Do you test aquarium water?

[Barry Tetra]

Hey there,

I was wondering how many of you in this forum tested their aquarium water with the test kit?

Personally, I don’t use them, as I find them unreliable, so does most people in European and Asian planted tank forums. But then I have planted tanks and only keep easy fishes. I don’t cycle my tank as well, I just planted the tank heavily, then wait about 2-3 months.

 

[malfunction]

Yes, but not nearly as religiously as I used to. Now it’s mostly when I set up a new holding tank for grow outs and quarantine. I’ve had most of my setups for years, so they’re pretty stable and it’s very rare that testing provides any additional useful info. I think testing becomes unnecessary once your tanks are established and you’re keeping up with maintenance, but really useful in the early days when you’re trying to understand what your water parameters are, and how quickly they change in the tank.

Although I have plants in all of my tanks, I’m not a massive plant guy so always pay attention to my parameters when I set up a new tank, but I cheat when it comes to cycling by just transplanting media from one of my other tanks

 

[MattW]

I only test if there is something wrong with the inhabitants or when setting up a new tank. I stopped regular testing a while back now.

 

[Jennet]

As I am just getting back into hobby from yonks ago, and am just setting up two new tanks, yes I do. Because I know it is necessary until I feel I don't need to do it quite so frequently once I become knowledgeable enough to not do so.

 

[Tomsfish]

I bought a new master kit when it came time to re stock my 180 this last Spring.
It had been years since I tested the tank.
While I was comfortable with my existing fish in the tank, I was not comfortable adding many new fish without knowing what tanks values were.
I now have a new master kit that I will rarely use again.

 

[emeraldking]

I hardly test the water n my tanks. When I suspect something wrong in the water household, I'll test the water.

 

[GaryE]

I don't, but I think newcomers can learn a lot by doing so. I regularly check the municipal water reports, which are promptly posted online and reflect a testing spot I can see from my back window. So I know my water.
Since I change water on a very regular basis, what I have here stays in the chemical range of what I get from the tap, minus the chlorine. If I add tannins, they change nothing fundamental.

I dislike the API Master Kit, because it isn't a master kit. It tests well for the cycle, and gives pH, but hardness is more important than pH. I think they count on hobbyists to learn that as they go, and then have buy the add on kits. When we've fished in the tropical wilds, I notice our water testing guy uses different kits - European ones that seem much more complete. I can't say the brand because I've not done the testing.

 

[gwand]

I test for the nitrogen compounds only when a fish is sick or when I’m cycling a new tank. Some of my tanks are on well water where the GH fluctuates seasonally. Therefore I check GH every 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[connorlindeman]

I threw away my test kit a while ago. I never have issues with my fish.

 

[Back in the fold]

I bought an API fancy test kit seven years ago and have used it to check pH a couple times . The pH is the same as it’s been for many decades here . I want my $ 30 bucks back .

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Same here. If I suspect something is wrong, I'll test, especially the 150 gallon, which is in a dentist's office and which I only see once a week. For that one, I er on the side of knowing exactly what's going on. But even that one only gets tested a few times per year.

 

[Back in the fold]

especially the 150 gallon, which is in a dentist's office and which I only see once a week.

I’m always impressed by how nice and even perfect that display aquariums in offices look . You just have to know that the doctor or dentist isn’t taking care of it . They may not even be feeding the fish truth be known so how do they look so nice with an absolute minimum of care ? I remember the 55 gallon aquarium at the nursing home where my late wife stayed briefly nearly two years ago . It had way too many guppies and mollies and an over sized Plecostomus yet was clean and pristine . I brought some flake from home one day and we fed them and they were ravenous .

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I only would test when I would run my bio-farm for cycling filters. I would only check ammonia levels and TDS for which I have a digital tester.

When I kept Altum angels I had a continuous 3 way digital monitor for hardeness, pH and Temperature. I did this because I had to alter my well water parameters to lower both the pH and TDS. I would also mix my changing water next to the tank so I could move the probes from the tank to the changing container as I need to have the new water at levels which would bring the numbers back to the desired levels. The Ph would tend to rise from 6.0 towards 6.5 and the TDS would drift upwards a bit as well.

I do not test for any thing else. But I let how the fish, shrimp and plants are behaving to let me know when something might be off. A couple if years ago I discovered those tanks which were heavily planted and also contained both shrimp and assassin snails were clearly lacking in some things. My solution was SeaChem Ewquilibrium. At the normal dosing it is intended to help remineralize RO water such that it raised the hardness. But I used it to get some of the things it contains to somewhat higher levels in a tank without moving the hardness numbers.

I only use small amounts as I am not looking to raise the tds so much as to supply more of some of the mineral,s etc. that are used by those three things. What tipped me off that I needed to do this was the plants showed me they were not doing as well as they should be. Here is the ingredient list for Equilibrium:
Amounts per 1 g
Soluble Potash (K2O) 23.0%
Calcium (Ca) 8.06%
Magnesium (Mg) 2.41%
Iron (Fe) 0.11%
Manganese (Mn) 0.06%

What I mostly wanted to boost was the Calcium, Magnesium and Manganese. I use less than 1/4 teaspoon in the 75 gal. and even less in the 29 and 15. I do it all by eye. I can tell my levels are good as the plants did much better and the shrimp and snails also reproduced more and also looked great.

I have cooked and gardened for a lot of years. I did most of it by estimating what and how much of anything I needed to add to recipes and fertilizing. However what I mostly did was to change the "dosing" or ingredient amounts from the starting directions and recipes. Over time I got better and better at "flying by the seat of my pants." I do very little testing and my most used test are my 2 TDS pens.

 

[Uberhoust]

I did but now I don't. I used to do a lot of testing when I was raising fry but I don't find it is useful anymore since I am no longer breeding fish.

 

[bgarthe]

I don’t test too much anymore unless I’m setting up a new tank or a fish issue pops up. Every once in a while I’ll check something like nitrates, just to see how things are between water changes. I really do think, however, it is imperative to have means to test one’s tank water immediately. ******* It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.