How accurate are Red Sea Test Kits?

[Empty Bottles]

I've been battling a massive GHA outbreak and and wondering if my test kits are off I'm showing 0-1 NO3.

[whiteshark]

Well it could be that the ha is using the nitrate up so fast your kit isn't detecting it. As for their accuracy in general I can't comment as I've never used them.

[thegrun]

If you are using the Red Sea Pro kit they are very accurate. The old Red Sea kits were not very good. As posted above the algae could be using up most of the nitrates showing you with low levels when in fact you have too much nitrate in the tank. Have you checked your phosphates? They could also be the cause of your outbreak.

[Empty Bottles]

Phosphate is reading .04 I meant to post that too.

[thegrun]

While I believe in testing, the bottom line is if you have algae issues you are going to need to reduce your phosphates and nitrates (you could reduce lighting, but with corals that is not a viable option). Rappid algae growth will mask the fact that your levels are higher than what you want. I would look into running a GFO or phosphate removing resin reactor and growing a macro algae like chaeto in a refugium for nitrate exportation. You could also look into vodka dosing as an option.

[premilove]

If you are using the Red Sea Pro kit they are very accurate. The old Red Sea kits were not very good. As posted above the algae could be using up most of the nitrates showing you with low levels when in fact you have too much nitrate in the tank. Have you checked your phosphates? They could also be the cause of your outbreak.

Idk if I had a bad kit, but my results-Alk, Calc, Phos, and Mag were completely off when I compared it to a Hanna Checker.

[thegrun]

I love Hana Checkers for Alkalinity and Phosphates, but they are not good when it comes to calcium or magnesium.

[premilove]

I love Hana Checkers for Alkalinity and Phosphates, but they are not good when it comes to calcium or magnesium.

really? why is that? now I want to compare my hanna checker to my salifert kit lol

[thegrun]

Try making a few tests of the same sample of water for calcium with your Hanna checker, you are going to get a fairly wide range of results. You could also try testing a calibrated calcium sample against your Hanna checker and check the results. Your variance is going to be much less with the Salifert test kit. Someone with a higher level of chemistry expertise may be able to explain why, but I don't know anyone who has been happy with their Hanna calcium results. On the other hand, the Hanna checker results for alkalinity and phosphates have been shown to be very accurate.

[Spyderturbo007]

If you are using the Red Sea Pro kit they are very accurate. The old Red Sea kits were not very good.

Actually, according to my findings using an ICP, a few certified reference materials and volumetric laboratory equipment, their accuracy isn't that great.

I experienced a swing of almost 70ppm between my original test kit and the new refill. Oddly enough, neither test kit was within 30ppm of the actual value for Calcium.

Don't even get me started on the Magnesium, because that isn't even within 100ppm of the actual value.

[danil]

Actually, according to my findings using an ICP, a few certified reference materials and volumetric laboratory equipment, their accuracy isn't that great.

I experienced a swing of almost 70ppm between my original test kit and the new refill. Oddly enough, neither test kit was within 30ppm of the actual value for Calcium.

Don't even get me started on the Magnesium, because that isn't even within 100ppm of the actual value.

RS is a good hobby level test kit. They may be not up to a level of lab tests but they are good enough and most importantly are consistent. You can test water sample from a good tank and use it to "calibrate" your test kit. With Hanna Cal and some other checkers it's not the case. They are NOT consistent which creates a issue of usability for us. You can't calibrate them to anything.

[Spyderturbo007]

RS is a good hobby level test kit. They may be not up to a level of lab tests but they are good enough and most importantly are consistent.

Perhaps consistent with regards to a single reagent bottle, but are in no way consistent between lot numbers.

[Ms Tanky Panky]

I'm a little confused on my pinpoint calcium monitor. I'm sure about the calibration but mine never seems to settle down. For example, when I first drop it in it will start out around 350 and then starts climbing and the longer you leave it in the water the higher it climbs and in less than a minute it will be over 600 which I know without a doubt is not true.

[Newbie Aquarist]

I started using NoPox to remove my phosphates and nitrates. Nitrates and phosphates dropped in a matter of two weeks and been the same since. I even took my GFO and bio pellets offline. That's all I use now.

[Sk8r]

If you have algae, you have phosphate. If you kill the algae, your tank still has phosphate. A GFO will absorb the phosphate when you kill the algae. Takes a while, but it will solve your problem.

[Empty Bottles]

It didn't get bad until my yellow tang picked the aquarium clean and I started giving him some nori I got from the asian supermarket. Plus my cleanup crew was basically non existent. I was running GFO, but it makes my zoas close up. I guess I can replace the spent material in my reactor and just ride it out.

[chrisfont23]

I use Red Sea and never had a problem.

[sleepydoc]

I've been using the Red Sea kit for about a year and been happy with it. I've found it to be fairly reliable, but having said that, I've long had questions about the Accuracy, Reliability and precision of the tests we use.

To be clear on definitions,
Accuracy is how close to the true value the given results are (are your darts hitting the bulls eye)
Reliability is how consistently repeated test results are (how tight is the grouping of darts is)
Precision describes a tests ability to distinguish small differences.

These are obviously related, but a test can be very reliable without being accurate. (i.e the KH always reads 2 points low,) or vice versa. A high degree of precision is worthless if a test is not very reliable. Also, just because the scale gives you results to 4 decimal places doesn't necessarily mean the test is that precise.

With repeated testing, we can judge a tests reliability, but without having a reference solution with known values or a gold-standard testing method, it is difficult to impossible to know how accurate any of these tests are.

[Spyderturbo007]

With repeated testing, we can judge a tests reliability, but without having a reference solution with known values or a gold-standard testing method, it is difficult to impossible to know how accurate any of these tests are.

I've already done this and proven they aren't repeatable, or accurate. They are reproducible within lot numbers, but not between lot numbers.

Red Sea "claims" an accuracy of +/-5ppm on the their box for the Calcium test, which isn't even close. :hmm2:

[mandarinfanatic]

I started using NoPox to remove my phosphates and nitrates. Nitrates and phosphates dropped in a matter of two weeks and been the same since. I even took my GFO and bio pellets offline. That's all I use now.

i removed dsb; gfo. purigen and seachem matrix media. i now dose nopox and i am very happy with the results