Salifert Test Kit Problem

[Troy Valentine]

I've been using Salifert test kits for years without a problem. However recently I through my chemistry way out of wack because of two faulty kits, Alk and Mag. In all fairness the Mag kit was a few months past its expiration, so that was on me. The Alk kit had over a year left before it expired. The problem was I trusted these kits and dosed accordingly. Lucky I noticed a problem before I did any damage to the system. Thank you Mark (rockmp)

Old Kits:

Alk 4dkh
Mag 870

New Kits:

Alk 15dkh
Mag 1650

I lost a lot of faith in test kits. I found the Mag result very troubling, If the kit was only a few month past the expiration, when did the reagent start to degrade?

Has anyone else experienced this? And which brands are you currently using?

[CoryDude]

Had a problem earlier this year with the Salifert nitrate kit and it was brand new. It was showing no3 at 40ppm. The previous nitrate kit was showing 5ppm. Gabe replaced the kit with another salifert kit and it showed 5ppm. I've gone back to sporadic monthly testing and just observing the corals/fish on a daily basis to spot any problems.

[justahobby]

WOW, the alk results is scary! It really is a good idea to keep two different brands of test kits to compare. I know salifert is supposed to be expensive/ reliable, but I can't imagine any brand's reagents being prepared in a laboratory setting... any mass produced product will have bad batches/ poor quality control from time to time.