What To Log And When?

[DarkSoul]

I want to setup some pages to print, to keep a log book of my tank, various things like ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph, kh, gh, TDS, and im wondering if there are other i should be checking on and recording every now and then.

How should i setup such a template/form?

 

[Mr Miagi]

I log:

- Nitrate
- Nitrite
- Ammonia
- Salinity
- Alkalinity
- Calcium
- Temperature

All on a weekly basis (of course some of those are for marine, but you can adjust with ones you've already got). Its good to get it going long term, because you can also note trends by using a graph function. For the basics, id use Microsoft Excel, its simple, and you might have encountered it before at school etc. There are also software programs specifically designed to log aquarium data, but I did some looking around, and the only good ones were pricey, and the free MS Excel does the job for me. SPSS is also another program you could use, but that does not come standard with MS packages, and you'd have to buy and install it yourself, and for the cost, and the time it would take you to learn all the functions, it wouldn't be worth it.

 

[iairj84]

Someone on the forums made a PDF file to print but if my memory serves me correct it was meant more for the MTS (Multiple tank syndrom) type of person since it was set up to have a bunch of tanks getting maintanence. I will make one up here in a few days for mine but I've been using a notebook and writing down water parameters, which days I do water changes, add ferts, add fish or anything. It makes it much easier than going off of memory.

 

[Majjie]

I had logs for my tanks just after I'd set them up - but then I got lazy and didn't fill them in. After a while you don't need to keep testing the water - but I wish I had kept them up - for things like when a particualr fish was added - when a plant was added - and when I changed the flourescent tubes!