Help make a list: Everything an aquarist would ever test water for

[Oreo]

So I just bought a fancy piece of lab equipment for testing water. (Spectrophotometer - Hach DR 2000) It will test for well over over 200 different compounds in water with the right reagents. Anyway...

I'm ordering chemicals & printing instructions specifically for the tests I'll be doing on my aquarium water. I'd like you to help me make a list of all the things an ultra-diligent aquarist would test for under normal circumstances. (I can test for hydrazine but no point in that unless I suspect contamination with that chemical- which is not normal.)

So far, here's what I'm thinking:

• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Nitrate
• Chlorine (Free or Total ??? Please, someone explain how chloramine fits into this also.)
• Hardness
• pH
• Alkalinity

What about things like...????

• iron ?
• phosphate ?

What else can you think of?

 

[Pyramid_Party]

You got it pretty covered, you can also check for copper and salinity. Although, these are things you wouldnt normally check for unless you have a reason.

 

[Miles]

zinc and copper.. they can be bad

calcium and magnesium.. are the nutrients that effect your other things you test for.. having a super high calcium can give somewhat of a false reading when looking at hardness levels, but the rest of your water might be super nutrient depleted

not sure about the free chlorine thing, maybe a water chem expert will chime in.. I know chloramine is just chlorine with ammonia added but you might know that already

 

[[enjoyable_attempt]]

If your going marine, Iodine, Calcium, Phosphate, Phosphrous, Magnesium, Strontium

 

[Oreo]

I work in the municipal water business so I'm familiar with a lot of this but I see I still have a lot to learn as far as water chemistry goes. For instance, I can test for "chloride" but I'm not sure if that's the same thing as salt. It may be salt, but include other chlorides as well & it's important to know that when testing for something particular.

So far:

• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Nitrate
• Chlorine (Free or Total ??? Please, someone explain how chloramine fits into this also.)
• Hardness
• pH
• Alkalinity
• Copper
• Zinc
• Oxygen
• Salinity

What about things like...????

• iron ?
• phosphate ?
• Sulfate?

 

[Greenspot]

Temperature!!!

 

[E36 328i]

Definitely check for Phosphates. While not as common of a problem in F/W, it is fairly critical in Reef aquaria and can help you diagnose some severe problems with F/W aquaria.

 

[Bderick67]

Co2, and TDS(total disolved solids)

 

[Oreo]

Why test for TDS?

(Temperature - Well, sure. But not with a spectrophotometer. Not that I would expect anyone else to know that. lol)

If your going marine, Iodine, Calcium, Phosphate, Phosphrous, Magnesium, Strontium

Crap!! I missed this post. I'm not going marine but it's still good info for this thread. Thanks!

Now I suppose I should update the list with safe limits for each.

I also did some reading on chloramine. I understand that pretty well now. "Total Cl" test should detect chloramine. "Free Cl" will only detect chlorine, so I'm thinking the "free Cl" test is not helpful for aquarium purposes usually- except possibly in testing tap water to determine what type of Cl is being used.

 

[Oreo]

So far:

Primary items:

• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Nitrate
• Chlorine (Total, Free will not detect chloramine)
• Hardness (General = Ca & Mg)
• pH
• Salinity (Marine) (As Chloride for DR2K)

Secondary items:

• Alkalinity
• Copper
• Zinc
• Oxygen
• Salinity (FW) (As Chloride for DR2K)
• Phosphate / Phosphorous
• CO2 (as supplement)
• Iodine (Marine)
• Strontium (Marine) (Hmm... not listed for the DR2K)

What about things like...????

• iron ?
• Sulfate?
• Tannic acid / Tannins ???
• Redox (What is this?)
• ORP (What is this?)