Testing regime

[Scotty333!!!]

Hi guys,
So what’s your testing regime?

My tank is sps heavy , no lps but softies and 2 nems

What would be considered a good testing regime? I mean order of importance and frequency

I’m thinking the order would be kh , calcium , salinity , magnesium, phosphate, nitrates

Kh checked every 3 days , the rest weekly

 

[kfisc]

In the beginning six months or so, all of those, but after established, KH, CA and mag, once a week, maybe longer. Aside from obvious acute problems, if anything else is wrong with the parameters, those three will show it, and if all is ok, those three will generally be ok.

 

[griss]

In the beginning six months or so, all of those, but after established, KH, CA and mag, once a week, maybe longer. Aside from obvious acute problems, if anything else is wrong with the parameters, those three will show it, and if all is ok, those three will generally be ok.

Yep.

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Full suite of tests today to document my params

Po4 0.01
No3 15
Kh 8.9
Salinity 1.026
Temp 26
Mag 1395
Calcium 450

 

[Scotty333!!!]

1 week on and todays tests are
Mag 1500 ( makes no sense as not dosing it)
Nitrate 15 ( dosed 30ml vodka)
Phosphate 0.15 (reactor on)
Calcium 365 (added calcium to raise 40))
Kh 8.1

 

[griss]

In regard to the Magnesium, I've heard from more knowledgeable (chemistry) people that hobby test kits for Magnesium are notoriously inaccurate.

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Seems reasonable to say that

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Anemones and clam didn’t appreciate the calcium supplement
Will drip it next time

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Po4 .02
No3 12

Anemone and clam settled back

 

[griss]

Po4 .02
No3 12

Anemone and clam settled back

You're getting there

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Found out why the Benz and clam were peed off, testing error on the calcium
It’s at 590

Clams jumped of its rock this morning, put it back and seems fine

 

[Timfish]

I'd keep PO4 above .03. FYI, research done at Southampton University has found keeping PO4 below .03 can have delitrious effects on coral photobiology. I'd suggest keeping PO4 between .03 mg/l and .5 mg/l.

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Thanks
It’ll be at 0.03 in a day or 2 , it will likely rise to 0.15 in a week so it’s like 0.015 per day
As said , I’ll put it on a timer maybe 3 hours a day

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Couple of checks this morning

Mag 1465
Kh 8.9
Phos 0.15
Salinity 1.026
Ph 8.3
Calcium 590
Nitrate 12

100ltr (20%) water in progress

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Todays params after 20% wc


Salinity 1.026
Temp 25.5
No3 10
Mag 1365
Kh 10
Calc 600
Po4 .48 ( never using phyto again!)
Orp 150

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Just for record keeping

Po4 .20
No3 5ppm

Tank looks brilliant at this

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Po4 ,10
No3 4ppm
Kh 8.9

Testing stopped for 1 week

 

[shred5]

Adding phyto should not push up phosphate, adding bad phyto could.
I add phyto pretty much everyday for my micro fauna and tube worms and I have almost undetectable phosphate..

Phyto was probably harvested to early before it used up the nutrients. Also when I harvest my phyto let it settle out some and skim off the water and add fresh salt water.

Either that or you added way to much.

Was it live phyto or dead?

 

[Scotty333!!!]

The photo was delivered and I collected same day
Do nt know if it was dead
But it 100% boosted my po4 sky high

 

[Scotty333!!!]

Kh 8.30
Mag 1350
Run out of calcium test