What does the term "Good Water Quality" mean to you?

What does the term "Good Water Quality" mean to you?

  • Your aquarium water is in acceptable ranges measured by consumer level water tests

    Votes: 184 46.5%
  • Your aquarium water is in acceptable ranges measured by ICP type testing

    Votes: 60 15.2%
  • Your aquarium water is good based on how your corals are growing and look

    Votes: 230 58.1%
  • Your aquarium water is good based on how little nuisance algae is growing

    Votes: 68 17.2%
  • Your aquarium water is good based on how it looks to you

    Votes: 60 15.2%
  • Other (please explain in the thread)

    Votes: 7 1.8%

  • Total voters
    396

Calm Blue Ocean

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I voted 1, 2, and 3.

If corals are growing and looking good you probably have good things going on in your water, but not always. And there are certainly tanks out there who have parameters far outside the common guidelines that are doing great! And then some of my most "normal" parameters have been when my tank was infested with GHA.

I like to test regularly because I've been hit before by "everything looks good" only to find out too late that my nutrients had bottomed out and BAM in came the dinos. If I'd been more diligent before that and not just gone with "looks good" I might have been able to head that off.

I mostly like ICP tests for their ability to help calibrate my own tests (I usually do a full set of home tests the day I send out a sample). It's good to know your home tests are accurate before jumping in prematurely with any corrective measures. Recently I had PO4 home tests showing numbers that were climbing so high that it got to the point where I didn't think they could be right anymore. Spoiler alert - they were right. Good job, Hanna!

There is a lot of visible and invisible involved in water quality.
 

Uncle99

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Super stable rock solid water chemistry.

Put all 8 major parameters in the “bands” and work towards as little change as possible in each, then keep it there, day in, day out, forever.
 

Appoloreefer

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For a young tank its all about clarity of water and how it smells. For mature tanks its just about how the corals are going.
My tank is fairly new and I test once a week and my Ammonia is zero, Nitrites is 0, PH is 8.2, and Nitrates are holding at 5 which my LFS says is okay. My water is crystal clear and my fish and coral are doing great. I have just one soft coral and two damsels. tanks is 3 months
 

Luciferene

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For me, a good stable tank has crystal clear water that doesn't have lots of detritus. When it tends to have those qualities, nuisance algae and coral growth/health also seem to follow. LPS corals are particularly good at telling me if there's something wrong since they're visually easier to tell.

I currently have 4 separate systems and all of them took different time to get to the "clear" stage and nutrient/other parameters were all over the place by the time I got there. While nutrients can be a decent measure of tank cleanliness, I don't think it's a cause of it on its own.

Also longer the tank's been crystal clear, frags that come out of it doesn't have any detritus or smell when I rigorously turkey bast it. For me, that's the tank I feed the most by almost 10 times, so crystal clear water lets me know there are enough microbes to process the food waste as well.
 

M Stein

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I wouldn't really care about the parameters, other for the fact they have an effect on the things I do care about.
That said here are the things I care about.
1) fish and coral health.
2) coral growth.
3) water clarity.
4) no smell.
If you can achieve these with wacky parameters, then go for it! Who cares about the ICP.
However most of us need to stick in the range of established guidelines, get those results.
 

99gtbaby

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If my corals are visibly thriving and my water is clear with no off smell then I’m around where I want to be for my fish as well.
 

Gup

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This QOTD was sent to me via community member @zalick and it's a good one!

One of the first questions we ask anyone having an issue with their aquarium is "how is your water quality" or something similar. Or when we offer advice to newer aquarists we may tell them to make sure they "maintain good water quality." But what does that really mean? Let's talk about it!

1. What does the term “good water quality” mean to you?

2. Is "good water quality" something that Is measurable via chemical tests or ICP results? Maybe it's visual or something else?



image via @mike@Terry
9439797009_7837c591cf_b.jpg
That system is simply stunning!
 

LPS Bum

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On a recent ReefBum video, I heard Jake Adams from ReefBuilders say that your corals will tell you how good or bad your water quality is. He also said that the only levels you should aim for are natural seawater parameters, rather than chasing numbers.

I agree with both of those points. If your corals look good and your salinity, temp, calcium, alkalinity, and pH are somewhere around natural seawater levels, chances are your tank will be pretty healthy.
 

Gup

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Only six months in, I have a ways to go before I expect as near as water quality perfection as possible. Right now, I have a small problem with purple algae. I just introduced chemiclean 2 days ago. Going to do a 20% water change tomorrow and then hit it agaiwith chemiclean again. Also, I have a velvet green algae layer on the top of my Aquascape. I would like to introduce an algae eater but I'm just not satisfied with my parameters.
 

RichReef

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My Galaxia and Acan tells me when to check parms. I've never had nuisance algae but the growth in my ATS is how I monitor nutrients. if it gets really thick I cut back on feeding. If it grows light in color I feed more.

I have not checked any parms except ALK in over a year. Temp is visible always and salinity is monitored during water changes (every 2 weeks).

I've pretty much been in cruise control for a while now.

20210602_182104.jpg
 

P-Dub

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I voted 1 and 3. I test regularly, actually, daily, the primary three via my Trident. Everything else is determined by what my corals are saying. They talk to me. I listen and do additional tests of other parameters based on what they are saying... as needed. I find the more I tinker and tweak the worse things go. Ups and downs will happen and often it is just best to implement some additional water changes and let things ride rather than reacting. I choose to respond conservatively rather than react rashly. It's worked out well for me.
 

Bronx19

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What should it smell like?
It shouldn't smell clean like freshly mixed synthetic salt water. It needs to smell like there are organics in it, like its alive.
 

RUKelly

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I just gauge quality based on how my sealife is doing: I have someone who makes my water and does partial changes every month/month&half. But if I wanted to test the water, what are good, accurate test kits. Thank you.
 

deahttub

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I voted 1, 2, and 3.

If corals are growing and looking good you probably have good things going on in your water, but not always. And there are certainly tanks out there who have parameters far outside the common guidelines that are doing great! And then some of my most "normal" parameters have been when my tank was infested with GHA.

I like to test regularly because I've been hit before by "everything looks good" only to find out too late that my nutrients had bottomed out and BAM in came the dinos. If I'd been more diligent before that and not just gone with "looks good" I might have been able to head that off.

I mostly like ICP tests for their ability to help calibrate my own tests (I usually do a full set of home tests the day I send out a sample). It's good to know your home tests are accurate before jumping in prematurely with any corrective measures. Recently I had PO4 home tests showing numbers that were climbing so high that it got to the point where I didn't think they could be right anymore. Spoiler alert - they were right. Good job, Hanna!

There is a lot of visible and invisible involved in water quality.
This….
 

Rogueaquariums

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I test weekly and look for several weeks direction tending and keep a very close eye on my corals. I usually catch issues by sight before I ever test. Become a pro at looking at your tank and you'll have a happier time being a reefer.
I believe looking at your Corals and seeing how they are on a continual basis is key, however I do believe you need to test your parameters because sometimes your eyes will miss what you cannot see
 

Scorpius

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I believe looking at your Corals and seeing how they are on a continual basis is key, however I do believe you need to test your parameters because sometimes your eyes will miss what you cannot see
Agreed. I test weekly. Alk, Ca, Mg. Phosphate, Nitrate, Salinity, Ph, Temp.
 

Crazydiamond

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Test nitrates, phosphates, ph, salinity, alk, calcium and mag every week or two to spot potential problems & track trends then adjust water slowly & appropriately. Havent figured out how to tell if corals are giving off toxins, so definately interested in learning more about how to see if that is happening in the reef.
 

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 79 38.2%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 69 33.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 26 12.6%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 31 15.0%
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    Votes: 2 1.0%
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