Who tests their water-change mix?

[lastlight]

I'm onto my second change tomorrow and haven't tested my water (any of it beside ammonia and nitrtite) and I got thinking about this. I plan to test the tank every week or so I *think* but not sure I want to bother with each 25 gallon batch. I roll my pails well before use.

[banditpowdercoat]

I only test Ca/Mg/Alk in tank and WC water. Then adjust WC water to acheave tank levels I want

[lastlight]

How often do you do WCs?

For me this would mean 2 tests of each. Every week.

[banditpowdercoat]

Definately not often as I should 3-4 weeks but have relatively low Bioload

[lastlight]

See if I did monthly changes no biggie I'd test both without hesitation. I just think testing is a royal pain and each time I do tests my mind is aware that the hobby kits are all crap anyways. I'm sure I will test the big 3 weekly but I need more votes for 'yes' to guilt me into it.

[kien]

I only test new buckets for Alk, Calc and Mag. (ie, the first WC from that bucket). Once I have an idea of what the parameters for that bucket is I'll dose the WC to compensate. However, I'm finding that I don't really need to do this. I've been using the basic Instant Ocean salt for as long as I've been salting and the parameters have been more or less the same since day one. I like consistency.

[lastlight]

Yeah that's a great idea. I think if you roll pails well you can assume the mixes from it will be consistent enough.

[kien]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Yeah that's a great idea. I think if you roll pails well you can assume the mixes from it will be consistent enough.

Yup, pretty much. My son has now taken up the task of rolling. He thinks it is great fun. er.. is it considered child labour if they are having fun??

[Delphinus]

I test for Ca, Alk and Mg for every new BATCH of salt (new bucket or new bag). After that the first water is made, I don't bother with it again (ie. don't test for every water change).

I have been burned far too often by being caught unawares that a salt is not living up to its credo for params. The irony is the more expensive salts have always been the worst offenders too. Just because you pay more doesn't give you an assured QA process, apparently (and I love how it always gets turned around on you so that it's the "users" fault that a salt has no Mg or Alk because they didn't "mix the salt before mixing the water". I think that's totally absurd, but yeah, I guess you have to do it since you can't rely on the salt makers to adequately prepare their product before they send it to market). Although I would go so far to suggest that the times I noticed that Alk was woefully low, or dangerously high, or Mg was half the advertised claim, that pre-use mixing the salt didn't help - the problem was the salt itself.

So, I don't bother with premium salts anymore. If I have to dose Ca, Alk and/or Mg into a salt I figure I might as well save a few bucks because the price of chems is far less than the increased premium price on the salt itself. So I use IO, I accept that I'll have subpar Ca, Alk and Mg, so I dose accordingly for each new batch of salt. (The surprising thing is these numbers are usually not as bad as you'd think, to boot.) The nice thing is that once I know how much a batch needs for one makeup bucket, I know how much to add for the next water change.

But it does mean I *have* to test each new bag or bucket.

[lastlight]

Because I'm using the new Reef Crystals I figure all 3 should be on the slightly high side based on a few user's tests. I should test of course to make sure but I've been putting it off and right now the tank is just cycling.

I figure I won't have to open my box of chems for a while with this salt if what they claim and what tests have shown.

Kien I loved the bit about child labour. Careful a loved one doesn't fall under a rolling bucket and get flattened. I know you've seen that part in UHF...