What to test for?

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Mrbill

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Dec 31, 2003
Messages
154
Location
Maryland
Hey guys, works a little slow today so I'm whipping up a chart to use in a binder for keeping track of tank maintenance. What things do you test for?

I know the chart will have spaces for
The Date
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
PH
Salinity
General Comments

Anything else you guys might add?

Thanks!
 
Calcium

Alkinity

Temperature


As a general rule you should test what ever you dose so if you add tracelements on a regular basis then you should have a test kit to verify the levels of those elements aswell.
 
fish freek is on top, when you eventually get specific about what you have and want in your tank ou'll want to look at other things like magnesium (which (in a very brief way) determines the amount of calcium is taken up) etc. For instance I have a soft and stony coral tank... I use iodine and check for it as it helps the soft corals and somewhat the stonies too. I also check that my nitites are at the right level for a slightly higher level, 10ppm actually helps out the softies and stonies.
 
for a FOWLR tank, do you need to test Calcium and Alkalinity?

Yes you *should*. For coralline to grow, your water will have to have sufficient levels of calcium and alkalinity.

Although it is not a super high priority as long as you do regular water changes and don't ever plan to have corals. I know a person who has no clue about either CA or ALK, and their LR is doing fine...
 
What addatives should I purchase and add regularly to a reef tank with corals (which I'm going to wait a while to get since my tank hasn't even cycled yet)?
 
Depends on the corals and what the uptake of the trace elements are. To know what to dose you should test perodicly and see what you hve problems maintaning with regular water changes. If you do frequent water changes and have a light coral load you could get buy with no additives.

If you do infrequent water changes or have a large coral load then you will probably need to dose calcium at the very least and maybe iodine, magnisium and a few other trace elements. But you should never dose what you dont test for. After all if your dumping this stuff in but not testing for what the levels are how do you know your corals are consuming what your adding or if your just rasing the trace element levels to a point where they become undesirable.
 
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