Is it bad

That not once in the 8 years of owning a reef tank, have I ever tested anything. I mean maybe salinity with my refractometer once in a while but that is it. I think if I tested for Calcium, PH, and all of that it would drive me crazy.

I guess my success comes from constant water changes IMO less stressful and confusing.

 

Well what salt do you use? Do you even dose calcium and magnesium? I think water changes mainly supplement the calcium and mag weekly so i guess its not bad... As long as everything is fine ur good to go.

 

What size water changes (percentage), and how often? How loaded is your tank with corals/what type?

 

Red Sea Coral Pro. I don't own a single test kit just my refract and a thermometer from walmart. Sometimes I wonder if we make this hobby harder than it needs to be.

Specs:
46 gallon bow front
aquamaxx HOB
Canister filter way under rated for my size tank
rena smart heater way overrated for my size tank I believe it is 200 or 250 watts
1-150 watt HID bulb which i'm pretty sure is a el cheapo one came with the hood
2 39 watt actinic blues

My salinity swings from 1.024 to 1.028 sometimes, temp goes from 81-83 almost daily.

That's about it for my setup. I did have a whole test kit from red sea when I bought my max but I never used it and threw it out.

 

You don't have to do it yourself. Every week, put some of your water in a sandwich bag and bring it to your LFS, they should be able to do it for free.

 

That's only if you have a trusted LFS that doesn't use expired test kits.

 

And that won't get a bit annoyed at constantly having to test your water for you.

 

I do a 5 gallon water change once a week. tank has
mated pair of clowns
mated pair of cardinals
24 baby cardinals in a separate container inside the tank
cleaner shrimp
coral beauty
scopas tang
seaweed blenny
2 starfish
40 snails
20 hermits
20-30 mushrooms
Sunset monti
green birdsnest
3 feather dusters
1 devils leather
5 rics
huge colony of star polyps
zoanthids galore watermelon and yellow ones
several turkey wing clams
brown cup coral

 

I'm just not into the whole testing water, I'm not saying it is a bad idea or practice but it's not for me.

 

Unless all of your colonies are big, that's why you've been able to get away with it. Low cal/alk utilization by your corals.

If you stocked your tank like mine, you'd never be able to get away with WC-only.