A tank fit for a rodeo clown(fish)

[daileyo]

@daileyo I just checked out the Marine Master and it doesn’t even give you a purchase option. You have to request a quote. Oof! I hope it’s not one of those “if you have to ask you can’t afford it” kind of thing. Would be tremendously handy to have one tester for all major parameters rather than spending $50 for a checker for each parameter.

You can get it on Bulk Reef Supply and SaltWaterAquarium sites. I linked to the Hanna page to avoid appearing biased to one vendor or the other.

It is pretty pricey (~ $400.) Both the above vendors have some good video reviews of it so far.
Saltwateraquarium.com review.
Bulkreefsupply.com review.

 

[RodeoClownfish]

Thanks @daileyo. I checked out both of their videos on YouTube but what caught me by surprise are the comments. One commenter stated the checker was rushed to market, and will need to be sent back to Hanna in a year to be updated for ammonia and phosphate capabilities. Do you know if there is any credence to this claim?

As a noob this seems like a really nice tool, and I’d consider buying it over a half dozen individual checkers at $55 a piece, but given ammonia and phosphate are pretty critical measurements, I’d probably rely on my Red Sea kits until the Marine Master was updated to include ammonia and phosphate - a true All-in-one for reef tanks.

 

[daileyo]

Thanks @daileyo. I checked out both of their videos on YouTube but what caught me by surprise are the comments. One commenter stated the checker was rushed to market, and will need to be sent back to Hanna in a year to be updated for ammonia and phosphate capabilities. Do you know if there is any credence to this claim?

As a noob this seems like a really nice tool, and I’d consider buying it over a half dozen individual checkers at $55 a piece, but given ammonia and phosphate are pretty critical measurements, I’d probably rely on my Red Sea kits until the Marine Master was updated to include ammonia and phosphate - a true All-in-one for reef tanks.

The comments I noticed were about ammonia and magnesium. I'll read through more. IMO, these are good to have, but not critical long term. Ammonia seems to be most valuable to test for during cycling... but once the tank is up, it isn't needed as much as long as you are monitoring and regulating nitrate and phosphate levels. Magnesium is also good to test for, but not crazy critical for frequent testing.

It is brand new, so it would certainly run the risk of potential early adopter regret. To me the most critical ones would be:

• Alkalinity
• Calcium
• Phosphate
• Nitrate

It does have all of those, along with PH, and ultra low range Nitrate. PH is critical too, but in my case, I have a PH probe for live monitoring.

I'm by no means a pro. I'd be curious what some other more seasoned folks here with killer established tanks think about it.

I like the Red Sea test kits for Alk, Calc, and Mag. I use Nyos for Nitrate as well. I've started using Hanna for Alk, Phosphates, and more recently Nitrates. Where I have duplicative tests between Hanna and another kit, I use the other kit as a secondary check when I want to be more confident of the result.

If you're thinking about doing some Hanna testers, but haven't bought any yet; you're at a good time because you can wait and see how people like the Marine Master if you want. I probably won't get it because I already have so many Hanna testers already. But I would've considered it very heavily if I was just starting to buy them.

 

[RodeoClownfish]

Alright friends, quick update on the tank along with a few photos of my saltwater transfer/mixing process. Long story short, tank looks excellent. Nitrites and ammonia barely register. Still dosing 15mL Microbacter 7 daily. I’m leaving the lights off for now to deter algae growth but the tank gets plenty of natural light in my office.

As far as water goes, I pull 65 gallons of 0 TDS RODI water from a local car wash, put it in my fresh water tank, bring it home in my pickup, transfer to the saltwater bin using an old sicce return pump and 50’ of food grade vinyl hose and mix from there. I also take the opportunity to fill several 5 gallon buckets and 1 gallon jugs with fresh water as well for top off or mixing small batches.

I should be getting fish next week. Stay tuned!