Where to send water sample?

[Robert Patterso]

Would like to send a water sample out to be tested. Who's the best and most reliable? Checked everything and not sure why I can't get growth. Sps just sitting there. Decent color no growth.......
Thanks in advance.

 

[Levito]

bring it to a LFS

 

[nikon187]

are you talking about a govenment lab? if so it will be quite expensive.

 

[Robert Patterso]

are you talking about a govenment lab? if so it will be quite expensive.

I have read here on RC where people have sent a sample and had all parameters checked. I have tested till I'm blue in the face. Ca, alk, mg, no3 and po4 all checks out good

 

[newtank]

Check out Sherry labs
http://www.sherrylabs.com/

I used to send drinking water samples there for total coliform, they have the equipment and expertise to get you started, I don't think they would be that expensive but it would depend on the type of analysis you request. There are a number of labs that perform testing for municipalities, mobile home parks, HOA's etc. Electrospectrometer is about all you need for testing about anything. Shop around.

Share what you find ok?

 

[The Punisher]

I have no experience with this but would imagine it would be pretty expensive to get it tested if you're thinking of sending it to a lab of some sort to do the testing. Maybe not, I'm very interested in what you find out, definitely keep us posted.

 

[Robert Patterso]

will do

 

[bekindtoyurbuds]

what are your water params? What do you consider good?

give us a list of what your params are

Salinity
PH
CA
Alk
Amon
Nitrites
Nitrates
Water temp (with fluctuations)

Tanks size
Lights (what kind, kelvin rating, How old are the bulbs)
How long has the tank been set up?

The more info we know the better we can help you out.
Your best bet for testing, would be to go to a local fish store.
Have the params from your test in hand and compare those to what the fish store says, even getting a third opinion from a different fish store would be good (your test results+1st fish store + second fish store) all from the same sample of water, not a week later.

This will tell you if your testing equipment is on target or not.

Other than that, corals don't grow fast, it may take months before you notice any growth at all, this is wear pictures come in handy. take a pic today, and then a month later take another pic, and compair.

We all look at our tanks everyday, with looking at the tank that much, its hard to tell if there has been any growth or not. (its like looking at your son or daughter, you don't notice how much they have grown (because you see them everyday) until you see a picture of them that was taken in the past.

 

[greech]

I do petroleum cleanup work in Florida and it is sometimes necessary for us to run samples for some of the same parameters we are interested in. Most of the sites I work on are state funded so the max prices the state will pay are generally on the high side versus those a private entity would pay.

TDS = $15.16
Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite = $20.22
Mag = $15.16
Ca = $15.16
ORP = $15.16
Alkalinity = $15.16
I would assume phospahte should fall into these prices.

One of the larger labs in the country is Test America (does not mean they are the best)and they have 3 locations in TX (Austin, Houston, Corpis Christi).

http://www.testamericainc.com/locations.aspx

Make sure you inform the lab of what detection limits you are looking to achieve although most results should be reported in ppb so the numbers you see will be on a much lower scale than any hobby test kit will provide.

I considered doing this a while back but have been lazy. Silicate is one test I would like to have done professionally.

 

[Robert Patterso]

what are your water params? What do you consider good?

give us a list of what your params are

Salinity
PH
CA
Alk
Amon
Nitrites
Nitrates
Water temp (with fluctuations)

Tanks size
Lights (what kind, kelvin rating, How old are the bulbs)
How long has the tank been set up?

The more info we know the better we can help you out.
Your best bet for testing, would be to go to a local fish store.
Have the params from your test in hand and compare those to what the fish store says, even getting a third opinion from a different fish store would be good (your test results+1st fish store + second fish store) all from the same sample of water, not a week later.

This will tell you if your testing equipment is on target or not.

Other than that, corals don't grow fast, it may take months before you notice any growth at all, this is wear pictures come in handy. take a pic today, and then a month later take another pic, and compair.

We all look at our tanks everyday, with looking at the tank that much, its hard to tell if there has been any growth or not. (its like looking at your son or daughter, you don't notice how much they have grown (because you see them everyday) until you see a picture of them that was taken in the past.

Ok this is the info on tank.
140g 48x24x29. 75g sump divided into 3 sections. Skimmer, return, refugium
is 25g. Skimmer is the xp2000. Lighting is 2 400w radiums in lg lumenbrites. Bulbs are 3 weeks old. Switched from reeflux 12k. Run on coralvue dimmable ballasts.
Has been up for 2 1/2yrs. First 18 or so months just had rock no lights. Basically cooked the rock. Did water changes and skimmed the you know what out of it. Skimmer couldn't pull anything more out.
Has about a 3" sand bed. Refugium has 6" of sand with rock and algae.
Parameters are:
Salinity 1.026 (35ppm)
Temp 82 High I know. Hooking up a chiller as of tonight.
No3 15ppm Also higher than I expected.
Po4 undetectable per Salifert. No hanna. Ordering one soon
alk 8
Ca 480
Mg 1300
tds unknown at this time, meter quit. All filters were changed about 4 mos ago. Well water is the source. Very soft.
Salt is reef crystals.
Glass needs to be cleaned every 3-4 days.
Fish are, Sohal, Leutinant tang, Tomini tang, 1 anthias, african golden blenny, Mandrin gobi, another gobi ( can't think of its name) a Mccoskers wrasse, and a six line.
About 100lbs of rock.
Water changes have been biweekly but is going to change to weekly. I was doing the vodka dosing but got tire of fighting with the cyno. May try vineager tho.
Anyway thats all I can think of

 

[snorvich]

Are you making water through an RO/DI system?

 

[Robert Patterso]

Are you making water through an RO/DI system?

Yes forgot to mention that. All filters were changed about 4 mos ago.
Also forgot ATO with kalkwasser. Been in this hobby since about 85. Got into salt water in 89 and first reef was a 20g. Protien skimmers weren't hardly on the market. That's why I'm so frustrated. I know sps grow slow but not this slow. Everything is encrusted nicely but just won't grow up. Maybe I'm being a little to impatient but my last tank out grew this one by leaps and bounds.

 

[lazyrhino]

Maybe checkout www.aquariumwatertesting.com to get your water tested. I've heard of people using them in the past but have never done so myself. It looks like they charge $45 for a one time test.

They also have a test report on their home page from a test they did on a bunch of synthetic salts. It's a pretty interesting read.

 

[bekindtoyurbuds]

Only things that I can think of is your No3 are a little high, this can stunt growth. (as you said you are working on them)

And then, how stable are your alk and cal readings. sometimes its hard to keep them at certain level, so they fluctuate. (this could be a cause of stunted growth) With sps I would prob raise the alk to around 9 maybe even 10, and see how they do.
(it also depends on how many corals you have in the tank, and how fast they use it up, just try to stay on top of it)

You also mentioned that you have been battling a cyano break out, which leads me to believe that you don't have enough flow in the tank(to many dead spots), and your phos is most likly above 0, its just that the nuisance algae is using most of it up before you can test for it.

How does the flow in this tank (gph) compair to the flow in your last tank where everything was thriving?

 

[Robert Patterso]

Only things that I can think of is your No3 are a little high, this can stunt growth. (as you said you are working on them)

And then, how stable are your alk and cal readings. sometimes its hard to keep them at certain level, so they fluctuate. (this could be a cause of stunted growth) With sps I would prob raise the alk to around 9 maybe even 10, and see how they do.
(it also depends on how many corals you have in the tank, and how fast they use it up, just try to stay on top of it)

You also mentioned that you have been battling a cyano break out, which leads me to believe that you don't have enough flow in the tank(to many dead spots), and your phos is most likly above 0, its just that the nuisance algae is using most of it up before you can test for it.

How does the flow in this tank (gph) compair to the flow in your last tank where everything was thriving?

The cyno problem was when i was dosing vodka. I quit that and have had no cyno issues since. Other than two small areas of nuisance algae (hair). The sand is perfectly white. There are several critters to keep it cleaned up. I had about 40+ different sps/acro in the tank which was the opposite of what i originally planned so with the few losses I've had I will hopefully be able to keep the more choice pcs and grow them out. The flow could be a little better I suppose. Right now I have an ehiem 1262 for return, a closed loop powered by a dart pump, 4 1" outlets and 2 korila 4s. Want to eventually get 2 mp40s but right now those aren't in the budget. There is very little rock that actually sits on the sand and there are alot of open spaces and caves. The returns have 2 eductors which are positioned to flow behind the rock. There is really no noticeable dead spots. Need to get a couple Drews dosing pumps for Ca and alk. But right now both are measured in measuring cup. 120 ml of Ca and 60ml of alk. I think I will be doing away with the kalk in the ato sump because it can't keep up on its own and I have to pay close attention to the alk. It's not as stable as I would like it to be. That way I can add equal amounts of both Ca and alk. The chiller will be online tomorrow night which will take care of temp. swings and make my electric bill go up probably. That will make the wife happy:lol:. But I will be able to do away with some fans and a small pump or two. The chiller pump, also a 1262 will also run the refugium. Thinkin I will have to just keep pluggin away till I get this thing under control and more stable. Stability is everything in this hobby as we all know. Not only addicting but also frustrating at times.:uzi: