Red sea vs salifert

[Jimbojames]

I know you get what you pay for in this hobby, whats my fellow reefers option on red sea test kits? I seen good mixed reviews, people say that the Calcium, Magnesium & Alkalinity are good kits, and for me to use API test strips for Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite. I want something better then api. Red sea vs salifert.

 

[emilybear91]

I'm also curious to know what the favored test kit brands are, as I feel like my API results are not very consistent. I just ordered a Seachem iodine/iodide test kit, because I'm dosing iodine and I have no idea how fast it gets consumed. Is it critical to test magnesium and other less-thought-of parameters, or will they be stable enough considering I change 5 of my 30 gallons, using quality reef salt, every ten days or so?

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[fwadiver]

only thing i use API for is ammonia.

I love the red sea kits for alk, cal, and mag, they are simple and i can run all 3 in under 5 mins. Their nitrate kit is ok, but in all honesty is too complicated/time consuming. I liked the salifert kit when it was the dry reagents, but since they switched to liquid I have noticed it reads too high. I am still looking for a good nitrate test kit. For phosphate the red sea kit is better than the others because of the color wheel, but you are still trying to discern different shades of blue, a color photometer like the hanna low range phos is still the best for this.

also wanted to add i have the red sea color kit, and these tests are overly complicated to use regularly, its ok for if you are trying to problem solve those 3 elements (iodine, iron and K)

 

[emilybear91]

How important is it to test for magnesium? What depletes it? I notice several "master" kits do not test mag.

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[fwadiver]

if you dont know about the different params and dosing i suggest watching the BRS tv videos on youtube. The short story is that some of it is used up in coral skeleton formation, coraline algea tends to suck it out of the tank, and water changes will lower it if you are dosing because 90% of the salt mixes out there have low mag. Mag is important because it allows you to have a higher alk without precipitation, if you have chronically low alk or low ph you may have a magnesium deficiency.

 

[fwadiver]

also I wouldnt dose iodine randomly, there should be a reason you are dosing it, and you should always measure for anything you dose. Iodine can be overdosed pretty easily, and there arent many reasons to dose it.

 

[emilybear91]

I have shrimp and crabs and many palys. I was told I should dose iodine to help crustaceans molt, and to increase the health of mushrooms/palys/zoas. I know it's risky to dose something and not be testing, which is why I've only been using about an eighth of the recommended dose and only half as frequently. I ordered the seachem iodine/iodide test kit the other day. I would be interested to hear more about the purpose and use of iodine and anything important I might need to know.

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[DD]

I have shrimp and crabs and many palys. I was told I should dose iodine to help crustaceans molt, and to increase the health of mushrooms/palys/zoas. I know it's risky to dose something and not be testing, which is why I've only been using about an eighth of the recommended dose and only half as frequently. I ordered the seachem iodine/iodide test kit the other day. I would be interested to hear more about the purpose and use of iodine and anything important I might need to know.

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Verify everything you're told by doing your own research. Some people do crazy things, and they work for them, but they would crash your system. There are tried and true methods, and also a wealth of information out on the web, as well as books. Excessive amounts of iodine cause shrimps to molt more, which really isn't a good thing necessarily.

If you're doing water changes weekly, or even twice a month, you shouldn't really have to dose anything at all. Especially in a small system.

OP: I've only used the salifert test kits. I have not had any complaints with them, aside from the phosphate kit being hard to distinguish light blue from light bluish lol.

 

[fwadiver]

you should not need to dose iodine if doing regular waterchanges, its a common beginner mistake, but can crash a system, there should be more than enough iodine in your salt mix.

 

[emilybear91]

I had been using reef crystals, which contained no iodine. Isn't it a necessary element? I switched to Seachem reef salt about 6 weeks ago, and cut my iodine dose to a few drops every other week.. ( I was hesitant to cut the dosing all together because my tank was looking very good and I had read that iodine is quickly absorbed by carbon and skimmed out) I'm curious to do the testing and see the results.

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[Skimmo]

Instant Ocean Reef Crystals @ 1.025 Spec Grav. usually tests at 0.04 ppm. It's like 0.01 lower than seawater but there is an adequate presence of Iodine in the mx. It's safe to say you can maintain a consistent level of iodine with weekly water changes made up with Reef Crystals. I have crustaceans that molt as they should, and I've been using Reef Crystals for years. I've never once dosed Iodine as a supplement.

 

[emilybear91]

When and for what reasons is it appropriate to dose iodine?

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[fwadiver]

it is sometimes used as a dip (not recommended due to staining) or to troubleshoot specific issues within aquaria, be they coral or invert color and health, my general opinion is messing with iodine and the other color supplementation is an advanced reefing technique and should only be attempted by people that already are good about understanding state of their coral health by appearance. that being said here is some more information on bioavailable iodine that doesnt really tell you to dose or not

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/e_edelman2.html

 

[emilybear91]

Thanks

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