Aquamedic water sample test results... interesting report!

[2wheelsonly]

I posted a thread with my rant on testing kits holding this hobby back earlier:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2608744

So I decided to send my water samples off to one of those online testing facilities. Aquamedic had a quick turnaround ( less than a week from shipping back to them) and had good reviews so I said what the heck and tried them out.

Here is my report results:

Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0
Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.009
Nitrate (NO3) Good 1.1
Phosphate (PO4) Good 0.02
Silica (Sio2-3) High 0.8
Potassium (K) Good 378
Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 117
Molybdenum (Mo) High 0.3
Strontium (Sr) Good 7.3
Magnesium (Mg) Good 1320
Iodine (I) Good 0.04
Copper (Cu) Good 0.08
Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 2.7
Total Calcium (Ca) Good 415

My test kits for Alk, Calc and Mag are very good.

My Po4 and Po3 test kits are not as accurate according to this report.

Po4 from Hanna ULR shows 0.08 - 1.1 consitently
Po3 is undetected from 4 different test kits: Red Sea, API, Salifert, NyoS The water NEVER turns ANY shade of pink it's just crystal clear after the regents are added.

For some odd reason I am showing a trace of copper, the testing center claims that's normal but who knows. It may be from adding fish from LFS and not rinsing them enough when putting them in QT.

No idea how I can remove my silicates; I use a BRS 150GPD 5 stage kit and change the filters on a regular basis and make sure my two DI resins are in good shape.

I was running my alk very low under the impressions I maintain an ULNS but apparently that's not the case. I wonder if I should raise my alk any?

I do have what I would consider a not so great success rate with SPS; they grow VERY well and keep decent colors but there always seems to be a colony or frag STNing at any given time. I also am 0-5 for trying to keep hammer corals; they just don't live in my tank.

[Ron Reefman]

I do have what I would consider a not so great success rate with SPS; they grow VERY well and keep decent colors but there always seems to be a colony or frag STNing at any given time. I also am 0-5 for trying to keep hammer corals; they just don't live in my tank.

Your avatar says you have only been at RC since April. So how long have you been in the hobby and how long has this tank been set up and running?

I'd also consider that maybe it's something other than water parameters that is your issue with not being able to keep a hammer... or other sps for that matter.

IMHO, some tanks just do better with some corals than with others. I have lots of sps and lps but couldn't keep zoas to save my life. I eventually gave up. Then I found out that my Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel was eating them! And I still have issues with acans and plate corals.

[pisanoal]

Low levels of Copper are present in seawater. Most salts have trace amounts as well.

Also I believe gfo will remove silicates as well as phosphate. Or maybe that was another gfo type product.

[Radioheadx14]

Activated carbon will remove heavy metals like copper. not sure GFO will do anything for that.

[Mishri]

Could be PH swings, do you monitor your PH at night?


There is a relationship between calcium, ph, and alkalinity.. you'll need higher ALK if your PH is lower. if You have really high PH it could be cause the calcium to drop out of the water (forming calcium carbonate).. Drops in PH can be rough on SPS.


I wouldn't be worried about the silica.. like radiohead said, you could run carbon to remove copper... but I would be doubtful that is the problem, like others said, copper exists in ocean water, and organisms need it for their metabolic process, you don't want it to be 0.0000