Who really test there water and why?

I only really test nitrate alk and cal. Even then only every 2 weeks just to make sure my dosing is on schedual and the im not overfeeding. I only test po4 when is see algea just to make sure.

 

I always test before and after a water change and anytime im having a issue. So that is why im interested in buy a controller to make things easier to check and consistent monitoring.

 

I pretty much agree with u, the only test kit i own is a Nitrate kit and of coarse test the salinity for water changes.

 

for me , it would depend on what I was keeping

from testing on tanks in the past, I now feel confident, that a tank containing soft corals and LPS, can be maintained with regular water changes using a decent quality salt mix


on my tank with mostly SPS, Im still testing Calcium and Alkalinity, every week
the corals are developing and as such like others on this thread, I do need to adjust my dosing every so often to compensate for increased demand

Magnesium - I recently stopped testing this weekly , demand is low, has remained low throughout increased demand for Ca and Alk, thus I am happy with my dosing routine for mag at present, and test once every 4 weeks just to ensure its still on track

I used to test Phosphate - I still have the test kit, but cannot recall last time I used it on main tank - I just accept I have phosphate and run GFO and change it monthly

Nitrate - I check that once every month or at times in between if something does not look right

ammonia and Nitrite - again , I would only test something looked off

Steve

 

I tested regularly when my tank was new to me to know what was going on. Once I knew things were not changing I never tested. The only things I regularly tested was Calcium and Alk and salinity. I tested those weekly. Mg every now and then. Phosphates were the same and then finally stopped testing. Nitrates every few months but they only told me what I knew... zero.

 

I agree. It's nice to have a consistent baseline. Sometimes parameters can very slowly creep into undesirable levels. If you are routinely dosing any product and you have a ball park idea as to your tanks utilization you do not have to test as often. But on more than one occasion I have noticed stressed corals, tested after not doing so for a couple of weeks and OOOOPs my alk climbed too far up or my magnesium too far down and low and behold my pH is not stable.