Results of my test from aquariumwatertesting.com
- Thread starter tyleratl
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thanks for sharing....
I have a couple of questions about something like this:
For example, when to send a sample in? Their recommended solution to a lot of the things you had "wrong" was simply a water change, so should you send a sample right after a WC or 3 weeks after a WC? The answer lies in how fast your tank eats through some of the stuff but this test cannot tell you that.
Also, I think the real benefit to something like this is to compare the results to your home test kits. Obviously, you'd have to use the same water.
That said, my last concern is how the water changes during shipping? Does it? Does the shipping affect any of the levels?
I have a couple of questions about something like this:
For example, when to send a sample in? Their recommended solution to a lot of the things you had "wrong" was simply a water change, so should you send a sample right after a WC or 3 weeks after a WC? The answer lies in how fast your tank eats through some of the stuff but this test cannot tell you that.
Also, I think the real benefit to something like this is to compare the results to your home test kits. Obviously, you'd have to use the same water.
That said, my last concern is how the water changes during shipping? Does it? Does the shipping affect any of the levels?
I just did a 12% water change last weekend and then bottled up the samples on Tuesday. Some of the things I don't even have a home test for. I hadn't even heard of "Molybdenum" before. They say it is too high and that my Calcium and Iodine are too low. Oddly enough, I have a bottle of Red Sea Calcium +3 which contains supplemental Calcium, Stronium, Iodine, and, you guessed it, Molybdenum. I haven't used this supplement yet, but if I do, I might correct the Iodine and Calcium deficiencies while adding more of the Molybdenum that I don't need. Ahhh, what's a guy to do?
lol...yeah...i hadnt heard of that either.....
thats the weird part though...I would imagine most supplements have that as part of the mix....at least I have never seen it as a lone supplement or for that matter I have never seen a counter to it.....maybe raising the level of one thing (ie - calcium) lowers the level of Molybdenum???
very interesting though so again...thanks for posting!
thats the weird part though...I would imagine most supplements have that as part of the mix....at least I have never seen it as a lone supplement or for that matter I have never seen a counter to it.....maybe raising the level of one thing (ie - calcium) lowers the level of Molybdenum???
very interesting though so again...thanks for posting!
purplegorilla
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Sweet. I just ordered a reference test to see.
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i would be interested
It looks like they have upped the online price for a single test since I ordered mine and paid $35 last week. It would be great if they would offer a club discount. As for my own tests, I did test Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, and Alkalinity on my own and they were all in the normal ranges. This matches the results from AWT. I did not attempt to test my own Calcium because the test was more complicated than the others and I haven't even added any coral yet. But, I think my calcium is actually higher than AWT tested because they only test for pure calcium ions. So, I think you can have up to 20% more usable calcium in your tank than what AWT can test for with their probe. I use Red Sea Coral Pro salt which is supposed to have lots of calcium. My PH has been on the low end, and the AWT testing shows some deficiencies in things like Boron and Magnesium that can contribute to low or unstable PH. I just added some Buffer to help this.
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I've been using them for around 6 months now, and although I really like the service & price, you cannot use them as your only source of measurement. AWT has some issues from time to time, and thankfully, most have seem to be corrected. Not too long ago, it was phosphate, Molybdenum, and 2 others that I can't seem to remember. Lately, it's been Calcium, & Mag and I recently received this reply from them:
Hello Ralph,
I've gotten this question quite a bit lately. We are looking into the situation at this time, but we believe that our probe is reading accurately.
The difference likely comes from the fact that our electrode only reads calcium ions, whereas your titration kit reads all forms of calcium.
According to Randy Holmes-Farley, as much as 20% of your total calcium can be complexed with other compounds, such as carbonate, bicarbonate, chlorides, etc. We will spend time working on the calibration curve of the probe this weekend, but I can tell you that at this moment, the probe is in a specially-made, calcium chloride standard that has 400.7ppm calcium in it, and the probe is reading 401ppm, so if it is off, it's not off by much. I'll let you know of any adjustments we make at the first of next week.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 1:45 PM
To: RP-Staff; AWT Customer Service
Subject: AWT Website Contact
Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by Ralph on Friday, February 8, 2008 at
contact_message: You have my calcium tested at 284. Calcium (Ca)...Low.. 284
I tested the same sample (yes, I did it correctly) against Elos, API, & Salifert trying to determine which of those kits is correct. Considering I get calcium precipitate if a raise it much higher, and considering my alk (you have my ALK at 3.66, so if you have my calcium at 284, logically it would not precip by raising it slowly)
Elos:425
API:520
Salifert:480
why are you so far off?
Hello Ralph,
I've gotten this question quite a bit lately. We are looking into the situation at this time, but we believe that our probe is reading accurately.
The difference likely comes from the fact that our electrode only reads calcium ions, whereas your titration kit reads all forms of calcium.
According to Randy Holmes-Farley, as much as 20% of your total calcium can be complexed with other compounds, such as carbonate, bicarbonate, chlorides, etc. We will spend time working on the calibration curve of the probe this weekend, but I can tell you that at this moment, the probe is in a specially-made, calcium chloride standard that has 400.7ppm calcium in it, and the probe is reading 401ppm, so if it is off, it's not off by much. I'll let you know of any adjustments we make at the first of next week.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 1:45 PM
To: RP-Staff; AWT Customer Service
Subject: AWT Website Contact
Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by Ralph on Friday, February 8, 2008 at
contact_message: You have my calcium tested at 284. Calcium (Ca)...Low.. 284
I tested the same sample (yes, I did it correctly) against Elos, API, & Salifert trying to determine which of those kits is correct. Considering I get calcium precipitate if a raise it much higher, and considering my alk (you have my ALK at 3.66, so if you have my calcium at 284, logically it would not precip by raising it slowly)
Elos:425
API:520
Salifert:480
why are you so far off?
purplegorilla
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Ok, I just got my test back from them. Their testing said my calcium is low, which really contradics what I am getting from 2 of my test kits that I have. Salifer and aquarium pharmaceuticals. I just wrote them an email to see.
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