Coral Keeping questions

[Papa Splax]

Hey i got a question for all you hardcore and even softcore coral keepers... What testing kits do you have handy, and how often do you test... I spend approx. 4hrs a day just watching it and wanna make sure i have every corner covered b4 turning it fully... i ordered from mr coral and i took his advice and got afew starter corals, but thats no reason for them to die

 

So i recently bought a Entek RO 6 stage filter w. lifetime warranty, for all water changes and top offs... im looking into a calc reactor but need to research it alot further b4 i even attempt to use it sounds confusing and dont wanna orderdose my tank...

 

Looking for essential & useful items for coral keeping, and testing

[Papa Splax]

55g aquarium, 45 lbs liverock, 600gph powerhead x2 + Intake Pump (water movement), 2 Heaters, Protien Skimmer, 2 Lionfish & 1 Butterfly fish

[LanglandJoshua]

From my softcore knowledge mostly these

 

alkalinity

calcium

copper

magnesium

ammonia

nitrite

nitrate

 

I believe there are more, but I dont remember them all.

 

 

[Der ABT]

there are kinda the main few and then others that are more informative

 

Alkalinity and PH are the most important imo

Calcium and alkalinity are tied together but its nice to know your calcium to see if they are correctly aligned (can point to and imbalance if not)

 

Magnesium is another one i test for occasionally.

 

Ive found Salifert to be the best kits so far, i tried to elos but since going to salifert i think i will stick with them and save a few bucks.

 

 

Phosphates, nitrates and nitrites are good to know as well, once your tank is established though it will let you konw when something is out of whack (algea etc), still good to test every so often (i think i do mine every month or two)

 

when you really get into it some test potassium and strontium as well, there are some reefkeeping (online magazine you can just google) articles on this... i choose not to test as i dont dose very often for this.

New tanks definately need to test amonia, if there is a die off from the live rock, sand bed stirred etc. I only test for it 2-3 times a year and have never actually had a reading.

 

I may have good or bad practices, but the main one with sps is alkalinity and ph. then phos/nitrates etc,

 

 

If you want to look into a good calcium reactor look at Avast, i have a write up on my experience in their forum.. I really like mine and its still working like a champ. Really you dont need one till you cant keep up with alkalinity/calcium needs....Look into their kalk reactor as well, that will hold you off to your stocked heavy enough to go to a calcium reactor (thats what i did for about 3 years prior). Avast makes some great products for the price, if you do the you build it you basically get something brand new for the prices of used other brand names that works just as good or better (did i mention new)

[trockafella]

On a side note, keeping fish that are known coral nippers, such as butterflyfish can also be a concern. Do research on the fish you have and plan to keep, along with corals you plan to keep. Take the time and know what your buying, otherwise it will be one problem after another.. Also, are those dwarf lions.? 2 Lions in a 55 is pushin it.. Buy more books and less corals/fish for now.

[Papa Splax]

I have one volitian lionfish (10in) & Dwark Fu-Chic lionfish or coralfish (3in) and 1 butterfly (2in)... I do not plan on buying more fish for a couple years.. My lionfish gets to aggressive towrds new fish... So i resorted to corals, and i did impulse buy but Mr. Coral had to good of a deal to pass up so i went with pics listed below...

 

I still need a ALK & Magn testing kits but that will be got next time i make it to LPS

 

As for these Salifert tests this im about to google

 

Hopefully I picked good corals i dont want to see anything die... or git nipped at do you think these are at risk of butterfly fish

 

 

Edited March 1, 2011 by Papa Splax

[trockafella]

What kind of butterfly is it.?? 10" Lion is pretty large for 55gal tank, the tank is only 12" wide.. If you plan to keep corals with success you will definitely need a Calcium, Alk, Magnesium, Nitrate test kits, phosphate kit wouldnt be bad either. You need a good refractometer, and most importantly good tank husbandry... What kind of lights are you using.? What kind of schedule are they on.?

'

 

 

[zygote2k]

eventually the big lion will eat the butterfly and the small lion- no need to worry about corals being nipped.

[Origami]

Once a tank is stable, you won't test for ammonia or nitrates much. But, in the beginning, these will be what you're testing the most. Until your tank fully cycles, that is. They're also the tests that you break out when stuff really seems out of whack after some "event."

 

I monitor pH and temperature continuously using a probe and an aquacontroller which keeps a log file that can be graphically displayed. It stays pretty stable, so I really don't look at it too much. The ACIII does text message me once a day with tank parameters, giving me a quick check at things.

 

Next up is alkalinity. I test alkalinity because, since I used balanced additives (a calcium reactor and a kalkwasser stirrer), this is going to give me the best, and most sensitive, indication of if I'm supplementing these in the volume needed to replace what's being consumed. I'll test alkalinity once every week or two, maybe less, under normal circumstances. If I'm making adjustments to things though, testing occurs more frequently.

 

After alkalinity, I probably test magnesium more than I test calcium. Magnesium is probably tested once every 2-4 weeks, sometimes even less frequently.

 

Finally, I'll check, in order of decreasing frequency:

 

Phosphate (infrequently)

Nitrate (infrequently to very infrequently)

Strontium (very infrequently)

Iodide (very infrequently)

 

I would test more for PO4 and NO3 if I had some issue that I thought might be tied to a problem here. In general, you'll get to know your tank and when you see changes, it will prompt you to test.

 

From experience, I'll tell you that I tested a lot more when I got started in the hobby than I do now. Sometimes once a day. Even more if I felt like it. Expect to follow that same path that most of us do.