Pbrown3701
10/11/2007, 02:34 PM
Quick question or 2 for you.
1. What temperature to you maintain your tank?
2. I've recently purchased an Instant Ocean Alk test kit which reads significantly lower than the Salifert test kit i've been using up to this point. IO reads 2.75 meq/L and Salifert reads 3.48 meq/L. I think this may be due to user error as the Salifert test seems to be hard to determine when the color change is "complete." I try to add drop wise until the color is an orangish pink with no tint of blue left - but that varies in interpretation.
The IO test i like because it has a very "quick" color change with 1 drop - however, this is most likely due to the size of the drop and resolution of the test kit.
I have a suspicion that the Salifert test is reading high as I have been having a little bit of trouble keeping my pH stable (it used to drop to only 8.0 by morning and up to 8.2 by evening - now it's dropping down to 7.8 or so and 8.2...) I'm fairly sure it's not a CO2 buildup issue as i run an aggressive skimmer supplied with air from a pump outside.
What are your thoughts on this?
1. What temperature to you maintain your tank?
2. I've recently purchased an Instant Ocean Alk test kit which reads significantly lower than the Salifert test kit i've been using up to this point. IO reads 2.75 meq/L and Salifert reads 3.48 meq/L. I think this may be due to user error as the Salifert test seems to be hard to determine when the color change is "complete." I try to add drop wise until the color is an orangish pink with no tint of blue left - but that varies in interpretation.
The IO test i like because it has a very "quick" color change with 1 drop - however, this is most likely due to the size of the drop and resolution of the test kit.
I have a suspicion that the Salifert test is reading high as I have been having a little bit of trouble keeping my pH stable (it used to drop to only 8.0 by morning and up to 8.2 by evening - now it's dropping down to 7.8 or so and 8.2...) I'm fairly sure it's not a CO2 buildup issue as i run an aggressive skimmer supplied with air from a pump outside.
What are your thoughts on this?