conflicted (1 Viewer)

[decimal]

something that really drives me a little insane is conflicting information. i tested my alk and salifert says 13.1 freshly calibrated PH 2 month old PH probe says PH is 7.68 some things in the tank look great some look like crap. salinity probe is reading 1.0265, 2 refractometers reading 1.0250.... wahhh... how dafuq am i supposed to keep things stable if nothing confirms? water changes drive alk, PH and redox lower. grrrrr..

 

[Luman01]

I feel ya. Our test kits are hobby grade, so gotta pick one and stick with it , and hope you are getting pretty close results. Also don’t forget the margin of error, all test kits have them. For ph I use my apex probe, Hanna, and salifert all are within a few points of eachother, at that time of day when I test. For salinity, it’s seems you are stable, if you got 3 results average it out. It’s the best we can do imo. And also it’s never good to chase numbers( if you are, idk that’s what interpreted from your post) being stable isn’t a set of numbers. Just Aslong as it’s not a big huge swing. You should be good.

 

[decimal]

not chasing numbers per say.. my lightly neurotic personality just doesn't like when things dont seem to add up. if all my tests and instruments / probes where telling the same story and everything looked good i would not care if the salinity was 1.028... its just conflicting results make it more difficult to aim for desired parameters. the ph and alk story is something i will have to investigate a little further. mag was testing low so maybe i need to add that to make it 3 part. idk.. im going to do another waterchange (3rd one in 3 days) and test everything again.

the apparent unraveling of our entire global economic system and rapid devolution of our culture as a human race should not distract anyone from good water parameters. not on my watch anyways.

 

[OceansX]

...
the apparent unraveling of our entire global economic system and rapid devolution of our culture as a human race should not distract anyone from good water parameters. not on my watch anyways.

LOL

I feel your pain.

 

[reeftopia]

Its good to keep a tablet so very easy to tell where your water quality is going.

 

[frankc]

Just use your zip ties to build your own ICP test machine.

 

[decimal]

hehe i guess ICP is one way.. i always forget that we even get a discount as marsh members.

 

[webster1234]

That is the reason I don't run a Calcium reactor.

 

[decimal]

A quick note. yesterday, after 3 water changes in 3 days, i remembered i had been wanting to turn up the intensity of my reefLED 90. it is a pretty strong light for the little 20g so i had it dialed back to 45% during daylight a week or so ago. Changed to 80%. last night... PH is steady higher than yesterday and everything is looking much better. as usual, operator error

 

[paraletho]

I worked in petroleum measurement for a couple of years. An oldtimer told me “ Son if you want to know what something is measure it once. If you want to wonder what it is measure it twice.” If the test kit is bad three readings can all be close but all wrong. Old school says look at your inhabitants if they look good or same then don’t worry. If there is a problem start digging deeper multiple brands of tests, different types of testing etc.

 

[decimal]

until you find the operator error?

i am comfortable with that as well.. i actually tend to rely on probe readings and tests only if something looks off. i have a small zoa colony that recently decided it did not want to open up anymore, a green slimer that does not look so green and a GSP frag that only wants to extend every 2 days or so. i have had gsp before and it was impossible to kill. i mean, everything could die and the gsp would be there not giving f*ck. so i feelt further invetigation was needed. everything else in the tank responded really well to the increase in light intensity and is looking super flush and healthy.

 

[decimal]

so about 2 days ago i woke up to a cloudy tank. i can only presume that its precipitation cal / alk or a bacterial bloom? but i have been dosing on this schedule for a while now and have not had any problems. No3 and Po4 both read 0. i was going to check calcium but as i was doing the test, the powder bottle was standing next to the mixing bottle and i started adding liquid solution to the powder bottle instead of the mixing bottle and basically ruined the entire salifert cal testing kit . brilliant. that cloudiness has persisted for 3 days now. i dialed back dosing last night. dont get me started on PH values.. i guess its alright. i cant go to the barber so i might as well be pulling my own hair out... smh... at least everything in the tank looks alright (cue complete tank melt down in 3...2..1..)

 

[paraletho]

Hey we all have our moments right? I turned the return off the other day to take some top down pics. 5 hours later I am fixing to lay down for the night. Oh crap went and turned it back on. No harm no foul but it could have been bad.

 

[PorpoiseHork]

Hey we all have our moments right? I turned the return off the other day to take some top down pics. 5 hours later I am fixing to lay down for the night. Oh crap went and turned it back on. No harm no foul but it could have been bad.

lol.. I have done that a couple times when working on various things.