Testing: What does your test kit stash look like and how did our reef aquariums ever survive?

[kyleinpdx]

New tanks I'll test most all "important" params a few times a day. Once dosing is dialed in and things mature a bit I sometimes test ALK and more rarely po4.

 

[Reef Kinetics]

Of course you test a lot when you have a ReefBot Pro

 

[MikeYasin]

Maybe.... but tell that to Neptune! They make my Trident test a minimum 4x per day! I'm now so addicted to testing, I kicked it up to 6x per day! ;Wacky

 

[DHill6]

Hanna checkers and calibration standards:
Ultra low phosphate, blue desk top model
Calcium
Alk, using daily, (switching to KZ
Phosphorus, hardly used
Elos-Mg
Nyos-Nitrate
Refract for salinity
Don’t know if this counts...
Back up pen for temp, ph
Apex for temp, ph, orp

Watch the corals, they’ll speak to you if something’s off

 

[MohrReefs]

Once a week testing for me. I know how quickly my parameters shift at this point. I'm about to hold off water changes beyond my normal two week now, my corals seem to enjoy a 10-15 ppm nitrate range.

 

[dadnjesse]

I have the Trident which tests the big three every 6 hours. And I test Phosphates, Nitrates, Salinity every couple days.

 

[maceto]

I test weekly to keep track

 

[Vette67]

I've been keeping reefs since 1997 and my current 180 since 2002. Up until about a couple months ago, I was a fan of reading my tank to know what was going on. Cyanno, too much N & P - turn up the flow on the biopellet reactor. Calcium reactor, so I didn't pay attention to calcium, given excellent SPS growth. I do monthly water changes. Then like I said, I bought a few test kits. And after 23 years of doing things manually, I now chase numbers. And I feel more comfortable chasing numbers than guessing. Some of my tank parameters were as I would have expected after 18 years of no testing, and others were WAY out of whack. But I have been on a quarantine buying spree. 4 Hanna checkers, Nyos, Salifert, Milwaukee pH & ORP controller. And a couple bulk additives. I will gladly chase numbers going forward. Knowledge is key.

 

[JeepinReefer]

I don't think testing too much is really a thing.

I have a Trident for the big three and currently test daily for nitrate and phosphate, using red sea pro kit and ULR hanna checker, respectively.

 

[Frais]

I really don't think it's a matter of testing to much. I thinks it's a what are you doing with the information you gathering. Using something to track what your tank is doing a making adjustment slowly based on a trend make the most sense to me. Stable water parameters are probably more important then trying to chase a number as fast as possible just because some said this is what you numbers should be like.

 

[adumb112]

I test every 2 weeks for all supplements I dose, except iodine.
A few years ago I switched to the Hanna kits (ALK/PO4/Ca) and love them.
I like the Red Sea for Mg and always use a refractometer for salinity.

Testing too much can cause high levels of anxiety

 

[Pete Witteried]

I test monthly (Salinity, pH, Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium) and then weekly before 10% water change I alternate testing Phosphate and Nitrate.

 

[attilak]

The only way you can test too much is if you are removing so much water your auto top off can't keep up and salinity drops. IE next to impossible. It's what you do with that test information. If I test my water yesterday and it tests at 7.5 dkh and I test today and it's 15 but there is no noticeable difference in my alkalinity solution I know the test is wrong either due to test kit failure or user error. Any test that is outside of the range of possibility should be retested before any attempt at changing the parameters is done.

I completely agree! I test Alk, Cal, Mag daily. Phosphates and Nitrate weekly.

 

[attilak]

I completely agree! I test Alk, Cal, Mag daily. Phosphates and Nitrate weekly.

forgot to add that I do have apex, so of course I have temp, ORP and Ph probes so something I don't need to test for but know what it is and set alarms incase it is out of whack. I also think that Salifert IMO is best for Mag, Cal and Alk. Very easy to use and seems accurate. I am thinking of selling all my Hanna kits - they are unreliable and just cannot trust anymore.

 

[drernesto]

Yessss! Testing kh ca mg no3 Po4 no2 copper iodine ammonia With the ReefBot Pro! Became an addiction

 

[Allan3]

Trident Test The Big3 4x a day. Apex Monitors Temp, pH

PO4- Hanna ULR- Checked Every other Day
NO3- Nyos - Monthly
K- Salifert- Monthly
Salinity- Refractometer

Viewing the corals daily tell you a lot.

 

[TJ Merrells]

I have a 5 gallon Pico and was thinking I needed to start dosing. I was testing daily for about 2 weeks so see how much alk and cal I needed to dose and also started dosing manually just to maintain an alk of 8. Then I noticed my alk went up to 9 and corals weren't so happy. Went and purchased a doser etc.

Now I'm testing every 4 days to calculate daily consumption and starting to think I don't need a doser. Just a small dose of alk every 4 days as during that time I seem to use 0.5 dkh.

My point is I was chasing numbers and any little fluctuation I was reacting to instead of looking at the bigger picture. Seeing how much I use over the course of many days or a week instead of reacting every 24 hours.

I use red sea, nyos, and salifert test kits. I also ask the question for the money we spend on them are they as accurate and reliable as they should be???

 

[Reef Obsession]

Testing Tuesday is what I call it! It’s Tuesday night’s routine at 9pm. Just the essential tests following step by step processes to ensure consistency. I throughly clean testing vials before and after use with rodi water. I use and test for

dkh-Hanna
Ca-Hanna
Po4-Hanna
NO3- API
Mg-salifert
Salinity-hanna and refractometer
PH-Hanna
Temp-Hanna
Sump water level

 

[MartinWaite]

I have 3 different makes of test kits Salfert, Red Sea, and the new NTS kit for alk, nitrate, calcium and mag. Then I have NYOS for phosphate and Columbine for nitrate. Then Hanna for Cal, alk, and ULR phosphate. It's absolutely crazy that after more than 35 years of reef keeping and owning all these test kits I don't test on a regular basis I even bought a magnetic spinner for vials to see if the gadgetman in me would start testing but no. Testing I hate with a passion but I do also own the best there is in testing Alkalinity and that is the Alkatronic and will soon be buying the Mastertronic which will automatically test Phosphate, Nitrate, Calcium, Magnesium, and something called OLI which both will connect to a Dosetronic and automatically work out the dosing levels to keep the result where they should be. But all thetronics will also either work together or as stand alone they will work with the new Solartronic and Powertronic this will increase the intensity of the leds and the leds will rotate left to right and front to back and also in reverse this will allow the sun to move over your tank and the moonlight. I can't wait for them all to come out, hurry up Eric and Co bring us the best there is out there.

 

[AZMSGT]

Also running a GHL KH Director and Profilux to test and monitor things too. To top it off I have an ION Director on pre order. I run ICP tests 1 per every 3 months.

KNOWLEDGE is POWER.
Testing our water allows us to be more successful than ever before. I’m really a new reefer IMHO, I’ve only been doing this for 8 months and my tank is doing well. My success so far is truly because I test my water and see what needs to be done before anything bad happens.