Testing: How much is too much and what toll does it take?

[van7271]

I rarely test. Only if I see a problem happening. If you are consistent in what you do things pretty much stay the same.

 

[van7271]

Totally agree

Me too

 

[TopShelfAquatics Verified Sponsor]

We're really late to this party buuutttt for us its a lot easier to handle the systems when they are tested daily. That being said, this is a commercial system NOT a home reef. With the amount of frags being made every week and the multitude of variables that are applied to these tanks it just makes sense for us to have Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, Nitrate and Phosphate checked on an almost daily basis.

 

[Bpb]

Not a knock against any particular vendor, but we as hobbyists shouldn’t expect to replicate the habits of a full scale aquaculture company. It is their job/career. They’re there every day with some manner of staff. Testing every day or even multiple times a day is the job description.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I think testing a new system every few days is a must. But once the system is older and dialed in, you know what you need and can slack way off.

I test nitrate weekly, sometimes twice a week, because I always have issues with it bottoming out. I never test PH, I see too many people destroying their stability chasing that value. Mag, Ca, Alk, phosphate and salinity all get checked every two weeks or so.

To be honest, the only value in my system that has shown any changes at all is nitrate, and occasionally alk will tick down a bit. At this point all the other values are dead stable.

I feel like if your in tune with your system, you know what to look for, and shouldn't test any more than that, unless something goes wrong.

 

[TopShelfAquatics Verified Sponsor]

Not a knock against any particular vendor, but we as hobbyists shouldn’t expect to replicate the habits of a full scale aquaculture company. It is their job/career. They’re there every day with some manner of staff. Testing every day or even multiple times a day is the job description.

Agreed wholeheartedly. The reason we have to do this is because we cut so much and theres several hundred thousand dollars worth of corals growing in our tanks. Admittedly theres too many corals for the system and if we don't keep an eye on it it could be devastating.
For the average home reef once a week is what I would do(and actually do at home)

 

[don_chuwish]

My last test was November 25th. Everything looks good but I suppose it's been a bit too long now!