the "force" or "to test"

[kidder]

I am interseted in hearing about what some of you reefers think about regular testing on an established tank. Is it neccessary? Can a reef keeper be successful by using vigilent observation, or is this method pursuing disaster? In other words, do the majority of us go overboard with unneccessary testing? Is "the force" acceptable? Just interesting in hearing some opinions.

[New_Noob]

many things are easy to determin, decline of corals/fish, hard breating in fish, corals closed, foggy water,

Ammonia, tartes, trites are all easy to determin by the actions of fish/corals, but calcium alk take alot longer to notic without testing, i would recomend testing calcium/alk weekly and Magnesium bi-weekly if you have many SPS and LPs in your tank, softies are alot more hardy with calcium/mag/alk and take little to non out of the water, as long as you do water changes weekly/bi-weekly on a softie tank all trace elements will be added back in.

[kidder]

So do you think "the force" is really "the farce"?

[BOTR]

Tanks in general can become chemicaly predictable. I know mine is. For the last year I have yet to test and find a difference from month to month. Stability is a wonderful thing. This is from ME with my tanks. If you dont test, and your tank fails, it's still your fault! Most people start out erring on the side of caution, and test frequently, then I think most taper off a bit on certain tests and just go with the feel of things. After a few years of weekly testing, you tend to get a bit tired of it.