Test Kits You Use Regularly?

[Gareth elliott]

Wondering with icp testing now becoming more common what do you still test at home?

I currently do:
Alk
Calcium
Occasionally magnesium
Salinity
Nitrate
Ph
And
Phosphate
(Have ammonia and nitrite tests but i dont actually use unless need to check cycling)

Does anyone test for potassium, strontium, iodine, others?

What benefits do you see to monitoring with them? Are the tests accurate or at least precise?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Wondering with icp testing now becoming more common what do you still test at home?

I currently do:
Alk
Calcium
Occasionally magnesium
Salinity
Nitrate
Ph
And
Phosphate
(Have ammonia and nitrite tests but i dont actually use unless need to check cycling)

Does anyone test for potassium, strontium, iodine, others?

What benefits do you see to monitoring with them? Are the tests accurate or at least precise?

Been mainly focusing on Alkalinity, Calcium, Mag and Salinity. I don't really chase any of the others unless I see a problem. I figure regular water changes is keeping the rest in check from past testing results

 

[cracker]

I'm using Sea kits form mostly. For Alk & Po4 , I use Hanna checkers. These work best for me so far.

 

[Paul B]

Every day I put my finger on the glass to test the temp.

 

[cracker]

Hey Paul, don't You taste for salinity?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Hey Paul, don't You taste for salinity?

He licks the tank! ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

 

[Gareth elliott]

Every day I put my finger on the glass to test the temp. [emoji1]

I always thought the cucumber was the thermometer. Must be for something else (;

 

[Paul B]

My boiler gauge from the basement of the Plaza Hotel tells me the temperature from across the street, thank you very much.
And my swing arm hydrometer can tell me the salinity and temperature of my pizza at the same time.
My phone can also call Jacques Cousteau

 

[cracker]

I don't know about all that but I do know where he threw his beer bottles once upon a time .
All Right Were getting off topic here !
So @Gareth , What kits are You using now ?

 

[Gareth elliott]

I don't know about all that but I do know where he threw his beer bottles once upon a time .
All Right Were getting off topic here !
So @Gareth , What kits are You using now ?

Red sea: nitrate phosphate
Salifert: alk cal mag
Hana: have a phosphate checker but out of regent and my bottle need to replaced. And recently bought a car lol.

Mixture of price point and accuracy for the choices.

Red sea phosphate test is not my favorite test kit tbh.

Salinity is refractometer

Ph API, i dont really care if this accurate tbh.
its a precise test thats easy to read and inexpensive. Only care i have is if the test varies from prior tests at the same time of day with this one.

 

[manilaboy1vic]

hanna for ALK and PHOS
API for Nitrate and Calcium
might switch to salifert for calcium.. i feel like api gives a decent ballpark for nitrate and calcium..

 

[Susan Edwards]

hanna for alk and phos
salifert for mg and ca but may go back to api for ca. I don't like the bottle for squeezing 10 drops out of from the salifert test kit. Too big and hard to squeeze
api for nitrate and have a salifert nitrate which might be better for lower nitrates. A tie here so far. Api easier to use.

 

[manilaboy1vic]

hanna for alk and phos
salifert for mg and ca but may go back to api for ca. I don't like the bottle for squeezing 10 drops out of from the salifert test kit. Too big and hard to squeeze
api for nitrate and have a salifert nitrate which might be better for lower nitrates. A tie here so far. Api easier to use.

ease of use is def. key, i may have to go salifert for nitrates tho.. im getting zero on api. that cant be right.. unless purigen is really that good.. i did a tank reset pretty much.. bunch of w/c and added purigen at the beginning of the month.. just tested nitrates two days ago and its claming zero..

the purigen is not black in my reactor.. im not changing that stuff till its black.. heh. thatd be great if it lasted six months

 

[squampton]

I am guilty of not testing often, but when I do test:

Hana for phosphate and alk

Salifert for nitrate

API for calcium

Aquaforest for magnesium, some reason no store around me can stock all of one brand so I ended up with a bunch of different brands.

 

[clsanchez77]

I use the Seachem line of test kits. An under appreciated brand IMO, but one I can also buy locally. Also, their support is very helpful in that they have restocked some reagents that have gone bad.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I find both api and salifert calcium accurate enough for our purpose. Key to api is making sure the bottle is exactly upright so each drop is uniform.

Anecdotal but have done both head to head and gotten a difference of 10-20ppm. Each time. I dont use the api because i hate counting drops lol.

Does anyone test for potassium or strontium, even if infrequently?

 

[Reefltx]

Only time I do a ICP is when I need to fix something or having problems.


Ice cap & Milwaukee: salinity
Hanna: alk, po4
Salifert: alk, cal, mag
Red Sea: nitrate

 

[clsanchez77]

Does anyone test for potassium or strontium, even if infrequently?

I do. The test is rather cumbersome so I do not do it often. But I primarily dose kalkwasser to the tank for calcium and alkalinity. This results in Magnesium being depleted and I test and adjust this monthly. It only falls the reason Strontium does the same but at a much slower rate. I probably do this quarterly and I find I lose about 1-2 mg/l or so. I dilute the titrant with RO/DI water to get better resolution. I know this is not a critical element and the test kit leaves a lot to be desired. But regardless, I do test and adjust this about 3-4 times a year.

For reference, I dose 3 liters of kalkwasser a day, assuming at about 50% strength (use kalk stirrer). This ends up being about 3.2 mg/l calcium daily and 1.1 meq/l alk weekly. On a monthly basis, I need to add about 5 mg/l magnesium and only about 1 mg/l strontium per year based on this usage.

The tank is 110 gallons mostly favia like LPS with gorgonias.

My actual testing schedule is alkalinity weekly, nitrate & phosphate bi-weekly, calcium monthly, magnesium every other month and strontium quarterly.

I also dose silicates as I dose this at 1 mg/l weekly and I dose iodine as it is in my reef solution supplement. These are tested when motivated. I also dose 5 ml of Iron Excel weekly but this one I do not test as it is well below test detection levels.

 

[SPR1968]

I'm using Sea kits form mostly. For Alk & Po4 , I use Hanna checkers. These work best for me so far.

+1 @cracker this is exactly what I do.

I might try the finger on the glass test like @Paul B as well!

 

[jduong916]

alk - redsea
nitrate - redsea
ca - salifert
mg - salifert
phosphate - hanna ulr