colstudent69's Full Review: Salifert Calcium Test Kit
It is time once again to talk about chemistry in the aquarium. Most of my previous test kit reviews were for both saltwater aquariums with just fish and saltwater reef aquariums. Calcium is typcially only important for reef aquariums.
Calcium Discussion:
Why do we want to know about Calcium in the water? Because corals and coralline algae use calcium to grow and build their skeletons. Without calcium your corals will get stressed and could even die.
Very large chapters have been written on the chemistry of Calcium in reef aquaria, so I will not try to duplicate it here. The main thing you need to know is that the free Calcium concentration in your reef tank should be between 350 and 550 parts per million(ppm), ideally it should be between 380 and 450 ppm. Too high or too low can cause problems. For a very good article on Calcium, go here:
We are going to focus on the Salifert Calcium test as it does an excellent job of measuring Calcium.
The Test Kit:
Salifert's test kit is the best test kit I've found for measuring Calcium. You get the testing vial, 2 syringes(one with a nifty plastic tip), 2 bottles of testing reagent and one bottle of testing crystals.
Usage:
This test kit can be used in full strength(for more accuracy) or 1/2 strength for more tests per kit. Exact instructions are included with every test kit and if you lose the instructions they are available many places on-line.
Basically, for a full strength test, you take a sample of your tank water and add drops from one bottle, add the crystals and let everything dissolve. Then you take the accurate syringe and slowly add the third chemical until you see a color change from pink to clear blue. You then use the reading from the syringe to figure out your Calcium level.
The Good:
Very accurate in my experience and very sensitive compared to other test kits I've used. I was lucky enough to compare the results of one test in Chicago with a electronic calcium probe and the Salifert test was 10ppm lower than the probe, that seems great to me!
The cost! On-line price is hovering around $20 as of 05/02/2005. If you do the half tests and get the 100 tests out of the kit, that is 0.20 per test, relatively inexpensive. Even if you do the full strength tests your are only talking 0.40 per test.
The expiration date should always be checked, but it is typically 2-3 years for this test, which is long enough for even 1/2 strength testing.
Just for comparison, if you were to buy 100 tests of SeaTest's Calcium kit(50 kits), that would run you: 64.75 or a mere 0.65 cents per test. Yikes! Hopefully in the future SeaTest will release refills for Calcium, but I could not find them online at the time of this writing.
Hum...around $20 for 100 tests or $64.75...tough choice huh?
The Bad:
Not always available locally in local fish stores.
Make sure you seal the testing kit bottles good, they are liquid and if left open they dry up rapidly. The crystals also need to be sealed tightly to prevent water from soaking into the crystals.
This is a sensitive test and one drop is enough to cause the color change. So for you impatient mad scientists out there, you need to be patient on this test. This is especially critical for the 1/2 strength test, as one drop can definitely cause the color change.
Brian's Helpful Aquarium tip #874:
If you test regularly and know your Calcium should be near a certain value, say 420, then you can add enough reagent quickly to a close value, say 300, mix well, and then slowly add until you get the color change. This saves you gads of time to perform other diabolical acts. If you have a heavily populated tank full of corals, make sure you start out low on the scale, maybe 200, because a heavy coral load can rapidly deplete calcium.
Who needs this test kit:
So if you are going to keep a SW fish only tank with a few plastic decorations, there is no need to buy this test kit.
The one exception might be Fish Only With Live Rock tanks, these typically have coralline algae which uses calcium to grow and spread.
But if you are going to keep corals and try to actually grow them and have them happy and healthy, this is an essential test kit. When you have a reef tank heavily loaded with corals, you'll need to monitor your Calcium weekly or even more frequently. This is where the 1/2 strength tests really save money.
Summary:
An excellent test kit that makes you feel like a mad scientist! Accurate, cheap per test, nice expiration period. A little sensitive, but in the long run that is a good thing once you get used to it. ESSENTIAL test for SW reef keepers, and a good one for FOWLR tanks to keep coralline algae healthy and growing.
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