Testing water

[Galizio]

Originally Posted by Sharkbait-huhaha

Oh com'n Galizio, I have not had one coral die on me, because I didn't check my parameters lol, But I did have corals die on me from stinging one another, BJD, or having a not so reef safe fish.



Like many other said in this thread, it really depends on what you keep in your tank, and how much you're willing to invest in it.



So I continue... day 201... parameters.. still no clue.



As long as my little nieces and nephews can come over each time, and look in awe, I am a happy camper.



For those curious whats lurking in my tank...















It might not be as grand as some of the amazing tanks I have seen in this CanReef community, but its my piece of the pie, They way I like it

Looks good bud.. was not referring on you, was more a general thing...
Yes lots depends on the corals in your tank too... don't take it personally lol


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[Sharkbait-huhaha]

lol, none taken, bud!

[Dearth]

Well since I started this conversation and the resulting chaos falls on my shoulders I guess I should explain my tank first off I live alone secondly this is a long winded story

95 gallon wave tank
Made the decision to make my tank a softie tank because I know I don't have the equipment or space for said equipment.
Have 14 fish all under 4 inches several snails, crab, shrimp and 8 sea cucumbers ATM
My tank is as simple as it comes skimmer one end return pump on the other no other equipment at all
Manually dose vinegar once per day when I remember to

I don't have the standard 9-5 job and I work shift work (4 days on 4 off 12 hrs per shift 2 days 2 nights rinse repeat)so a maintenance schedule is spotty at best for me and there are times I am too physically exhausted to do anything but I feed my fish once per day

So down to testing my water just before my heart attack I was testing every week with 2 different test kits (API and Salifert) for all the usual stuff and could not trust either test so usually went down the middle of the road. Then my heart attack happened after that it was all I could do for 2 months after just to fill my top up water. After I recovered enough to go back to work I had other medical issues that took precedence over my tank all I did was feed my fish and top up my ATO. Enter 4 and a half months after my heart attack I did my first water change in 5 months I had red cyano everywhere and sick coral I was on vacation so I did 4 water changes in 9 days started cleaning up the cyano and by July my tank was healthy again. I did lose a few coral as would be expected but no fish, shrimp, snails or crab and had 3 sea cucumber at the time.

In all this time never did a water test and by the time I realized I hadn't done one in almost 7 months and as I got busy again with work and dealing with my medical issues I just kept up with my water change monthly and vinegar dosing and before you know it was a new year and if you care to look on 2017 full tank shots in pictures you will see what my tank looked like in January 2016 to January 2017 and not one water test.

You need not agree with my methods or maintenance schedule but I think I have done well for myself and it works for me and I have a happy thriving tank to boot. It may bite me in the asss one day and I will deal with it then but for now I have a healthy happy thriving tank which I will continue to enjoy

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by Sharkbait-huhaha

Oh com'n Galizio, I have not had one coral die on me, because I didn't check my parameters lol, But I did have corals die on me from stinging one another, BJD, or having a not so reef safe fish.

Like many other said in this thread, it really depends on what you keep in your tank, and how much you're willing to invest in it.

So I continue... day 201... parameters.. still no clue.

As long as my little nieces and nephews can come over each time, and look in awe, I am a happy camper.

For those curious whats lurking in my tank...







It might not be as grand as some of the amazing tanks I have seen in this CanReef community, but its my piece of the pie, They way I like it

Just out of curiosity, how is your Saddle Valentini Puffer with your Torch & Hammers? I love these little buggers but I am worried they will nip everything to death

[tang daddy]

Originally Posted by Dearth

Well since I started this conversation and the resulting chaos falls on my shoulders I guess I should explain my tank first off I live alone secondly this is a long winded story

95 gallon wave tank
Made the decision to make my tank a softie tank because I know I don't have the equipment or space for said equipment.
Have 14 fish all under 4 inches several snails, crab, shrimp and 8 sea cucumbers ATM
My tank is as simple as it comes skimmer one end return pump on the other no other equipment at all
Manually dose vinegar once per day when I remember to

I don't have the standard 9-5 job and I work shift work (4 days on 4 off 12 hrs per shift 2 days 2 nights rinse repeat)so a maintenance schedule is spotty at best for me and there are times I am too physically exhausted to do anything but I feed my fish once per day

So down to testing my water just before my heart attack I was testing every week with 2 different test kits (API and Salifert) for all the usual stuff and could not trust either test so usually went down the middle of the road. Then my heart attack happened after that it was all I could do for 2 months after just to fill my top up water. After I recovered enough to go back to work I had other medical issues that took precedence over my tank all I did was feed my fish and top up my ATO. Enter 4 and a half months after my heart attack I did my first water change in 5 months I had red cyano everywhere and sick coral I was on vacation so I did 4 water changes in 9 days started cleaning up the cyano and by July my tank was healthy again. I did lose a few coral as would be expected but no fish, shrimp, snails or crab and had 3 sea cucumber at the time.

In all this time never did a water test and by the time I realized I hadn't done one in almost 7 months and as I got busy again with work and dealing with my medical issues I just kept up with my water change monthly and vinegar dosing and before you know it was a new year and if you care to look on 2017 full tank shots in pictures you will see what my tank looked like in January 2016 to January 2017 and not one water test.

You need not agree with my methods or maintenance schedule but I think I have done well for myself and it works for me and I have a happy thriving tank to boot. It may bite me in the asss one day and I will deal with it then but for now I have a healthy happy thriving tank which I will continue to enjoy

I am happy you have recovered from the illness and same with your tank dearth. I think Rich said it best which was if you are keeping a system with softies and small amount of Lps then testing is not that important, but if you keep a tank with lots of sps then stuff like alk can deplete fast, most of my friends keep sps dominated tanks and basically alk drops at 1-2 points a day if they haven't dosed or ran out of alk. This can be detrimental to a system that depends on ca and alk.

Why did you have 8 sea cucumbers in your tank?

I think we've all been on the same boat with feeding once a day and that's it, I had family members to take care of and my son born a few years ago I only fed once a week and watched my tank literally melt down, sold some of the remaining corals and then shut down. I've been in the hobby for over 14 years and can say I know what it feels to be a lazy reefer, sometimes life can be hard and a hobby is the last thing on your mind, seen lots of good friends get out because of different things happening.

In the end we all want what's best for our reefs and some go through more time than others to take care of their inhabitants.

We all know the big 3 to test (for the people that do)
For me I like salifert as it is easy to use...
I use salifert for alk, ca, mg and no3
Hanna for alk and po4

The salifert for alk only gives you a reading of .05 but the Hanna will give you point to point so I usually do Hanna first for alk then recheck with salifert.
As I stayed in my previous post my alk jumped all over before I had the doser it was as low as 5.5 and as high as 11. Since the addition of the doser it's been stable at 8 to 8.5. My tank will consume less Ca and Alk when phosphates are higher at .24 but when phosphates are at .05 it consumes a lot more hence the swings of .05 to .24, big difference I know.

Looking at your tank can tell you a lot like when you have cyano it's mostly caused by elevated po4 and no3 but also when there is an imbalance in either one like too much po4 and no no3 or vice versa.

I think new reefers usually start with easier to keep softies like mushrooms and GSP and easier montis that are a lot more forgiving. With that said the start up cost for a new reefer can be a lot so test kits are not that important.

I have read people that have been in the hobby for over 25 years and don't do water changes and still have fully packed tanks but they supplement important additives into the tanks i.e. Strontium, potassium and also the big 3.

If you have a balanced tank with corals growing it will consume the big 3 and so one must adjust accordingly. The changes in consumption can be slow but eventually it will consume more and more. My sps are still small but never the less growing day by day and I keep adding more ca and alk bit by bit to keep levels where they need to be.

I have friends that keep rock flowers Zoas and flower pots they do water changes once a month and their tank thrives with heavy feedings.

I have gone without doing water changes for 4 months at a time in the past without any problems either. But now at this time I've spent too much on corals and even feel guilty missing my 5g water changes every 3-4 days.

[Dearth]

I started off with 2 cucumbers 3 yrs ago now they ebb and flow with the food considering I feed one frozen cube of brine shrimp per day I find it amazing that they procreate as they do. I had as few as one and as high as my current total but usually average 4 sea cucumbers

[Sharkbait-huhaha]

Originally Posted by DKoKoMan

Just out of curiosity, how is your Saddle Valentini Puffer with your Torch & Hammers? I love these little buggers but I am worried they will nip everything to death

I'm one of the fortunate ones. He's my favourite fish as well, such a funny personality. I've had him for 2 years now. He does not nip on any corals. But I do not take a chance, and feed the tank 2-3 times a day. Keep him fed so he doesn't go looking for something to nip at!

[mseepman]

So as I indicated early in this thread my tank is great evidence on the importance of regular testing. I have redundancy for just about everything, including a whole home generator just for the tank and peripherals, but due to a power outage my doser switched off for some reason and my tank was gobbling a lot of ALK every day. My testing regime was once a month and so I didn't notice the ALK drop until it had gone down to 4. As Rich suggested I tried to fix it maybe a little too fast and with the coral deaths coming on strong, suddenly I was also fighting other issues caused by the deaths. Hair algae showed up (something i'd never had a speck of in 4 years). I was so focussed on the ALK issue that I failed to properly adjust the other two and further chaos ensued. I've lost most of my corals, some of which I couldn't even fit between my eurobrace without breaking them apart and my tank is 3' wide. Testing once or twice a week would have spared me a pretty crappy year in reefing and you can bet I do it now (at least alk).

[Myka]

I understand the lack of time, or occasional "just don't feel like it". I fall victim to this too. I service/maintain aquariums full-time for a living. Sometimes when I clean and test tanks all day I don't want to clean and test my own. Recently, I managed to turn off my doser, and at the same time I slacked off on testing for a month. Things were starting to look "off" in the tank - a little less PE than usual, colors a tad faded, nothing singularly significant, but all together I knew something was wrong and whatever it was the damage was already done. That's what people don't get about "oh I just look at my corals, and they tell me if something is off" - the damage is already done. So I do a full panel test - alkalinity was 5.85 dKH, and I normally keep it around 7.2 dKH. So it had fallen significantly. Keep in mind my tank is about 95% SPS. At first, I assumed consumption has gone up, but I would do an "extra" manual dose again and again, and I wasn't getting anywhere. Finally I noticed, and switched the doser back on, and life is good. I very slowly got alkalinity to 7.0 and left it there - change it too much and MORE damage will be done. That was 3 weeks ago, and the tank appeared mostly unaffected. Remember however, the damage was already done. So now three weeks later, I'm seeing the results of my mistake (yep, that's how long it takes 2-4 weeks). I now have some very thin skinned Acros, and some browned out ones. Most are so far unaffected or only mildly affected, some look terrible. The moral of the story?? If I would have taken 90 seconds a week away from "enjoying the tank" and performing the most important parameter check on the tank - the alkalinity - I would have saved what is probably going to be several months of rehabilitation to get the Acros back to where they were in early February. I am so mad at myself.

I'm going to go do a water change and test the tank right now...

Originally Posted by Sharkbait-huhaha

I have not had one coral die on me, because I didn't check my parameters lol, But I did have corals die on me from stinging one another, BJD,

IME, the leading cause of Brown Jelly Diesase is low alkalinity. So IMO yes, you've experienced coral death from not testing and dosing. The trouble is that you, like many others, don't recognize the direct results of your actions (or inaction), and pass on this misinformation to other people. Ignorance is always bliss.

[Sharkbait-huhaha]

Originally Posted by Myka

IME, the leading cause of Brown Jelly Diesase is low alkalinity. So IMO yes, you've experienced coral death from not testing and dosing. The trouble is that you, like many others, don't recognize the direct results of your actions (or inaction), and pass on this misinformation to other people. Ignorance is always bliss.

Again, your theory is incorrect from the vague information I have given you. I received BJD in my nano tank because I acquire a coral from another reefer that had an outbreak of it. The only way I found out of it was because that certain reefer contacted me a few days later to warn me about her outbreak. Being newbie at the time I did not know what BJD was and how it would effect my tank. Even if I check my parameters, it would show no I'll sign that BJD had already entered my tank.

This was a discussion on WHO checks what and why or why not. Not a tutorial or pin point information on WHY you should check your parameters or not. I'm simply stating why I do what I do and how it has worked for me.