Sps Issue

[thatmanMIKEson]

I'm so confused at this point. You really think I'm using too much GFO by going from .9 to .79 phosphates over a 2week period? Should I just let my phosphates stay .9+?

I agree gfo can be the devil because it's so aggressive and dirty, and usually gfo doesn't stay in a reactor there are particles you don't see I don't care how much you rinse it . It's something you need to get experience with, usually the first couple times using GFO can be full of issues depending on values and corals in place. With mushrooms/most softies you probably won't see a single issue but sps are a different story unfortunately.

 

[xCry0x]

My Hanna calcium checker was nearly spot on with the last ICP test I did.

The only "problem" is that there are quite a few steps to testing with it.
1 ml of their fluid, 9ml of distilled water -> 0.1 ml of tank water + reagent pouch.

Given their brand is largely based on the accuracy of the tests, I'd have a hard time believing that any of them were consistently wildly inaccurate.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

My Hanna calcium checker was nearly spot on with the last ICP test I did.

The only "problem" is that there are quite a few steps to testing with it.
1 ml of their fluid, 9ml of distilled water -> 0.1 ml of tank water + reagent pouch.

Given their brand is largely based on the accuracy of the tests, I'd have a hard time believing that any of them were consistently wildly inaccurate.

Right! And all those steps is usually where it happens.

When I first used the calcium checker I did 5 or so tests before I realized I wasn't supposed to press the white syringe all the way down before sucking up salt water for test

 

[ggNoRe]

My first attempted coral surgery. Nipped all the dead parts off and reglued to a new frag plug. *Fingers crossed*

 

[ClownSchool]

Right! And all those steps is usually where it happens.

When I first used the calcium checker I did 5 or so tests before I realized I wasn't supposed to press the white syringe all the way down before sucking up salt water for test

When I discussed the issue with my LFS guy, he made a great point. Due to the nature of how the test is done, if your RO system allows any calcium through at all - even 40 to 60 ppm - it makes it impossible to get an accurate result.
I had never thought about the effect of having something like a filter at the end of its life creating a problem like that.
…just throwing that out there…

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

When I discussed the issue with my LFS guy, he made a great point. Due to the nature of how the test is done, if your RO system allows any calcium through at all - even 40 to 60 ppm - it makes it impossible to get an accurate result.
I had never thought about the effect of having something like a filter at the end of its life creating a problem like that.
…just throwing that out there…

That sounds absolutely right, and also I've never thought about that, im glad you mentioned that.