Water Parameters

[slipondajimmy]

Check the water? I check nothing. I know when all the livestock have died its time to do a water change.

No really.

I seem to check alk, nitrates, phosphates the most

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Surprised more people didnt vote nitrates....in my first year i must of tested that like twice a week....

 

[aaronlovesshel]

what about the: do not test at all option, i have know folks who never test

 

[brandyrb]

We regularly test alkalinity, calcium, salinity, nitrate and ph. We test magnesium every now and then.

 

[jlinzmaier]

What made me want to ask about this is a discussion I was having with a local reefer who was telling me I need to be testing for boron. I have absolutely on idea why I would want to test for it.

Borate can affect your total alk reading. If your using seachem salt mix (which has quite elevated levels of borate) you need to account for the borate level to maintain proper carbonate/bicarbonate levels. Just a possible thought as to why he was asking you to test boron.

anyone test for strontium? just curious since they sell so many strontium additives out there.

The sr test kits on the market are so inaccurate and succeptible to user error that it's not worth spending your money on. If you are doing regular water changes your sr will be maintained at acceptable levels (pending your using a reputable salt mix which has a good sr level to begin with). Using a sr addative is not necessary in nearly all situations. The only situation that I would recommend adding such trace elements which are found at such low levels in seawater would be if you had a tank packed with SPS, never did water changes, and only used kalk as your alk/ca supplement.

Missed strontium and potassium, two moderately important ones for SPS.

Potassium is quite critical to primarily SPS health however that is not a concern unless there is significant uptake of potassium in your tank. A common reef tank doesn't have significant uptake of K+ and the water changes will likely provide enough to maintain proper coral health. Potassium levels can become quite deficient in a bacterial driven nutient management system (ie zeo, prodibio, fauna marine system, vodka or sugar dosing, etc..). The bacteria use K+ in their metabolic and reproductive processes. This can lead to deficient K+ levels within a reef tank low enough to affect coral health and metabolism.

In everyones expert opinion what are ideal parameters.

Normal sea water levels.
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Limited fluctuations in alk is important especially for SPS health. Also, in a "true" low nutient system, an alk level of 6.5-8.0 dkh is important. Levels above or below those will very likely lead to SPS necrosis. It's also important to have a set value within that range. Flucuating throughout 6.5-8.0dkh is as harmful as being higher or lower (in a true low nutrient system). A fluctuation of more than 0.25 dkh within a 24 hr period (in a true low nutrient system) can cause significant SPS stress and likely necrosis.

IMO, sg is the mother of all water params and should be monitored most closely. Sg is a reading of all the salt content within your water including ca salts, mg salts, sr salts, chloride, etc... If sg fluctuates you are allowing all those params to fluctuate also. Some would argue that sg fluctutates in nature and fluctuation in a reef tank is OK. I agree, but if your goal is elemental stability then sg should be your first to lock onto.


Jeremy

 

[Sikryd]

+1 Alk, SG, Ca, PO4, Mg

Same here...

No3 too

 

[GPhiAce]

Seems like I am the only one not testing the salinity. I check the salinity of my water change water before I add it, but that is about it. At one point I checked the tanks salinity before I do a water change, but it never changed. I am testing my trates and phosphates alot now since I am dosing Vodka. And Alk and Ca alot since my Ca reactor is not fully dialed in yet.

 

[chefzif]

I have a heavy load of SPS and I check once a week every thee days on salinity and Kh

 

[scottyboys]

I just started a reef log and I test each water change for nitrate, nitrite, calcium, kh, ammonia, ph, specific gravity, phosphate and I will keep checking until I have several months of documentation and finish some things that I am trying out.

 

[iceman0124]

Test kits vary so widely, and so many factors can affect that outcome that I hardly ever test aside from salinity in my tanks unless there is a problem a 30-50% water change cant fix. I've messed up my tanks and seen many mess up theirs chasing numbers and "perfect" readings, the key is stability, my test kit cosists of a simple hydrometer and the health of my critters.

 

[sailfintang]

I supplement with 2 part from BRS but really only check to make sure my alk and ph are in line. I also monitor ORP. AS your stony's grow you will begin eating up alot of 2 part and may want a reactor and thats what I am starting to build and hopefully implement within the next year along with a kalk reactor to battle the co2 effects.

 

[melev]

Interesting poll results.