Test Kits

[cbster]

What are the necessary test kits for a heavily planted tank and where is the best place to buy them? I have Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, GH, KH, and PH.

[Jamie]

Don't forget phosphate. All these kits can be bought at Big Al's.

[beviking]

Iron

[djlen]

If you have found an Fe kit that is half way dependable, I'd like to know what it is. The ones on the market are notoriously undependable and considered by many to be a huge waste of money.
For Fe dosing(and in many cases if you dose Flourish or Plantex you don't need to) is best done in very small increments and watch for improvement in plant crispness and color. Crypts in particular have been noticeably crisper, redder and faster growing with a small addition of Fe, IME.
However, if you go too far with it you can experience increased algae, especially glass and other soft algae issues.

Len

[Timmain42]

Fe tests **** me off.

Just thought I'd add that. :)

[beviking]

WHAT?! How can you measure your dosing regime using Fe as the indicator if you don't have a Fe kit? Seachem isn't reliable?
Did I miss something? Was it Chucks Page or thekrib...d@mn memory...test for iron and add your ferts accordingly to keep it @ 1ppm. Now I have to go find it....

O.k....
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html has it but says .1 ppm?

From Chucks Planted Aquaria Pages...
...Dosing of micronutrients is commonly done based on the Iron level. The mixtures are all created so that by adding the right level of Iron, then the other elements will be present in the proper amounts.

So am I nutz?

[Timmain42]

Originally posted by beviking

O.k....
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html has it but says .1 ppm?


So am I nutz?

Probably. :)

j/k, but I don't know you, so you may very well indeed be nutz. I try to keep my tanks @0.1, and maybe a little higher, say 0.3, to make sure there's enough microferts to balance out the Phosphate. Gotta be careful tho, too much Fe can cause weird algae stuff to happen....

[beviking]

I am nutz! Just ask my wife!;)
Now I have to go back to the thread I told someone that the level was 1.0ppm for iron. Back and forth search and research, research some more, all the while everyone is just sitting back and laughing at me! Hey, I may actually agree with my wife on one thing! :D

Timmain42, can I ask what kit you use?

[Timmain42]

....Hagen. And not because I like it, only because it's about the only one I can find locally.

Granted, it seems to read out fine (i.e. what the rest reads is about what I expect considering the magnitude of ferts I have to go thru for The Beast Tank), but I don't trust Hagen anymore. I dose a recommended amount of Flourish Iron (5mls per 20 gals. 2x week), but I'm switching over to Plantex+B for all my tanks this month, due to the ridiculous amount of money Seachem wants for it's Iron and Traces mix.

And in case you're wondering why I don't trust Hagen test kits..

I used the Hagen Phosphate Kit to measure my PO4 levels about 6 months ago. It read near 0 before dosing... and then near 0 again AFTER dosing. Stupid me, I trusted the kit and redosed, whereupon the kit read near 0 AGAIN.

The PO4 overload killed ALL of my Malaysian Trumpet Snails. :( So no, I don't trust the Hagen Corp. as far as I can throw them.

[RTR]

IMHO & IME, the routine hobby test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH, and GH are not bad - some better than others, but most are workable. The pH test kits are generally weak. The plant nutrient test kits other than Hach and LaMotte are IMHO either inaccurate or painfully difficult to use well or to read or both. Both of those companies have excellent test kits, but you do pay for that - a selction for the planted tank will cost you a few hundred bucks. Refills are much less expensive, but the initial investment is not small.

Iron test kits are (still IMO & IME) not worth much. They really do not measure well enough to give much help. And the warnings already given in this thread are right on regarding iron overdosing.

[djlen]

THANK YOU RTR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not spoken to anyone who got consistently accurate results testing for Fe with any kit other than Lamotte. And at times even those results were 'iffy'.
Mind you, I'm not talking about laboratory testers. Merely what's available to most of us in the hobby.
If you folks are happy and feel OK with what you use.....fine.

Len

[beviking]

Aaawwh nutz! Are you telling me a PO4 o.d. can kill MTS? Define overdose. I used a couple Jobes sticks and they leached into the water column so now (according to my Hagen PO4 kit) my tank has a PO4 of between 3 and 5ppm. That's not too bad right? That kit tests my tap at 0 so I'm inclined to believe it.
As for the iron. Those that I trust have spoken and I will allow myself to be guided again. You have not steered me wrong yet!
Thanks!!!!!!!!

[Timmain42]

Originally posted by beviking
Aaawwh nutz! Are you telling me a PO4 o.d. can kill MTS? Define overdose.

This has been my experience in SW (high PO4 kills SW snails), so when I had an OD in FW, I'm guessing the same thing did in all the MTS. My PO4 was in reality around 4-4.5.

[Timmain42]

Originally posted by RTR
The plant nutrient test kits other than Hach and LaMotte are IMHO either inaccurate or painfully difficult to use well or to read or both.

You bet. LaMotte's PO4 is great up to 2.0, too bad it's so expensive. :(