Aquavitro Synthesis

[joshwaggs]

I know this came up in an old post, but not much follow-on information came from it. I emailed Aquavitro to find out if they would recommend it or not. Their reply follows:

I know urea was discussed and isn’t really unsafe if it is done carefully, but I just wanted to provide the company’s view, in case anyone is thinking about buying it.
I also bought the Activate, which is phosphate. I will continue to use that, but I will switch to potassium nitrate instead of Synthesis.

 

[DSC reef]

Thanks for sharing and kudos to seachem for the information.

 

[wattson]

its probably more of an issue to try to test for Urea than anything,,there is no real hobby grade/cost effective way to test for Urea for home reef use..
This is good question for Randy..
Ammonia and Urea are more favored by softies than Nitrate,,when I dose to raise No3,,I dose 1/3 Urea and 2/3 Nitrate..
since I dont have many fish in a 175 gallon system..
Actually this Synthisis product doesnt seem bad but the testing factor is keeping me at bay,,ill dose separate.

 

[joshwaggs]

its probably more of an issue to try to test for Urea than anything,,there is no real hobby grade/cost effective way to test for Urea for home reef use..
This is good question for Randy..
Ammonia and Urea are more favored by softies than Nitrate,,when I dose to raise No3,,I dose 1/3 Urea and 2/3 Nitrate..
since I dont have many fish in a 175 gallon system..
Actually this Synthisis product doesnt seem bad but the testing factor is keeping me at bay,,ill dose separate.

Well, hell, you can have mine if you were near Pittsburgh. It was 10 dollars and I used .6ml of it, which means there is 259.4ml left that won’t get used. I have a small system, so I’m afraid of anything that is an unknown. Stuff will die faster than I can fix it.

 

[wattson]

Well, hell, you can have mine if you were near Pittsburgh. It was 10 dollars and I used .6ml of it, which means there is 259.4ml left that won’t get used. I have a small system, so I’m afraid of anything that is an unknown. Stuff will die faster than I can fix it.

Just might take you up on that,,I can drive 10 minutes or less and be in Pittsburgh,Ill keep dosing separate.

 

[Dan_P]

its probably more of an issue to try to test for Urea than anything,,there is no real hobby grade/cost effective way to test for Urea for home reef use..
This is good question for Randy..
Ammonia and Urea are more favored by softies than Nitrate,,when I dose to raise No3,,I dose 1/3 Urea and 2/3 Nitrate..
since I dont have many fish in a 175 gallon system..
Actually this Synthisis product doesnt seem bad but the testing factor is keeping me at bay,,ill dose separate.

Ehrlich’s reagent and the Hanna Color of Water Checker might be an option based on clinical chemistry information. The reagent seems to be readily available, presumably testing for drug residues :-). I am not sure if it is sensitive enough though. One older reference indicates 20 ppm urea as a lower limit for the test. Modern versions of the test might be more sensitive.

In short, there is some hope for a simple test.