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

[Jeff_H]

I think the poll question would yield more meaning results if there as a range of the number of tests per time period. Fo me, if/when I receive my Mindstream, I will only be testing Nitrate and Phosphatases weekly and ICP once a quarter.

 

[sfin52]

I test monthly or when something looks off. Other than that water changes keep all good order.

 

[Peace River]

I think the poll question would yield more meaning results if there as a range of the number of tests per time period. Fo me, if/when I receive my Mindstream, I will only be testing Nitrate and Phosphatases weekly and ICP once a quarter.

You make several interesting points! It may also be helpful to differentiate between automated testing and manual testing.

 

[LIreefguy]

To me it’s better to test everyday than once in a while

The logic behind it is if your testing everyday your included in your tank and will catch anything before it becomes a problem
Now if you’re a season reefer who has a tank full of overgrown corals this isn’t needed. Remember test but don’t over react

 

[Pete Luna]

Trident only way to go

 

[ohlero]

I test alk and calc twice a week and nitrates and phosphate weekly

 

[ReefGeezer]

I test when I've ignored the tank for too long and things just don't look right. I probably test alk more often than anything else and seldom test N & P. I do believe that all the testing available for things that may not even matter adds unnecessary stress. Do I really need to know that the Neodymium level is low to some unproven standard?

 

[Ksmmike]

When I began my tank almost 2 years ago, I tested at least once a week. Now that it's beginning to mature, I test alk, calcium, nitrates and phosphates every 2 weeks. I do water changes about every 2 weeks now, where for the first year or more I did them every week. All the above have been constant for about 3 months now with very little change, even to my nitrates and phosphates. My corals seem happier and the acros are coloring up and growing. I did lose a chalice frag and for some reason I cant seem to keep torches or acans but most other corals including acros, I seem to do pretty well keeping. My zoas are reproducing faster than rabbits in heat. I take a batch to the LFS once a month now to trade for food or chemicals so that's been nice.

 

[madweazl]

To me it’s better to test everyday than once in a while

The logic behind it is if your testing everyday your included in your tank and will catch anything before it becomes a problem
Now if you’re a season reefer who has a tank full of overgrown corals this isn’t needed. Remember test but don’t over react

I'll counter with, what do you believe can change so drastically in a day that it would be catastrophic (or even a mild irritation)? I can understand if you (the owner, family member, cleaning lady, etc.) incidentally did something and you're trying to mitigate the potential result but not for day to day reef-keeping. A new reefer would be more likely to make an error reacting to frequent test results. Edit to clarify: More likely to make an error reacting to a change in parameter; example, alkalinity dropped by .1 dKh therefore my tank is using .1 dKh per day and I need to manually adjust or increasing dosing time. Fast-forward a day and the alkalinity jumps back up by .1 dKh; the accuracy of the test isn't high enough to base an informed decision on until you identify a trend (i.e. it has consistently lost .1 dKh per day over the course of four or five days now).

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Most important is what is done with the test results. What conclusions are retrieved from the results? Test results are indicators that must be interpreted correctly, changing parameters can be the messenger for underlying problems. To often the messengers are blamed for current problems. What is measured is the result of things happened in the past. Adjusting present changing parameters without eliminating the cause may increase the problems responsible for the changing parameters. Killing the messenger has never solved a problem.

 

[HaloPhenom27]

It is a good question. I test several times a week so you are talking to me lol. I don't really know why I do so because my tests are almost always the same. I think it just makes me feel better about my tank. I also don't know why I do so when I do weekly water changes that keeps everything in balance. I don't dose anything as I have never had to. My Alk, Calc, Magnesium, Nitrates, Phosphates etc. etc. stay in balance with those weekly water changes. The only paramater I have that is not perfect in my view is my PH being 7.9 but I stopped chasing that long ago as my corals look great and grow at a good enough rate for me.

 

[Jeff_H]

I'll counter with, what do you believe can change so drastically in a day that it would be catastrophic (or even a mild irritation)? I can understand if you (the owner, family member, cleaning lady, etc.) incidentally did something and you're trying to mitigate the potential result but not for day to day reef-keeping. A new reefer would be more likely to make an error reacting to frequent test results.

As somebody who recently spent months fighting (and winning) a Dino battle, I'm now paranoid about having my nitrates and phosphates zeroing out on me again. With a strong refugium, these two parameters can easily swing downward without seeing any visual signs in the tank. I don't know how long it takes for Dinos to take hold in a system with zero parameters so IMO, I wouldn't let these two go beyond a couple of weeks without testing if you have a strong fuge.

 

[Fiesty]

I said "no" butbto be fair i haven't personally tested for 5 months. Thanks Trident!

 

[Fishurama]

Chasing numbers is bad and unfun IMO. We have natural minor swings, stuff gets consumed naturally, and you could scare yourself testing too much trying to chase down numbers to make things "perfect." IMO test once a month or when needed. You'll also save a fair amount in buying reagent.

 

[HaloPhenom27]

As somebody who recently spent months fighting (and winning) a Dino battle, I'm now paranoid about having my nitrates and phosphates zeroing out on me again. With a strong refugium, these two parameters can easily swing downward without seeing any visual signs in the tank. I don't know how long it takes for Dinos to take hold in a system with zero parameters so IMO, I wouldn't let these two go beyond a couple of weeks without testing if you have a strong fuge.

Apparently WWC is not afraid of that because they say they run 0 Nitrate and 0 Phosphate tanks in their lighting guide. And Nitrate and Phosphate has confused me since day 1 in this hobby. Ask 100 different reefkeepers what is a good number for those two and I get 100 different answers. I see amazing tanks where they are zeroed out and amazing tanks where they are high.

 

[LIreefguy]

I'll counter with, what do you believe can change so drastically in a day that it would be catastrophic (or even a mild irritation)? I can understand if you (the owner, family member, cleaning lady, etc.) incidentally did something and you're trying to mitigate the potential result but not for day to day reef-keeping. A new reefer would be more likely to make an error reacting to frequent test results. Edit to clarify: More likely to make an error reacting to a change in parameter; example, alkalinity dropped by .1 dKh therefore my tank is using .1 dKh per day and I need to manually adjust or increasing dosing time. Fast-forward a day and the alkalinity jumps back up by .1 dKh; the accuracy of the test isn't high enough to base an informed decision on until you identify a trend (i.e. it has consistently lost .1 dKh per day over the course of four or five days now).

Testing everyday might be over kill I totally agree
In a new tank especially if using a doser of some sort. I would test alk anywhere from everyday to once every 3 days
I agree with not over reacting. I ended my post with test often but don’t react as much

And what can change in a day well nothing really but if you have a doser. Alk can change a lot if something goes wrong
And if you test once a week or less it might be too late
Plus if your going to over react to daily testing of alk and over react to .1 difference. Wouldn’t you over react to weekly testing too. ???
Weekly testing would probably have more of a fluctuating than daily.

That’s also why I advise newbies to test alk everyday
Calcium , nitrates, phosphate once a week is enough

 

[mta_morrow]

Alk, NO3 and PO4 every Sunday. Calcium every couple months. Salinity during WC which hasn’t happened in a couple months. Magnesium maybe twice a year.

 

[Ron83]

I test Ca, Alk, Mg, PO4,twice a week when dialing in parameters. I often test once a week once everything is where I want it. Monitor Temp, PH, Salinity and ORP through Apex. Any more than that is too much.

 

[hotdrop]

I test daily, i dont know if i need to but the Hanna Alk tester is so fast and accurate that I can do that every day and adjust dosing accordingly.
Somewhat annoyingly ive been having to test my Po4 every day because it swing around between .05-.15 every day depending on feeing and I cant seem to dial it in. The food is to varied that the parameters go all over the place. Maybe it doesn't really matter but i could see swinging it up accidentally to .30 in a couple days if im not careful

 

[brandon429]

I think testing's greatest negative impact is during cycling. Its not hard to search out the impacts that false ammonia and nitrite readings have on the hobby. People will develop false views of what bacteria do and carry those tenets a really long time. they'll buy lots of insurance bottle bac along the way, funding those who sell bottle bac. I think there are measurable impacts from testing issues during cycle...

digital testing like seneye w help to streamline how cycles work and if the 30 day cycling charts are all 30 days for a reason, but until then its nice to know we've developed testless cycling which one can use for dry rock systems or live/dry blended systems etc.

Testing is now optional for tank cycling