Test Kit Differences

J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
I know that some of you know this, but for those who don't, this is what my most recent round of test kits came up with...

Alk:
Salifert 1: 7.6 dKh
Salifert 2: 7.0 dKh
Salifert 3: 7.0 dKh
Red Sea: 7.0 dKh
LaMotte: 7.4 dKh

Calcium:
Salifert 1: 460 ppm
Salifert 2: 420 ppm
Red Sea: 400 ppm
LaMotte: 410 ppm

I keep thinking of the old adage: A man with 2 watches never knows what time it is.

PS - I really hate the Red Sea tests...
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
#6
They are right now. 7 and 400 is where I like to be. I might even try 7 and 380-390 - some say there is better color to be had there.

I hate that the Red Sea color changes so slowly in the titration and that there are many shades of the color. I like that 1 drop typically gets the color changed in salifert. "..the color is blue, but is it blue enough? Huh, I dunno, maybe it blue enough, but maybe not... lets add some more drops."
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
#7
Mine is about the same... about 7.4ish. If only I knew what to trust... the calibration fluid or the test kit.

I kinda take all of these as a sway anyway... as long as they are all kinda close. I mean, what do we want out of a $20 test kit?
 
scchase

scchase

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
B.O.D. Member-at-Large
#9
#9
Overall I would say that all your readings are fairly good but even more within the margin or error on the test kits.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
#11
I really like Salifert, but I would get 2 of each for calcium and alk.

I test about once a month, unless:
my reactor media is getting low - might need changed soon
my corals look bad

I am lazy, I know.

My corals started to brown out some, so that is why I tested this time around... my alk got up to 9.8, which is not so good for my SPS with low levels of N and P. I turned the CO2 off to my reactor. I am testing every day while I had my reactor turned off waiting for the levels to go back down. I turned it back on this morning. Now, I will be testing every few days for a few weeks to make sure that it stays where I want it. My levels must have went up when I brought 200 gallons of sump and tanks online in the basement - the salt has a 10 dKh which is an issue 200G at at time, but not so much with a normal water change.

I always treat the results as a swag
 
D

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
#12
I recently tested my kits against a reference solution. I picked up a bottle of Fauna Marin multi-reference solution and here are my findings encase anyone is interested:

Reference vs Salifert
dKH 6.7>6.7
CA 422>410
MG 1314>1290
NO3 10>4.5

Reference vs Hanna Checker
dKH 6.7>6.88
PO4 .2>.018

ULR reference vs Hanna Checker
100>88

The Salifert NO3 is a bit concerning as it is reading low, which I also found to be the case when I ran the test against API a year or so ago.

I emailed Fauna Marin to make sure the PO4 reference was .2 and not .02, they said .2 which honestly I dont believe. At our shop we use the Hanna Phosphate checker which gave me a reading of .03. My ULR Phosphorous checker had a reading of .018. I then ordered the ULR reference solution from Hanna and it was supposed to read 100ppb and my reading was 88ppb which is right within range of their stated accuracy.

IMO the big 3 (CA MG, dKH) its more about consistency than accuracy. NO3 and PO4 its more about accuracy.

I test weekly.
 
jahmic

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
#13
djkms;284909 said:
IMO the big 3 (CA MG, dKH) its more about consistency than accuracy.
Click to expand...
I definitely agree, and given the variation between test kits I recommend never letting a test kit go completely empty before purchasing a replacement.

If you have reference solutions this is not an issue...but I always test my new kits against the old ones to ensure that any differences are accounted for. That way, any change in the kit's results don't cause me to erroneously adjust my tank's parameters. I also keep duplicate kits on hand for Alk Mg and Ca.
 
DyM

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
#15
I still like salifert and always have one full kit extra on hand. I think that as long as you're consistent and stable, the variances are tollerable if it's off a little, no big deal.
 
J

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
#16
I like Salifert too. The whole point of this post is to take these kits for what they are - cheap swags that need verified.

I would buy 2 of the Alk test kits since this is the most important. Alk is the one that I would test twice.

The LaMotte and Red Sea kits have the same ratio and number of ingredients, so I imagine that they use the same stuff. If you really want precision, then the LaMotte is supposedly the most precise.
 
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