Water Testing at LFS

[MichaelJ]

So I took my water to be tested.... found out I have a cheap refracto meter!
Found out that my Milwaukee meter was calibrated wrong (by me!)

The Refracto meter ($40 model) was 4 points higher then it should have been.
the Milwaukee meter was 7 points lower than it should have been..

Lesson here is "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!"

 

[TomD]

Mike are you sure the refrac was just not calibrated correctly as well? Did you do it with distilled water?

I had some issues when I first got mine ($45 from Drfosters) but once I got it calibrated correctly, it has been great and easy to use.

 

[MichaelJ]

Mike are you sure the refrac was just not calibrated correctly as well? Did you do it with distilled water?

I had some issues when I first got mine ($45 from Drfosters) but once I got it calibrated correctly, it has been great and easy to use.

Yeah, I calibrated it with distilled water , with rodi water.... still wrong... Skitpons gave me a 1.025 testing calibration solution.... it's on track now. They tested at 1.021, after I came home and recalibrated with there solution I got the same reading.... So now I have to bump up the Salinity in my tank...

Here's a real kick in the A**. I had great Alkalinity after all, that is till I put buffer in my tank and now the Alk is sky high... doing a water change tonight.

 

[TomD]

I told ya to leave everything

That salinity is not to low without corals so it is not that big of a deal.

Sounds like you are back on track and ready for the next issue

 

[MichaelJ]

I told ya to leave everything

That salinity is not to low without corals so it is not that big of a deal.

Sounds like you are back on track and ready for the next issue

My high Alk is an issue with the Turbo/Nassarius snails.... that's why I have to get the water down... they said it "possibly could kill the snails"

lol, and hey ... you told me that AFTER I messed with the buffer....

 

[TomD]

No I meant before when I told you not to add the Kent stuff.

Just do a good waterchange, you should will be ok. If it doesn't go down enough I would wait a few days and do another one.

 

[MichaelJ]

No I meant before when I told you not to add the Kent stuff.

Just do a good waterchange, you should will be ok. If it doesn't go down enough I would wait a few days and do another one.

I know... you told me that after I already added it.... you were'nt online till late...... (geez Tom, you were my go to guy.... i don't know now? )

 

[TomD]

I know... you told me that after I already added it.... you were'nt online till late...... (geez Tom, you were my go to guy.... i don't know now? )

Sorry

How high is the alk anyway? Sky high?

 

[MichaelJ]

Sorry

How high is the alk anyway? Sky high?

Before I added the buffer it read around 1.7-2.8 milli q , not thats not dKh.
I was suppose to times that my 3 to get a reading around 9

BUT I added the buffer and raised it to around 15 dkh

Liv'n learn I guess

 

[TomD]

15 dkh is around 5.37 meq/L which is not sky high enough to kill anything.

I think the recommended is between 2-5 meq/L so that is not to bad imo.

 

[Dave]

15 dkh is around 5.37 meq/L which is not sky high enough to kill anything.

I think the recommended is between 2-5 meq/L so that is not to bad imo.

Yeah it isn't too bad, a water change or two and you will be good to go.

 

[MichaelJ]

I'm still going to do a water 5g water change, for the Alk and the low salinity.

I'm getting rid of the Red Sea Test kit!!! All the parameters he did at the store pretty well matched up with the master saltwater testing kit I bought form Dr.F&S... I'll keep using that one..

 

[jbundas]

Glad to hear you found the root issue(s) before tearing your tank apart. I had a problem years ago with sps colonies melting down for what appeared to be no reason...until I found my crusty hydrometer was reading 0.010 low so the sg was at about 1.035. It went right in the trash after that.

Note on raising salinity - you're better off sprinkling in some salt mix a little at a time to an uninhabited portion of your sump than mixing up a high sg (>1.040 ish) bucket of water change water. If you try to make the salt concentration too high in new water, you risk having elements precipitate out because the water just can't hold it all in solution.

 

[TomD]

That is a good idea Mike. I hated mine.

For a cheap tesk kit, I found AP ok but I like my sailfert now.

I still have AP kits for calcium and PH and they match up very close to my sailfert for a color chart test which I am sick of.

 

[MichaelJ]

Glad to hear you found the root issue(s) before tearing your tank apart. I had a problem years ago with sps colonies melting down for what appeared to be no reason...until I found my crusty hydrometer was reading 0.010 low so the sg was at about 1.035. It went right in the trash after that.

Note on raising salinity - you're better off sprinkling in some salt mix a little at a time to an uninhabited portion of your sump than mixing up a high sg (>1.040 ish) bucket of water change water. If you try to make the salt concentration too high in new water, you risk having elements precipitate out because the water just can't hold it all in solution.

Yeah, I'm doing a 5g change at 1.023... a little at a time... to bring it down.
I have 2 pumps and a heater going right now....

I don't have directions to my Ph meter... I am using (now) 7.0 and 10.0 solution.
When I put the probe into the 10.00 solution, the meter should be calibrated to 10.0 right? Just making sure.

 

[MikeG]

If it is a Milwaukee meter then there is one calibration screw on the front. This is always for pH 7. There is another screw on the back in the center that looks like it is just a pinhole. This is for the pH10 or pH4 depending on fresh or saltwater use. You should be adjusting the screw on the front for 7 and the one on the back for 10. You need to keep going back and fouth between the 2 so that when the probe is put in 7 it says 7 and in 10 it says 10. Adjustment of one screw with throw the other one off a little. That is why the back and forth between the 2 until an accurate reading of both.

They may have changed the location of the second screw but that is where I have always seen them. It sould have also come with a very small screwdriver to fit in the hole in the back.

 

[MichaelJ]

If it is a Milwaukee meter then there is one calibration screw on the front. This is always for pH 7. There is another screw on the back in the center that looks like it is just a pinhole. This is for the pH10 or pH4 depending on fresh or saltwater use. You should be adjusting the screw on the front for 7 and the one on the back for 10. You need to keep going back and fouth between the 2 so that when the probe is put in 7 it says 7 and in 10 it says 10. Adjustment of one screw with throw the other one off a little. That is why the back and forth between the 2 until an accurate reading of both.

They may have changed the location of the second screw but that is where I have always seen them. It sould have also come with a very small screwdriver to fit in the hole in the back.

I bought the meter from you Mike... It works good now that I'm using the right solution.... the only calibration directions I could find didn't say that 7.0 and 4.0 was just for fresh water.... so I went and bought a 10.0 solution from Skiptons... I'm a getting there...

 

[MikeG]

I thought the directions were in the box no? As far as calibration goes you want your 2 points to be on either side of what you are measuring. This is standard for any type of curve generation. Your measured value should be inbetween the calibration standards. That is why 7 and 10 for saltwater since pH normally runs around 8 and 4 and 7 for fresh because pH is lower.

 

[MichaelJ]

I thought the directions were in the box no? As far as calibration goes you want your 2 points to be on either side of what you are measuring. This is standard for any type of curve generation. Your measured value should be inbetween the calibration standards. That is why 7 and 10 for saltwater since pH normally runs around 8 and 4 and 7 for fresh because pH is lower.

I think they were.. I know they are here somewhere.... the meter is now reading 8.3.... I changed the probes because the one I was using kept reading 7.7 , once I changed the probe it went to 8.3

 

[agent6473]

That alk probably woundn't hurt the inverts. Spikes in alk hurt things more than extreme levels. Also, if you read about Italian reef tanks on reefcentral, the levels in their tanks are quite high. They keep their calcium at 500 and magnesium at 1500. Their tanks are also beautiful. I would check out that thread as a referrence to see how other people are doing things and having a great deal of success.

That was a little off topic, but still pertains to the levels.