What water parameters to test

[mike550]

My tank is about six months old, and I have been testing pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate since the beginning. I recently started to test Calcium, Alkalinity, and Phosphate. My question is as my tank matures which tests can I stop and which should I add? For example, Nitrites have been zero since day one, and pH and Ammonia seem fairly stable as well.

Thanks in adVance.

 

[Malifry97]

In a tank that is six months old you should NEVER have ammonia and nitrite. You can stop testing those. This is because at 6 months, the beneficial bacteria is built up enough where you won’t have any of those.

I would test:
Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium (monthly)
Salinity
Nitrate
Phosphate

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[mike550]

In a tank that is six months old you should NEVER have ammonia and nitrite. You can stop testing those. This is because at 6 months, the beneficial bacteria is built up enough where you won’t have any of those.

I would test:
Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium (monthly)
Salinity
Nitrate
Phosphate

Thanks @Malifry97 This is really helpful. I’ll save ammonia for spotchecking my QT

 

[mike550]

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

Super helpful. Thanks @Scrubber_steve

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Super helpful. Thanks @Scrubber_steve

No worries. Don't know if you're familiar with Randy's forum ? He has a great section here
Randy's Reef Chemistry Articles. Hours & hours,,, & hours of reading. ;Bookworm

 

[mike550]

No worries. Don't know if you're familiar with Randy's forum ? He has a great section here
Randy's Reef Chemistry Articles. Hours & hours,,, & hours of reading. ;Bookworm

I didn’t know about his forum or the articles. There are so many great resources in this group if you know where to look! Much appreciated

 

[Dvanlier05]

I have 7 test I like. Temp, salinity, cal, alk, mag, nitrate, and phosphate. With a young tank try once a week. Test at the same time every time, say 10am every Saturday and write it down. A calendar works great. Good luck

 

[PatW]

What you test depends on your system.

I run an SPS dominant coral system. I measure alkalinity and dose daily. I measure phosphates, nitrates, calcium and salinity. I find that water changes maintains my magnesium levels so I rarely test that.

Testing all of these parameters is good. Some people never test for phosphate. If you are running soft corals, you can get by with just periodic checks of alkalinity and calcium. You need enough for your clean up crew but water changes should do that.

 

[BeejReef]

Do you have corals?

I hope you got the responses you needed before you ordered refills for ammonia and nitrite

PH is another test you really don't need to do much of. For high end peeps, there is value in seeing your ph hour by hour, but for Joe 6pack (me) the test will show the same value pretty much every day. It's still worth doing on occasion. When I see my ph edging downward, I know it's time to clean the gunk out of the sump. The decomposition seems to drag it down a bit.

 

[mike550]

Do you have corals?

I hope you got the responses you needed before you ordered refills for ammonia and nitrite

PH is another test you really don't need to do much of. For high end peeps, there is value in seeing your ph hour by hour, but for Joe 6pack (me) the test will show the same value pretty much every day. It's still worth doing on occasion. When I see my ph edging downward, I know it's time to clean the gunk out of the sump. The decomposition seems to drag it down a bit.

Luckily I haven’t ordered anything yet as I was waiting for responses from this group! So my plan is to purchase Salifert Nitrate and Mag to round out my tests. If I can’t read the Salifert Nitrate then I’ll go to Nyos.

I’ll slowly use up pH and ammonia for either periodic checks or QT tests

 

[Is this the LFS]

My tank is about six months old, and I have been testing pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate since the beginning. I recently started to test Calcium, Alkalinity, and Phosphate. My question is as my tank matures which tests can I stop and which should I add? For example, Nitrites have been zero since day one, and pH and Ammonia seem fairly stable as well.

Thanks in adVance.

I would think that when you say ammonia is stable that it is at 0. Or at least should be. If it is 0, no need to test for that and nitrite. Maybe check salinity every week or so which is easy just to make sure nothing happened. And in my opinion, no need to test ph