Fertilisation and test kit

[richietay]

Can i seek advise, what type of test kit to be purchased for planted tanks.
presently i have Fe, No2 and PH tester. what other items i needed to purchase.
When comes to Kh, Mg , K or whatever.... i read in the websites but still quite confuse abt their relates. would anyone spare me ur time to advise me!!

recently i started my planted tanks few days ago, my PH level reads about 7.2-7.6. what should i do?!?! adjust the CO2?

Thanks!!

[David]

Important test kits to have is PH and KH......NO2 or NO3, Its not needed unless you are one that loves to overload your tank with critters.... ....and for the rest, unless you are really hardcore......get them all......

[juggler]

I think can get the basic test kits kH and pH.

The rest, especially NO3 test, may not be accurate (as PeterGwee has been stressing ).

Read more about dosing the nutrients at http://www.aquaticquotient.com/phpbb...ic.php?t=12122

For kH, pH relationship relates to CO2 level. Read at Measuring CO2 levels in a Planted Tank

[richietay]

Thanks a lot for your advice

[liuhao]

just FYI. i use to use sera no3 testkit. it's quite ok though pretty hard to read from the color chart.

today i got a red sea no3 kit. but found it does not work at all. no3 level always shows zero. will have to go to shop to replace/refund tomorrow.

[geoffrey]

liuhao,

What makes you think your sera kit is okay while your red sea kit is not? It could be the other way around, can't it?

[liuhao]

[quote:343a7c0cac="geoffrey"]liuhao,

What makes you think your sera kit is okay while your red sea kit is not? It could be the other way around, can't it? [/quote:343a7c0cac]

simple. i use seachem nitrogen to achieve 5ppm no3+ in my tank. then use sera testkit to test, it shows the correct amount. however the red sea testkit shows zero ppm of no3+.

from now on i will be very cautious on buying red sea product. last time i got red sea kh testkit and it didnt work at all. this time the no3 testkit doesnot work at all. i think they have serious quality problem.

[Ruff]

Yes, I had the same problem with Red Sea KH test kit also.

On the other hand, their ph and GH test kits are alright.

Now for KH and NO3, I'd pay a bit more and use Salifert which is good for both freshwater and marine tank. Their NO3 colours are quite easy to differentiate (if it is not more than 10 ppm, then actually can use the small scale and divide the reading by ten, ie the colour differntiation is magnified by ten times for easy reading).

[liuhao]

[quote:895010b7f0="Ruff"]Yes, I had the same problem with Red Sea KH test kit also.

On the other hand, their ph and GH test kits are alright.

Now for KH and NO3, I'd pay a bit more and use Salifert which is good for both freshwater and marine tank. Their NO3 colours are quite easy to differentiate (if it is not more than 10 ppm, then actually can use the small scale and divide the reading by ten, ie the colour differntiation is magnified by ten times for easy reading). [/quote:895010b7f0]

how much is Salifert NO3 testkit and phosphate testkit? and which shop? my impression was Salifert is cheaper than redsea products in general.

i am searching Aquarium Pharmaceuticals NO3/Phosphate testkit and Seachem Multitest NO3/Phosphate testkit but very hard to find in lfs...

[mordrake]

[quote:9ec033ae64="liuhao"]
i am searching Aquarium Pharmaceuticals NO3/Phosphate testkit and Seachem Multitest NO3/Phosphate testkit but very hard to find in lfs...[/quote:9ec033ae64]

I have both AP and Sera no3 test kits. with AP, i keep getting zero no3 readings. sera would show 5-10ppm but AP still zero.
tested with KNO3 mixed solution and found sera is accurate.

As for the red sea no3 kit, i'm surprised it's having such problems since it is very well received in the states. used it before without problems and only switched to sera because i couldn't find any stock ard my area earlier this year. problematic batch?

[Ruff]

I think Red Sea KH test kit problem may be a batch problem.

The Salifert KH and NO3 test kits both going for about $25 to $30 each. I bought them from Petmart. As they are good for marine tanks, they are pretty accurate.

[dc88]

[QUOTE=mordrake;106674

I have both AP and Sera no3 test kits. with AP, i keep getting zero no3 readings. sera would show 5-10ppm but AP still zero.
tested with KNO3 mixed solution and found sera is accurate.

[/QUOTE]

This was an old thread but I think is good to share some learning about Aquarium Pharmaceuticals NO3 test kit.
Many had found their AP's NO3 testkit keep giving 0 reading. It is very likely of mistakening the test procedure.
The proper steps are :
(1) Put 5ml water sample into test tube
(2) add 10 drops of Test Solution Bottle 1 into test tube.
(3) shake the test tube
(4) Vigorously Shale the TEST SOLUTION BOTTLE 2 for 30 sec
(5) Then add 10 drops of Test Solution Bottle 2 into test tube.
(6) Shake the tube test tube for 1 min.
(7) wait for 5 min to check the color.

As you can see here, many (including myself) can easily mistaken step 4 if not reading the instruction carefully.
Many round I was shaking the test tube for 30 sec and couldn't get any reaction at the end.

I think if properly use them (and check with a calibrated stock solution) one can still reliably using this test kit.