My AWT - AquariumWaterTesting.com - Experience

T

Tobit

New member
Going to use this thread to log my experiences with AWT.

I had first envisioned a service similar to AWT about 10 years ago. I was pleasantly surprised when I returned to the hobby last month and discovered such a service. I wasted little time and quickly subscribed to their monthly service. Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I subscribed that I learned of some discrepancies reported by Boomer and others with this service.

Alas, this past Tuesday, I sent them my first water sample and they just replied with my analysis a few moments ago.

Some background info:

Water sample was collected on Day 18 of a newly setup 40G system built for SPS. Today is Day 21. At the time of collection, roughly 32 pounds of live rock had been in the system for 10 days. 80% of the live rock was procured from a well established system. I am currently using Instant Ocean for salt. It might be also important to note that I've been dosing MicroBacter7 since Day 1 and just started with very low dosing of Vodka about 3 days ago. Diatom phase started roughly 6 days ago but is very minimal.

Test Results

day21-03.jpg


I am surprised that PO4 is as high as it is, I had anticipated this being much lower. However, it is not totally off the wall for a new system either. Ca seems a bit low but not abnormally low considering I haven't started dosing any Ca/Alk supplements yet. I have some new coralline and snail shell growth that could account to the lower Ca results as well.

All in all, I'm not sure what to make of this initial testing as I do not have the $250 to go out an buy a Hanna PO4 meter and equivalent Elos test kits at this time. I will be buying some test kits around the beginning of the month to do my own testing.
 
Well first Tobit, I think you sent the test in way to soon. Your tank hasn't even stabilized yet.

Second, you should just let your tank work through the cycle and then start worrying about the big three and how to maintain them within the recommended parameters.

AWT has had some problems in the past and I can't tell you whether or not they have got them squared away.

Personally, I would purchase a refractometer, calcium kit, alkalinity kit, and a magnesium kit for now. Oh and a good Electronic pH monitor would be a fine addition.

Once you get things rolling, you can get a phosphate and nitrate test kit to make sure you are not overfeeding and such.

If I may ask, what salt did you settle on using ?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15532545#post15532545 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
If I may ask, what salt did you settle on using ?
Click to expand...
Instant Ocean. It's worked well for me over the past 20 years, didn't see the need to change.

I do have cheap API test kits for the big three, and wasn't seeing any type of cycle after 18 days so I decided to send it off and see if AWT agreed.
 
I like API kits for general testing.

If I might add, you may not be at a good specific gravity as even Instant Ocean should give you about 350 ppm calcium at 1.0264.

You may want to re-visit how you measure the amount of salt you mix to ensure you have a good range for your reef tank, which would be 1.025 to 1.027
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15532622#post15532622 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
If I might add, you may not be at a good specific gravity as even Instant Ocean should give you about 350 ppm calcium at 1.0264.

You may want to re-visit how you measure the amount of salt you mix to ensure you have a good range for your reef tank, which would be 1.025 to 1.027
Click to expand...
1.025 according to my refractometer which I purchased new three weeks ago and calibrated before use.
 
Interesting service. Seems like in an emergency 3 days of waiting to find my results would be unrealistic. However, it would be a good way to compare the accuracy of your own testing. Thanks for sharing.
 
Tobit, first of all, you refractometer was probably calibrated perfectly from the factory, (by accident I might add).

If you then changed the calibration with distilled water, you refract is now off.

Regardless of what the manufacturer states, you can not calibrate most refractometers with distilled water. Some yes, but very few.

Some have reported a difference of as much as .004, which is a significant difference in s.g.

Your tank may be at 1.022 instead of what you think it is. That would explain the low calcium level you are seeing.

Get yourself some Pinpoint 53 mS calibration fluid and re-calibrate your instrument. This is a mock seawater solution that will register exactly 35 ppt or 1.0264 on your refract.

Then you can start working on the fine tuning of supplementing the big three. :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15532784#post15532784 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
Get yourself some Pinpoint 53 mS calibration fluid and re-calibrate your instrument. This is a mock seawater solution that will register exactly 35 ppt or 1.0264 on your refract.
Click to expand...
But, as I mentioned above, I already did this. I followed RHF's procedure in his article I linked above. I first calibrated with distilled water and then followed that up with checking against some 53 mS solution.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15532868#post15532868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Billybeau1
Who's 53 mS solution ?
Click to expand...
Pinpoint, it's pretty much the only one readily available in my area.
 
Billybeau: What do you generally recommend these days for a Calcium test kit? The last time, about 6 years ago, I was testing Ca on a regular basis, I was using the SeaChem Reef Status Calcium kit. Again, at present time, I only have API kits for the big three cycling parameters (NO3/NO2/NH3-4).
 
I have heard mention of AWT having "problems," but I can't find any posts that mention what these problems are/were. I have been using AWT monthly for about a year and a half, including a few in-between emergency events. Twice in this time I received my results late (or very late) and it turned out that AWT was closed for vacation or something. They said they had emailed their clients beforehand, but I never received the email(s).
In any event, I have been satisfied with their service. I do at home testing as well, but I wouldn't use MY testing to check the accuracy of THEIR testing. They use spectrography and ion-specific probes, and I squint and count drops.
Two months ago, I had a severe bleaching event, and sent off an emergency sample to AWT. It turned out to be one of their vacation times. More than a week later (after I complained) I got my results showing everything pretty much in order. But one of their marine scientists actually called me on the phone and discussed my bleaching problem. It was an amazingly enlightening discussion which will help me tremendously in my reefing. This guy knew his stuff. At that moment I decided AWT was worth being a subscriber.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15533565#post15533565 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tobit
Billybeau: What do you generally recommend these days for a Calcium test kit? The last time, about 6 years ago, I was testing Ca on a regular basis, I was using the SeaChem Reef Status Calcium kit. Again, at present time, I only have API kits for the big three cycling parameters (NO3/NO2/NH3-4).
Click to expand...

I like Salifert, Elos and API for calcium testing. :)
 
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