What is impotant to test

[tiffany89]

Ive been looking into all these different types of test kits. I see that Red Sea makes a test kit for about everything. So what are the most important things to test for?

 

[hnguyen]

Ammonia, nitrate, phosphate. Useless your dosing cal, alk and mag, there's no need for them at this time. I've had my tank up for about 4 months now and only have the first three mentioned.

 

[ripped tide]

What ever you do, don't waste your money on the Elos potassium test kit.

 

[tiffany89]

I was thinking The Red Sea Coral Colors test kit and a magnesium test kit.


Is it really necessary to test for strontium ?

 

[ralph atl]

Tiffany89;874238 wrote:

Is it really necessary to test for strontium ?

nope!

 

[jef4y]

It depends on the state and age of your tank. In the beginning, you should test for:

Salinity/Specific Gravity
Ammonia
Nitrate
Nitrite
Phosphate
pH
Calcium
Magnesium

After you are comfortable with where your tank is at, you can back off the testing. I don't test anything in my tank unless I'm dosing something or have a specific problem.

One thing to NEVER do though, is to add anything to your tank (cal/mg/trace elements, etc) without testing for them. Too many people end up pouring crap into their tanks that the tank doesn't need. And they don't test for them, so they have no idea if they are in an appropriate range.