Salt water Aquarium Testing Question

[Josiah3127]

Hey guys,

I’m new to this. It’s probably been asked a lot, but wouldn’t mind ky own threat to bookmark for reference.

What tests are absolutely essential to test for? Is there a specific practice that I should follow to have the best chance at success starting out?

Thank you for your help.

 

[KrisReef]

You don't need any tests to get started, but what tests you will need depends somewhat on if you are keeping Fish Only or Fish + Reef, and how much water changes you plan on doing, (or not).

So what kind of tank(s) do you plan on having that you might need to test for?

Further, for fish only, some would argue that with a bottle of bacteria and 10 Days your cycle will be done so you don't need ammonia, nitrite, and even nitrate if you are going to manage water chemistry with water changes.

I gotta go, so hopefully this will get the convo started and on a good path.

 

[stewy14]

You don't need any tests to get started, but what tests you will need depends somewhat on if you are keeping Fish Only or Fish + Reef, and how much water changes you plan on doing, (or not).

So what kind of tank(s) do you plan on having that you might need to test for?

Further, for fish only, some would argue that with a bottle of bacteria and 10 Days your cycle will be done so you don't need ammonia, nitrite, and even nitrate if you are going to manage water chemistry with water changes.

I gotta go, so hopefully this will get the convo started and on a good path.

Well, rmbr ammonia tho, and salinity
But ammonia is good to just get a seachem tank sticker thingy, but when u get reefs, I really just test when something looks REALLY bad, I only rlly do salinity, get a high mortality rate too…
…
…
But u should test for nitrates for corals, phosphates for corals, ammonia for everything, magnesium for corals, calcium for corals, salinity FOR EVERYTHING that’s what u test for when u do water changes and such, and possibly more
But those r the main things

 

[Fish Fan]

Hello!

You already have some great replies from some really experienced reefers, and I would listen to them and the others that will almost certainly be along shortly.

I am NOT an expert reef-keeper, and I don't claim to be, but sometimes what I think I'm good at is communicating information, and I'd be happy to try to help, if I can.

You're asking something of a "loaded question". I think that we need to ask where exactly are you in this process. Are you just now learning and don't yet have a tank going? Did you just buy a tank and would like to know the fastest or best (<<not necessarily the same thing!) way to get it going? Do you have a tank that's a few months old and not really doing so well? Are you looking to keep fish only, or do you want corals? If You want corals, what are you hoping to keep?

There's ALL the help you need right here at R2R, just let us know what direction you want to go ;-) I'm not an expert, but plenty of members here would be happy to help you.

To answer your question - what you test for is what you need to test for.

To elaborate, if you are just getting you're tank going, you'll need to get it 'cycled' before anything else. There's no less than a million ways to cycle an aquarium, and don't worry, members here will help you ;-) But at this time you'll need to know your temperature and salinity for sure, then you'll need to test for ammonia and at the least nitrate. Traditionally you would also test for nitrite, but more recent research has shown that nitrite isn't a concern in saltwater aquaria during the initial cycle.

Almost concurrently, you'll want to have a handle on your pH.

After that, you would want to monitor your nitrates and then phosphates, typically weekly at first, I believe, as your tank matures, and you get a 'feel' for it and its water chemistry.

This would be enough for nearly all fish and most motile inverts ('motile' meaning 'moving', like crabs, snails, etc.), and even many easy-going soft corals. After that, if you're trying to keep some of the more delicate or "advanced" corals then there are definitely more tests that help you better understand your system - magnesium, calcium, alkalinity are the big players - but if you're a beginner right now, I'd focus on the basics.

Again, I'm not an expert, so I am tagging along to see what the gurus suggest, but I do hope that helps!

As always, best of luck with whatever you do!

 

[Solo McReefer]

There's a couple old reefers here who taste the water to test

"Tst tst, ess gee is 1.0255. Needs a little more salt"

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, after cycling (only ammonia needed, then never needed again), the first kit that one should have to gauge whether anything else is worth testing is alkalinity.

Salinity measurement, of course, was needed even to make the first batch of water.

 

[Josiah3127]

I should of given more info. My bad, guys. We def want fish to start and will probably experiment with easy to establish corals and see how that goes before buying anything crazy.

Right now we just have a 30 gallon tank, but will upgrade to a 90 gallon if we do well with it and enjoy it.

For the smaller 30 gallon, we just have a hang on the back filter from fruval. When I upgrade to 90 gallon, pretty sure I’m going with trivial fx6. Won’t be doing sump.

As it stands right now, we just have the 30 gallon tank. We bought salt water from the store along with some live sand and live rock. That’s where we are in the process. Looking to see where this takes us.

What do I need to make my own water? Anyone have good products that don’t break the bank? I was thinking a rubber trash can to hold the water. Something to mix it and a heater?

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board. hello from PA!