Mr_Cool
Wed, 14th Dec 2005, 11:35 PM
O'kay. I just got a new test kit today. It's a Seachem multitest kit. Never really tested my water before, but figured I better start before I start to upgrade and add more corals.
Anyway, I was wondering what others think of this kit. I'm pretty confident that my pH is at 8.3 'cause that test was easy enough. My alkalinity tested at 5 meq/L and I think that's probably right, too. But, it looked like my amonia was detectable. If I had to give it a number, I'd call it .01. I know that's so close to zero that it really shouldn't matter, but the sensor had just a hint of green to the yellow. Is this a concern?
Also, the nitrite and nitrate readings bother me. Nitrites were slightly more detectable than the amonia. I'd call it about .03-.04. Nitrates were at about .2. The thing is, for all of these tests, the color change at the low end is so minimal. That is, it's hard to tell the difference between a .5 and 1 on the nitrite scale or a 1 and 2 on the nitrate scale. The same amount of color change at the high end is a jump of 5 or 10, though.
A while back, I was having some trouble keeping my nitrates down. Without doing much different in the past 2 or 3 months, my nitrates have dropped from about 40 to .2. Is this possible? My skimmer is working better now, and I think my deep sand bed has really kicked in, too. Something still doesn't seem right, though.
Just a summary:
pH = 8.3 (I'm o'kay with that)
Alk = 5 meq/L (??????? never tested it before)
amonia = .1 (probably just as good as 0)
Nitrites = .03 ( " " " " " " " )
Nitrates = .2 (certainly more than acceptable, but how?)
It's just a 55 gallon with 2 old power heads, an emperor 400 w/out bio-wheels or carbon, and a Remora skimmer. Sand bed is about 6 inches deep and I only have about 20 lbs. of liverock. The rest of the rock is Texas Holy rock and old coral skeletons. Livestock is 1 true percula clown, 1 royal gramma, 4 damsels, 1 coral banded shrimp, 1 emerald crab, and a total of about 30-40 various snails.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Anyway, I was wondering what others think of this kit. I'm pretty confident that my pH is at 8.3 'cause that test was easy enough. My alkalinity tested at 5 meq/L and I think that's probably right, too. But, it looked like my amonia was detectable. If I had to give it a number, I'd call it .01. I know that's so close to zero that it really shouldn't matter, but the sensor had just a hint of green to the yellow. Is this a concern?
Also, the nitrite and nitrate readings bother me. Nitrites were slightly more detectable than the amonia. I'd call it about .03-.04. Nitrates were at about .2. The thing is, for all of these tests, the color change at the low end is so minimal. That is, it's hard to tell the difference between a .5 and 1 on the nitrite scale or a 1 and 2 on the nitrate scale. The same amount of color change at the high end is a jump of 5 or 10, though.
A while back, I was having some trouble keeping my nitrates down. Without doing much different in the past 2 or 3 months, my nitrates have dropped from about 40 to .2. Is this possible? My skimmer is working better now, and I think my deep sand bed has really kicked in, too. Something still doesn't seem right, though.
Just a summary:
pH = 8.3 (I'm o'kay with that)
Alk = 5 meq/L (??????? never tested it before)
amonia = .1 (probably just as good as 0)
Nitrites = .03 ( " " " " " " " )
Nitrates = .2 (certainly more than acceptable, but how?)
It's just a 55 gallon with 2 old power heads, an emperor 400 w/out bio-wheels or carbon, and a Remora skimmer. Sand bed is about 6 inches deep and I only have about 20 lbs. of liverock. The rest of the rock is Texas Holy rock and old coral skeletons. Livestock is 1 true percula clown, 1 royal gramma, 4 damsels, 1 coral banded shrimp, 1 emerald crab, and a total of about 30-40 various snails.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.