# How do you feel about doing water tests?



## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

I'm working on a project for school and need some sample data -
Please answer honestly, how do you feel about doing manual water tests?
(By water test I mean ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/any other tests)

(I'm a fresh water gal - any reefers wanna let me know what tests you commonly need to do?)


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

I never ever do them and I keep a lot of sensitive fish eg discus, zebra plecos and glass catfish. 

In my opinion, nothing beats regular water changes and if you are doing those, your ammonia, nitrate and nitrites should be fine.


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## AccidentalAquarist (Sep 11, 2013)

I second josephl. 
Hated doing them when I was first learning how to keep fish but did so regularly. 
Stopped using them a decade ago. I found that If I know what a specific reading is I'm going to want to change it and that starts a vicious and expensive cycle. Instead I watch my fish and plants closely everyday.
I do keep some basic liquid test kits around just in case. But 99% of the time they've expired before I need them

disclaimer - Just because this works for me doesn't mean it'll work for others


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## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

Interesting. To be honest though... Thats kinda of what I do... Although I did learn a hard lesson when I had a nitrate spike and lost some fish.

Do you guys think it would be helpful to have the ability to monitor the levels if you could do so without manually testing the water?


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I have test kits, I rarely use them for most of my established tanks. It's useful in the beginning of a new setup until you get a hang of the water parameters. Most of my tanks have soft water, so with pre measured buffers and regular water changes, water parameters are consistent so there's no point in testing what you kinda already know. The exception are the hard water tanks - tanks completely different from our local tap water. Because I'm conditioning fish to breed, I'm feeding heavier and monitoring nitrate levels to get a feel of frequency and volume of water changes. That requires regular nitrate testing and my tds meter for water hardness. Love my meter, instant readings and I hate liquid reagents, they take too long for nitrate testing. 

There are meters available now for certain water tests, expensive though and not necessary for my applications.


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

I use liquid test kits, test strips are crap.

Don't really like doing it, I rarely do it at home except when there is problems...even at work at a LFS I hated doing them hahah.


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## C-kidder (Aug 2, 2014)

I don't enjoy it and don't do it regularly but I try to do it at least 1 time a month randomly when I have free time. 
I do what others are saying and keep diligent with water changes so never really have issues with nitrates or nitrites ect.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Water changes are an obvious necessity. I tested diligently when I first started with dwarf shrimp and was testing with ph and buffers and different substrate.

I only tested weekly when I first started a planted tank, which didn't work out very well for me any how.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Depends on the context. For planted tanks you want to make sure you have some nitrate phosphate kh and gh. If my plants look off I test to see if I need to adjust my dosing.


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

If you want to have your animals excel, regular testing of water specifics needs to happen. KH , GH, PH, and TDS rare great tools for triggering spawning, maintaining a proper planted tank, a thriving reef or keeping a plant or animal happy that many have failed with. 

In my case it's mostly about plants and using EI dosing covers the macros etc. but I also have about thirty extremely rare cryptocoryne species that I have been growing (and three are currently flowering  ). Testing allows us to get a glimpse into what is happening in the Petri dish that is our tank's waters. Regular water changes do a lot to limit any maladies, but it does little or nothing regarding mineral content, buffer capacity etc. 

And seriously a pH, GH and KH test kit is maybe thirty dollars total? How much did you spend on your last aquarium store purchase? Lol


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## Snugpuppies (Jun 7, 2014)

Once my tanks have cycled, I never test for nitrites or ammonia - unless, I add a ton of new fish and expect the bioload to bump out of whack. As everyone says, the fish will tell you if something is going on & I do weekly water changes (approx 50%). I do however do ph testing and gh/kh testing each week when I do water changes on my african tanks. I am one of those people that do keep my tanks at various ph levels & water hardness.

The reason I do testing on my water (when doing water changes) is because the city water often changes parameters that have cost me dearly in the past. When we have heavy rains, it tends to change the water parameters.

Michael


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Just done my tests before my w/c for a baseline....
View attachment 72737


East took five mins tops.


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

for me, I always watch fishes/corals/invert.... If they look unhappy, then I do full water test. I test water often when I first set up the tank though. As for breeding tanks (CBS and Apisto), I check TDS and nitrate weekly..


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

I agree with joseph. I go by the fish. wcs keeps things in check..first line of defence should always be a wc. keep the water good..the fish will be happy from ear to ear. 
I do however have to do some for beginner customers..hate it. had ph meters..they become uncalibrated,,batteries..etc..I use the ph test kit liquid..and it doenst have the same readings as the dip stick. main thing I look for with newbies is high nitrates, ammonia or nitrates. I then tell them do your wcs..vacuum the bottom..and don't just add water. remove and add.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

I was able to pick up a tripple metter a few years back from a hydrophonic store.
it measueres PH temp hardness 
so simple to use and monitor.

My water at the end of the pipeling from North Vancouver here is S Surrey

I have seen my tap water anywhere form PH 6.8 to 8 so it is worth monitoring.
I catch as much rainwater to use as possible but test the PH before using due to contaminates that my be carried.


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## Rockman (May 19, 2013)

I have tests for pH, GH, KH, TDS, NH3, NO2, NO3, and PO4 (a mix of meters and liquid kits). I don't usually test for ammonia or nitrite in established tanks (it's very rarely a problem... I've had one issue with nitrite in an established tank in 15 years of fishkeeping). pH and TDS I have meters for. They're easy enough to use I test all the time (I actually have continious monitors on some tanks... which has been useful); but they're particularly handy for acclimatizing fish (combined pH and TDS readings are a pretty good indicator of how different water is chemically) and mineralizing wc water. kH, GH, NO3, and PO4 are done whenever I feel the need to know more about the water chemistry (it's good to double check things on a regular basis... evaluate how you're doing in terms of WC's, mineral mixes, fertilizer, etc. Fish tanks are constantly evolving... your water might be more changable than you think).

I've currently working on a DIY monitoring system that will do temp, pH, TDS and ORP in my big tank; partly as a learning experience (a continious plot can actually be suprisingly informative) and partly as a way to keep tabs on things while I'm at work. I'm planning on starting a thread about it at some point... I started collecting data from some of the probes yesterday; so there's not much to tell yet.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

with the advent and developements for smart phones there is probably an app for monitoring that though home automation


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

I test a new tank. Then only of something seems off. Once your tank is stable it's pretty relatable


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## C-kidder (Aug 2, 2014)

Vancitycam said:


> Just done my tests before my w/c for a baseline....
> View attachment 72737
> 
> 
> East took five mins tops.


The 5 mins does add up especially when caring for multiple tanks, I still think that testing is a good idea and good thing to preach but some of us are bad people.


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

Yes very bad people 5 mins per tank is easy but I guess multiple tanks isnt easy but you guys fill em you guys should keep em. Lol(hides under chair)


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

I do agree with algae beater on this one. It is a good habit to monitor your water. Do a sample testing every now and then.


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