Test kits

[Frostyfishman]

I have the red sea test kits and I have a little bit of trouble getting consistent results. The tests are also inconvenient as they take a lot of time to set up and are a bit tedious. Can anyone recommend easier test kits that are quick to use? :reading:

 

[johnike]

I like my Hanna checkers for Alk and Ca.
Salifert for Mag.

 

[GimpyFin]

Are you using red sea or red sea pro? The pro ones are much better. I use those for most of the basic tests and use hanna checkers for alk and pbosphate (ulr phosporous test.)

 

[Frostyfishman]

Are you using red sea or red sea pro? The pro ones are much better. I use those for most of the basic tests and use hanna checkers for alk and pbosphate (ulr phosporous test.)

I use the red sea pro. The color change on alk seems to be really subtle so I have to do it twice some times. Hannah checkers would be great. They are pretty pricey tho. I started dosing last night so I was trying to find a quick way to check the numbers a couple times a week. I guess i'm just going to need to drop some bucks on hannah checkers .

 

[billdogg]

I use Salifert for all tests. I find them to be easy to use, and they give very repeatable results. I have found that with the Mg test that if it says swirl for 30 seconds, that's exactly what it means. On the others, a guesstamite is good enough

 

[GimpyFin]

I use the red sea pro. The color change on alk seems to be really subtle so I have to do it twice some times. Hannah checkers would be great. They are pretty pricey tho. I started dosing last night so I was trying to find a quick way to check the numbers a couple times a week. I guess i'm just going to need to drop some bucks on hannah checkers .

Yeah, the Hanna checker for alk is much easier to use, IMO and I've found it pretty accurate. I stopped using my read sea after I got it. The titration process does get to be a little tedious when you're doing it regularly.

 

[Timfish]

I use API for alk, pH, calcium and nitrate.

 

[sleepydoc]

I have the Red Sea pro kit and have found it to be pretty consistent from day to day. The biggest problem is that you're trying to read increments of 0.1 ml. All of the titration kits I've used have a bit of 'grey' area - the color change starts and then goes back and then becomes complete over the next drop or two.

I've actually found the Red Sea kit to be as easy or easier than any other - the KH only has one reagent and I can do the test in less than 2 minutes total.

The Ca and Mg involve mixing reagents and swirling for a period of time, but so do the Salifert tests, IIRC. Not sure that they'll be any faster.


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[Chicagoreef2016]

I have salifert for most, and elos for ammonia. Salifert are easy to use in my hands.

 

[sleepydoc]

So I just ran some tests comparing my Red Sea Pro and Salifert KH test kits. The total time to test including adding water to the vial, drawing up reagents, running the test and rinsing out the vial was 1:16 for the Red Sea kit and 1:24 for the Salifert kit. The Red Sea was a bit faster, but hard to say that either takes an excessive amount of time. Neither of these have steps that require you to swirl for 15 or 30 seconds or otherwise wait like the Ca/Mg tests.

I ran 3 tests in succession with each kit. Of note, the first 3 runs with the Salifert kit gave very different results. I ran the test 2 more times, which matched the first result, so I think that is likely correct, but the variability was concerning. My testing methodology didn't change with any of the runs, so I don't have a good explanation for the variation. The only possibility I could come up with was a drop or 2 of tap water left in the vial that altered the results, but i don't think that happened.

On both of them I stopped titrating when no further color change was noted. I also noticed that the range from when the first transient color change occurred to when the color change was complete and stable was larger with the Salifert than with the Red Sea.

Regardless, the Red Sea results were pretty consistent and agreed with the Salifert results if you discard runs # 2 & 3. I did not have any sort of reference to check the absolute accuracy of either test. Based on these results, I would have to recommend the Red Sea Pro test kit. It seems to be more consistent, is slightly faster to run and I find the titration holder to be more convenient and easier to use than simply holding a vial in one hand and the dropper in the other.

Red Sea
KH (ml used)
8.7 (0.62)
8.7 (0.62)
8.8 (0.63)

Salifert
KH (mL remaining)
8.6 (0.44)
9.6 (0.38)
11.0 (0.29)
8.6 (0.44)
8.7 (0.43)