I May Be Wrong But.............................

I may be wrong, but is it really necessary to check all chemicals in a tank ?

When checking my fresh water discus tank, I check the temperature ( everyday ) & the PH.

In my salt water reef tank I test the salinity, PH, the nitrates & calcium. I figure if there was any ammonia present, my inhabitants would be either dead or dying.

What are your feelings ?

 

totally agree,
like you, I test, temp, PH, Nitrate and Calcium
and whilst I am about it, I test Magnesium, DKH, and Phosphate

I figure "Im stood up, near the reef tank, I have the kits, I might as well"

I dont test ammonia and Nitrite on a regular basis anymore - or in fact since last June, when I took all my inhabitants out of a 5ft tank that was scratched terribly and put them into a new one - and naturally I tested ammonia and Nitrite on a daily basis for about 2 weeks, just to make sure the swap out had gone without and cycle issues

but if a day came and I looked in my tank and thought "Thats odd, something does not feel right" then the ammonia and nitrite kits would be used just to check if there was a problem (dead fish, dead inverts, filter issues etc)

Steve

 

The only thing I test regularly is alkalinity, it's much more important than calcium IMO. There is a narrower range of acceptable values and it can get off faster than calcium, for most systems. If it goes off mark there are more potential repercussions than calcium as well.

I test nitrates and phosphates and calcium and magnesium occasionally just to be sure they're still acceptable but the way I have things setup with a calcium reactor and using prodibio those params really don't ever move.

It sorta depends on your tank and what you're keeping as well and what equipment you're using. I think you sort of have to determine what is necessary for you to keep an eye on given how sensitive your stock list is to fluctuations in everything, your mainetenance schedule, your equipment, etc.

 

I test calcium, magnesium and phosphates daily and then alkalinity and nitrates twice a week. That has worked for me very well.

 

The second part here to your post really negates the first, maybe not in your case but in most others.

I would say you need to determine a dosing schedule. Determine the fall off rate for each parameter and dose 1,2 or 3 times a week accordingly. As far as the nitrate and phosphate...I am curious why you are obsessive about them?

 

I test ALK more than anything else.
I have a PH monitor and a Temp prob so I guess I'm testing that all the time.

Maybe every 2 weeks I test Mag and CA

 

I don't think it negates it, it was meant to temper it. I said what I do and what I think and then made a general statement to make it clear that what I do may not work for everyone. Makes sense to me, maybe that intention wasn't clear enough.

 

Depends on where you are in the hobby. If you're new or the tank is new, I'd say test full spectrum often. Weekly even. As the tank matures, you'll have less reason to test ammonia and nitrites. But you'll be establishing a log.


Past that, it will depend on the testing history in your logs (so you have to test for some time to begin with). If you see your Nitrates and Phosphates have been 0 every week for 6 months, you might want to back off testing those so often. I test nitrates and phosphates maybe twice a year at this point - they've both been 0 ever since about month 3 or 4 into the hobby for me.

I test SG and pH (refractometer and a probe) maybe once a month.

I test Ca and Mg and dKH about every 3-6 weeks. My log book makes me feel comfortable this is working for me.




But the first several months, I was testing everything all the time... Had I not done that, I never would've felt comfortable like I do now.

 

+1 ditto. I feel the less testing I am doing the better my tank does, because I am not messing with stuff/worrying as much. It forces me to be patient. unless there is something "fishy" going on (or changing dosing chems, or raising levels), then you need to test more. That said the average test I do on my established tank is Alk, Ca, Mg, pH, and SG when doing a water change. Temp is one of those things I am always looking at...