aquariumwatertesting.com

tinctorus · Oct 25, 2012

Has anyone used this company before?
I just happened to stumble upon them today and it just seems a little absurd to me to pay $42 to send your water off to be tested when in all actuality you SHOULD have your own test kits at home to be able to test your water whenever you want/need to...

Having your own test kits is beneficial to you and your tank because if you are having an issue you can immediately test your water and try to find out whats wrong, Now granted I do realize that buying test kits for each of the 13-14 tests they offer would obviously be more than the $42 dollars they charge you, HOWEVER once you test 4-5 times the price of those test kits doesnt seem that expensive anymore

They also offer a 24 pack of test for $580!!! which I can guarantee that 24 tests from 13-14 different test kits would NOT be that expensive "also the 24 tests are ONLY good for 1 year

Does anyone else find this as absurd as I do?

Pkunk35 · Oct 25, 2012

There was a thread on this service, maybe it will help your rage

(kidding!)

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-discussion/44686-aquariumwatertesting-com.html

I think home test kits are ok for stability but not for accuracy.

thewackyreefer · Oct 25, 2012

I just sent in my first sample.

When your tank is testing fine but you can see obvious issues, is there a better option than paying $40 to have everything tested? Probably not. You'd spend WAY more trying to figure out which test (if any) is bad and giving false results.

Electrobes · Oct 25, 2012

You know.. this is going to make me sound like a bad reefer.. or over-confident, but I just don't test anymore.. I go by eye. I have considered using their services once a year (Like a Reef check up) mainly for my curiosity. What I find a bit much are the costs of test kits in general. It kills me that they are so expensive. But then again, this hobby ain't cheap!

Ike · Oct 26, 2012

Their results are notoriously wrong, especially calcium. It's quite common for the reults on calcium to test much lower than actual through them, to the point that their results in general are useless. I would trust and inexpensive API test kit LONG before I would trust any of the AWT results and I highly suggest that none of you that are using AWT tweak your levels based on their analysis.

Electrobes · Oct 26, 2012

That makes me sad to hear, what makes you believe they are so inaccurate Ike? I was very much considering using them but am always open to hear the other side.

Ike · Oct 27, 2012

Electrobes said:
That makes me sad to hear, what makes you believe they are so inaccurate Ike? I was very much considering using them but am always open to hear the other side.

From participating in forums over the years I've seen everything from 3 different results from the same water sample that was sent as different water samples. Also, the Calcium results have been consistently low and off from MANY tests from people that have confirmed much higher clacium levels. THe same goes for alakalinity... Silica is almost always present in high levels according to them. There are a few other things that have been consistently high or low with just about everyone that sends in tests to them.

Bottom line, our hobby kits are known to be fairly accurate for Calcium, even cheap kits such as API. If they can't get that one basic and very important element correct then you probably should not trust their other results.

tinctorus · Oct 28, 2012

Ike said:
Their results are notoriously wrong, especially calcium. It's quite common for the reults on calcium to test much lower than actual through them, to the point that their results in general are useless. I would trust and inexpensive API test kit LONG before I would trust any of the AWT results and I highly suggest that none of you that are using AWT tweak your levels based on their analysis.

Lol so they are charging people an arm and a leg for test that arent even accurate?
Man I swear people just treat reefers like our water quality doesnt matter...

Zoacoral · Oct 28, 2012

Heck send me your water adn ill test it for $20 for you, LOL

DaveMorris · Oct 28, 2012

I have heard many of the same complaints about their results. I use Salifert kits and a Hanna meter for phosphates. Also just acquired a Milwaukee salinity tester. I probably have $175 worth of test kits and even at that I feel it is money well spent.

Ike · Oct 28, 2012

tinctorus said:
Lol so they are charging people an arm and a leg for test that arent even accurate?
Man I swear people just treat reefers like our water quality doesnt matter...

The reef hobby has a long history of people shelling out money for gimmicks, poor products and poor services. Just look at all the unnecessary supplements people like to dump in their tanks. Why should water testing be any different...

tinctorus · Nov 9, 2012

Ike said:
The reef hobby has a long history of people shelling out money for gimmicks, poor products and poor services. Just look at all the unnecessary supplements people like to dump in their tanks. Why should water testing be any different...

Marc weiss is FAMOUS for selling "snake oil" products to reefers...alot of his stuff has all sorts of weird garbage in it like cayenne pepper and other silly stuff