How often to do water tests?

[Keith A.]

I have an established reef tank (around 8 years now) with various fish and coral. Like everyone else, I've had my fair share of problems and spikes in elements like nitrate, ammonia etc. I haven't had any real problems for a while now. I'm curious though, how often do you run water tests on an established tank? Do you do it only when you notice a problem or do you do it on a regular basis regardless of if you see any signs of a problem (like seeing a bunch of algae could be a sign of high nitrates)? Any feedback would be helpful.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I do them weekly. If you wait until you see a sign of a problem, you've normally missed the window of opportunity when you can take care of the problem easily.

 

[ryshark]

I do them weekly. If you wait until you see a sign of a problem, you've normally missed the window of opportunity when you can take care of the problem easily.

I agree with this, I started slacking off a few months ago and my Alk, Cal and Mag all dropped way too low. A month ago I bought all new "high end" test kits (makes a big difference for certain tests) and started testing at least Alk and Cal daily and dosing daily. I have learned what my tank needs to stay stable so I will eventually switch to once a week, like Kurt. By the way, my corals are looking much better and growing good again. I didn't start testing daily until I lost color and PE on one piece and was getting very slow growth on the rest of the pieces. I also started developing valonia (bubble algae) It probably took me at least a couple weeks to recover everything.
Another mistake I made was I didn't recalibrate my refractometer for months and months. When I finally recalibrated it with distilled water, the refractometer was off so I readjusted it back to 0. Then I purchased some refractometer calibration fluid and found that distilled or RO/DI water is a bad way to calibrate. Again I was off.... my reef tank was around 1.022 while I thought all along I was at 1.025

 

[thincat]

I try to test temp and SG daily and the rest of them weekly. With a refractometer it doesn't cost anything to test and it's a good habit to run a few test on your tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I try to test temp and SG daily ...

Testing temp? What brand test kit do you use for that?

Was that a typo, or do you not have a real-time thermometer in the tank?

 

[mfdrookie516]

maybe he meant he looks at his thermometer daily? thats what i do

 

[thincat]

I run my equip through a Ranco controller.
Thought it was easier then saying read......I should have said "Log"...

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I guess I'm so in to peeking at the temp whenever I'm by the tank, I don't even think about it as "testing" or even keeping track, for that matter. I just figured you made a typo and I'd harass you about it!

 

[Jaybird]

I try to do mine weekly. It's a pretty boring thing to do, especially when the tank is stabilized and you keep getting zeros. The big thing I watch is calcium to ensure that it doesn't get too low between PWCs.

 

[thincat]

I guess I'm so in to peeking at the temp whenever I'm by the tank, I don't even think about it as "testing" or even keeping track, for that matter. I just figured you made a typo and I'd harass you about it!

Kurt, I actually add 5 drops of liquid heat (corrected for
temperature) and let set for 5 mins. before I read the results against a color chart.

 

[Keith A.]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree with Jaybird. My tank has been showing zeros for a while and everything else seems to be at acceptible levels so it has been getting a bit monotonous. Maybe I'll just keep an eye on the calcium, s.g. and alk since they can fluctuate fairly easily.

 

[Bige]

Thats funny!! Now I can start testing my temp. The drops sound more accurate.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Kurt, I actually add 5 drops of liquid heat (corrected for
temperature) and let set for 5 mins. before I read the results against a color chart.

What brand? Y'know Elos is the best... right? And you DO know that if you mix vodka with the liquid heat, you don't have to use as much, PLUS you lower your nitrates.

 

[thincat]

Hahahaha