Test Kit Confusion...

[murphq]

I am going to be starting a reef tank in the near future. I was wondering and confused about which test kits I need. I see alot of test kits to buy but which ones are the absolute minimuim that I will need? Which ones do you use or what brand do you recommend? I remember reading about a brand that got bad reviews but can't remember the name.

Where would be a good place to buy these online?:confused:

[ErikS]

You'll need at the very least the basic 4 - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. You will probably want to have Alkalinity and Calcium. The others you can buy as you need them. Also most stores will test your water for you, to me that a PITA, taking my water somewhere. It's not a test kit, but you'll also want a hydrometer to measure specific gravity.

I like the FastTest & SeaTest line of test kits. They are very accurate (chemicals by Hatch) and easy to use. The nice part IMHO is that the test vials have color coded plastic next to the water being tested, makes it very easy to read.

I have used SeaChem & I found them to be okay, a bit more complicated.

Where to buy online? Check the sponsors of this forum, they have good reputations. It is cheaper to buy the kits in "groups" (i.e. a single kit that has multiple tests ).

As another note, consider a pH monitor. They are much better than filling vials to check pH - fast, easy (digital display), and accurate.

Another upgrade is a refractometer for checking specific gravity. It's very accurate & much easier to use than a hyrometer (at least have your hydrometer calibrated against one - LFS?)

[tyoberg]

For starters, you will need the following kits:
specific gravity/salinity
pH
NH3
NO2
NO3

As your tank grows and is stocked, you will probably find yourself needing an alkalinity and a calcium test kit.

NO3 and calcium have been known to be much less accurate than the other kits. NO3 isn't as critical as it is non-toxic and only a ballpark value is needed IMO to assess the health of the tank. For calcium, get a good kit. Salifert and SeaChem both make good calcium kits (definitely not fasttest/red sea). The other parameters (ph, NH3, NO2) don't seem to be as unreliable, and I think most any brand will do.

Ty

[murphq]

Here is another question...now remember my tank is not setup this is all in theory.

Ok Say I through together my tank...live rock, DSB, skimmer, lighting...everything to start a tank cycle. And I whip out the test kits and test my water and my PH is 7. TO raise the PH what would I do. From my freshwater experience I would through in some chemicals. Now from my saltwater knowledge which is low in this area due to lack of info on it, what would I dose? Kalk??? What kind of chemicals would you need or use to start a reef tank?

Can anyone point me to info on adding chemicals, testing for chemicals etc etc??

I really can't find alot of info on this stuff and its the only part I'm confused on.

[Gordo]

Fastest makes a combo kit that seems like it has everything a newbie would need to start. What are your thoughts? Are there any other companies that offer combo kits that you would recommend?

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PA&Product_Code=FASTEST&Category_Code=Fastest

~Gordo~

[tyoberg]

alkalinity (the same as carbonate hardness in the FW world) is what buffers pH--it is what gives your pH inertia and keeps it from swinging around. your saltmix will have adequate buffering ang 9 times out of 10, you'll end up in the 8.3 pH neighborhood. there are different buffer formulas that you can buy, but most will tend to drive pH towards 8.3.

as the tank matures and your coralline and corals start taking off, your alkalinity will drop as the corals consume carbonate and calcium to make their calcium carbonate skeletons. this probably won't be significant until the 3-6 month mark.

some people let their waterchanges make up for this consumption of calcium and alk, but I think you get much better results if you supplement them. i use B-ionic (about the same as Kent's Tech A&B) on my small 37 gallon tank. if the tank was closer to 100 gallons, I would definetely use kalk or a calcium reactor as they are cheaper over the long haul (but a little more complicated to use). All 3 of those products will supplement both alkalinity and calcium in the same proportions as your corals use them (0.5 meq/l alk for every 10ppm calcium).

Ty

[ErikS]

NO3 isn't as critical as it is non-toxic and only a ballpark value is needed IMO to assess the health of the tank.

He did say "reef tank" which I assumed meant corals, to corals Nitrates (N03) are as lethal as Ammonia (NH3) is to fish.

And I whip out the test kits and test my water and my PH is 7.

You'd be in deep doo-doo - lol - just kidding. Fresh mixed SW should have a pH of about 8.3. A pH of 7 is way low & means something is very wrong with the tank. SW has a high degree of hardness (Alk, pH buffer) and that's what keeps the pH high. In the beginning things such as pH have swings, that's why you hear the term "stable", things in the tank tend to stablize after a period of time (you get a good micro-environment going).


Kalk is limewater (a supersaturated solution of Calcium Hydroxide a.k.a. pickeling lime). It's added to the tank primarily to boost the calcium in the water (for the coral). It has several other benefits, such as percipitating phosphates out of the water, increasing the alkalinity (just a bit), and it can be used to raise the pH (which normally drops at night).

This all seems complicated at first, but it's not so bad (wait until you get to lighting & PAR) once you get the hang of it. There are two books you really (I mean really, really, really, really) should get. The first is the Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner. It's about $30 at Amazon. The second is Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman. After you read these books the stuff you read here will make a lot more sense - lol - well mostly.

What kind of chemicals would you need or use to start a reef tank?

Salt Crystals and water, everything else you buy as you need it. If you stick around here you'll learn all kinds of neat trick like using pickling lime for Kalk ($1 a pound vs $15 for fish store stuff).

Gordo -

Yep, that's the kit. You realize you only get the box (with 20 each of the "big 4" tests) pictured in the lower left? They also make a similar "SeaTest" Reef kit. They are from the same company & the reagents are interchangeable (except Cu I think).

It's a very nice starter kit & come with a case to keep everything in one place.


For calcium, get a good kit. Salifert and SeaChem both make good calcium kits (definitely not fasttest/red sea).

Huh? I don't know about Salifert, but SeaChem Ca tests aren't known to be particularly reliable. Do a search in the Chem Forum & see how many folks get 500ppm readings no matter what they do. But in all truth, the only company that I've heard of whose whole line of test kits is complete junk is Hagen.

After I read this I realized this may seem like a slam on SeaChem, nope, I use their additives & several of their test kits (i.e. Reef Status).

FWIW - Aquarium Systems (Maxi-jet, Instant Ocean, FasTest, SeaTest) test kit chemicals are made by Hatch. Hatch produces laboratory grade reagents (ala Lamotte). The NH3 (ammonia) test kit is one of the few on the market that is not affected by products such as Amquel.

[tyoberg]

Eric-
I think you're confusing the SeaTest and the SeaChem calcium kits. I have the SeaChem (comes in a white plastic lunchbox)--it comes with a standard solution to test the accuracy of the kit with. If there's a doubt about it's reading, you can simply test the standard solution and see if the kit has gone bad. The SeaTest/FastTest kit is a total POS.

NO2 (nitrite) is toxic to fish and inverts. The current thinking is that NO3 (nitrate) is non-toxic. Here's the most recent nitrate thread (http://archive.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20836) posted over in Dr. Ron's forum.

Ty

[ErikS]

Cool, thanks, I hadn't read that thread (yet - lol).

I think you're confusing the SeaTest and the SeaChem calcium kits

Could be, I'm easily confused - lol - As I said I use a several of their (SeaChem's) products. As I also said, ANY test kit as long as it's not Hagen - lol.