This is NO substitute for a general go-over with the full battery, but I can show you a way, once you know your tank is 'set', to do ONE five minute test routine that will keep you pretty well out of --well, bad water.
This WILL work for fish-only people: it just requires some supplement to get 'set'.
It works well for coral reefs.
What you need to 'set' the tank: 1.024 salinity; 78-80 temperature; 8.3 alkalinity (DKH scale); 1350 magnesium; 420 calcium. And of the don'twants: zero ammonia; 5-10 nitrate (5 if corals).
What you need to test and how to test:
five minutes; Salifert alkalinity test; a refractometer; and an ammonia dip-strip test (pool supplies ok).
The procedure: quickly suck up refractometer water; shoot the bulb several times to be sure it's got no residue; wipe the blue face gently with softest cloth, squirt a little water on it, wipe again, THEN test; 1 minute.
dip the ammonia strip; 0 is good.
Dump the Salifert box. Suck up the required water (to the 4 mark), shoot it into test vial; drop 4 blue drops into that. Suck up a syringe full to the top mark of liquid from big bottle. Shoot it into the vial bit at a time, don't count drops. You'll see it try to turn pink, but you're not done until it stays pink. Read the number on the 'liquid' side of the syringe plunger, look at the chart. If that's around 8.3, you're good.
How do I know? Because if the magnesium is over 1200, your other readings will hold up. IF You have stony coral, put 2 teaspoons (level) of Mrs Wages Pickling Lime per gallon of ro/di into your ro/di topoff water, and those marks absolutely won't fail you so long as the magnesium holds above 1200. Trust me. The lime dissolves to keep the calcium up and the alkalinity just holds up.
Why don't I have you test the magnesium instead of the alk? The magnesium test is longer and futzy. The alk test is quick and dirty and IF the alk is still good, it means the mg is still good.
Because stony coral eats calcium hand over fist, you will need to put kalk (powdered lime) into your topoff water to make this work.
If you're dosing two-part you're on your own: I've never done that and can't advise you, but start asking questions of someone who knows. It's also a calcium supplement method.
But this regimen will let you do ONE quick and easy test to be sure your water is fit for critters.
This WILL work for fish-only people: it just requires some supplement to get 'set'.
It works well for coral reefs.
What you need to 'set' the tank: 1.024 salinity; 78-80 temperature; 8.3 alkalinity (DKH scale); 1350 magnesium; 420 calcium. And of the don'twants: zero ammonia; 5-10 nitrate (5 if corals).
What you need to test and how to test:
five minutes; Salifert alkalinity test; a refractometer; and an ammonia dip-strip test (pool supplies ok).
The procedure: quickly suck up refractometer water; shoot the bulb several times to be sure it's got no residue; wipe the blue face gently with softest cloth, squirt a little water on it, wipe again, THEN test; 1 minute.
dip the ammonia strip; 0 is good.
Dump the Salifert box. Suck up the required water (to the 4 mark), shoot it into test vial; drop 4 blue drops into that. Suck up a syringe full to the top mark of liquid from big bottle. Shoot it into the vial bit at a time, don't count drops. You'll see it try to turn pink, but you're not done until it stays pink. Read the number on the 'liquid' side of the syringe plunger, look at the chart. If that's around 8.3, you're good.
How do I know? Because if the magnesium is over 1200, your other readings will hold up. IF You have stony coral, put 2 teaspoons (level) of Mrs Wages Pickling Lime per gallon of ro/di into your ro/di topoff water, and those marks absolutely won't fail you so long as the magnesium holds above 1200. Trust me. The lime dissolves to keep the calcium up and the alkalinity just holds up.
Why don't I have you test the magnesium instead of the alk? The magnesium test is longer and futzy. The alk test is quick and dirty and IF the alk is still good, it means the mg is still good.
Because stony coral eats calcium hand over fist, you will need to put kalk (powdered lime) into your topoff water to make this work.
If you're dosing two-part you're on your own: I've never done that and can't advise you, but start asking questions of someone who knows. It's also a calcium supplement method.
But this regimen will let you do ONE quick and easy test to be sure your water is fit for critters.
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