Last Sunday I sat down and ran a whole battery of tests on my tank water. It was the first time I’d done it in at least a month (aside from quick daily checks of alkalinity). Everything else seemed to be more or less normal with exception of a couple parameters…

So, from all the tests, my results follow. AWT’s are noted as well:

Alkalinity (kH)

• API - 13 drops = 6.25 dkH = 2.23 meq/L
• IO - 8 drops /4 = 2 meq /L
• SeaChem - between 4 - 5 drops ~ 2.25 meq /L
• Lamotte - 112ish on the syringe ~ 6.272 dkH = 2.24 meq/L
• AWT RESULTS = 2.21 meq/L

Magnesium (Mg)

• ELOS - 22 or 23 drops (double sample) / 2 = 1100 to 1150
• Salifert - around 1200
• AWT RESULTS = 1075 - a little lower, but more or less in line

Nitrate (NO3)

• Test 1 Salifert - clear / undetectable
• Test 2 Salifert - clear / undetectable
• AWT RESULTS = 0.4 - not bad, who can read those Salifert NO3 tests anyway
  

Potassium (K)

• Fauna Marin Kalium Kit - 425 - 450
• AWT Results - 192…. ?!
  

Iodine (Io)

• SeaChem #1 - 0.05 - 0.0.6, I can never tell exactly
• SeaChem #2 - “”
• SeaChem #3 - “”
• AWT RESULTS - 0.05 - good

Calcium (Ca)

• Elos #1 - 300ppm?!
• Elos #2 - 300ppm ?!
• Elos #3 - 300 ppm ?!
• AWT RESULTS - 148*

Phosphate (PO4)

• DD Merck - colors matched somewhere between 0.024 - 0.046 PO4
• AWT RESULTS - 0.06 - Fine, I’m just using a kit, no hanna or anything

And that’s all I test for. They did provide other results on Silicates, Copper, Molybdenum, an others (just head to their site for a whole list), but I don’t really care. If the tank had really high copper, I think the coral would have mentioned something long ago. I do not understand the role Molybdenum plays enough to worry about it now, but it did make a kick ass lubricant for pinewood derby car wheels when I was a Cub Scout. They wonder why my cars would never lose…

I do wish I had another Ca kit on hand. I knew about some discrepancies between home kits and AWT’s Ca results (Reef Central thread here) beforehand, so in all honesty, I didn’t really care - Ca is easy to test for, and easy to adjust. I wonder how the hell I let it drop to 300, but that’s an easy adjustment. It would be a boon to their service if there were less discrepancy (low result seems par for the course).

It was great that the iodine came back within the same range the SeaChem reads. Not a huge fan of SeaChem kits in general, either based on past use with other kits, or just the whole thing with the little tray. As far as I know, hobbyist test kits for Io are dodgy at best, so this result was nice too see.

The one parameter that’s really bothering me is the potassium (K). I ran 3 tests with the Fauna Marin kit, and came back with 425ish to 450…ish, a little high, every time. I also kept a sample of the water I sent in, just in case, and tested it 3 times since I got the results - 425 to 450… ish. It’s a little hard to read, but I find it very hard to believe that the potassium in my tank is under 200. Fauna Marin’s MinS additive, one of their main components to the basic system, lists Potassium Chloride as one of the ingredients. Given that I’ve been dosing Min S every day for the last few months, it’s a little curious. I also fail to mention I haven’t noticed any signs of K depletion commonly noted.

All in all, it’s OK. The idea of the service is great. They mail a packet quickly, and the turn around time from when sample is sent in until results received is very good. I am going to order a few more “submission packets”, or whatever they call them, and I’ll send them in every so often. I hope the discrepancies in calcium levels get worked out, and I hope it’s not me, it’s them, regarding the K levels.

The next submission should be interesting - I’ve been dosing the Power Trace 4 for the last couple weeks. Currently only dosing 10% of the recommended amount, but will be sure to note where I am with those on the next submission to AWT. I think “flabbergasted” won’t even begin to describe a report of lower levels of those elements I’m adding daily…

And on another note to anyone keeping reefs, here’s a short video clip by Glassbox Design… a couple quick tips on making your tank look sharp… get those frag racks out of the main display!

We use spectrophotometry, auto-titration, and specialized ion specific probes to deliver a level of accuracy 100 to 1000 times greater than that of home testing procedures. A panel is our series of 14 tests run on a single water sample submission.

Ammonia

Nitrite

Nitrate

Phosphate

Silica

Alkalinity

Calcium

Potassium

Magnesium

Strontium

Molybdenum

Iodine

Copper

Boron

Now I’ve read quite a few threads on forums re: AWT’s results. Some seem to be skeptical at best. I haven’t had time to sit down and test my tank lately, so the plan is to do a small water change on Wed., then sit down Sunday evening, run a battery of tests using everything I got, and mailing in samples of the same water to AWT. I’ll post the results once I receive them, and I am kind of anxious to see what will happen.

In other news, I noticed that a setting was not allowing for strangers to comment, spam filters and whatnot. So if you tried in the past and it wouldn’t let you, please try again! For better or for worse, speak your mind - you won’t offend anyone at StonyReef.com

And, the photo gallery is up and running! New pictures added weekly, so please take a look!

Please note, SeaChem reference is supposed to be 4 meq/L, or 8 drops…

The round with LaMotte is more in line with where my tank usually is, 6.5 - 7.5 dKH. I ran out of ELOS, and will be ordering one as soon as I post this, and I will try and pick up an API if I have time tomorrow. By default, I trust LaMotte more than SeaChem, but hard to say which may be off without a 3rd kit - though that SeaChem’s reference doesn’t even match what it should be, may be a good indicator of bunk. I don’t know how they want you to pull uniform samples with that dinky little straw…. I’ll try again when I have a 3rd kit.

It should also be noted, so it doesn’t seem like I’m totally hating on SeaChem’s kits…

Magnesium Test Results