TOP 5-7 Tests needed for REEF TANK !!

[teen]

Originally Posted by jfcat
Salinity (35ppt or 1.026sg) - Suprised no one mentioned this, cause I know you all test for it.
i dont test for it. i still have a hydrometer (never bought a refractometer) and i havent used it in the last 8-10 months. my tank is about 11 months old.

 

[jfcat]

Originally Posted by teen
i dont test for it. i still have a hydrometer (never bought a refractometer) and i havent used it in the last 8-10 months. my tank is about 11 months old.
I don't even know how to respond to this. How do you mix your water change water? How do you determine how much salt to add to your tank from loss due to salt creep? I am just dumbfounded that someone would consider salinity not worth testing. IMO your tank is a crash waiting to happen. Just because it hasn't yet doesn't mean you're safe.
On second thought, I bet you buy premixed saltwater from your LFS. You're still losing salt slowly. From salt creep, and from your skimmer waste. Your topoff water has to be slowely diluting your salinity. Unless you top off with salt water, in which case your salinity will be at a slow rise. In either case the outcome will eventually be the same.

 

[teen]

i use NSW in the summer (when my boats in the water) or use premade in the winter. every so often i do a top off with salt water, the rest of the time just fresh RO/DI water. and a salintiy problem wouldnt cause the tank to just crash, it would be more like things slowly start going downhill. its not like i dont do top offs everyday and just let my sump level drop or just dump in large amounts of fresh water(these may cause a crash) .

 

[tx reef]

Originally Posted by jfcat
I don't even know how to respond to this. How do you mix your water change water? How do you determine how much salt to add to your tank from loss due to salt creep? I am just dumbfounded that someone would consider salinity not worth testing. IMO your tank is a crash waiting to happen. Just because it hasn't yet doesn't mean you're safe.
On second thought, I bet you buy premixed saltwater from your LFS. You're still losing salt slowly. From salt creep, and from your skimmer waste. Your topoff water has to be slowely diluting your salinity. Unless you top off with salt water, in which case your salinity will be at a slow rise. In either case the outcome will eventually be the same.

I checked the specific gravity in my tank for the first time in 1 year about 2 months ago. I mix my saltwater at 1.028 (includes temp. correction). My tank was at 1.027. I do not see a need to test specific gravity/salinity on a frequent basis. A drop of .001 over the period of a year is nothing that is going to harm my corals or fish. It was easily corrected over the period of a week and I do not plan on checking again for a long time. I don't understand what the big deal is.
My tank is extremely successful...my SPS grow like weeds, I have never lost a fish (except for 2 firefish that went carpet surfing), and I have never had a nitrate reading over 15 since the cycle 2 years ago.
To each his own...

 

[jfcat]

I guess it depends on your evaporation rate. My tank can lose more than .001 in a week. So I often have to add salt when I top off. Whatever works, and as you said, to each his own.

 

[teen]

very true TX.
people tell me all the things im doing wrong and how my tank is going to crash. the only reason they test for certain things or do things a certain way is because they read it in a book, or they heard it from another hobbyist who read it in a book/article.
this whole hobby is based on trial and error, and thats exactly how i run my tank, and i havent had any major errors yet. where do you think the authors of those books get ther information? there own experiences.
my tank is 90% sps, they grow like crazy, especially considering they were all grown from frags.
ill run my tank my way because its my tank and it looks better each day.
nobody on here has to listen to a thing i say. most of the stuff i preech on here is from my own experience (ive been doing this since i was in 8th grade, im almost done with my first year of college, thats longer than a lot of people have been involved with this hobby), i wouldnt say things if i felt they would cause problems for other hobbyists.

 

[aztec reef]

all i test for nowdays is calcium,alk, salinity & magnesium. but i still have all the other test in case, or for experiments that i always come up with

i own a hydrometer and a refractometer, i use the refractometer cuz the hydrometer is just a little bit off. it's still usefull you just have to do lower salinity water when using a hydrometer....

 

[aztec reef]

Originally Posted by teen
very true TX.
people tell me all the things im doing wrong and how my tank is going to crash. the only reason they test for certain things or do things a certain way is because they read it in a book, or they heard it from another hobbyist who read it in a book/article.
this whole hobby is based on trial and error, and thats exactly how i run my tank, and i havent had any major errors yet. where do you think the authors of those books get ther information? there own experiences.
my tank is 90% sps, they grow like crazy, especially considering they were all grown from frags.
ill run my tank my way because its my tank and it looks better each day.
nobody on here has to listen to a thing i say. most of the stuff i preech on here is from my own experience (ive been doing this since i was in 8th grade, im almost done with my first year of college, thats longer than a lot of people have been involved with this hobby), i wouldnt say things if i felt they would cause problems for other hobbyists.

well said

alot of people tell me the same thing, and sometimes doubt me. but i allways tell them, it's your tank! it's your choice!
all i can say i've been doing this for 10yrs...take it or leave it!( advice)