Testing with Industrial Grade Chemicals?

duberii · Mar 25, 2020

I’ve been curious for a while now.... I’ve taken basic chemistry, and I know enough about titration and pH reactive pigments to think, can’t I just buy the chemicals in the test kits for wayyyy cheaper and test my parameters myself?

Does anybody know what chemicals are in these test kits or where I could find the ingredients?

maybe I’m missing something huge but I feel like I found somewhere I could save some money

dragon99 · Mar 25, 2020

The easiest one to start with (and a very useful test) is probably Alkalinity.

A DIY Alkalinity Test: By Randy Holmes-Farley - REEFEDITION

Alkalinity is one of the most important measurements that a reef aquarist can make. It can become rapidly depleted in many aquaria, requiring frequent measurement in order to maintain stable levels.

www.reefedition.com

Here's some info on phosphate testing

https://www.hach.com/asset-get.download.jsa?id=50989301315

duberii · Mar 25, 2020

dragon99 said:
The easiest one to start with (and a very useful test) is probably Alkalinity.

A DIY Alkalinity Test: By Randy Holmes-Farley - REEFEDITION

Alkalinity is one of the most important measurements that a reef aquarist can make. It can become rapidly depleted in many aquaria, requiring frequent measurement in order to maintain stable levels.

www.reefedition.com

Here's some info on phosphate testing

https://www.hach.com/asset-get.download.jsa?id=50989301315

Thanks! Do you have anything for calcium? I have a test kit thats reading 700 ppm when the water is actually a 400 ppm calibration solution... Definitely looking to replace it.

dragon99 · Mar 25, 2020

This maybe? Little information dense for me (been 25+yrs since I took chem)

Determination of calcium and magnesium in seawater

Determination of calcium and magnesium in seawater. The method is suitable for determining the effect of caustic soda and alumina refinery aluminate solutions on the calcium and magnesium content of seawater.

www.metrohm.com