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Accurate Phosphate Testing


RnB

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I have purchased Brendans Hanna Phosphate meter.

I am happy to vist your tank , in the AKL area and test your phosphate, swap frags and generally talk sh*t for hours about reef tanks...

Warning: I can be hard to get rid of.

The meter is Very accurate........

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the new fangled machine reads 0.42 on my tank.....

now you have to multiply by 0.747 to get ppm phosphate so that makes my tank reading

0.31 ppm

still a little high but an acurate reading i believe...

will test my ro/di water asap and report back.

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0.03 Through your R/O unit sounds about right. You have to remember that it is alot more accurate than hobby test kits. Thats why we use these machines. If I triple my Salifert PO4 reagents when testing for PO4, I still don't get any blue tinge in the sample.

This is what I am talking about when i say my tank has no phosphates.

To get good colours in SPS you need to get this low in nutrients.

Brendan Zeovit New Zealand/ Australia

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well i dont know if that is correct as the salifert goes down to .03. But it does not read much lower.

why would ro have any phostphates??, should it not be zero.

The accuracy of the photo meter is ±0.04 mg/l, ±4% of range

Has anyone tried the Deltec test kit ??. just about to order and try it and see how rates against my colormeter.

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my flight now 6am tomorrow so... i can do a fresh RO/DI makeup in a very clean glass jar, leech the vial for 4-5 hours... then retest.....

brendan... how is my tank... around mid 0.3's ppm for a non zeo tank is this low? I know that it should be under 0.15 but how many have you ever tested using the hanna and got that reading?

I am going to obviously start regular testing so i can establish a trend, and also must test my NSW source for sanity..... but the more i read about NSW the better it seems.

As long as you have a good location to collect from (read good flush zone) and no runnoff for a while.

I have brought a $130 1000L barrys bin for storing the saltwater under the house... about the same as a bag of saltmix, so I will be able to be picky about when i collect.......

I am convinced my tank is looking much better with the NSW changes and will continue with them :D

I really believe that the hanna colorimeter is a better way to get an accurate Phosphate reading then a hobby kit. I am happy to do a double blind testoff :D have learnt as an engineer to trust the test kit.

I am also quite convinced that a lot of the phosphate getting into the tank is from the food we add.... going to do some tests there as well 8)

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Any type of filtration will not remove all PO4, not even a distiller.

As I said, hobby test kits are not accurate enough. Once you can triple your salifert sample and reagents and still not get a reading, you will know you are in the ball park.

0.03 on a Salifert is quite a high reading when it comes to measuring PO4.

Even if you don't get a reading when you double the sample and reagents with the salifert, this is still too high when it comes to PO4. A faint blue tinge when you triple it is starting to get near what you want to achieve.

Just a personal observation :D

You should be able to observe your corals and know if the nutrient levels are going up without resorting to testing. Your corals health and colour is the best indicator.

Brendan Zeovit New Zealand/Australia

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.O3 is high, however the salifert does go lower as you mentioned,

I dont think if you get a reading of zero on the test kit it still means your phostphate is high.

some phostphate is good for coral, even the ocean is not zero acording to eric borneman.

i think anthing above .03 is high.

I am sure the Deltec/Merck test kits will be as accurate based on the German test results. The hanna meter has know to be out.

Ro should be flat zero and a good phostphate remover should remove all phostphates.

But it all comes down to dollars, How many people are going to spend $300 on a colormeter . the lowest the hanna will go is only .01

stu at hollywood had his tank tested by a lab, it was .008 and the salifert said zero, so i think this is close enough .

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the new fangled machine reads 0.42 on my tank.....

now you have to multiply by 0.747 to get ppm phosphate so that makes my tank reading

0.31 ppm

once i have tested enough other tanks, i will know if this is high or not......

all the guides say run your tank below 0.15ppm for optimal results.

don't worry reef, the tax man going to help me pay for my hanna.....

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