Checking params

If I do not have a way to check them at home and have to go to the lfs to have then checked. How often should I do that. Weekly?

How often do all of you check yours?

 

You should buy a master kit sir. Or you can buy individual tests if you can't splurge for a kit.
I've never used the dip strips but I hear they pretty much suck.

What you test for really depends on what you have in it...

Once your tank is on cruize control and you have a good maintenance routine, many folks will check when they visually see things are starting to look off, ie algae grown and so forth.

Bi weekly or monthly checks at minimum are always a good idea to make sure nothing starts to creep up.

If you're an avid reefer, you may do weekly checks.

Again, you're providing an environment for your inhabitants, if you have just a couple of hardy fish, you'll have much more leeway between testing than someone with a heavily stocked tank of corals.

 

Weekly is a good practice. It is a lot more convenient(for me) to test at home. I suggest getting one of the API saltwater test kits (around 20$ or so). I also recommend Elos kits for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. The directions aren't very good(especially on the magnesium). But the kits are small and precise.

You will spend a bit of money to get started but the kits last quite a while and you aren't expected to make a purchase every time you need a test done.

 

Thank you sirs. Lol. I really don't want to spend 100 bucks on on all the tests I'm going to need so we will see if i fork out all that cash. I'm just getting in to the coral game, i have 4 and I have 5 fish in my 55 gal, but I def want to keep more corals and a few more fish so I will make testing weekly part of what I do. Better to be safe then sorry.

What are ideal numbers for keeping corals? Is there such a thing as perfect?

 

IMO, there is actually a few different types of 'perfect'... It is often difficult to keep different catagories of coral in the same system. For example, SPS coral does great in my tank, however, softies often get irritated and don't do well. It also depends on the lighting and flow. During the first few months of your tank you should measure certain levels often. However, there are some tests that are worthless. Phosphate test kits are a waste of money as they are highly inaccurate and hard to read. You can either measure the phosphate by how much algae is growing in your tank, or by getting a digital tester. pH test kits are also inaccurate and pH probes are much better. The API master test kits are not great. What I would recommend are the Salifert calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, and the API nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia.

A few months back I made this thread to compare test kits, take a look!
http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/test-kit-comparison-129695.html

 

The only test I do regularly is alk, this I check about every 3 days.
Ca about once a month.
Mg and nitrates about every 3 months
PO4 maybe once a year. Your eyes are the best test.
I prefer salifert alk and ca
I haven't tested ammonia or trites in years and years

 

Yeah I test PO4 with a hanna checker. I know eyes are a great test, but I don't want any algae lol. I use it to know when to change my GFO.

I recently stopped checking my ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. They were consistently zero for a few months and I am pretty sure I will see a problem if they go up again.

Ca alk and mag are pretty important for sps. I have a mostly SPS dominant tank now, so these parameters are pretty important. I check them all the time because I recently started dosing. As above, once I deem them stable I will probably stop checking them as much. Actually I am upgrading to a 90 next week so nevermind lol.

 

This is all good stuff guys. Thanks so much for taking about the way you do it. I should be testing weekly for a few more weeks to make sure everything stays the same then I think i will cut back a little.