Low Calcium?

[mr_X]

I never tried the Hanna products. I like Salifert and Elos as far as liquid kits go.

 

[Gregcoyote]

You should try out the phosphate tester. I like its consistency.

 

[mr_X]

Greg..I haven't used a test kit in years...lol. I had to borrow a friend's API kit to monitor the cycle in the new 105.

 

[Gregcoyote]

You one of those reef hippies?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

If you learn your system well enough your eyes can be better than any kit IMO.

 

[Gregcoyote]

That's pretty true, although I don't know if I could differentiate between high phosphate levels vs low alkalinity, etc.
Mr_X turns his water over so regularly he doesn't risk much going wrong very fast. That's the ultimate in simplicity and hard to argue with. I don't do nearly as many water exchanges and have tanks packed solid with corals, so I go the other way with testing and dosing. Both ways work fine.

IMO don't worry about calcium levels much and use a high calcium salt mix. I have seen acros grow at calcium levels of 350 to 600ppm. Much after that and you create a calcium snow storm. I concentrate on alkalinity, salinity and phosphate. Even PH doesn't bother me as long as it fluctuates over a long time scale.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

True it doesn't work for trace elements, and I do test these weekly in my sps system, but for phosphates and nitrate you can tell when these levels rise

 

[mr_X]

Trace elements can be replenished with water changes. I have some very nice sps growing quite well at the moment.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Eventually, I would like to be able to know my system as well as you guys, but I have a long way to go and a whole lot to learn before I am there. Lol
I think I will look into the Hanna tests, they are a little more money, but it seems to be the general consensus that people who use them love them.

 

[PrettyFishies]

I recc Hanna for alk and Phosphate. The Ca kit gets very mixed reviews. I have a RedSea Ca kit and love it. Very easy

 

[Macscale]

I personally use all Red Sea test kits. I had some terrible mishaps with API before. The Red Sea kits are really easy and seem to be pretty accurate.

 

[Gregcoyote]

There are several dozen, maybe more, ions that can get out of balance in artificial reef systems, we only test for a handful of them and even then with test kits that would not pass muster in any real lab in the country. It's why dosing may not be the total answer. Water exchanges is a pretty bulletproof way of maintaining that ionic balance, especially for things like potassium and other necessary elements we don't test for. Maybe that's part of the mystery when we see posts about my corals dying and all water parameters are spot on. Maybe the parameters you are testing are good, what about those you don't test for? I don't do large water exchanges, just smaller ones every other week. I am rethinking that.

 

[mr_X]

I also recommend alternating salts. My theory is that what one salt lacks, another will make up for. It's been working for me for years.

 

[JonathanG]

I also recommend alternating salts. My theory is that what one salt lacks, another will make up for. It's been working for me for years.

I hadn't thought of that before, I always assumed that using the same salt was better to keep things stable. How often do you switch between salts?

 

[mr_X]

At the end of every bucket. I go through a bucket a month.