Everyone,
This started out as a way for me to confirm which of my personal calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium test kit lines, Salifert or Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro, were the most accurate. I have been having some issues in my combined 300/150 gallon system for the past 3 months and have been trying to find out what is or is not the cause of the coral losses I have been experiencing. I also have a separate 100 gallon reef system that looks fantastic and is not experiencing the issues the other system is having. So to make a long story short, this test kit comparison grew out of me trying to trouble shoot the tank issues I have had lately.
I have always been a Salifert test kit user, and recently bought the Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium test kits. I got some very different, significantly higher results for Ca/Alk/Mag from the Red Sea kits vs the Salifert test kits, enough that I decided to disconnect my calcium reactors and just rely on frequent small water changes or a while.
The problem is that no one really knows which test kit is accurate and which is not.
I was going to send my water out for analysis by Aquarium Water Testing, a division of Aqua-Medic, and thought other ARC Members may benefit from a comparison of several popular brands of test kits for Ca/Alk/Mag from one water sample, with that same sample lab analyzed.
I want to thank ARC Members sts04c (Scott) and Hnguyen (Hoang) for letting me borrow their Elos and API test kits for the comparison. And also, a big thanks to the other ARC Members that offered their kits as well.
The test kit comparison was performed on Monday, 7/18/2011.
Methodology: The main variable in this multi brand test kit comparison is me, since I am the one doing the tests. I have used all these brands in the present and past. I performed each test 2-3 times, the first 1-2 times for practice and to get comfortable with the procedure for each brand, and to make sure I had some continuity in my readings for each test. The testing took about 4 hours total to complete.
The sample water was 2 gallons in volume, and came from my 100 gallon mixed reef. I held it in a clean, covered 2.5 gallon aquarium, and water was drawn with the sampling syringes that come with each test kit. And no water from the sampling syringes was ever returned to the sample. The Specific Gravity of the water sample was 1.026.
Two approximately eight ounce bottles were filled from the sample, then mailed off to Aquarium Water Testing for analysis, then the Test Kit Comparison was performed.
The lab analysis results should be emailed to me in a few days, and I will add them to this post.
Below are the test kit brand results for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels in the tank. Please note that there are no magnesium readings for API. They do not currently make a magnesium test kit.
Test Kit Brand--------Calcium--------Alkalinity(dKH)--------Magnesium
Salifert-----------------390--------------7.2---------------------1110
Elos--------------------410---------------6.0---------------------1200
Red Sea Reef
Foundation Pro--------465---------------6.3---------------------1460
API---------------------400---------------8.0
Testing notes:
-All test kits were current if they had expiration dates associated with them.
-The Elos Test kit reagent bottles sometimes kicked out air bubbles in the drops, despite being held upside down, which ruined a couple test attempts, forcing these to be repeated. This happened twice. Otherwise, no issues actually performing the tests.
-A couple of the Red Sea kits have required time intervals between drops of reagent, or required waiting periods between adding a powder and starting a titration. Please pay attention to these, as they can affect results if not done correctly.
I hope to receive the Lab Analysis of the water sample late this week or early next week. I will post this when I get it for comparison with the actual test kit results.
Dave
This started out as a way for me to confirm which of my personal calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium test kit lines, Salifert or Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro, were the most accurate. I have been having some issues in my combined 300/150 gallon system for the past 3 months and have been trying to find out what is or is not the cause of the coral losses I have been experiencing. I also have a separate 100 gallon reef system that looks fantastic and is not experiencing the issues the other system is having. So to make a long story short, this test kit comparison grew out of me trying to trouble shoot the tank issues I have had lately.
I have always been a Salifert test kit user, and recently bought the Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium test kits. I got some very different, significantly higher results for Ca/Alk/Mag from the Red Sea kits vs the Salifert test kits, enough that I decided to disconnect my calcium reactors and just rely on frequent small water changes or a while.
The problem is that no one really knows which test kit is accurate and which is not.
I was going to send my water out for analysis by Aquarium Water Testing, a division of Aqua-Medic, and thought other ARC Members may benefit from a comparison of several popular brands of test kits for Ca/Alk/Mag from one water sample, with that same sample lab analyzed.
I want to thank ARC Members sts04c (Scott) and Hnguyen (Hoang) for letting me borrow their Elos and API test kits for the comparison. And also, a big thanks to the other ARC Members that offered their kits as well.
The test kit comparison was performed on Monday, 7/18/2011.
Methodology: The main variable in this multi brand test kit comparison is me, since I am the one doing the tests. I have used all these brands in the present and past. I performed each test 2-3 times, the first 1-2 times for practice and to get comfortable with the procedure for each brand, and to make sure I had some continuity in my readings for each test. The testing took about 4 hours total to complete.
The sample water was 2 gallons in volume, and came from my 100 gallon mixed reef. I held it in a clean, covered 2.5 gallon aquarium, and water was drawn with the sampling syringes that come with each test kit. And no water from the sampling syringes was ever returned to the sample. The Specific Gravity of the water sample was 1.026.
Two approximately eight ounce bottles were filled from the sample, then mailed off to Aquarium Water Testing for analysis, then the Test Kit Comparison was performed.
The lab analysis results should be emailed to me in a few days, and I will add them to this post.
Below are the test kit brand results for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels in the tank. Please note that there are no magnesium readings for API. They do not currently make a magnesium test kit.
Test Kit Brand--------Calcium--------Alkalinity(dKH)--------Magnesium
Salifert-----------------390--------------7.2---------------------1110
Elos--------------------410---------------6.0---------------------1200
Red Sea Reef
Foundation Pro--------465---------------6.3---------------------1460
API---------------------400---------------8.0
Testing notes:
-All test kits were current if they had expiration dates associated with them.
-The Elos Test kit reagent bottles sometimes kicked out air bubbles in the drops, despite being held upside down, which ruined a couple test attempts, forcing these to be repeated. This happened twice. Otherwise, no issues actually performing the tests.
-A couple of the Red Sea kits have required time intervals between drops of reagent, or required waiting periods between adding a powder and starting a titration. Please pay attention to these, as they can affect results if not done correctly.
I hope to receive the Lab Analysis of the water sample late this week or early next week. I will post this when I get it for comparison with the actual test kit results.
Dave
