Today on BRStv we are going to discuss aquarium testing, what is important to test for, methods
and frequency.
Testing is one of those things that seems intimidating or a pain in the butt to most
people.
If you get the right kits, testing can be easy and if we make sure we are only testing
for important elements we can hone down the work considerably.
I generally group test kits into four major categories: cycling , major elements, nutrients
and minor elements.
When starting a brand new tank for the first time, most people typically buy test kits
related to cycling and getting the tank ready for fish.
Cycling refers to the nitrogen cycle that naturally processes foods and fish waste into
relatively safe nitrate.
The testing that goes on during the cycle typically consists of ammonia, nitrite and
nitrate.
However after that is complete and the tank is fully stocked most people rarely test for
ammonia unless they are troubleshooting an issue the tank is experiencing and very few
people will ever test nitrite again.
Our advice is to get all three if this is your first tank so you can get more familiar
with how the cycle works.
However if this is your second or third tank just skip the nitrite kit because it doesn't
add a ton of value for more experienced reefers.
The ammonia kit is always important to cycling a new tank and cheap enough that it is nice
to have on hand if you are ever having issues with the tank.
Next is the major elements which are calcium, alkalinity and magnesium.
Anyone who owns a reef tank should have all of these on hand.
These are all critical to maintaining proper water chemistry and providing the major elements
our corals need to grow.
If you are a newer reefer we suggest testing for calcium and alkalinity every week so you
can get used to how your tank consumes these elements and their relation to each other.
You will use this information to help tune your calcium and alkalinity solution whether
it be kalkwasser, 2 part or a calcium reactor.
Once you have honed in on how much your tank consumes, you probably can cut back to every
other week before you do your water changes.
You should note that alkalinity drops much faster than calcium so if you only had time
to test for one of these we strongly suggest you select alkalinity.
In fact, once you have your calcium and alkalinity replacement strategy really nailed down, it
is fairly common for reefers to test alkalinity every couple weeks and calcium less often
since these elements are consumed in roughly equal amounts and the consumption of each
does become pretty predictable.
Magnesium is a bit different.
It isn't used to a large degree in biological function so it isn't consumed as rapidly but
it is equally important because its presence is what allows us to maintain high levels
of calcium and alkalinity in the first place.
One of the biggest sources of magnesium depletion is water changes.
High quality magnesium is one of the more expensive components in a salt mix so it is
fairly common for the cheaper mixes to intentionally have lower levels of magnesium.
In fact this might be one of overall quality indicators of the salt mix in general.
Typical ocean values are around 1300.
If they are skimping here on something they know you are going to test for it is a fairly
safe assumption they are skimping in harder to identify areas as well.
For that reason it is common for most experienced reefers to either test for magnesium after
they do a water change and make adjustments to the levels then or even right in the salt
mixing container itself.
Either way this is most often done with magnesium chloride.
We offer a pharmaceutical grade magnesium chloride in bulk which makes it pretty affordable.
Testing for these is typically done with some type of titration test kit where you drip
the reagent into the solution until it changes color.
I think one of the best values on this type of kit is the Red Sea Foundation package which
includes all three kits at a significantly reduced cost.
This brand of kit loans concepts from more expensive lab type kits and includes nice
equipment like these hand-held titrators.
For alkalinity I personally use the colorimeter produced by Hanna.
I like this unit because it's quick, the digital read out is easy to read and I have found
it to be as reliable as the test kits I was using prior.
In fact in some ways I find them to be more reliable because I don't have to rely on my
ability to correctly identify and match the reagent or precisely when the change happened
like I do with most test kits.
The next group of kits test the nutrients added to the tank as a result of the eventual
breakdown of all the foods added to the tank.
These will primarily be the nitrate and phosphate kits.
Nitrate is commonly one of the end results of the nitrogen cycle and the only kit from
that cycle that is tested frequently throughout a tank's natural life.
There are two reasons to test for nitrate, first nitrate is basically a plant food so
high levels of nitrate often result in a tank full of ugly algae which no one wants.
Second is, high levels can irritate corals and fish and even kill them in some cases.
Most reefers will only test for this about once a month or if they are having issues
with the tank.
How fast the nitrate levels rise in your tank is a direct result of the amount of food you
put into the tank.
Getting high nitrate readings means you either need to stop feeding as much, start doing
more water changes or increase the efficiency of your other export equipment like the protein
skimmer or refugium.
Phosphate is also a plant food of sorts so this is also something many people test for.
The interesting thing about phosphate is there are extremely efficient medias available that
can collect and remove phosphate like GFO.
If you maintain ultra low levels of phosphate you can often avoid algae issues even when
you have high nitrate levels and intense lighting.
This effect is so pronounced that you can often get a deceptive perception that you
have a really good maintenance schedule and low nutrients when your nitrates might really
be off the charts.
Something you may only start to notice when corals begin to brown out, loose tissue or
even die.
For this reason it is almost more important to test for nitrates when running phosphate
removing media because you often won't have the visual nutrient indicator associated with
algae growth.
Phosphate will also slow coral growth by incorporating itself into the skeletal structure of the
coral and making it harder to lay down additional calcium carbonate.
For any reefer who is actively trying to grow out their corals this might be the number
one reason to test for and maintain ultra low phosphate levels.
There are various phosphate test kits available and they do work but most of them require
you to read a very light shade of blue which many people find pretty hard.
I am one of those people.
I can never say with any real confidence which one it is.
Of all the options I do find the color wheel on the Red Sea test kit to be the easiest
to read and they do sell a nice package with the nitrate and phosphate combined.
That said this is another one where I find the Hanna Checker to be invaluable.
The digital read out is a million times better than trying to read a shade of blue and the
test is super easy to do.
Most of the other tests fall into the to the minor elements category.
This list includes iodine , iron, potassium, strontium and the list goes on.
While it is generally agreed that maintaining these elements is beneficial, particularly
to coral coloration as well as skeletal growth, the test kits are often either hard to do
or offer results of questionable value because the margin of error is so large or the results
are impossible to read.
At this point I am sure you won't be surprised that of the available options the Red Sea
kit is going to be my personal favorite if I were to test for these elements.
You will find a potassium, iodine and iron kit in this package.
This kits are related to their coral coloration trace element system.
The one test we haven't discussed today and fairly popular is the pH test kit.
I will have to be honest and say while I think it is probably wise to have one of these it
doesn't have a great deal of practical use.
A reef tank can really operate anywhere in the 7.8 to 8.3 range and I have seen enough
tanks at a wide variety of pH's to know you can have a very successful tank anywhere in
that range.
That said there are a few benefits to knowing the pH of the tank.
First, is it is theorized that hard corals calcify and grow faster if the tank is maintained
closer to 8.3.
Second , as with everything stability is key so knowing the pH can help you make sure it
is stable as possible and lastly a tank that falls outside the 7.8 to 8.3 range is a really
good sign that something is wrong in the tank or with the equipment.
However a test kit is really low value for all of these things because the pH changes
so much throughout the day, you would have to be testing all the time.
To be useful, you really need to use a monitor or controller, this one from Pinpoint is probably
the most popular and provides a real time update the tanks pH.
This is also a function of most aquarium controllers like the Neptune Apex.
This model even shows you a graph of the tank's pH history which can be useful.
That wraps up todays episode.
This week's question of the week is " What is your favorite brand of test kit and how
often do you test?"
Next week we will be going over aquarium controllers if you would like to be notified when it comes
out hit that subscribe button.
Thank you for watching BRStv.