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wisco-reef
02/03/2009, 10:56 AM
What other things should I be testing my water for besides salinity and ph? Also I was wondering about feeding coral?

_E_
02/03/2009, 11:07 AM
Temp, pH, and salinity are the three that I check most often. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are needed to gauge your cycle and sometimes to diagnose problems down the road. Calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are needed if you are going to keep any stony corals or any organisms that use calcium to build their structure. Phosphates are also nice to check sometimes but, in many instances, the test may read zero while you have breakouts of phosphate consuming cyano.

NirvanaFan
02/03/2009, 11:19 AM
I usually only test for specific gravity, ph, alkalinity, calcium, and occasionally nitrates. You can probably skip the calcium test kit if you're not keeping any stony corals.

Randy Holmes-Farley
02/03/2009, 11:51 AM
I agree with the above, except I would not bother to buy a nitrite kit. It is not toxic in marine systems, and is never elevated anyway after initial cycling.

These articles describe what I think you should test for:

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners,
Part 4: What Chemicals May Detrimentally Accumulate
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php