What to test

[razataz]

After your tank is done cycling and you add soft corals and a few clowns. What do you need to be testing.It gets a little confusion on witch test I need and don't need. I will not have any hard corals. just zoas .mushrooms lps.

What test do I need to do weekly .

[lakshwadeep]

You won't really need to use test kits for the corals you have. However, nitrates are still present, you will need to keep testing until it goes down to a stable level close to zero ppm (<10 ppm is okay for corals). Test kits then become necessary if you have some type of problem like an algae bloom or dead livestock. You may also want to check calcium/alkalinity a while if your LPS isn't growing "well".

[razataz]

Thank you lakshwsdeep .

[disaster999]

once you got your tank going and stable, usually dont need to test for nitrates and ammonia unless something doesnt look right.

 

bi weekly tests for calcium, alk, mg to make sure everything is in tip top shape and dose if it needs

[Sergeant-G]

thanks guys I was trying to reasearch the same question

[EtOH_is_good]

test kits can last forevery for a nano tank because once everything is working testing will stop. if you desire fast growing hard coral the only test you may need is an alkalinity kit. if you end up dosing two part, you'll need access to alk, calc and mg test. mag test is especially needed if dosing kalk.

 

when dosing two part, i was testing both alk and calc at least once a week usually sunday. since my coral started growing more, it was safer to test more frequently so that i could alter how much part a/b i was adding.

 

i recently added a calk reactor to my system and am currently fine tuning. i need the alk kit to dial in my desired levels, so i've been testing daily, but will soon be testing less. i will test calc occassionally once every two weeks not because i'm worried, but more curious as to how high has it gone. mg level hardly budges, but since i have mg and adding vast quanities doesn't change the levels all that much i usually throw some in with the top-off once a week. the only time i've had mg problems was when i used kalk for top off.

[Mojorizn]

Have a 20L myself with a couple SPS / Zoas / Shrooms / LPS.

 

I test weekly for Trates, pretty much for kicks as it's been 0 for the longest.

 

I'll also test weekly for Cal / Alk / PH.

 

My Cal = 420 and I'm not dosing @ the present.

 

I'll change 3-5 gallons bout every 10 days just to keep the trace elements up...That's the plan so far.

 

 

Good info in this thread.

[razataz]

Thanks , Know I need to read up on dosing.Any good info out their for that.