No tests... ever.

[melonheadorion]

i wouldnt disagree that testing is not needed, because it truly isnt. however, you also dont have to change the oil in your vehicle. testing water parameters is simply so that you know where you are with things. thats it. testing your water doesnt do anything for your tank. it only tells you if there is something you should think about doing.
with that said, the OP is using very frequent water changes in place of parameter testing. if water changes are done often, then the parameters should be about equal to what the salt mix equates to. thats assuming that the contents of the salt dont settle, but with frequent water changes, they are just blowing through water like no tomorrow, so ya. no water testing is really needed in this instance. but, with that, the assumption is made that the salt mix has the ingredients needed to replenish. its a gamble i think i would be safe with, it im certain about that salt mix enough.

i would not call this an established reef tank tho ( i wouldnt call it a new reef tank. i would say its the fairly new reef tank. its not even a year old), nor would i say your fish are as big as they are going to get, as claimed within this thread. the pictures that do show the fish, those fish are maybe half size of what they can get to. a gramma can get surprisingly large, as well as clowns. ive also seen a tail spot be considerably larger than the one you have.

you also claimed that you dont test salinity or temp. i believe i read that you get saltwater from somewhere, so i assume they control the salinity, but that looks to be digital temp in the background of the tank on the left. so, to be fair, there is at least that.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Lids tight all the way around... so it doesn't evaporate much by the time WC come around. Idk... I have been thinking about a small mh hung a bit higher over both tanks... but idk.

I wouldn't recommend that, but heck I wouldn't recommend most of what your doing lol, so with that id go for it...lol sorry I'm laughing with you

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

But I can't run that on something this small ?

Get rid of the lid let evaporation happen trust me

 

[melonheadorion]

But I can't run that on something this small ?

you could buy a clip on fan from a big box store and use that. i use that on a 20g right now. the smaller tanks generally have heat issues, whereas my 65 doesnt, so i have to keep an eye on the 20 for temp, but thats because i dont have central heating, and have to manually cool this room.

 

[ZoWhat]

Don't suggest anyone take the same approach. But... it's working. Tank is 8 months. Any questions... ask away lol.

Why is there a tripod in the corner?

 

[melonheadorion]

I wouldn't recommend that, but heck I wouldn't recommend most of what your doing lol, so with id go for it...lol sorry I'm laughing with you

if you remove teh lid, it would probably increase your pH, which will help speed up coral growth, but you dont test, so who knows if your pH is already a higher level or not

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

But I can't run that on something this small ?

I use this fan on my smaller tank it works and looks good enough.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

if you remove teh lid, it would probably increase your pH, which will help speed up coral growth, but you dont test, so who knows if your pH is already a higher level or not

It can't be..

 

[melonheadorion]

It can't be..

i suspect probably 7.8 to 7.9 ish, but no test to back any of that up, but water cahnges are being done so often that maybe the replenishment of alk keeps it at 8?

 

[melonheadorion]

I use this fan on my smaller tank it works and looks good enough.

i bought the one with 3 for my 65 g. it does well to cool it at least 1 degree, or at least how i have it setup right now

 

[MoreReef]

i wouldnt disagree that testing is not needed, because it truly isnt. however, you also dont have to change the oil in your vehicle. testing water parameters is simply so that you know where you are with things. thats it. testing your water doesnt do anything for your tank. it only tells you if there is something you should think about doing.
with that said, the OP is using very frequent water changes in place of parameter testing. if water changes are done often, then the parameters should be about equal to what the salt mix equates to. thats assuming that the contents of the salt dont settle, but with frequent water changes, they are just blowing through water like no tomorrow, so ya. no water testing is really needed in this instance. but, with that, the assumption is made that the salt mix has the ingredients needed to replenish. its a gamble i think i would be safe with, it im certain about that salt mix enough.

i would not call this an established reef tank tho ( i wouldnt call it a new reef tank. i would say its the fairly new reef tank. its not even a year old), nor would i say your fish are as big as they are going to get, as claimed within this thread. the pictures that do show the fish, those fish are maybe half size of what they can get to. a gramma can get surprisingly large, as well as clowns. ive also seen a tail spot be considerably larger than the one you have.

you also claimed that you dont test salinity or temp. i believe i read that you get saltwater from somewhere, so i assume they control the salinity, but that looks to be digital temp in the background of the tank on the left. so, to be fair, there is at least that.

There is alot

Why is there a tripod in the corner?

i suspect probably 7.8 to 7.9 ish, but no test to back any of that up, but water cahnges are being done so often that maybe the replenishment of alk keeps it at 8?

So... turns out I may have to test now

 

[MoreReef]

i suspect probably 7.8 to 7.9 ish, but no test to back any of that up, but water cahnges are being done so often that maybe the replenishment of alk keeps it at 8?

So... when I first Hanna tested it... before any corals. I was at 8.4 which is way high now i think... idk but I'm "guessing" 8 with a .2 swing plus or minus throughout the day.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

i suspect probably 7.8 to 7.9 ish, but no test to back any of that up, but water cahnges are being done so often that maybe the replenishment of alk keeps it at 8?

I suspect it's low maybe lower than that, there is little to no surface agitation no skimmer might help a little but being so sealed im sure gas exchange is being effected. And the temperature swings on that tank are probably insane, its a cobalt slim heater im sure that's a 3-4° swing then the hot light with little to no evaporation, the light is only on 9.5hrs but gets so hot it's a noticeable issue, that system probably has a 5-10° swing or more every day, next all those acros are going to dull in color they already are showing you by no p.e (its not the goby) and in the daylight lights off pictures I already saw some loss of color, unfortunately all signs point to one likely outcome without intervention. But I've been wrong allot and even today once earlier, I say go for it!!!

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

So... when I first Hanna tested it... before any corals. I was at 8.4 which is way high now i think... idk but I'm "guessing" 8 with a .2 swing plus or minus throughout the day.

Are you squeezing the Hanna reagent bottle to get the drops out? It's probably an incorrect testing procedure, also time of day makes a difference when ( lighting schedule) we're you testing ?

 

[MoreReef]

I suspect it's low maybe lower than that, there is little to no surface agitation no skimmer might help a little but being so sealed im sure gas exchange is being effected. And the temperature swings on that tank are probably insane, its a cobalt slim heater im sure that's a 3-4° swing then the hot light with little to no evaporation, the light is only on 9.5hrs but gets so hot it's a noticeable issue, that system probably has a 5-10° swing or more every day, next all those acros are going to dull in color they already are showing you by no p.e (its not the goby) and in the daylight lights off pictures I already saw some loss of color, unfortunately all signs point to one likely outcome without intervention. But I've been wrong allot and even today once earlier, I say go for it!!!

79/80 daytime... 82 throughout the Night no ifs ands or buts...

 

[melonheadorion]

There is alot



So... turns out I may have to test now

nah, you dont have to test, but knowing pH tells alot. its probably the one test that i think tells more than others. pH helps with how fast corals grow, can be a cause for retraction, etc. it will also tell you if keeping a lid on it is as beneficial as keeping it off. the only benefit of having a lid on would be to slow evap, but evap is happening anyway, just at different rates. however, keeping a lid on will hinder gas exchange, which can change the pH of a tank. if things are going fine, it probably doesnt matter, and your attitude tells us that no amount of info anyone says, will change what youre doing anyway, so take it for what its worth.
testing pH at least once will give you a baseline to know if yrou coral growth is maximized or not, and will tell you if de-lid will benefit you, but that will make you go against everything that you dont want to do

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

79/80 daytime... 82 throughout the Night no ifs ands or buts...

So its hotter with the lights out ?

 

[melonheadorion]

79/80 daytime... 82 throughout the Night no ifs ands or buts...

i have found that temp swings create other swings as well. i have found with raising and lowering of temps, salinity rises and drops, pH will also be effected a bit as well. i use an apex, so i can see a correlation through the day with the raising and lowering of water temp.

 

[Duncan62]

And so are flex comments like these. Stick to your build post. Lol go test... since I'm not.

I think the sticking point is if a tank never matures you'll have to do the constant WCs forever. It does seem like a costly way to maintain a tank if it's of any size but chasing g stability in most small tanks is a constant regime of testing and dosing. Long term success is the measure of your technique. I really would like to see a pic a year from now.

 

[melonheadorion]

also, to mention quick, since you have a tailspot in there, if you do remove the lid, make sure you have some sort of aerated cover. eggcrate, or screen, or whatever. ive never seen it too much with my blennies, but they could decide that they want to try their hand at being mammals, and leave teh tank, so a cover is still recommended