Bi-Weekly Discussion of the Week: Lets talk about those test kits!

[Geoff]

What test kits do you all use? Why do you use them? Are they really telling us what we want to know?

G~

[-Rich87T]

Not really a test kit per say, but I just went through a scare over a hydrometer... I used to use a Coral life plastic hydrometer and everything in the tank seemed consistantly happy with a measured salt content of 1.024. On a whim, I took a sample into the LFS and they use a "$100+ refractometer" type deal and get 1.030. As such, they won't sell me anything.

Anyway, I went out and bought a large glass floating style hydrometer with a 1.000-1.050 range and it says the tank is at 1.024, the plastic coral life agrees with 1.024.

That's my $0.02 with test kits as it relates to variance. I use salifert MG tests and am still using up a 'master salt kit' from Aquarium systems, or some similarly named Co. and it's nice because the tubes have flat bottoms. I can't remember the names of the other kits, but the test tubes say Hagen and they're a pain in the ***** due to the round bottoms and the plastic insert thing likes to stick to the tubes. I need a test tube rack.

On a side note, I bought and am setting up my new 180 gallon reef post the 75 gallon starting to leak.
-Rich

[JennM]

Rich, it's possible that the LFS needs to re-calibrate their refractometer. The swing-arm hydrometers can vary somewhat but if your reading agrees with a floating hydrometer, it could be that the refractometer is out of whack. Be sure to test with your floating hydrometer, by taking a beaker of water out of the tank and float the hydrometer in that - trying to read a bobbing hydrometer in a turbulent tank is tricky at best.

Test kits: I use Seachem. I use their "basic" test, although I'm not too impressed with their ammonia test, but if I find nitrite, I assume there is ammonia - I don't like their copper test or iodide test either, but love their Calcium tests, pH, Nitrate, Phoshpate tests.

Jenn

[BarryRey]

Based upon the info on this site, went with the Salifert test kits for Calc, KH/Alk, and Nitrate. The kits seem to work fine. The Calc and KH/Alk test kits are a bit time consuming compared to the Nitrate testing.

I used to use Dry-Tab when I had a fish-only tank. I wish I still had some of the nitrate tablets to compare the accuracy with the Salifert kit. I'm still using up some of my remaining Dry-Tab tablets for PH. I do struggle with the color charts for it and am concerned with how accurate it is. One of these days I would like to add a Pinpoint PH monitor.

[animaljungle]

this is a tricky subject as to the shelf life of reagents and the care of them ,changing caps can pollute the reagents an well as unclean test viles as for hydrometers the best by far is a refract
because density changes as temp. changes.i worked with many
kits over the years the best seem to be american pharm. , tropic-marin and haw. marine.

[Eric P]

I use a refractometer for salinity, salifert for ca, kh, mg, and I use LaMotte for nitrate,nitrite, amonia, carbon dioxide, disolved oxigen. I rarely use any of the LaMotte besides the nitrate. I am faily happy with my test kits. They give me enough information to know if something is going wrong.

Eric...

[missy's fishys]

I save my money for livestock and take my water to the LFS almost weekly

I'm cheap, but it's worked so far

[animaljungle]

salifert calcium kits are worth jack and are being recalled check with your suplier on this as they know they have a problem.
i just got a new kit for free.

[yardboy]

There's one in every crowd. I use a plastic swingarm hydrometer that I double check periodically with a floating bulb. It's off by 0.001, not too bad. I use a Hach DC-5000 spectrophotometer for phosphate, ammonia, nitrate, calcium, iodine and strontium. Orion pH for tank water, Milwaukee for calcium reactor effluent. I mix up my own reagents and titrate for alkalinity. It's nice to be a lab supervisor in this hobby. My techs get p.o.'d cause it keeps me closer to the lab, and I often find QA/QC problems while doing my tank testing!

[Geoff]

all kinds of testing equipment needs to be calibrated. i used to keep my swing-arm hydrometers in DI water when not in use. this helps to keep the salt from building up and causing it to get off. when i got my refractometer i also got reference solution, so i can check it every week.

i like my SeaChem Ca kit, also for this reason. it comes with a reference solution. it helps when you are first learning the kit, you have an idea on what you are looking for.

G~

[Geoff]

what features make a test kit good?

G~

[Junkzoo]

Salifert and a refracto,,,,nuff said

[yardboy]

I'd say accuracy and ease of use, though some materials of interest just don't lend themselves to a probe stuck in a solution. Ever used an Ion specific electrode? They can be a real pain in the *****.
Geoff, you're sure right about calibration solutions. So few test kits supply them. What don't they want you to know?

[RWD]

Originally posted by Geoff
what features make a test kit good?

G~

Ease of use and distinct color change IMO. I like Salifert kits because of that. I use calcium, alk and once in a blue moon the nitrate kit. I also have a refractometer but rarely use it because my 12+ year old swing arm hydrometer reads dead on When I'm dialing the calcium reactor I may test calcium and alk twice a week. After yhat once a month is the norm. Oh, I use a Pinpoint ph meter too.
Bob

[JennM]

All Seachem tests come with a reference solution, and the instructions provide the value of the reference - ie: value of pH with reference solution might be 8.3 (dunno exactly haven't used reference in a while .. my reagents are always fresh due to volume of tests performed). If you are in doubt about the colour of your reading, or the calibration of the test, simply test the reference solution and compare your result versus the result of your own water sampe. Very simple.

To my knowledge, Seachem is the only brand that provides this.

Jenn