months.

Generally though, I judge how things are going by the inhabitants. If the corals are happy, opening up well, feeding etc... things are good.
 
I test for ca / alk about twice a month, and mg when I go through a gallon of RHF homemade 2-part.

I quit testing for nitrates and phosphates when I had 2 months of straight zeros for results.

Here's the log of my tests.. http://srv.rowelab.com/TankLogger/graph.php
 
I test ph, nitrates and sg about twice a week. Usually all is in order but sometimes the ph drops. I keep up w/ my water changes and I make sure that all my new water is good so I don't worry too much.

So reefgazer, I don't mean to call you out publicly but you have a lot of post and no clown fish..... membership has it's benefits 8)
 
I test pretty sporatically, so I can't really answer that one.

After months of stable conditions, I would definately agree that most tank parameter changes can be noticed in the livestock and adjusted accordingly. Granted, this will take a fair deal of experience to notice subtle changes and know what to add to remedy them.

I did notice that you mentioned Iodine in your original post. Iodine is very toxic if overdosed. Testing for Iodine is a must if you are planning to, or do dose it.
 
@reefgazer wrote:
I saw Marc's tank pictures on here and it is so beautiful. Wonder how often does he tests his water and what does he test? I tested my water twice a month for Ph said:
I tend to test the water in my tank monthly. http://www.melevsreef.com/parms.html

Everything I test is on that page, kit-wise.

I run a refugium, fresh carbon regularly, and add Salifert Amino Acids every two weeks.
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