What test strips do you recommend?

[christina4526]

I've had my tank for about 4 months now, I had a Naso tang died last night. I do have a company that takes care of the tank so I've never done testing before. Should I be testing my water, how often, and what test strip do you recommend?

 

[Kooma]

Dont buy strips. Buy Salifert test kits.

Based on tank age, id buy the following if no coral.

Ammonia
Nitrate
PH
Phosphate

If you have coral, add in Magnesium, Calcium, and Alkalinity.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I recommend zero test strips; they are unreliable and highly inaccurate. Buy salifert, RedSea, or Hanna test kits

 

[dakoop]

No strips. Salifert is a good option I also like red sea tests

 

[BeanAnimal]

I've had my tank for about 4 months now, I had a Naso tang died last night. I do have a company that takes care of the tank so I've never done testing before. Should I be testing my water, how often, and what test strip do you recommend?

You will get as many opinions as people that answer, as to which "test kits" to use and what exactly is needed.

Nobody has asked you why you want to test.
How often your tank maintenance people test.
What type of tank (reef or fish only).
How big the tank is.
What other maintenance you do on your own.
What your goal is-- just checking between maintenance visits, or wanting to take a more active role.

In general "test strips" are not ideal, and better quality test kits are used. However, the advice on how to move forward will depend on answers to the questions above (at the bare minimum).

 

[christina4526]

 

[christina4526]

something like this ?

 

[exnisstech]

Testing your water isn't going to determine the cause of death of your naso. There has been a problem with the Naso coming into the lobby the last few years. The fish looks good for a while then stops eating and dies. May or may not be your case but it sounds like that is the reason you want to test. Apologies if I misunderstood.
Your paying a service so why not have them start explaining the process to you so you can learn? Or even start researching here and see what you may or may not need to test for. Unless you have coral there isn't much that has to be tested.
I just don't think buying a bunch of tests kits without knowing what and why your testing being helpful. In fact it may just make things frustrating for you.

 

[christina4526]

Thank you exnisstech. I wanted to test the water between service because some of the coral don't look healthy and the water is cloudy most of the time. I also wanted to do it because I felt a little guilty about the fish dying and thought I must be doing something wrong. I do realize I'll probably never know why the tang died. I know that things do happen, just upsetting. I want to learn more, I do want to take care of the tank myself in the future. It's a 250 gallon and the maintenance is done every 2 weeks.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Thank you exnisstech. I wanted to test the water between service because some of the coral don't look healthy and the water is cloudy most of the time. I also wanted to do it because I felt a little guilty about the fish dying and thought I must be doing something wrong. I do realize I'll probably never know why the tang died. I know that things do happen, just upsetting. I want to learn more, I do want to take care of the tank myself in the future. It's a 250 gallon and the maintenance is done every 2 weeks.

I would first coordinate your plans with the maintenance company - and/or have them give you some hands on training. In the short term, you don't need to be testing for pH, or Magnesium and to that end Calcium or Alkalinity, as you have no way of correcting those values without A) knowledge and B) coordination with the husbandry and methods that your maintenance company is performing. In that sense, the testing for anything is going to fall under that umbrella.

So work with them to understand what your water parameters should look like and get some hands on. At least to start maybe the testing can serve as a trigger to hav you alert them to come sooner if things are not at the expected values. It may also allow you to log at regular intervals, so as to help them resolve what sounds like some issues with the system.

I would advise you to 100% (no disrespect to anybody) Ignore well meaning advice about what your numbers should look like or what to test for or what to do with the results. Such advice ignores the context of your situation and creates conflicts with how the system is currently being maintained.

So step 1 - work with the maintenance company by telling them that you want to understand more about the system and how to monitor it between visits... and work from there.

 

[exnisstech]

I think learning how to take care of the tank yourself is a good thing and can be very rewarding as well as useful being able to deal with things that happen vs depending on someone else. I hate depending on others but that's me.
I just hate to see you jump in and buy a bunch of things you don't need. This hobby can be simple or it can be as difficult as a person wants to make it. Many people make it very complicated and sometimes people new to the hobby get caught up in that thinking that's how it needs to be and it leads to disappoint.
I'm far from an expert but I have a few tanks running that I feel are successful. The only things I test are salinity in my new water and occasionally in the display. Nitrates and phosphates weekly. Alkalinity weekly but can be more often if I'm tracking consumption. Calcium once a month and that's it.

Pics of two of my tanks. I think they look ok for being simple low tech setups.

 

[christina4526]

Thank you BeanAnimal - I'll work to understand more about my tank system. :)

 

[christina4526]

Thanks for sharing exnisstech, the tanks look beautiful.

 

[Pistondog]

That is a great start. Use the test results to consult/check with your tank guys to maintain your desired water quality.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Only test strips I’d use are total chlorine if you are concerned about chlorine or chloramine getting through an ro/di.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I've had my tank for about 4 months now, I had a Naso tang died last night. I do have a company that takes care of the tank so I've never done testing before. Should I be testing my water, how often, and what test strip do you recommend?

by chance was this a blonde naso tang?

 

[christina4526]

@ vetteguy53081 it wasn't a blonde Naso tang. Have you had a bad experience with a blonde Naso tang?

 

[vetteguy53081]

@ vetteguy53081 it wasn't a blonde Naso tang. Have you had a bad experience with a blonde Naso tang?

Blonde naso's and some regular have had field issues and suspect has been method of capture and origin especially from Sri Lanka and so. Africa

 

[christina4526]

I was curious about that being an origination of the root problem, there shouldn't have been an issue considering the age of my tank with no other problems that would have raided a red flag.

 

[tbrown]

@christina4526 if you have a company maintaining your tank for you it's really easy to fall into trusting them and their equipment.

It never hurts to verify the results - in fact it's a good idea to do this. I'd consider them basically a pool company for your tank - they test multiple tanks each day/weeks/month so their reagents should be fresh but I'd be curious how frequently they check the calibration on their test kits or if they're using anything to test at all and just running it as a "beginner" reef and adding without testing.

With that said, as others have stated, most of the common tests aren't going to tell you what happened to your Naso and the tests that most aquarium service companies are going to run aren't going to likely answer that question.

Symptoms and pictures/videos of the fish in question would be the best way to come to a better conclusion.