DarthV;1108937; said:
Yo V, knowledge is power. With it almost anything can be done, w/ out it very little gets done. I would rather know & have a chance, than not & be, well w/ out a chance.
How often do you test your water?
- Thread starter toehead11183
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Yo V, knowledge is power. With it almost anything can be done, w/ out it very little gets done. I would rather know & have a chance, than not & be, well w/ out a chance.
bigcichntwisted;1107431; said:
I won't lie, I don't really test often enough for the "obsessed" but its often enough for me and more often then most. I test my tank before and after a WC roughly every 2 weeks. And the mains is tested every month, again roughly. I've got 0,0,0 pH 7 every time from my mains for the past 4yrs so I'm not that worried. KH and GH aren't done often, twice yearly... maybe.
But what about Chlorine and Chloramine, you don't mention these. Whats the point of testing your tap water if you don't test for the two most harmful additives, after all that is the main reason we add conditioner isn't it? They are the most likely to change on a day to day basis as well. I use to test for chlorine and chloramine but don't bother no more as it hasn't fluctuated much since I started testing for it. I also add enough prime to my 8L bucket to dose a 40L so anything but the extremes should be covered.
Lastly, I think you should re-aim your blame of non-testers off of the young. I know many young people who test their water just as I know many old "experianced" people who don't, they use the reasoning "I know my tank, I've been doing it long enough".
It is easy to blame the young when you are old and visa-versa.
bigcichntwisted;1111074; said:Yo V, knowledge is power. With it almost anything can be done, w/ out it very little gets done. I would rather know & have a chance, than not & be, well w/ out a chance.
I agree, but it has never been an issue for me, so I can't imagine the amount of time and money that I would have spent doing rigorous testing as you do. I do water changes 5 or 6 days a week for my tanks (poor water heater can't handle doing all my tanks at once!).
I never (yes, really) test my water. I keep on top of my water changes, and know the fishes' behavior well enough to indicate if anything is "off" - but this has not happened in such a long time.
The key: Just maintain your tanks well, and that'll reward you with a low-maintenance schedule of testing, etc...
The key: Just maintain your tanks well, and that'll reward you with a low-maintenance schedule of testing, etc...
I use the testing to determine if and when water changes are necessary. Your point about water testing bieng a waste of time...money and effort...is just as valad when applied to water changes...Personally I can test 5 tanks in the time it takes me to do one proper water change. Yes fish CAN learn to tolerate many differant water conditions and a wide PH range but that hardly equates to providing an optimum environment.
Simply swaping out large amounts of water on a reqular basis is NO guarantee of high water quality and in many cases it stresses the fish. This is, in no way. an argument for never changing the water in your aquariums but rather a way to do so efficiantly and effectivly.
Simply swaping out large amounts of water on a reqular basis is NO guarantee of high water quality and in many cases it stresses the fish. This is, in no way. an argument for never changing the water in your aquariums but rather a way to do so efficiantly and effectivly.
