Something in my water messes with my phosphat test ?

[Stick-y]

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'm from Belgium so please forgive my english and let me know if something I write isn't clear enough

I have a 36 gallons reeftank, I have the RedSea pro phosphat test kit and it's been three weeks I have really really high phosphate (more than 1ppm). All my corals are fine, I don't have algae (even not on the tank glass)... So today I went to my local fish store, the owner has a machine to test water. According to this machine my phosphat are 0.4 ppm... I was very surprised so I asked him to test my water with a classic JBL phosphat test, the result : 1.2 ppm.

So here is my question, is it possible that something modifies my test at home with RedSea Pro test kit ?

My problem isn't really the high phosphat because I know where they come from : I dosed too much of reefroids for a month... I have now a GFO to lower the phosphat down but I don't know if my test are accurate or not and that's worrying me...

Thanks for your time

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Hobbiest phosphate tests are not very accurate and I would guess this is why you are seeing a difference.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree that inaccuracy is the issue, not chemical interference.

 

[Stick-y]

I agree that inaccuracy is the issue, not chemical interference.

Tthe gap between 1.2 and 0.4 is huge seems to be huge, don't you think ? Is it possible that ReefRoids and poly-booster from PolypLab may play a role in this issue ? When it comes to chemistry, I'm a real newbie so I'm sorry if my questions seems a bit dumb...
I read today the four-part article on this forum to improve the testing method, it was really very interesting !

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Tthe gap between 1.2 and 0.4 is huge seems to be huge, don't you think ? Is it possible that ReefRoids and poly-booster from PolypLab may play a role in this issue ? When it comes to chemistry, I'm a real newbie so I'm sorry if my questions seems a bit dumb...
I read today the four-part article on this forum to improve the testing method, it was really very interesting !

Hobby kits are also sometimes VERY inaccurate. It's huge, and not a rare event.

No, it is not a chemistry interference issue.

 

[Dan_P]

Tthe gap between 1.2 and 0.4 is huge seems to be huge, don't you think ? Is it possible that ReefRoids and poly-booster from PolypLab may play a role in this issue ? When it comes to chemistry, I'm a real newbie so I'm sorry if my questions seems a bit dumb...
I read today the four-part article on this forum to improve the testing method, it was really very interesting !

The JBL indicates 1.2 ppm
Red Sea indicates > 1 ppm
Fish store machine (unknown) 0.4 ppm

Maybe the fish store machine is wrong.

 

[Stick-y]

The JBL indicates 1.2 ppm
Red Sea indicates > 1 ppm
Fish store machine (unknown) 0.4 ppm

Maybe the fish store machine is wrong.

I managed to find the fish store machine on the internet : http://waterlinkspintouch.com/spin-touch-ff.html
The weird thing is that my tank seems to be fine, I will test again next week and I won't give Roids in the meantime...
Thanks for your comments

 

[NS Mike D]

I like that is uses a photometer to read the tests. I don't like that it works like the test strips with all the reagents on a pad.

Right now I'd go with this:


"All my corals are fine, I don't have algae (even not on the tank glass).."

 

[Dan_P]

I managed to find the fish store machine on the internet : http://waterlinkspintouch.com/spin-touch-ff.html
The weird thing is that my tank seems to be fine, I will test again next week and I won't give Roids in the meantime...
Thanks for your comments

Hey! The Spin Touch from LaMotte looks absolutely unbelievable!! 8 different tests at once from one water sample. Are you kidding me. I can’t believe the reefing community has been discussing this.

I need to dig deeper into accuracy and precision, but if this from LaMotte, I am guessing that I won’t be disappointed.

Thanks for pointing this out. It still could be wrong though or the test done incorrectly

 

[DeniableArc]

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'm from Belgium so please forgive my english and let me know if something I write isn't clear enough

I have a 36 gallons reeftank, I have the RedSea pro phosphat test kit and it's been three weeks I have really really high phosphate (more than 1ppm). All my corals are fine, I don't have algae (even not on the tank glass)... So today I went to my local fish store, the owner has a machine to test water. According to this machine my phosphat are 0.4 ppm... I was very surprised so I asked him to test my water with a classic JBL phosphat test, the result : 1.2 ppm.

So here is my question, is it possible that something modifies my test at home with RedSea Pro test kit ?

My problem isn't really the high phosphat because I know where they come from : I dosed too much of reefroids for a month... I have now a GFO to lower the phosphat down but I don't know if my test are accurate or not and that's worrying me...

Thanks for your time

G’day mate, I have used Red Sea p04 test kit for a year and thought it was accurate until I got a icp test. It wasn’t and I now use the Hanna phosphorus checker. I don’t know if it was a bad test but it was way out.

 

[lapin]

I use the Hanna ULR checker. It is pretty good.
I have learned, when the liquid reagent has been open and gets low, your tests will not be the same as with a fresh opened bottle.
I always test with a new bottle before the old one is finished just so I have some idea of what the differences will be.
If your corals are happy then all is good, no matter what are hobby test kits say.