Aqua spin test vs salifert test

[sushiboss]

Hey fellow reefers

I have a question regarding my current tank testing.

For weeks my large reef tank consistently reads high magnesium as I get my water aqua spin tested every single week for my reef tanks.

I go to the same location every week so I trust them. Although I know the tests aren’t entirely accurate I like ballpark figures so I am not testing calcium and mag every single week. I’m not interested in being perfect just in a ballpark range between 400-480 calcium and roughly 1450-1550 mag.

My aqua test today again reads my mag at 1700 ppm so I purchased a salifert test and it turned blue/grey with 4 notches left until finished resulting in a near 1500 mag.

My question is are these tests that wildly inconsistent?

 

[fishywishy]

Hey fellow reefers

I have a question regarding my current tank testing.

For weeks my large reef tank consistently reads high magnesium as I get my water aqua spin tested every single week for my reef tanks.

I go to the same location every week so I trust them. Although I know the tests aren’t entirely accurate I like ballpark figures so I am not testing calcium and mag every single week. I’m not interested in being perfect just in a ballpark range between 400-480 calcium and roughly 1450-1550 mag.

My aqua test today again reads my mag at 1700 ppm so I purchased a salifert test and it turned blue/grey with 4 notches left until finished resulting in a near 1500 mag.

My question is are these tests that wildly inconsistent?

Both are known for not being the most accurate, however, I would say the Salifert test kit is more accurate than the Spin Master test kit. So, I would trust the Salifert more, and it definitely seems more accurate based on the results.

If you want a more accurate test kit i would go for Red Sea.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hey fellow reefers

I have a question regarding my current tank testing.

For weeks my large reef tank consistently reads high magnesium as I get my water aqua spin tested every single week for my reef tanks.

I go to the same location every week so I trust them. Although I know the tests aren’t entirely accurate I like ballpark figures so I am not testing calcium and mag every single week. I’m not interested in being perfect just in a ballpark range between 400-480 calcium and roughly 1450-1550 mag.

My aqua test today again reads my mag at 1700 ppm so I purchased a salifert test and it turned blue/grey with 4 notches left until finished resulting in a near 1500 mag.

My question is are these tests that wildly inconsistent?

If you really need an accurate measurement of Magnesium you should do an ICP.

Hobby tests are not worth the cost or effort.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Hey fellow reefers

I have a question regarding my current tank testing.

For weeks my large reef tank consistently reads high magnesium as I get my water aqua spin tested every single week for my reef tanks.

I go to the same location every week so I trust them. Although I know the tests aren’t entirely accurate I like ballpark figures so I am not testing calcium and mag every single week. I’m not interested in being perfect just in a ballpark range between 400-480 calcium and roughly 1450-1550 mag.

My aqua test today again reads my mag at 1700 ppm so I purchased a salifert test and it turned blue/grey with 4 notches left until finished resulting in a near 1500 mag.

My question is are these tests that wildly inconsistent?

What does the AquaSpin test usually put your Mg at?
Did you change anything dosing wise? Did you do a water change with a different type of salt?

I use salifret and it’s generally close enough to my ICP results (I try to do them quarterly) that I’d would trust it over the AquaSpin.

 

[sushiboss]

What does the AquaSpin test usually put your Mg at?
Did you change anything dosing wise? Did you do a water change with a different type of salt?

I use salifret and it’s generally close enough to my ICP results (I try to do them quarterly) that I’d would trust it over the AquaSpin.

Well I test weekly.

Over the last week I did a 30% water change broken up over several small water changes. Before this I went several months without a water change as my nutrient levels are all relatively good

Nitrate 17
Phosphate.17

I haven’t dosed mag in quite some time. More than 6 weeks, it’s been so long I don’t remember exactly the last time I dosed mag. I typically dose alk everyday and calcium as needed which isn’t often.

The spin test generally puts my mag near 1700 ppm.

Salifert had .04 left which places me just shy of 1500

 

[sushiboss]

Both are known for not being the most accurate, however, I would say the Salifert test kit is more accurate than the Spin Master test kit. So, I would trust the Salifert more, and it definitely seems more accurate based on the results.

If you want a more accurate test kit i would go for Red Sea.

Well I’m not shooting for perfection. Only curious why the averages would yield such different parameters.

200 ppm is a huge difference in variance haha

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

200 ppm is a huge difference in variance haha

Hence the rationale for the RMM method.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/

 

[sushiboss]

Hence the rationale for the RMM method.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/just-say-no-to-magnesium-testing-rmm-is-born.1017528/

Hahahaha. I will become a rmm enthusiast.

The only reason I began testing is I have some lobos that are suffering and these always come back so wonky so I looked into it as this is possibly the reason but after triple checking I’m no longer sure and now I suspect either my filefish or my foxface.

Still not entirely sure but the lobos mouth went ghost white and it’s suffering.

I’ll just let nature run its course.

Is there a Randy method for alk and phosphate? =D

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is there a Randy method for alk and phosphate? =D

lol

Yes, but they involve testing.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Well I test weekly.

Over the last week I did a 30% water change broken up over several small water changes. Before this I went several months without a water change as my nutrient levels are all relatively good

Nitrate 17
Phosphate.17

I haven’t dosed mag in quite some time. More than 6 weeks, it’s been so long I don’t remember exactly the last time I dosed mag. I typically dose alk everyday and calcium as needed which isn’t often.

The spin test generally puts my mag near 1700 ppm.

Salifert had .04 left which places me just shy of 1500

I would say the Salifret is right. You test weekly with your LFS? I plan to do an ICP on my tanks soon. Hopefully I don’t lose this thread and I can let you know how close Salifret is to the ICP test.

I would get the Salifret Calcium and alk test as well and compare to the spin test.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

For folks who want to control magnesium by testing and dosing, my suggestion is to get an ICP once, and bottle up some tank water that day. When the results come back, that bottle can serve as a standard to evaluate your mag test, and I'd do that evaluation every so often to revalidate the results.

ICP won't be perfect, but it is certainly close enough.

 

[sushiboss]

I would say the Salifret is right. You test weekly with your LFS? I plan to do an ICP on my tanks soon. Hopefully I don’t lose this thread and I can let you know how close Salifret is to the ICP test.

I would get the Salifret Calcium and alk test as well and compare to the spin test.

I use Hanna for alk nitrate and phosphate.

I bought the Hanna mag and calcium but those were a complete bust. Terrible product.

And yes I test every week religiously at my lfs.

More for peace of mind than anything.

 

[sushiboss]

For folks who want to control magnesium by testing and dosing, my suggestion is to get an ICP once, and bottle up some tank water that day. When the results come back, that bottle can serve as a standard to evaluate your mag test, and I'd do that evaluation every so often to revalidate the results.

ICP won't be perfect, but it is certainly close enough.

What does the bottle of tank water on the day you send out the icp do?

Just a reference point to test against the icp?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What does the bottle of tank water on the day you send out the icp do?

Just a reference point to test against the icp?

It gives you a magnesium standard to use your mag test on to double check it.

 

[GARRIGA]

Recall Aqua Forest came with a reference sample which BRS felt gave the best results for magnesium as most users during their testing came back with similar results. I'm just going to cheat and go the Randy method. Plus I hate testing :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[Reefing_addiction]

For folks who want to control magnesium by testing and dosing, my suggestion is to get an ICP once, and bottle up some tank water that day. When the results come back, that bottle can serve as a standard to evaluate your mag test, and I'd do that evaluation every so often to revalidate the results.

ICP won't be perfect, but it is certainly close enough.

Never thought about doing that! I test my water same day and time I pack up my sample so I can compare - usually right it on the paper with the tracking number and pin it to the fridge till the results are in and then trash it lol and then realize later I should have kept that info somewhere. I believe I will do this the next time though!

 

[Reefing_addiction]

double mint