What's a Good Magnesium Test kit to use.

[rolyguy7]

Hello all,

Was wondering if anyone knows of a good Magnesium test kit to use. My local Aquarium shop carries LaMotte brand. Anyone have any experience with using this test kit?

Thanks...

[Aquarist007]

I find the salifert really easy to use and accurate.

[bucky56477]

Yea salifert is the way to go.

[jasontg99]

Definitely Salifert.

[hilgert]

Salifert for me, but some have complained about recent test kits indicating too high. I have not experienced this yet, as I am using some older kits. The nice thing about the Salifert kits (any of them) is that the color change is dramatic and not slow - one or two drops causes the entire color change, so there is little guesswork.

-Hilgert

[msn711]

I wouldn't put too much into the salifert complaints. I have the same batch number as a lot of the complaining folks, and I have not gotten any out of the ordinary readings. I'm gonna need a lot more evidence to be convinced that something is wrong with the very test kits people have been hyping as one of the best for years.

[hilgert]

Yup, Salifert is still my favorite. Ca, Mg and alk are all I really test for except for pH (probe), salinity (refractometer) and temperature (probe). Typcially do everything once or twice a week (eg - I like to "fix" stuff that is alredy working just fine).

I am making some reference solutions this weekend and will test all of my Salifert Ca, Mg and Alk kits to see how consistent and accurate they are. As long as they are "hand grenade" close that is good enough for me, as I dose Randy's 2-part with Mg setup in a balance manner, so everything will be high or everything will be low. I typically look at all three measurements before chaning dosing rates anyway. As long as Ca is within 20 of where I want it, Alk is within 1dkH and Mg is within 500 or so, I don't really see a need to change.

Whenever I have been testing so far all three tests seem to be in agreement (from a balanced perspective) without consistently wild variations. When I do get a wild variation I chalk it up to an error on my part, improperly cleaned test vial or the fact that we can't expect NASA accuracy out of a $15 test kit. And, for a $15 test kit, Salifert is pretty good.

-Hilgert

[HBtank]

My opinion on Salifert:

Salifert is accurate for Ca, Mag and Alk (despite recent complaints on the Alk reading to high in some batches)

Salifert is NOT so good for PH or Phosphate IMO, the first is far to hard to read and the second does not have the accuracy for low readings to be very helpfull to many reefers.

So to answer the TS, Salifert is actually recommended as one of the best Mg kits available.

[Icefire]

Salifert elos seachem are good

[drummereef]

Salifert for me. :)

[pete620]

I've never used a LaMotte magnesium test kit. However I did use their soil test kit in my intro to soils course. I found it to be easy to use and read. However, these were not consumer test kits and ran about $250 a set.

[rolyguy7]

Thank you everyone for chiming in. Looks like Salifert is the way to go. I appreciate that some provided your own test results which gives me a good idea to compare my tanks readings against.

Thanks again...