What To Test For...

[sianeds]

So as you know I am about to embark on keeping SPS corals. This means I have to be more discerning as to the chemical composition of my water.

What should I be testing for??

I already test for Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, pH, KH/GH, Phosphate and Calcium. I don't regularly test phosphates.

Is there anything else I need to test for?

 

[RadaR]

SPS corals should do well if you maintain the Calcium levels, the Alkalinity levels and Iodine levels. Can't remember what the levels should be
The addition of a general supplement containing trace elements and vitamins seems to be of benefit with certain animals, for instance Xenia, but some people don't see the need for it and are successful without it.

 

[Matthew5664]

Sounds like your testing for all the right things. I'd add in Alkalinity sp. in there and if you can the PAR or your lighting.

There's a very interesting article on reefkeeping.com about matching the PAR with the flow in the tank maybe you should read. So remember to change all MH bulbs every 12 months and T8/T5's every 6. Keep onto of pump maintenance buy having 3 or 4 but only needing 2 then you can rotate on a 2 month basis without leaving the flow in the tank impaired.

Keep on top of your phosphates these slowdown the rate of calcification in SPS and LPS corals. My advise would be to use remover from the start and change every month weather you think you need to or not!

 

[SkiFletch]

Don't bother with GH, its a useless measure for saltwater systems

I'd add magnesium to your regimen. And IMO, iodine/stronium aren't worth worrying about. Flow, Lighting, and calc/alk/mg are what you need to concentrate on with SPS

 

[sianeds]

I have Iodine, strontium & molybdenum and calcium but I only have the test kit for calcium at the moment so I don't dose for the others. I did dose Iodine for a while and I noticed a difference in my corals when I stopped.

I will start testing for phosphates weekly when I do my other tests.

I always have rowaphos in my system and I already change it every month.

How do I test my lights?

 

[wflash3]

I have Iodine, strontium & molybdenum and calcium but I only have the test kit for calcium at the moment so I don't dose for the others. I did dose Iodine for a while and I noticed a difference in my corals when I stopped.

I will start testing for phosphates weekly when I do my other tests.

I always have rowaphos in my system and I already change it every month.

How do I test my lights?

when u say u noticed a difference, do u mean a good difference or bad? was it a good or bad difference while u were adding it or when u stoped?

flash

oh and i want to add that when i dosed iodine in my tank once a week, i noticed my xenia got alot larger, i know its not recomended but i did stop anyways

 

[SkiFletch]

How do I test my lights?

Gotta find someone with a quantium or PAR meter. Might be difficult to find. Best to try and find someone who has it and rent/borrow it cause they cost multiple hundreds if not thousands of dollars

 

[sianeds]

Thanks guys. I noticed a good difference with my soft corals. My xenia also went wild and my sarcophyton seemed to be open more.

As for the testing of lights....how much do I really need to test? Is it something I should try to do or can I just keep up to date with my bulb changes?

 

[steelhealr]

Don't supplement or test for anything as per ski above. All your elements are replaced by regular frequent water changes. I purchased an iodine kit and mag kit....never use them anymore.

Don't dose.

Test for :
pH
NH3
NO2
NO3
P
Ca2+
dKh

If...if......you want another Mg2+ would be the one but, I've never seen anyone having problems with it. Ca2+ is the key element for the most part. If you DO test for iodine, make sure you get test all three components....free iodine, iodate and iodide.

POI: don't laugh, but, those test are a PITA to do and eat up time.

Toss the strontium and molybdenum and iodine in the garbage. SH

 

[SkiFletch]

As for the bulbs, keeping up with routine changes is the way to go. Ironically with Halides, new research done by hobbiests indicates that perhaps a 2-year change cycle is appropriate as opposed to the standard 1-year. In a recent test of a 250watt that I saw the bulb went from 100% to around 84% after one year, but then from 84% to 79% after two years... It seems that while the bulbs burn brightest for about the first 2-3 months, thereafter the light output decay is a very shallow curve.

When Sanjay Joshi recently came and spoke to our club, he indicated the same subjective observation and reccomended to us to change our halide bulbs at no less than two years of age and perhaps as old as 4 years.

Take that for what its worth

 

[Miss Wiggle]

god you guys test for a lot of things, do you do this as a routine every week/month etc or just ad hoc?

feels like ages since we've tested anything!

tbh though i've always taken the attitude that my tank tells me when i need to run tests, it's easy to see if the fish and corals are healthy, unless i notice any specific problem i won't test the tank. is that really unappropriate for marine keeping? seems to be working so far, we haven't killed anything yet!!

 

[SkiFletch]

tbh though i've always taken the attitude that my tank tells me when i need to run tests, it's easy to see if the fish and corals are healthy, unless i notice any specific problem i won't test the tank. is that really unappropriate for marine keeping? seems to be working so far, we haven't killed anything yet!!

No, its not really that bad of a thing to do so long as you're doing water changes. Without testing and appropriate supplimenting really the only problem you get into is with slower coral growth on most species. If you have some really fragile corals in there, thats another thing, but for the majority of reefkeepers, what you're doing is fine. Having a "canary" type coral like mushrooms or Xenia will really help out in this low-testing philosophy.

I must admit, while I test calc/alk/mg weekly, I haven't tested for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH in probably 6 months, and salinity/sg in the past month

 

[sianeds]

I hardly test now in my tanks but like I said, with this being a new tank I gotta get a feel for it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

tbh though i've always taken the attitude that my tank tells me when i need to run tests, it's easy to see if the fish and corals are healthy, unless i notice any specific problem i won't test the tank. is that really unappropriate for marine keeping? seems to be working so far, we haven't killed anything yet!!

No, its not really that bad of a thing to do so long as you're doing water changes. Without testing and appropriate supplimenting really the only problem you get into is with slower coral growth on most species. If you have some really fragile corals in there, thats another thing, but for the majority of reefkeepers, what you're doing is fine. Having a "canary" type coral like mushrooms or Xenia will really help out in this low-testing philosophy.

I must admit, while I test calc/alk/mg weekly, I haven't tested for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH in probably 6 months, and salinity/sg in the past month

aye, we've a good fairly solid maintenance routine, we're not infallible but we're never more than a day or two late with top off or a water change. All our money's getting ploughed into doing up the house and our canada fund at the moment so we're happy for the marine tank to just tick over, the corals are all growing relatively fast tbh (to my unexperienced eye anyway) we're gonna have to frag our finger leather soon before it takes over the tank!

we've nothing especially fragile in there, and we don't supplement with anything at all, just the salt for water changes and that's it for the tank. Obviously if we start adding something to the tank regularly we need to be regularly testing the levels or you can mess all sorts up. But if the tank's pretty well balanced it seems to just run itself!