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bravery test. fess up. i know i'm not the only one.

Hockeynut

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
I test every once and a while, I do water changes every week and my salt keeps most parms pretty level. I dose alk and cal so I have to test sometimes. My tank don't lie, it lets me know when things are even slightly off, that's when I break out the tests. I think, especially with new comers that most tend to rush and chase numbers so crazy that they do more harm then good. As far as judging others and there tank husbandry that's a slippery road to travel down around here, there are some Great reefers on this site you are judging. I say if it works for you who am I to say that its the wrong way.

Enough said on that note
 
Rwc

Rwc

I am testing weekly right now since it is only a 2 month old tank, but my old tank I tested once a month. Apex controller does good job with ph readings which is good since I'm dosing calc and alk. Green hair algea is usually my indicator of problems. As for clean water for my dogs that's the easy part I wish they would stop eating deer crap tho. So I don't think the dirty water is going to be their demise hah
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Zippy69 said:
After thinking about this more, I do not want to give the wrong impression to a beginner. In my opinion, I think it is good to test and observe your corals. However, daily testing will result in you chasing a ghost with regards to parameter corrections. For a new reefer please remember water changes, testing, observing your corals/fish are VERY important. For those advanced and know their tank in and out, well hats off!
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You are correct to explain this. When a newbie has the 30 years experiance like I have, they will then learn how to read their animals.:chuncky:
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
JasonB said:
This is a response to the original poster and anyone else that doesn't test their water and make proper water changes. You are not doing things right and should not have fish or an aquarium. These fish and other animals are our pets and we should be taking proper care of them. Would you give your pet dog or cat dirty water to drink? How about your children? If you are too lazy or too cheap to test your water, maybe it's time to find another hobby.
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I dont remember reading any posts that say they dont do water changes. Of course water changes are the most important thing to do. Most of us are smart enough to remember our actions of our fish and kids. If you dont know your kids by the time their teenagers, you were never their father.
 
R

REEFLECTIONS

i'm actually grateful. i gave my daughter clean water to drink for the first time and she LOVED it. no more drinking out of puddles for her.
 
P

PaulM

JasonB said:
This is a response to the original poster and anyone else that doesn't test their water and make proper water changes. You are not doing things right and should not have fish or an aquarium. These fish and other animals are our pets and we should be taking proper care of them. Would you give your pet dog or cat dirty water to drink? How about your children? If you are too lazy or too cheap to test your water, maybe it's time to find another hobby.
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Do you take your dog,cat or other pets to the vet weekly? What about your kids if you have any, do you take them to the doctors weekly if they are feeling fine? Most people look into issues when something is actually wrong. There is a saying "if it's not broken don't fix it".


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lefkonj

lefkonj

I agree with the sentiment that as your tank/experience grow people probably test less and less. Personally I check salinity so that my weekly water changes are on par. For the most part my testing is done when I feel like i need to check something, normally Calc and ALK. I use Redsea and hanna, was using ELOS in the past but it was terrible.
 
JasonB

JasonB

PaulM said:
Do you take your dog,cat or other pets to the vet weekly? What about your kids if you have any, do you take them to the doctors weekly if they are feeling fine? Most people look into issues when something is actually wrong. There is a saying "if it's not broken don't fix it".


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I don't take my dog to the vet weekly, but I do take him a few times a year even if he seems well to me.

So if it's not broken don't fix it? Do you not replace your car tires before they blow out? Do you wait for your engine to seize up before changing your oil? It's called preventative maintenance.
 
P

PaulM

JasonB said:
I don't take my dog to the vet weekly, but I do take him a few times a year even if he seems well to me.

So if it's not broken don't fix it? Do you not replace your car tires before they blow out? Do you wait for your engine to seize up before changing your oil? It's called preventative maintenance.
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Exactly my point. You wait till you see your tires are worn and then you replace them. You just don't replace them every month. Same for the oil. You do t replace it weekly you wait till you reach 5000 miles. Testing your water isn't preventative maintenance.


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JasonB

JasonB

PaulM said:
Exactly my point. You wait till you see your tires are worn and then you replace them. You just don't replace them every month. Same for the oil. You do t replace it weekly you wait till you reach 5000 miles. Testing your water isn't preventative maintenance.


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But you are missing the point, seeing your tires is the test. Checking your oil level is the test. After you make the observation, you decide on what to do about it.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

OK I am going to confess now...I used to test...and the tests drove me crazy between getting old and my eyes going bad and ambiguous test results I rarely test for anything with the exception of salinity for my water changes. I have PH and Temp probes so I look at those but that is it really. If I have something in QT I constantly monitor that because the tank isn’t established and stable. When I set up a new tank I test but after a few years what is really going to change?
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

JasonB said:
But you are missing the point, seeing your tires is the test. Checking your oil level is the test. After you make the observation, you decide on what to do about it.
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Jason...I think the analogy is that you don't test your oil to see how much crap is in it you change it when it is needed.
Thus we don't all test our water we do our water change and if something starts to look bad (or car runs bad) we test.
 
jgraz

jgraz

And looking in your tank and seeing that a particular coral has lost a shade of green may tell you that it's time to add GFO or noticing a bit of extra algae on the glass may tip off a WC.

I don't test but I can tell you right now what my parameters are. I can do this because I know my tank. I know what goes in and what code out. I chose not to test anymore because when I did the outcome was what I expected it to be.
 
dirtycontour

dirtycontour

PaulM said:
Exactly my point. You wait till you see your tires are worn and then you replace them. You just don't replace them every month. Same for the oil. You do t replace it weekly you wait till you reach 5000 miles. Testing your water isn't preventative maintenance.


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I was with you until the last sentence. I believe that testing your water routinely is preventative maintenance. If I see my Alk slipping, I will take action before my livestock is negatively affected.

Do I think you are a terrible person for not testing? No, but I do believe tragedies can be avoided by testing. I do understand that people develop the "reefer's eye" over time, I just think there is too much to gain by testing.
 
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