Advanced water testing

[stuckey_t]

So i figured with the total $$$ amount I've invested in corals and the large amount of water volume I deal with it was a good investment to monitor with some outside testing. Long story short I signed up for monthly testing with AWT. I'm pretty anal about water testing usually and I was happy that my tested levels weren't too bad;) Here is my first test result:

Ammonia (NH3-4) ........................Good ......................................... 0.007
Nitrite (NO2)................................Good ......................................... 0.004
Nitrate (NO3)...............................Good .............................................0.6
Phosphate (PO4) ..........................Good ........................................... 0.02
Silica (SiO2-3) .............................Good .............................................0.3
Potassium (K) ...............................Low................ ............................. 264
Calcium (Ca)................................Good ............................................ 363
Boron (B) .................................... High.............................................. 7.8
Molybdenum (Mo).........................Good .............................................0.1
Strontium (Sr) .............................Good .............................................9.8
Magnesium (Mg) ..........................Good .......................................... 1251
Iodine (I¯)...................................Good ........................................... 0.05
Copper (Cu++) ............................Good ........................................... 0.02
Alkalinity (meq/L).........................Good ........................................... 3.63

Anyone dosed anything for potassium before?

[mattb]

Yes, I dose K. I wonder why they say that a Ca level of 363ppm is good?!? It's to the point, if accurate, it may be limiting the growth of your stonies.....

[David Grigor]

There are lots of posts in the RC Chemistry forum that question some of the AWT results in particular how they test for the Calcium so don't take the 363ppm literally. I've never considered having the test done so I never read up on the how's or why's on the posts.

[Chris Goetz]

I saw those threads and thought about it... until I saw the pricing($25/month). :)
If it were more reasonable(like $10/month) I'd likely do it monthly or bimonthly.

[stuckey_t]

I saw those threads and thought about it... until I saw the pricing($25/month). :)
If it were more reasonable(like $10/month) I'd likely do it monthly or bimonthly.

Basically about $5.00 to ship so roughly $20.00 a month is not too bad...:beerchug:

[stuckey_t]

Yes, I dose K. I wonder why they say that a Ca level of 363ppm is good?!? It's to the point, if accurate, it may be limiting the growth of your stonies.....

I was thinking the calcium was low myself and would like to have it up around +400 at least for sure. The salifert kits I was using had the calcium sitting at 425ppm on the same day as this water batch went out.....

[stuckey_t]

There are lots of posts in the RC Chemistry forum that question some of the AWT results in particular how they test for the Calcium so don't take the 363ppm literally. I've never considered having the test done so I never read up on the how's or why's on the posts.

my biggest reason for running the test battery was for some of the less common parameters they look for. None of the economical test kits are good for phospate and i want to double check my numbers for the other kits as well. for the price of a frag a month i'm not sweating it;)

[thepollock]

do you have a link to awt?

[Stelk]

This should be it

http://www.aquariumwatertesting.com/

[gogregerson]

Boy, for a professional lab that charges for tests, I'd hope their results would be consistent and highly accurate. If their calcium results are consistently low I'd question our home test kits. And if not our test kits, I'd question the integrity of any of AWT's results.

[mattb]

Like DG pointed out, there has been some concerns about AWT. Especially with Ca, most of the test kits do the same thing, precipitate out Mg and measure the Ca, but so much has to do with the end user. I'm not sure what they are using, I am assuming a Hach colorimeter, which takes out the variable of a person determining the color of a test result....

I have no reason to believe that any hobbyist test kit is any more accuracte than using this service. You just hope that they are rinsing vials out with DI water, etc.....

Troy are you using Seachem Reef Salt? Your Boron reading high due to that?!?

[stuckey_t]

Boy, for a professional lab that charges for tests, I'd hope their results would be consistent and highly accurate. If their calcium results are consistently low I'd question our home test kits. And if not our test kits, I'd question the integrity of any of AWT's results.

who said their tests weren't accurate? :cool:

[stuckey_t]

Like DG pointed out, there has been some concerns about AWT. Especially with Ca, most of the test kits do the same thing, precipitate out Mg and measure the Ca, but so much has to do with the end user. I'm not sure what they are using, I am assuming a Hach colorimeter, which takes out the variable of a person determining the color of a test result....

I have no reason to believe that any hobbyist test kit is any more accuracte than using this service. You just hope that they are rinsing vials out with DI water, etc.....

Troy are you using Seachem Reef Salt? Your Boron reading high due to that?!?

yes I'm using seachem reef salt... onlg gone through about 2 buckets though. before that it was all reefcrystals.

[stuckey_t]

There are lots of posts in the RC Chemistry forum that question some of the AWT results in particular how they test for the Calcium so don't take the 363ppm literally. I've never considered having the test done so I never read up on the how's or why's on the posts.

David,

do you have a link to that calcium thread on RC? I'd like to read about it and am not having much luck finding it;)

[Chris Goetz]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1509295
&
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1328512
& this study done by some hobbiests in Texas
http://www.dfwmas.org/pdf_files/Test%20Kit%20Analysis.pdf

[David Grigor]

Seems like at least 1 post with a question regarding the test on RC Chemistry every week. Theres one from today even.......

[mattb]

I saw that DFS 'study' and laughed... they think they are measuring accuracy?!? The only way to measure/determine accuracy is with known standards, tanks definitely do not qualify.....I understand they are using the AWT as the benchmark, but it doesn't really prove anything to me. Interesting though...