when to test for more than just nitrogen cycle

[travis9791]

I have had my tank up and running for a few months now. I have several fish and I have just started adding some coral frags. So far I have nuclear green paly's, Duncan, and A pulsing xenia. They all are doing well. I currently have an API testing kit that test for ammonia, nitite, nitrate, and PH. My parameters now are ammonia=0, nitrate= 2, PH= 8.1, salinity= 1.26. Should I be testing other water parameters such as alkalinity, calcium, etc. ? My tank is a 144 oceanic half circle with a 30 gallon sump.

 

[disc1]

If you have corals then you need to watch calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium for sure.

 

[zachfishman]

Even if you don't have corals, you always need to monitor ALK.

 

[gone fishin]

If you have corals then you need to watch calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium for sure.

I test for these regularly and FWIW I like the Salifert tests, They are easy to use and read for me. In addition I keep track of phosphate as well using a hanna checker.

 

[bif24701]

You can test for nitrate and phosphate however numbers are misleading there. Algae problems will cause those numbers to remain low if not zero, however that doesn't mean you don't have a problem. I watch my livestock and algae levels. When I start to see problems I know there is an increase in nutrients. That's when I do something about it. However I always have several nutrient exports working at the same time.