testing water

khalisee · Dec 1, 2017

Hey everybody,

I just started to have a sea aquarium and would like to know how often we should control the water and what should be always check? Also is there a kit with the different test or I should buy them individually?
Do you have maybe some suggestion on the brand to use?

Thank you for your help and advise
Khal

nautical_nathaniel · Dec 1, 2017

What type of tank are you going to have?

Fish only tanks are relatively simple to keep and you keep track of temperature, pH, salinity, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. You want to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0 since they are harmful to fish and you will need to keep nitrates as close to zero as possible to keep algae from growing. You may also want to track phosphates and keep them towards zero for a fish only, again for algae control.

If you are going to keep soft corals only, you will need to keep track of alkalinity in addition to the other parameters above, alkalinity should be around 8-10 dkh. Regular water changes with most salt brands will keep any other parameters in check.

When you introduce stony corals, things get a little bit more complicated. You will need to keep track of everything above in addition to the following: Magnesium and Calcium and in some cases there are some trace elements you may need to be aware of but most salt brands take care of them with regular water changes.

The levels at which you will need to keep these parameters will vary based on the type of coral you have but for general purposes this chart is a good reference for all of them with the various types of saltwater aquariums.

khalisee · Dec 1, 2017

Thanks for the fast answer,

For the moment I just have 2 different soft corals/algue (one briareum neon and a chondrus cripus), I would like to introduce later on other corals but I think I will not go for the stony corals. As fish, I just have 2 clown fish. Then I also have 2 shrimps and some hermits and snales.

If I understood well, for my actual aquarium I should just look at nitrate and nitrites, and look at the alkalinity.

But what about the living stones? can't they be also consider as a stony corals. I have the feeling that some of mine break easily.