Water testing importance...?

[Kaxter]

I have slowly been buying the items I need to start up my tank, and now I am starting to worry about water testing and conditioning. My LFS has a kit made my Kent that includes:

• Concentrated Liquid Calcium

• Strontium & Molybdenum

• Iodine

 

But I have no way of testing my water because my LFS doesnt test water and dont sell the kits:( Do most of you guys test your water regularly? Are there any kits that are online that include all the tests I will need? Also, the only water i can find is either RO, Ozonated mechanically filtered water, or Steam Distilled Ozonated mechanically filtered water....which out of these two should I use? Thanks in advance, and sorry for my billion questions.

 

*I DID search this time and couldnt find the answers....if they are right in front of me then you can give me 50 lashings*

[printerdown01]

Personally, I would go with the ozonized and RO. Distilled while most of the time safe, can be VERY dangerous! If the distilation process uses copper pipes to condense the water (which IS done) you may end up with copper in your "pure" water. Copper = DEATH to all gastropods as well as many other inverts! If you find out that they didn't use copper pipes, go for it -it will be just as safe!

 

As for testing. If you are new, you should seriously invest the money on test kits. You should def own the following: pH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, calcium & alk (last two if you want to keep SPS in the near future), and if you really want to push it phosphates. I don't recommend the later. I'll give you a pretty decent phosphate test: If you have a hair algae bloom you probably have phosphates (not the test will either test for inorganic or organic phosphates, NOT BOTH; however, both will cause hair algae). If lets say you have been reefing for a few years, then you know what things should look like, and what things look like when certain things are off. For instance you don't need a nitrate or nitrite test to tell you ya' have disolved organics in the tank -this is a no brainer for people who have been at it for a while. OOOOOOOH.... and a SG or Salinaty kit is a MUST!!!! P.S. I only own a pH and a SG/Salinaty kit.

[Kaxter]

I was thinking about using B-Ionic, but something struck me as strange. Here are the ingredients for B-Ionic:

Component 1 Contains: Ions of Carbonate, Sodium, Bicarbonate, Sulfate, Borate, Fluoride, Iodide, Molybdate, Vanadate, and Selenate. Carbonate alkalinity: 2476 meq/liter.

 

Component 2 Contains: Ions of Chloride, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Bromide, Strontium, Lithium, Barium, Rubidium, Iron, Zinc, Nickel, Copper, Manganese, Cobalt, and Chromium. Calcium concentration: 54,000 ppm.

 

So is B-Ionic bad because it has copper in it? Or do I need to have some copper? Just curious if other people use B-Ionic....several websites state that it is gods gift to reef aquariums...

[BCOrchidGuy]

Good question Kaxter.

 

Copper is a trace element required by most if not all living things, it is required however is miniscule amounts in the aquarium. Copper is deadly to inverts if present in large doses. Large in an aquarium is any thing more than a TINY TINY TINY fraction of the tiniest percentage.

 

Copper should not be present in concentrations above 0.0001 ppm in your aquarium. Most of the commercial suppliments out there have trace amounts of copper.

[sjpresley]

Well...you have to have a hygrometer.

 

Hagen has a kit with 10 different tests. I've seen it for sale on-line and new on e-bay for around $38. It includes all the basics and a few trace element tests. I have it and the hagen tests are pretty quick and seem reliable when checked against other tests.

 

Aquarium pharmaceuticals has a basic "master" saltwate kit you can probably find on line for $10-12 that has pH, NH4+, NO2-, and NO3-, which are the 4 kits you probably want to start with. You should probably add CA and alk kits later. And if you get antsy phosphate, iron, strontium, and iodine are around.

 

You can usually tell by looking how a tank is doing. When things are going well tests are not required but when a problem arises they are a vital diagnistic tool. At the very least they will help eliminate possible problems.

 

In general, I test the full gamut every month or so (CA, ALK, pH, NH4+, NO2-, NO3-, PO4-, strontium, iodine, manganese...wish I had a DO kit). Regular testing will tell you about your systems growth and changing requirements to help guide you in any suppletation as CA (or other mineral) demands change; if your bioload is high, how fast your system accumulates nitrates is important and will affect you water change schedule.

 

Information is often powerful, and these kits will help provide it. Over time you will often know what some of your readings are going to be just by the sight of your tank.

[Crakeur]

I stick my pinky into the water, up to the second knuckle. I then suck the water off my finger and I can tell what I need to dose.

[sjpresley]

I used to use that techniqe as well, but I ran into a problem. I broke my right hand and had to start using my left. I then discovered that I got different readings with my left pinky than my right. I couldn't resolve the situation, and after dehydration that led to a horrible hang over I bought a kit.

[ross76053]

Who's the guy with the sig line that says something like:

 

______________________

"My tank makes me so mad I just want to sh*t in it!"

 

???

 

Anyway, he once told me his test goes something like this:

 

If it floats, salinity is too high. If it sinks, add more salt.