Starting a testing chart.

[fijiwigi]

I decided to document my testing results on paper so that I can look at long term consistency or lack of within my test results. These are the tests that I have. API ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,ph,calcium and Hagen alkalinity,phospate. I believe the only thing I am missing is magnesium? I will pick up a test kit for that in a couple of weeks.
I only want to be a mad scientist once per week if I can get away with it. I am still debating on the best time to test. I was thinking of testing my fresh batch of saltwater a few times to know where I am at. I started using reef crystals and will probably stick with it(with calcium additive to bring it to 400+). So once I determine that my water going into the tank is good I will only test batches once per month. I am thinking that I should test my tank at the end of the week before I do my water change to see what my real levels look like and determine if I have any problems in my tank. Any thoughts on this or test kits that I am missing please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I also test a day or two before a water change, in the evening when the pH is the highest. I also test midweek for Ca/Alk, in addition to testing it before the water change. I record all my results in an Excel spreadsheet.

I rarely test my fresh saltwater. I'll occasionally test if for Ca/Alk, but that's about it. I use DI water and check the TDS of it every couple weeks, so I'm not to concerned about my water. I do check it's salinity though every time I do a water change.

 

[fijiwigi]

I was PM from a moderator for fantasy reef suggesting I check out the tank log section on there site where you can graph your results and it stores it for you. It seems like a great idea although I could not figure it out on there site guess I will have to keep plugging away at it. Kurt you state you us an excell spreadsheet is this something you created or was it already setup for aquarium paramaters?? I am a paper and pen kinda guy but keeping stored on the PC is probably a better idea so that my 5/3 year old daugthers cant color all over it.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

My Excel spreadsheet is just a computerized columnar pad! Nothing special, just a row for each date, and column for each water parameter. No graphing, nothing fancy. Really just the same thing as pencil and paper!