Does anyone know any cheaper ways of testing reef chemistry?

[shartpants007]

So I just spent quite a bit on a 25 pack of 5-in-1 test strips. After having gotten home and using 2 already, I realized that the precision of the strips is sorely lacking, and that I could have gotten a 100 pack for a bit less than I paid for the 25 on Amazon. Of course, I had looked before I went to the store and while in the store, but couldn’t even find that product online then. Now, having taken a college chem course, I know that there are much cheaper and more accurate ways of testing levels via titration, but I never paid enough attention to know how to do that kind of thing on my own. Does anyone know how to do something like this or have any experience doing any sort of DIY testing? I know reefing is an expensive hobby, but it seems like test kits should be able to be mass produced easily and, as such, are a massive rip off. What’s more, unless I want to spend a few hundred up front for a system that would measure the levels for me, this is going to be something I have to keep spending money on. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[RobW]

All I can say is welcome to the hobby and find a second and possibly third job to support the habit. Lol

 

[Bo.]

You are correct. Test strips are wildly inaccurate. Salifert or Red Sea Reef are a good choice. Hanna checkers start getting expensive, don't go for API.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The cheapest way is to not bother. I don’t really test for anything. Maybe once a month just to make sure but not really to be honest. It’s really up to you how complicated you want to make this hobby. What exactly do you want to test for?

You can also check your local online classifieds for people getting out of hobby and selling their test kits.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

So I just spent quite a bit on a 25 pack of 5-in-1 test strips. After having gotten home and used 2 already, I realized that the precision of the strips is sorely lacking, and that I could have gotten a 100 pack for a bit less than I paid for the 25 on Amazon. Of course, I had looked before I went to the store and while in the store, but couldn’t even find that product online then. Now, having taken a college chem course, I know that there are much cheaper and more accurate ways of testing levels via titration, but I never paid enough attention to know how to do that kind of thing on my own. Does anyone know how to do something like this or have any experience doing any sort of DIY testing? I know reefing is an expensive hobby, but it seems like test kits should be able to be mass produced easily and, as such, are a massive rip off. What’s more, unless I want to spend a few hundred up front for a system that would measure the levels for me, this is going to be something I have to keep spending money on. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Most things in this hobby are marked up quite a bit.

 

[shartpants007]

The cheapest way is to not bother. I don’t really test for anything. Maybe once a month just to make sure but not really to be honest. It’s really up to you how complicated you want to make this hobby. What exactly do you want to test for?

You can also check your local online classifieds for people getting out of hobby and selling their test kits.

I do check local Craigslist all the time (usually just the curb alert section) unfortunately, it’s usually the kind of stuff you’d expect to get for free. (Why would I want your rotted wood and cardboard boxes?) I honestly haven’t tested for anything in years, but my saltwater tank is rather new and, since it’s only 20 gallons, I want to make sure the levels don’t suddenly fluctuate as I add new stuff and battle dinoflagellates. I really just got the strips because I added one pleco with ich (not enough to notice before adding him to the tank, but enough to spread to some of my other fish) to my freshwater tank, and I lost a cherry barb while medicating, during which time I had my filter off. I have since turned my filter back on, having removed the carbon and bio rings, but I wanted to see if my nitrates or nitrites were way out of whack.

 

[RobW]

I use red sea and hanna checkers. The Hanna checkers are 50.00 a piece. The reagents vary in price. Red Sea test kits aren't too bad. And once your tank is established, ease up on constant testing of every single thing all the time. I test ph, and alkalinity daily. Those are the cheapest. I do weekly water changes and test for calcium, magnesium, nitrates and phosphates. I hardly think about the price of reagents. What I tend to think about is the thousands I have invested in whats inside the tank. I remind myself that if I don't test and maintain. There goes my investment!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

if you have a new tank then ya, you need a test kit. But since you are experienced, maybe just get yourself a nitrate test kit. Ammonia and nitrite is only needed to track the cycle, but again if you know what you are doing then you can get away with just tracking for nitrate. But yes those test strips are a waste of money, I fell for it too lol

 

[brandon429]

knowing what to test will help you:

do not own or use nitrite testing in reefing, itll only mislead you into future purchases and offsets, omit it altogether we don't need to know nitrite (this saves you from buying a dedicated kit for it)

and ammonia-you're better off not using any of today's cheaper testers they'll only send you on a wild buying spree. myriad threads exist for testless cycling, its easy and common.


ammonia does not ever need to be tested for outside the cycle, its predictable in everyone's reef, 100%. none vary from consistent safe zone given no abnormal insults.



that leaves nitrate, pH, phosphate, alk, calcium and salinity as your ones to focus on

99% of reefers don't care about pH they manage the others.


if you must test for ammonia during the cycle, prepare for so much looping you wont be able to start reefing until 2023. use testless options, my strong strong recommend.

how can you cycle a reef tank without testing?

buy ten pounds of already live rock from an aquarium at the fish store. move it home, you're cycled for any starting bioload in reefing far beyond youll ever actually keep in the tank.

we just eliminated at least nitrite, ammonia and pH from your testing needs.

 

[karamreef117]

Welcome to the hobby this is what its all about. Reef wise I have found salter to be pretty good with price wise and accuracy. I tend to collect over time so I dont think about spending $100 on test kits right away.

 

[Cory]

I know someone who has a thriving sps reef who only does weekly water changes and never tests anything.

A cheaper test for alkalinity is randys diy alkalinity test.

 

[blasterman]

Yeah....stop testing so much and test things that matter. At times I think we need to have a sub forum for all those who got into reefing just because they enjoy testing water params.

One of my tanks is 20L with balz out SPS growing like mad. Not only is it a tiny tank, but with that much SPS in a small space it's inevitably inconsistent. Oh yeah....it hasn't had a water change in forever.

I test alk once a week...maybe twice with Salifert in low rez mode. Those kits are like $17 and in low rez mode last over a year.
I test calcium twice a month with Red Sea. Calcium drifting from 450 to 400 over a week or two has never bothered any coral in my 30 years of reefing.
I test magnesium...like...never. Because mag is taken up at a near fixed ratio with calcium I can guess based on calcium consumption and be spot on.
I test nitrate and phosphate every couple of weeks.
I don't test ammonia, or nitrite, or pH, or unobtanium, or argon levels because I can't control them anyways.

If I just had LPS or softies or a bigger tank with a few frags I would cut testing down a lot.

So, with the majority of reef tanks on this forum being much larger than mine with much lighter coral loads I don't get what's up with all the testing.