How often do you test your water

[vetteguy53081]

Rarely. I let my fish and coral talk to me. If I see something, I test first which is also rare

 

[SeaWolf95]

alk once a week or so . PH weekly, CA monthly, MG never , Nitrates every day via sulfur reactor only but thats only cause im still trying to get it dialed in correctly ..had a few minor issues with it. Since its connected to the return pump had someting happen and the return pump started blasting air as it was drawing air

 

[ScottF]

alk once a week or so . PH weekly, CA monthly, MG never , Nitrates every day via sulfur reactor only but thats only cause im still trying to get it dialed in correctly ..had a few minor issues with it. Since its connected to the return pump had someting happen and the return pump started blasting air as it was drawing air

I love my sulfur reactor. One of my favorite pieces of reefing kit. I don't think I'd want to feed mine from my return pump though. I use a dedicated Kamoer stepper pump with a prefilter.

 

[SeaWolf95]

I love my sulfur reactor. One of my favorite pieces of reefing kit. I don't think I'd want to feed mine from my return pump though. I use a dedicated Kamoer stepper pump with a prefilter.

I have a rather smallish sump and im limited and didnt want to have all these pumps so i run all my reactors /carbon etc off the return . The sulfur reactor is my favorite peace of equipment myself. I can overstock the tank with more fish and the reactor keeps the nitrates under control.

 

[fish_collector]

We’re supposed to test tank water?

On the SPS tank I hardly ever test anything except salinity, and I only do that because it takes 10 seconds. I’d be surprised if I test even alk once every few weeks. Nutrients hardly ever. The tank runs pretty stable these days, I let the corals tell me something is not right. Last weekend I did let my 2 part reservoirs go empty, they must have been empty for several days because the alk had fallen to 5.7. Sure an apex would’ve alerted me much sooner but what fun would that be? Alk at 5.7 does/did no harm, I raised it back to 8 over several days after making more 2 part. The acros weren’t fazed at all.

With the FOWLR, if the fish are swimmin everything is good

 

[sixty_reefer]

I visually inspect the aquarium every time I walk past it, that usually tells me most of what I need to know long before a test kit does, I only really start testing if I’m not happy with something I’m seeing.

 

[craftycamper]

Im new so I probably test more often than I need. I use an Alkatronic so alk is taken care of with that, I do spot check it once a week with my hanna checker to make sure its not giving weird readings. I test all my main parameters once a week, so mg, ca, po4 and nitrate. I will probably test less often as my tank matures and will probably start to do what I do with my planted tanks and only test most params if I notice something off lol.

 

[Bear22]

My usual testing frequency/rhythm:

dkH 1 x per week
Mg 1 x per week
Ca 1 x per week
SG 1 x per week
pH usually 1 x per week
PO4 about every other day (monitoring effects of GFO & lanthanum)
NO3 about 1x every two weeks

 

[Project1004]

I initially tested Alk daily and nitrate and phosphate few times a week for at least a year when I started my tank. It was a learning curve. I got to learn how my tank reacts to my INPUTS. I think this was helpful because I am able control these 3 things accurately now.

Also was great way to master the testing. I think many of the reefer kind of wing it when it comes to the testing and cause confusion. I think being precise when testing is one of key to successful tank.

Nowadays, I do have alkatronic testing 2 times a day. Nitrate and Phosphate get tested one a week using hanna and alk as well for comparison against alkatronic.

 

[Beauha]

It depends on my build. I’m old school and prefer frequent water changes with good salt mix to testing (don’t hate me, it’s just what has worked for me long term), but I spend way too much time watching my coral, so it’s easy to tell if something is upset. I would recommend basic testing for the first year, once you hit an equilibrium of sorts, save that money unless again, your coral looks sad or you did something major to the system. I just find consistency to equal long term success. My boss tests for phosphates and nitrates weekly, which might benefit you if you go for exotic sps and want that extension, quicker growth, and color pop

 

[fish_collector]

I follow the Randy school of mag testing, you can’t test for it with any accuracy so just don’t bother.

 

[RajM]

Tested more frequently when I started the tank.
Tested alk daily until I dialed in the dosing.
Tested alk daily when I changed dosing methods.
Test when I see issues
Did ICP only once when I had STN issues and everything was inline.
Test once a month to make sure Mg is at ok levels and add more if needed.
Waterchange every 2 weeks about 35%

I enjoy the hobby and not chase parameters.

 

[Peer.Boerner]

Every weekend - Alk, Ca, Salinity, pH (compare to my probe), Phos, Nitrate, Mg (only because I still have reagent remaining). This past week I’ve been testing alk and ca daily to monitor the drop so I can configure dosing amounts. I find testing sharprns my focus on the tank and what’s going on.

 

[CKW]

I test all once a month. More often if I think I have an issue. I feel much better when the consistency is consistent

 

[DavidA]

How should you test your water in a reef tank? And how often do you test your water? I test my twice a week but recently I’ve been busy so I haven’t been able to test in a week or 2.

Generally test KH, phosphate, nitrate and calcium weekly. The last few months I have been testing phosphate and KH daily because I have been using GFO and I need frequent checks to determine when to refresh GFO. It initially exhausted in 2-3 days but now it lasts 5-6 days. Frequent GFO changes require monitoring and supplementing KH

 

[Joe.D]

I have a Trident, so Alk, Ca and Mg mult times per day. I spot check Alk with Hanna every few weeks. Hanna is about 1 higher pretty consistently - but the trend matches.

I test Nitrate and phosphate with Hanna every couple of weeks, again looking at trends. I just lost a good sized Foxface, so curious to the impact on bioload there when I check later today.

My tank is a mixed reef, 4 years old, 75g display. So it’s fairly stable now.

 

[Alexander1312]

Every Friday.

Salinity
Calcium
Alkalinity
Nitrate
Phosphate