How often are you checking your Alk and calcium??

[Jeffcb]

Red Sea A B C. Use formula. Stay spot on. Edit answer is every 1 to 2 weeks.

 

[Matt1997]

I have trident set to 4 times a day and then when there’s about half a bottle left on the second Alk bottle I up it to 8 times a day to really dial in my dosing before I switch out and recalibrate. You can see the smaller deviation near the end of the logs.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Alk weekly to every 2 weeks. Cal monthly

 

[Mical]

Alk weekly, Cal every other week and Mag once per month

 

[Crustaceon]

Maybe once a year. Checking things like crazy tempts you into changing things like crazy which slows coral growth and can kill things. It’s better to just let things ride so long as parameters hover somewhere within an acceptable range.

 

[John08007]

That depends. When I first started I checked daily. Now 5 years later I dose manually and check alk and salinity daily still and dose accordingly, mag and cal every 2 weeks. When I added a large clam I started checking mag and calcium daily to see what it is consuming. For the most part though I will check frequently, I do enjoy that part of the hobby. Also is a good way to learn all about the chemical makeup of salt water reefs.

Feel free to swing by and check my parameters whenever you want. This is the one part of the hobby that I hate. Its like cutting the grass to me. Its nice once it's done but I hate to spend time doing it.

 

[Breadman03]

Alk every other day. I just adjust my kalk dose to maintain alk at 8 as needed. Calcium, NO3, PO4 monthly. Iron, iodine, and potassium about monthly if I’ve got an hour to kill. It doesn’t take that long, but they take a while, plus the regular daily stuff takes almost an hour.

 

[Kfactor]

Every day some time for alk and cal I check every week unless I change my dosing

 

[92Miata]

Alkalinity maybe 2 days out of 3. Calcium? Once a month or so?

 

[mike550]

I check salinity, alkalinity, phosphates, nitrates, calcium, and magnesium every three days. 10-15% weekly water changes

 

[jayoman]

I check alK and Calcium at least once a week. More if anything looks off.

 

[Loosechangereef]

2 to 4 Times a week,if my corals doing good twice a week,if my sps are thriving once a week with salifert alkalinity,know your tank keep your finger on the pulse

 

[BigSkyRich]

Was wondering How often people are checking these parameters on their tanks. I don’t have an automatic doser and checking manually. What’s a good rule of thumb on checking these? Once a week twice a week. Any advice would be great thank you

I don't auto dose and my alk is probably the one oatameyer that needs close monitoring so at least every other day. My calcium always seems consistently be upper 400s, so I don't check that as often. Oh, and I do about a 20% water change on my 100 gallon weekly/religiously

 

[Aheinz]

I need to start testing on a regular bowbthat I have at least a coral get into the habit.

 

[SkinnyMcGinny]

I use a dosing pump, so i just keep an eye on the levels in my jugs, and if they are dropping at expected rates, I don't check very often. Maybe once a week or less, and as long as I have the same coral colonies its all pretty stable. That said, I often fine tune my pump as corals grow.

 

[KSReefing]

Alkalinity 4 times a day and CA/MG twice a day.
Thanks Trident! I do check Nitrates every week or maybe twice a week. I’ve been trying to increase them lately.

 

[Smite]

I just set up my calcium reactor again so 2x a day for alk, thank you hands

Calcium I'm never all that worried about, 1x a week with phosphate and nitrate.

Normally ALK 2x a week, the rest weekly minus magnesium I rarely check that unless somethings out of whack.

 

[ApoIsland]

Are you just using kalk? Large water volume I’m guessing?

Well it’s large to me but probably not to most. 120g mixed with easy sps and lps so Just drip lime water occasionally when I can remember to fill a bucket.

 

[Johnboy3886]

I don’t know why I have such a hard time with testing but I rarely do it. Maybe because I only do it when I’m struggling with a tank so it has a bad feeling associated with it. That being said if your are consistent with your routine, things shouldn’t change to much. The older a tank gets the less I test. I do observe my tank every day, which can tell you a lot. Maybe if I wasn’t so cheap I’d get an automated test. Then I’d test.

 

[Loosechangereef]

Just know you alkalinity in salt mix , I now make sure i test dkh of salt mix for w\c that worries me more, but once you dial in your alk on tank twice a week, keep it basic