Questions from a novice

[hcarrion]

Hi. I am a new marine tank owner and I'm looking for the most important parameters (and ways) to monitor in my tank.
Can anyone share any insight on this? I've been looking into pH and nitrate pinpoints, and I've noticed that there isn't a comparable way to monitor ammonia. Does anyone know why this is?
I prefer to stay away from test strips & I'm willing to spend a little money to make sure my tank is healthy.
Also, is there anything that I can keep submerged in water (and not have to remove after each reading)?
Any assistance you can provide will be appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[serpentman]

Welcome! There are wide array of parameters you will want to keep an eye on.

Salinity
pH
Temp
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium

On a new tank, the most important parameters are Salinity, pH and those in the Nitrogen cycle: Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Your best bet is to test these frequently early on using color indicator tests. Personally, I recommend Salifert but most will do.

http://www.saltycritter.com/testkits.htm

As far as testing salinity, a refractometer does a great job of giving you an accurate reading. Depending on your budget, there are also electronic testers that will give you a constant reading. However, they need to calibrated.

Down the road, there are several parameters you can test for but the primary ones to watch are calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. The make real time testers for some of these but they require very frequent calibration and are a pain to deal with.

To follow are some valuable links to check out that will get you on the road to a successful reef tank:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074

If you are local, I also encourage you to attend C-Sea meetings which will resume in September (3rd Friday of the month) as fellow local hobbyists can be an invaluable source of information.

 

[Aadler]

Serpentman doesnt lie, Salifert is good, i would buy nitrate, calcium, mag, ph and alk. if you have nitrite or ammonia, outside of the first month or two, then everything will be dead anyway and you should give up ;c).

But seriously, i think ammonia and nitrite are a bit overkill for another 30-40$ if you want go buy a cheapo ammonia kit, they all work if there is ammonia in the water. but the others i would go for salifert.

It is near impossible, but the best thing to do it just let your tank run for 6 plus months without adding any fish or coral. if you NEED too, and you will... then buy a small fish, maybe a neon goby, or a firefire as they will stay small and not cause to much waste. but the longer you wait to put fish and coral in the better off you will be. (feel free to add snails and crabs early on however). tanks take awhile to mature and each one is different for many many reasons. great hobby though.

feel free to ask any further questions along the way.

 

[Aadler]

ps- about the automatic probes, PH is the only really economical one. the others can be $1000's

 

[Dtip]

If you are just starting out, a ph probe is probably overkill. Once you start hooking up things that drip non-reef ph solutions into the tank (i.e. calcium reactors, kalk, etc), it can be very useful (it and calcium are probably the only two probes that would ultimately really come in handy for most reefers), but unless you are specifically mucking about with the ph in these ways, you should be fine with regular test kits as long as you have plenty of buffer.

It really doesn't make much economic sense to have probes for every single important parameter. People generally have probes for specific parameters that are in danger from a specific process going on in their tank: like really high but varying demands on the system's calcium levels in a heavy SPS/invert tank.

I wouldn't even bother with a nitrate probe: nitrate is not something that will fluctuate quickly or radically unless something really crazy happens: it's more of a long term issue that you deal with over time by tank improvements, water changes, and livestock changes, and in many cases ends up going down to around 0 and then not being a big problem from then on unless something dies in tank or you start feeding too much or something.

Test kits take a little more time, but they are worlds cheaper (sometimes even in the long run): for the money you spend on a probe, you can buy things that will benefit your tank much more, like an even better skimmer, lights, reactors, etc.

As for ammonia, like everyone has said, you shouldn't ever see any significant ammonia in your tank after the main cycle is complete.

 

[crazyseany]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13096457#post13096457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aadler

It is near impossible, but the best thing to do it just let your tank run for 6 plus months without adding any fish or coral. if you NEED too, and you will... then buy a small fish, maybe a neon goby, or a firefire as they will stay small and not cause to much waste. but the longer you wait to put fish and coral in the better off you will be. (feel free to add snails and crabs early on however). tanks take awhile to mature and each one is different for many many reasons. great hobby though.

feel free to ask any further questions along the way.

Of course this is not necessarily true " business partner".

If you start with dry sand and dry rock or rock you have shipped in that smells like an outhouse on a humid august day..... then yes you are right.

if you buy a tank already established or sand and rock from an established tank or tanks.... I believe you can add stuff.... very soon. especially if you can get some cycled saltwater (have a friend do a water change)

just my opinion & you know what they say about them.

if you moved qcross town you would not sell all your stuff excet the rock and let it sit 6 months before adding anything

rant out,
sean

 

[Aadler]

I can see this is going to be a very stressful partnership. always the little things you pick on, and we havnt been together more than a few hours. what are we gonna do about what type of salt to use?

 

[crazyseany]

easy.... you pick you're the one lifting the buckets