Testing regime

[scotty333]

Hi guys,
So what’s your testing regime?

My tank is sps heavy , no lps but softies and 2 nems

What would be considered a good testing regime? I mean order of importance and frequency

I’m thinking the order would be kh , calcium , salinity , magnesium, phosphate, nitrates

Kh checked every 3 days , the rest weekly

 

[lapin]

Sounds good . After you have done it for 5 or more years you will stop doing it so often.

 

[MrGisonni]

My schedule is; weekly alkalinity, nitrate and phosphate, with monthly calcium testing. I have had to dose nitrates lately, so I am testing them and my alkalinity twice a week until I can get some stability. React quickly, adjust slowly.

 

[scotty333]

Sounds good . After you have done it for 5 or more years you will stop doing it so often.

It’s 20 odd years since my first reef but been out the game a while

 

[scotty333]

Full suite of tests today to document my params

Po4 0.01
No3 15
Kh 8.9
Salinity 1.026
Temp 26
Mag 1395
Calcium 450

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

As the years go by, you may test less and less. After having my tank up for many years, all I tested was salinity, pH, and temperature, though that is not the plan I'd recommend for a younger system. It just happened that I knew that if those were in my expected range, everything else would be OK.

This describes my recommended parameters:

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

[note: edited on 5/29/2022 to update the nitrate and phosphate sections with higher recommended levels.] One of the main roles of an aquarist with a coral reef aquarium is to ensure that the conditions are right for their tank inhabitants. There...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[scotty333]

Thanks Randy

 

[scotty333]

1 week on and todays tests are
Mag 1500 ( makes no sense as not dosing it)
Nitrate 15 ( dosed 30ml vodka)
Phosphate 0.15 (reactor on)
Calcium 365 (added calcium to raise 40)
Kh 8.1

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

As I said earlier, I'd stop measuring magnesium. The values are not jumping up and down.

 

[scotty333]

Ok boss

 

[scotty333]

Anemones and clam didn’t appreciate the calcium supplement
Will drip it next time

 

[scotty333]

Po4 .02
No3 12

Anemone and clam settled back

 

[scotty333]

Morning guys

I want opinions on whether to do a 20% water change

Params are
Temp 25.5
Salinity 1.026
Orp 182
Ph 8.3
Magnesium 1500
Calcium 590
Kh 10
Phosphate 0.01
Nitrate 12

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I see no reason to do a water change based on those values.

I would try to raise phosphate and I'd stop adding any calcium or magnesium, if you believe the results are accurate (which I'm not sure I do).

 

[scotty333]

Po4 now at 0.05
Not buffering any more additives except vodka if nitrates creep up
Phos reactors on 1 hour a day so will monitor that closely

 

[Pod_01]

Just a comment, your Kh and Phos are bouncing quite a bit.
From my experience rapidly sinking phosphate (from 0.05 ppm to 0.01 ppm) ended up with bunch of white sticks. Here are my values.

Nothing wrong with PO4 being in the 0.15 or even 0.25ppm range.
From my experience PO4 in the 0.1-0.2ppm range makes things easier, lot less white sticks to look at.

As for Alk I prefer 7.5-8.5 dKh range. From the messages you have gone from 8 to 10 in few days!!! That is living on the edge. Also if you run higher Alk you should run higher PO4.

Good luck,

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

.

 

[scotty333]

Thanks for your comment
Yeah I overdosed calc which raised my kh , lesson learned!

 

[scotty333]

Couple of checks this morning

Mag 1465
Kh 8.9
Phos 0.15
Salinity 1.026
Ph 8.3
Calcium 590
Nitrate 12

100ltr (20%) water in progress

 

[scotty333]

Todays params after 20% wc


Salinity 1.026
Temp 25.5
No3 10
Mag 1365
Kh 10
Calc 600
Po4 .48 ( never using phyto again!)
Orp 150