Best time to check water parameters

Mekaeel

Mekaeel

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howzit crew.
was wondering whats the best time to test your water parameters,well thats according to what time your lights come on.as many of us know ph does tend to drop at night. so go ahead and talk guys ;)

or should i add,how many hours after your whites come on should it be checked.cool
 
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Well, assuming you're talking about pH, it would depend on your tank's setup, and if your pH is normally high or low, e.g:

If you're running a calcium reactor and the pH is on the low side, I would measure it early in the morning, just as the first lights come on - you will then know the lower limit of your tank (worst case...), and be able to take corrective action if necessary.

If you were dripping Kalk 24/7 and the pH tends to the high side, measure it just after the main lights go off - again getting a "worst case" reading.

The same would hold true for temperature - measure first thing in the morning during winter, and just after the main lights go out during summer.

I don't think there's a "good" time to measure any of the other parameters, do it when convenient...

Hennie
 
Good suggetions Hennie.
 
In the perfect tank, params should be stable all the time,, but very few of our tanks are perfect.............???
As each param has an effect on another, e.g. temp on dissolved calcium, lighting cycle on dissolved O2, etc, I believe that tests shoul be conducted at the same time of the day.
 
Do you have your sump on reverse light cycle?

Muz
 
Mekaeel, I drip my kalk top up only at night as this is one way of stabilising fluctuating pH.

The kalk keeps the pH from dropping too much at night by using up increasing levels of CO2 released by all your respiring creatures.
 
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