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drgibby

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what parameters do you test your tanks for in the beginning when you do your cycle? I know we should be testing for ammonia and nitrate but what else and what kits and brands do you find are most user friendly and give good accurate results?

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what parameters do you test your tanks for in the beginning when you do your cycle? I know we should be testing for ammonia and nitrate but what else and what kits and brands do you find are most user friendly and give good accurate results?

Salifert test kits are the gold standard for reef tanks.

Ammonia & nitrate are enough for watching your cycle, but later on you will use Ca, LH, Po4, & N03 mainly

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How an API phosphate test kit got more than 1 star stars-1-0._V192241078_.gif is a mystery to me. It goes up in 0.25ppm increments, but the target value for a reef tank is only 0.01 to 0.03ppm.

phosphatecolorchart2.jpg

Also, you can hardly tell the difference between 0.00 and 0.25 on the card. So by the time you can detect any color change at all, your tank's phosphate level is already more than 10 times higher than it should be.

 

For phosphate, I use a Hanna ULR Phosphorus Checker.

 

what parameters do you test your tanks for in the beginning when you do your cycle?

  • Ammonia is all you need while establishing the cycle (and rarely used after that).
  • Test for Nitrate after the cycle to determine how much water you should change before adding livestock.
  • After you start feeding, you should test for phosphate (and continue testing nitrate).
  • Calcium and alkalinity test are important after you have a notable amount of stony coral and/or coralline algae.
  • Once you are required to dose calcium and alkalinity (to replace consumed elements), you should start testing magnesium.
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