Hi! I'm new here, been reading a few topics etc over the last few days, but this is my first post! No doubt my first of many!!

I'm sorry if this has been done, I couldn't find it on the search funtion...

What tests should I be carrying out? & when?

I have just aquired a 35 litre / 8 UK gal nano reef - I'm so excited!! I've wanted one for a long time It has been running for just over a year. We moved it on Tuesday, used most of the 'old' water, and put in about 2 gallons of new water.

I currently have 4/5 mushrooms, some green star polyps, leather cabbage, and some button polyps (which don't look so good! But haven't done for a while according to my friend) Also I have 2 small starfish - I'm not sure what type, one cleaner Shrimp, a yasha goby (altho he hasn't been seen since re-setting up the tank!), a pistol shrimp (also not been seen, but definately heard!).

I have tested the Ammonia and it is at Zero. KH is at 170 - which is good according to the test kit.

What other tests should I be carrying out?? I'm looking at buying a Hagen Master Kit, but if I only need one or two other kits on a regular basis, then I'm going to be over spending.... OR if the kit does not include vital ones I should purchase...

The kit includes: High+Low range pH/Iron/Nitrite/Nitrate/Phosphates/Ammonia/Calcium/GH+KH

What do you guys recommend??

Thanks so much

Make sure your test kits are meant for saltwater/reef tanks. Some tests show different colors compared to freshwater tanks.

At first, you need ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test kits. Iron is unnecessary. Phosphate test kits are usually too inaccurate. Calcium and alkalinity don't need to be measured unless you have many stony corals.

I'm not familiar with the quality of Hagen test kits, but the API saltwater master kit is a reliable choice for everything you need as a beginner. Salifert, Lamotte, and Elos are also highly reliable.

Besides test kits, you need to measure temperature and salinity/specific gravity. Temperature should be measured with either a glass (alcohol) thermometer or a digital thermometer. Salinity/S.G. should be measured with either a glass hydrometer, refractometer, or conductivity meter. Try to avoid swing arm hydrometers, which can be inaccurate and less easy to clean.

With your water testing, you should aim for values in the normal ranges listed here:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

I am no expert myself, but I believe that as long as you keep an eye on calcium, alk, magnesium and phosphates, once the tank has cycled and settled in, the rest of the parameters will fall into place.
That advice does not include for a heavily stocked tank of fish though. Just lightly stocked with corals as the main focus.

nitrates - (dip strips or api)i rareley test, because it is constantly 0
alk- (api, i like it)i test once a week because i am adjusting the dosing but otherwise only every couple of weeks to a month
ca-my test is junk(api) so i dont much bother any more.
phosphate- most tests for this are useless because the levels that cause harm in our tanks are too low to read
ph- api is useless as well, the colors get hard to read even on the high range. get a probe if you really care
mag-i should probably be testing for this but i dont, seachem reef advantage calcium supposedly contains mg
SG-get a refractometer definateley, i dont understand why people buy hundreds of dollars worth of lighting and corals and test with hydrometers.

My twelve years of reef experiece say that long term you need only 4 test kits:

Calcium
Magnesium
KH
Low Range Nitrate
Low Range Phospate.


Established tanks won't have ammonia problems, and if all the above check out and theres a problem, thats when you go to your LFS and have them test for ammonia, nitrite, ph, etc, etc. No need to keep those around IMO, they're so rarely used (for me - never in my 12 years).

Oh as for when/how often; calcium and kh once a week, nitrates and phosphates about every 2 weeks and magnesium about once a month for me. Always Sunday afternoons, maybe 4pm...not that it matters

How are your nitrates constantly 0? Do you do weekly water changes?

Thanks everyone!! Very helpful indeed

I have a hydrometer, I measure 1.024

I haven't got nitrate & nitrite kits - so will get them. My LFS I went to today recommended testing the pH as an addition to the KH, salinity and ammonia... so I'm now thinking rather than spending £40 on the BIG test kit for things it looks like I won't really need to test, I'll go for the API Master kit... It's only £18 on eBay, so half the price! The really helpful guy today said that IF I get into trouble or something doesn't seem right, I can bring some water into them to check all the other bits and then they will advise what to do. Seems a logical thing to do at my stage

The tank has been running for just over 12 months, we dismantled the tank and reassembled it on Tuesday, I put a new marine light in, and we used 80% of the 'old' water - so in fact just did a water change.

I added two red leg hermit crabs today, and a small piece of rock with some small bright green mushrooms and a tiny feather duster

The button polyps also look like they are coming back to life! So fingers crossed it's looking good!

Acropora 1981 kind of nailed it all, but it really depends on what you want to keep.

If want to keep SPS and finicky LPS, then alk/calc/mag are mandatory. If you trust your water supply and have a low bioload of fish, then nitrate and phosphate become a bit optional. Phosphate, IMHO, scares me more than nitrate because it doesn't take nearly as much P04 to FUBAR a tank as nitrates. Plus, nitrates in an established tank tend to accumulate slowly.

Obviously salinity and temp, but that's a bit obvious. A good digital heater is more important than a good thermometer and mediocre heater.

Given that many of us are using two part balanced dosing if I had to pick a single test to perform it would probably be alk.

Haven't tested for ammo/nitrite in frikken years.

What sort of hydrometer do you have? Have you calibrated it? That is important for any salinity testing device, IMHO. The floating hydrometers will be much more accurate than swing-arm varieties. IME, the API kits are good, but only for a ballpark reading. The alkalinity test is arguably one of the best in that kit, since it usually stacks up well against Elos, LaMotte, etc. in terms of where it reads. The calcium kit is off pretty regularly and the nitrate/phosphate kits just don't have a low enough resolution. I typically prefer Elos or Salifert for these. When the new cheaper Hanna phosphate meter comes out, I'll probably get that to replace my Elos kit (I've borrowed others' Hanna photometers for readings before and liked them). Granted, I don't test all of these parameters terribly often (except when I first set up this tank), short of salinity, but they are good to have on hand.

+1

strangely one of the most overlooked by novice marine aquarists in general...

I have two BIORB Hydrometer/Thermometer's - which were given to me with the tank. They are fairly new and had been checked by her LFS. It is the floating kind, and work very well.

I've ordered the API Marine Test Kit today. I can always expand later - get my LFS to check the water for everything next week

The Hermit crabs seem to be doing well since introducing them yesterday, and the mushrooms seem to be flourishing, and look even better than they did in the shop!

Thanks for your advice everyone.