essential reef/saltwater test kits ?

twelvejewelz

twelvejewelz

New member
what are the essential test kits that any reefer would want to have in their arsenal?i would assume these but what kits are 100% necessary?
1.nitrate
2.calcium
3.iodine
4.strontium
5.ph
 
I'd say calcium and alkalinity are the biggies, pH meter (not kit) is useful, and magnesium may be useful. Ammonia if you are cycling or QT'ing fish. Nitrate and phosphate can be useful. Nitrite, iodine and strontium are unnecessary, IMO.

This series also has more:

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 1: The Salt Water Itself
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners,
Part 4: What Chemicals May Detrimentally Accumulate
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php
 
great articles thanks for the help Highland and Randy. now they say that you shouldnt dose anything unless you test for it. With this said when you are keeping most corals you should have certain amounts of these things calicium, iodine and strontium so shouldnt it be essential to have the tests for them?
 
For cycling, ammonia is the one you want. Later, you may never use it again, but you'd likely use nitrate. :)

great articles thanks for the help Highland and Randy. now they say that you shouldnt dose anything unless you test for it. With this said when you are keeping most corals you should have certain amounts of these things calicium, iodine and strontium so shouldnt it be essential to have the tests for them?

I don't recommend dosing iodine or strontium, so that solves that issue. :D

I detail why in the above article on supplements. :)
 
After reading about the percantages different ions have in natural seawater I wondered why there is no sulfate test?
 
i do about 20% water change a week in my 10 gallon nano. so basically since i do such frequent water changes there is no need for these other things . just should dose calcium and alk?or with such frequent water changes do i even need to dose anything? i read where it says that you should dose every day does it really get depleted that fast?
 
i just find alot of conflicting opinions in this hobby so i kinda have to take everything with a grain of salt. im in no way doubting you or your knowledge its just that when you ask different people you always get a different answer hahaha
 
After reading about the percantages different ions have in natural seawater I wondered why there is no sulfate test?

Sulfate might be an interesting test, but few natural processes add or eliminate significant amounts of sulfate, so it does not vary much unless you are adding it somehow.
 
i read where it says that you should dose every day does it really get depleted that fast?

Dose what?

Alkalinity may need to be dosed every day in tanks with fast growing hard corals, even if you did 20% water changes each DAY.

If you use a high calcium salt mix, you may not need to dose it at all if you do not have a lot of fast growing corals. Or dosing may not be needed frequently.

Nothing else needs substantial dosing, IMO, except for some odds and ends things for particular situations, like iron for macroalgae.
 
your really a big help thank you. so with 7.088 Micrograms/Liter od calicum i would have to dose ?i dont know how to convert these numbers.with these 2 part alk/calicum products can you use 1 or the other depending on what you need? ie if i had to raise my alk? i read you need them to balance eachother out
 
You can certainly dose either part of a two part as needed, but that takes away some of its potential benefit, which is the balance between calcium and alkalinity that it adds.

7 micrograms per liter is 7 ppb. I doubt that is correct for a marine tank. Normal seawater is about 420 ppm, or 420 milligrams per liter, or 60,000 times higher. Even if you meant 7,088 micrograms per liter, that is still 60 fold too low.
 
ok im going to buy a test kit tomorrow thanks so much . one more question if you will . i calibrated my refractometer with poland spring water because i dont have access to any ro/di or distilled at the present time. is this alright or is it going to be off when i test the SG of my tank?
 
I would VERY STRONGLY agree with BriGuy. It would be one of the best $5 you ever spent in this hobby/addiction :D I used to use RODI to calibrate when I first started as my LFS said that was fine, but as I got smarter and more experienced I decided to buy a bottle of the 57ms calibration soluion and found that my refractometer was .003 off so while I thought I was keeping my tank at 1.026, I was really keeping it 1.023. While that is not too bad, it is definitely not optimal for corals. Once I started really keeping it a 1.026 growth and health of the corals appeared to really take off.
 
im not adding any supplements or boosters how can i lower it safely?

i just went out and bought a few test kits how am i looking now?

sg-1.027
phosphate- <0.9
PH-8.4
Nitrate-10ppm
Alkalinity-280ppm
Calicum-440
nitrite-0
 
If you are not adding anything, alkalinity should not have been that high, and I'm somewhat skeptical about whether it really is. Try using that kit to measure your new salt water before doing anything.

Less than 0.9 ppm on phosphate? Not less than 0.09 ppm?
 
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