Test Kits...

[Aaron Shapiro]

Hello All,

I've just gotten my first nano tank up and established and I am busily assembling a Red Sea Reefer 250... I'm finding myself wanting to streamline my water testing regime and make sure that my accuracy is as good as it can be. I am also about to dip my toe into dosing (manually at first) so a regular routine will be paramount.

I currently have two Red Sea test kits the Marine Care, and Foundation Pro. I believe these cover everything from Ammonia to Magnesium. They are time-consuming, however... Does anyone have any opinions on these tests, their methods, and their accuracy? Are there better options out there? Hanna seems to be very popular (and easy) but their Calcium test is dodgy from what I've read?

I appreciate your advice as do my corals!

-a

 

[Huff747]

Not sure any of this is helpful but here's kind of what I do.

• I test Alk most often - roughly every other day right now.
  • I use a Hanna.
• I test Phos the second most often - close to every other day mostly because on my last tank it seemed to constantly be rising. I use an Algae Scrubber on this tank and it has been quite steady but still wanting to follow it more closely
  • I use Hanna ULR.
• I test Nitrate next most often - probably weekly. I use to check it more but it has been really steady (I think, see my issues with reading colors espeically pinks below). I'd probably test it more if it didn't take 9 minutes and didn't involve comparing colors.
  • I use Red Sea Pro kit.
• I test Mag and Cal less often then the rest - more like once a month because they seem to maintain pretty well.
  • I use Sailfert for Mag and Hanna for Cal.

I can't remember the last time I tested Ammonia or Nitrite.

I like Hanna because I apparently stink at reading colors. I constantly walk around the house and poll my wife and kids which one best matches. Pinks are the worst/hardest for me. I'm not color blind but I find it hard to say which pink it matches. So I really like Hanna because it prints out a number. From what I can gather Calcium in general is kind of dodgy to test for and I've been pretty happy with the Hanna. I've spot checked it a couple times with other tests I think I have API and Sailfert laying around that haven't expired. Someday maybe Trident will be in stock and I can switch to that, but I'm not paying over MSRP for one.

 

[Aaron Shapiro]

Not sure any of this is helpful but here's kind of what I do.

• I test Alk most often - roughly every other day right now.
  • I use a Hanna.
• I test Phos the second most often - close to every other day mostly because on my last tank it seemed to constantly be rising. I use an Algae Scrubber on this tank and it has been quite steady but still wanting to follow it more closely
  • I use Hanna ULR.
• I test Nitrate next most often - probably weekly. I use to check it more but it has been really steady (I think, see my issues with reading colors espeically pinks below). I'd probably test it more if it didn't take 9 minutes and didn't involve comparing colors.
  • I use Red Sea Pro kit.
• I test Mag and Cal less often then the rest - more like once a month because they seem to maintain pretty well.
  • I use Sailfert for Mag and Hanna for Cal.

I can't remember the last time I tested Ammonia or Nitrite.

I like Hanna because I apparently stink at reading colors. I constantly walk around the house and poll my wife and kids which one best matches. Pinks are the worst/hardest for me. I'm not color blind but I find it hard to say which pink it matches. So I really like Hanna because it prints out a number. From what I can gather Calcium in general is kind of dodgy to test for and I've been pretty happy with the Hanna. I've spot checked it a couple times with other tests I think I have API and Sailfert laying around that haven't expired. Someday maybe Trident will be in stock and I can switch to that, but I'm not paying over MSRP for one.

Same, I'd pickup one for MSRP...but not for 2x that.