How often do you test your water

[DEE’S reef]

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.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

Once a week for me every weekend.

 

[BryanM]

infrequently, I try to test N and P once a week, but its probably closer to two weeks. I am testing alk more frequently right now, getting this new method dialed in.

 

[DIYreefer]

Weekly. I test alk, ca, no3, and po4 every weekend. I’ll also test mg once every month or two.

 

[X-37B]

Depends, I test frequently but I have 6 systems.
Alk and SG minimum once a week.
SG is easy as I use a conductivity probe. Takes only a few seconds.

No3 and po4 varies depending on the system.
I test all parameters of every system every 1-2 months and log it into a log book for each tank.
Mt 3 main systems get all parameters checked monthly.
This method allows me to see trends that form over time and makes adjustment easier.
For your system start by picking one day a week and be consistent with it. Your system will appreciate it.

 

[exnisstech]

Once a week but the tanks are maturing and becoming quite stable so I'm thinking of stretching the intervals to two weeks then maybe longer depending on how it goes. I test 4 tanks so it gets to be a hassle and the cost of regents isn't getting any cheaper. Alk I'll continue to test weekly because I do have to make adjustment as coral consume more or less. I only test NO3, PO4 and alk weekly, calcium every few months. Salinity gets tested randomly when I think about it. I don't test anything else and I don't do ICP testing. I like simple and easy when possible.

 

[Samantha A]

Once a week. Usually on my day off

 

[Ziggy17]

Alk- q 3 days and post WC (Hanna)
Calc, Mag -monthly, sometimes longer. (Salifert)
Nutrients N&P- monthly (Hanna)
Water Change- q 3 weeks

Personally, I wouldn’t care what anyone else does….Do what fits Your lifestyle, I’m sure it’s fine.

 

[EricR]

Not necessarily what you "should" do but what I do:

1x per week for Alkalinity, Phosphate, Nitrate.
*skip or increase frequency of any of those depending on what's trending

1x per month for Calcium and occasionally Magnesium (just for fun).

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I usually would test once/twice a week

 

[CHSUB]

A lot! Especially when I bored or have the “munches”.

 

[ScottF]

I have an unreasonable hatred of testing. I'll spend hours cleaning my pumps, cleaning my refugium, cleaning my skimmer without a problem. Asking me to spend 15 minutes testing my parameters feels unreasonable.

Luckily we have technology for this. I have a pair of Tridents on my 250g SPS tank testing Alk, CA, MG, NO3 and PO4 daily. I manually test every month or so to see if I need to calibrate. I'm about to get a Aquawiz for my 90g LPS/softy tank.

I also do ICP tests every 4 to 6 weeks on the SPS tank and every 90 days on the LPS/softy tank.

 

[vlangel]

My alk consumption is dialed in so I am testing every Friday: alk, NO3 and PO4. Fridays is also water change day so that is when salinity is also monitored.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

A lot! Especially when I bored or have the “munches”.

Does that ever stress you out to test water a bunch?

 

[CHSUB]

Does that ever stress you out to test water a bunch?

Not sure why it would? Maybe that the results are not good? When I saw this post I decided to test Alk, po4, and salinity. Everything was spot on! So stress is lower…

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

About once a week, results have been stable on my 40B, but just started up a 20G AIO, one it gets going it may be twice a week depending on frequency of water changes, until it gets stable

 

[Philip Chin]

Got very lazy! Stopped testing for quite sometimes now and just do weekly or biweekly water changes! Actually the tanks are doing much better now that I stopped worrying about the water quality!

 

[FernBluffReef]

Weekly. Save Mg which I only test just before a water change so Mg is tested every 3 weeks

 

[PharmrJohn]

Weekly here too.

 

[slingfox]

I am back to testing weekly. I got lazy for a 6+ month period but am back in the flow again. I am currently trying to lower my alkalinity but it doesn’t seem to want to budge even though I have reduced dosing.