Dosing and calcium questions.

[kchristensen8064]

Kristopher,
Did you test with both of your Hanna checkers? Do they use the same regents? I tested my kh last night with a Red Sea kit and then with a Nyos kit. The Red Sea said 4.5 and the Nyos said 8. So...... I ordered an eXact iDip saltwater test kit. Maybe this tester will be better. I am suspect of all of my kits now. It is crazy to try to keep corals with no ability to maintain water quality. I don't normally test if everything looks good and I do 20% weekly water changes. I wanted to try a different water Testing kit other than the Marine Master because of this thread.
I will gladly let you test your water with the new tester if you want to try it. I come up your way at least once a month to the Immortal rock bar. I highly recommend it, always lots of fun.

I sold the egg alk tester to a buddy last week, so I just tested with the new master tester and the Salifert. The difference in the alk I think I can live with. The magnesium one is a little more concerning though. I'm still waiting for the calcium test to show up so I can check that one.

 

[kchristensen8064]

Ok so here's the latest test results, I have shut off dosing Mag until I figure out what test result I need to trust. I am really trying to get my tank balanced out and steady but when I can't get a test result that has any consistency to it, it becomes very difficult. I could really use some opinions as to which tests I should trust the most, so that I can just move forward with those. Each test by itself is consistent to itself time after time, the trouble seems to be the different results from different brands. I also am sending in an ATI test today to see what results this will reveal, and so that maybe I can check my test results to these as well, to try to determine which I should trust the most. The ATI test today and all of my results are pulled at about the same time and should be comparable to each other. Any advise and or opinions are very welcome. The whole point of this, is that I'm trying to get my dosing dialed in, and when I can't figure out what test results to trust it makes this incredibly difficult, as I do not want to over or under dose something and crash my tank.

Temp: 76.9*
Salinity: 1.026
PH: Hannah Probe: 8.4 Hannah Marine Master: 8.6
Alk: Hannah Marine Master: 7.7 Salifert: 8.3
Mag: Nyos: 1245ppm Salifert: 1500+ too high to test.
Cal: Hannah Marine Master: 525ppm Salifert: 500+ too high to test.
Nitate: Hannah Marine Master: 0.0ppm
Nitrite: Hannah Marine Master: 0.004ppm
Phosphate: Hannah Marine Master: 0.03ppm

 

[flagg37]

Wow, how incredibly frustrating.

You’re 100% positive that you are following the testing instructions exactly? The readings for the magnesium are so far off.

 

[SynDen]

I'd be more inclined to believe the saliferts, unfortunately. I have been having similar issues with mag on my tank. Got a new Saliferts kits and tested again, but new test kit was reading even higher then previous. ICP confirmed that my mag is indeed over 1500 as well. I am not dosing it either so no idea where its coming from or how it got that high. Can really only wait and hope it comes down on its own.
That being said an ICP test would be the best way to determine which test result to trust

 

[kchristensen8064]

Wow, how incredibly frustrating.

You’re 100% positive that you are following the testing instructions exactly? The readings for the magnesium are so far off.

I'd be more inclined to believe the saliferts, unfortunately. I have been having similar issues with mag on my tank. Got a new Saliferts kits and tested again, but new test kit was reading even higher then previous. ICP confirmed that my mag is indeed over 1500 as well. I am not dosing it either so no idea where its coming from or how it got that high. Can really only wait and hope it comes down on its own.
That being said an ICP test would be the best way to determine which test result to trust

I'm 100% positive that I'm doing the test right. I sent off my ICP test, and I guess that I'll just have to wait for my results from that. I did my testing at the exact same time I took the sample for the ICP, so hopefully those results will give me a better idea of what test kit I can trust.

 

[SynDen]

Ya, very likely the Saliferts will match closest to the ICP.. There is a reason that saliferts are considered the industry standard, and as such are used by large public aquaria for their quick daily testing.