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Aquamedic Water Test Results - Wifebane

Vincerama2

Vincerama2

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Sorry for this clumsy print-screen cut and paste. I wasn't sure how to get it posted. I can't do a link since you have to sign in to get to this page. I tried to print it to a one-note thingy or whatever. Basically, I'm a computer dunce (despite 30 years of software engineering). I should have asked my 9 year olds.

Anyway, after a hiccup where Marine Depot mailed me a kit with an expiration date that was already passed, I called their CS and they said just send it in.

I was really surprised that my magnesium and calcium was too high. However, aside from that, I have no glaring indication of something that might kill the corals in my tank. As they suggest turning off calcium supplementation, and all I do is Kalkwasser ... unless those vacation blocks boosted it artificially.

Anyway, this is what you get for the $40 kit. I may do it again in the future after dealing with this analysis. They don't test pH, which I'll do myself, because the pH will change during sampling/shipping/analysis.

V


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What's up with that nitrate and phosphate level? What's your maintenance like and what kind of rocks are you using?

CA can be off the charts, but usually that's accompany with a high alk value as well. Alk value from the test is about 9.5, which is fine, but to be running CA at that level you'd need a relatively high alk value to go along with it as well. CA should be along the lines of 430ish instead. Magnesium is high, but not likely the cause of the issues that you're having. I've been running similar values of Mg without any issues and many people run high Mg levels to combat algae, such as bryopsis.
 
tankguy said:
My CA is off the charts high and Ive seen no affect at all. Ive seen people run higher Mag than that as well. I
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Yeah, it said those were high but those levels wouldn't bother me at all. I don't know about the other elements like silica and molybdenum though.
 
My nitrates shot up to 20 this week and I've been agonizing over it for days. I'd be panicking at 200+ - but I tend to chase numbers a bit. You've convinced me to order the tests though. It looks worthwhile for a lot of things I can't test for. I wonder if they'd discount for a larger club order.
 
Yes, well, I'd just come back from 3 weeks of vacation, so two autofeeders were dumping food in at what I thought were acceptable levels. Previous to leaving, I did a 40 gallon water change (out of maybe 200 gallons (180 tank + 25ish sump, but I know it's not all water)).

My skimmer may be insufficient. I have a Skimz Monster 203 waiting to replace my ancient AquaC EV120. I will, of course, do another 40g water change.

However, first I will use my own nitrate test kits to see what they say, so that I have a way to monitor the nitrate. Maybe in 6 months, when my own small test kits tell me things are OK, I will send in another sample. The kits are $40 for a single test (worth it if it saves corals) small discount if you buy multi-test kits, but they "expire" in a year, so might not be worth getting more than a dual kit, or a triple kit.

I remember Rich Ross mentioning he just sends in water to a lab as well, but again, they aren't cheap. (Neither are home test kits). However, they have given me a nice baseline to work with and I can use the home kits to monitor those things that the lab test indicates are problematic.

V
 
Did you do your own home test with the same sample water you sent? Wondering which test kits you use and if it's accurate compared to their lab.

I've only stuck with Salifert and always have consistent readings, but two recent LFS places were quite different results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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