Phantom Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Just interested to know what tests people think are worth doing. At the moment I do pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, carbonate hardness and general hardness. Although I don't think I really need to do the last 2 if the pH is staying relatively constant. I run a planted community tank. Is there something else I should test for for optimal plant growth etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 not really. you could check for phosphates if you wanted. how densely planted are we talking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted June 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 how densely planted are we talking? It's not that dense at the moment, but ideally I'd like to get a good carpet going over most of my 4ft tank with a few taller plant areas around some wood and leafy mid level plants down another end. I've seen tests for phosphates. What are the pro's / con's of phosphates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 too much phosphate leads to algae booms. that coupled with good lighting in most tanks will cause a nice healthy amount of algae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Just interested to know what tests people think are worth doing. At the moment I do pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, carbonate hardness and general hardness. Although I don't think I really need to do the last 2 if the pH is staying relatively constant. I run a planted community tank. Is there something else I should test for for optimal plant growth etc? IMO if you insist on doing tests you really only need to do PH and Nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite should never show up once the tank is cycled so you're just wasting money there, carbonate and general hardness would be good, but they tend to stay fairly stable as long as nothing changes significantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted June 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 IMO if you insist on doing tests you really only need to do PH and Nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite should never show up once the tank is cycled so you're just wasting money there, carbonate and general hardness would be good, but they tend to stay fairly stable as long as nothing changes significantly. Yeah I tend to mainly check the pH and nitrate. Only check ammonia and nitrites every now and then just to make sure they're good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 I generally don't test at all. I will when first setting up a tank, or if there's something wrong that I can't figure out what's causing it. Unless you're trying to breed fish, you're going to see changes in them before you see changes in the pH. And who cares what the pH is (in terms of numbers) as long as the fish are happy? Same with phosphates; I don't are if they're reading as really high if nothing visibly changes in the tank. I'd say nitrites and nitrates - you don't need ammonia, because once the nitrites are gone, then ammonia is too. Nitrates are good to know if you're having any problems, but in reality, the only thing you're going to do if they're high is water changes, and you're not going to be able to do too many, so if in doubt, just change the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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