Coral Question

[Black Phantom]

And whatever you do don't tell anyone your using a cheap plastic hydrometer.
Seriously - if you have one don't admit it and go by a good electronic meter or a good refractometer.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/t-...actometer.html

[Aquattro]

All good advice, but there is something wrong here. I kept all my SPS and euphylia just fine for 6 months with crappy 150w CL bulbs/ballasts, using my trusty plastic hydrometer to set my salinity at 1.029. No wilting anything, although my sand did cement together
While I certainly get much better results with bigger better lights, and a now set by refractometer 1.025, I would look at all things, not just the items pointed out so far.
Water source is RO or tap? Good membrane, or old? New tank, or used that could have been treated with copper ever. Using good carbon, or bargain stuff? Using carbon at all?
Really important to test for NO2/NO3/PO4 with these types of issues. What is water change schedule?
And temp, anywhere between 76 and 84, as long as it's stable. Ca, as long as it's over 350, not an issue yet. What is Alk?

[Glennrf38]

Originally Posted by Black Phantom

And whatever you do don't tell anyone your using a cheap plastic hydrometer.
Seriously - if you have one don't admit it and go by a good electronic meter or a good refractometer.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/t-...actometer.html

Now who would use one of those cheap plastic ones? Only the best right? I'll look at that link just incase one of my friends are using the cheap one.............

I'm also thinking of upgrading my test kit to a higher quality one. What tests are esential and what kits would you suggest?

[parkinsn]

Originally Posted by Glennrf38

Now who would use one of those cheap plastic ones? Only the best right? I'll look at that link just incase one of my friends are using the cheap one.............

I'm also thinking of upgrading my test kit to a higher quality one. What tests are esential and what kits would you suggest?

Ca, KH, Mg, work hand in hand to keep all three levels balanced. NO2 and NO3 are always good to know. I would recommend ELOS brand or Salifert brand test kits.

[Glennrf38]

Are those 5 the ones that I would need? I have one of the "fresh/salt water" kits in the blue box from Pisces.

[michika]

I would suggest:

Nitrate, Ammonia, pH, and Phosphate (this one is iffy), refractometer for general keeping. I think I use my nitrite kit maybe once on average before it expires, and I only use it when I'm starting up a new system.
Magnesium, Calcium, and Alkalinity for SPS and LPS.
As bonus add ons, I like ORP, but it isn't a must-have in my mind.

As for brands, Elos is a nice kit to use, simple, and mostly straight forwards, Salifert is good too, but I find some kits hard to replace/find. I also use PinPoint monitors (Nitrate) and Hanna's Phosmeter (phosphates).

I don't know what the fresh/saltwater box kit is sorry...

[Glennrf38]

Is there anyone in the SW Shawnessey area that could lend me a refractometer to test how close mine is?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Glennrf38

Is there anyone in the SW Shawnessey area that could lend me a refractometer to test how close mine is?

I did this with mine, it was dead on. Then it changed somewhere along the line. Just toss it, get a refractometer.

[Glennrf38]

The test kit is a Nutrifin Master Test Kit.
http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...stmasterlabkit

[parkinsn]

When i started out in the hobby i used that same test kit... I then tryed out a ELOS Ca test kit to compare the diffrence; the Hagen kit said i was at 450ppm so i figured i was good... The ELOS tested @ 375ppm. IMO get a good set of test kits!!