Any word on water testing from yesterdays meeting?

[MikeG]

I had bought new test kits and most are kits that I had never used. They were way off from what I was getting with my Salifert Calcium and Magnesium, so I was hoping to get an idea of which is more accurate. Any idea when these will be available?

 

[reefsmurf]

Same here... desperately need to confirm that my test kits are in line.

 

[Miller]

Poor Greg Hiller had to take all the samples home after the meeting because there was nobody there to do the testing during the meeting.

Hold on guys and give him a break.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Sorry guys, we took the speaker out for dinner and then I hosted her at my home last night, so there was no time to do testing. I'll try and get to the backlog tonight.

 

[MikeG]

Thanks Greg, just thought I would check. I thought I recalled them being posted after the meetings usually.

 

[JohnK]

I can't wait to find out how wrong my test kits and refractometer really are

 

[Greg Hiller]

I don't have time to do the alkalinity tonight, but here are all the other results:

Sal Ca (ppm) Mg (ppm) PO4 (ppm) Alk (meq/l)
Crib 1.022 344 1240 0.05
refried 1.025 459 1487 0.02
rosey 1.027 361 1559 0.02
reef55 1.025 230 1283 0.03
Glenn King 1.026 164 1483 0.04
Mstrassb 1.026 295 1248 0.03
Skydolphan 1.022 295 1219 0.51
Reefsmurf 1.025 377 1264 0.02
Mike G 1.025 377 1435 0.04
JimmyJ 1.022 295 1074 0.17

 

[reefsmurf]

Thanks Greg!
My Seachem read 300 on Calcium and Salifert read 0 on phosphate on the same water... so I guess I'm not too far off.

 

[JayM]

I can't wait to find out how wrong my test kits and refractometer really are

or how bad your water was....my chemistry was so off I skipped the tests this meeting , 'cause I did a Ca OD, which is slowly making it's way down to a 'normal' level. The 4 clams in the tank are running it down nicely....I would have been ashamed to see them here in print.

 

[MikeG]

Thanks Greg, got my answer about my test kit variations. My Salifert calcium was reading about 50ppm high for me and a new API test kit was reading 120ppm high for me based on your results. Can't wait to see the alk to see if those kits are as far off.

 

[Dave]

My new salifert kit is giving me 460 for my calcium. Off by a 100 ppm

 

[JohnK]

wow, I have salifert, elos, and API Ca tests that are ALL off by well over 100 ppm.

 

[MikeG]

Interesting that 3 brands and multiple batches of one of them are all off by about 100ppm. Greg are you sure there might not be anything off with the kit being used?

 

[Reef55]

unfortunately, he confirmed my CA reading, which I took with both salifert and elos.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Can never be 100% certain, but the tests I performed using the club's kit are compared to a pair of reference standards for calcium and magnesium that I prepare in a lab. I'm pretty confident in the results. There was a pretty wide range of numbers for the calcium, some well above what I'd consider a minimum safe number (400 ppm) and quite a few below. Some Way below. I retested one or two of the low ones and got the same number on retest.

Most of the magnesium numbers looked pretty good.

FWIW, I tested my own tank and got about 440 ppm for Ca, and a bit high, but about 1400 ppm for Mg. Salinity was at 1.026.

As a reminder, we do have some of the reference standards of artificial seawater available at two different levels of calcium and magnesium. If anyone wants small volumes (25 ml or so) of these the club can supply them to double check your own test kits. Just send me a PM or email a few days before the next meeting, or you can get them from me in Wakefield if you cannot make a meeting.

 

[JohnK]

Hmm, let me back up a post, I just checked with the API kit and it's reading 400, when I had checked it last wk it was reading 460 (which questioned as I thought was a bit high). So that test is reading 105 higher than the # greg got. Without going throught my older kits, I know the trend was; salifert even higher than API, and elos about 50-75 lower. If those averages are right, then Greg's number was probably only 25-50 lower than the ELOS kit would have read. *So I should eat my "well over 100 ppm off" statement, and replace it with "25-100 ppm off".

My guess is that Gregs test is right and this is all just confirmation of what Crud most/many hobbiest kits are


BTW, anybody have some extra mag flake?

 

[MikeG]

Can never be 100% certain, but the tests I performed using the club's kit are compared to a pair of reference standards for calcium and magnesium that I prepare in a lab. I'm pretty confident in the results. There was a pretty wide range of numbers for the calcium, some well above what I'd consider a minimum safe number (400 ppm) and quite a few below. Some Way below. I retested one or two of the low ones and got the same number on retest.

Most of the magnesium numbers looked pretty good.

FWIW, I tested my own tank and got about 440 ppm for Ca, and a bit high, but about 1400 ppm for Mg. Salinity was at 1.026.

As a reminder, we do have some of the reference standards of artificial seawater available at two different levels of calcium and magnesium. If anyone wants small volumes (25 ml or so) of these the club can supply them to double check your own test kits. Just send me a PM or email a few days before the next meeting, or you can get them from me in Wakefield if you cannot make a meeting.

Figured it was worth a shot since everyone seemed to be running lower than expected until Mark chimed in. Thanks for getting these done Greg.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Alk in meq/l

Crib - 2.25
refried - 1.75
rosey - 3.65
reef55 2.5
Glenn King - 3.9
Mstrassb - 3.0
Skydolphan - 3.5
Reefsmurf - 2.75
Mike G 3.5
JimmyJ 3.9

 

[Crib]

Thanks Greg

 

[Aquaman_68]

wow..those results are quite interesting!!! Are all the test kits that off???