Salifert Test Kit Users.... Help!

jledon4 · Feb 17, 2011

aquabooty said:
they allow for air just under the plunger, not inside of the whole syringe, turn it upside down and tap it with your finger and the bubbles will rise to the top and bleed it back into the test solution, until bubbles are gone.. This will give you the most consistency when using the salifert test kits.

there is no need of doing this...

_Alex_ · Feb 17, 2011

the air is just there from the tip of the syringe like said already. so there is fluid in the tip where that air once was. that fluid makes up the difference in the syrenge where the air is, so if you draw it up to 1ml like your suppose to you will and should have exactly 1 ml of fluid.

Eddie Baby · Feb 17, 2011

aquabooty said:
they allow for air just under the plunger, not inside of the whole syringe, turn it upside down and tap it with your finger and the bubbles will rise to the top and bleed it back into the test solution, until bubbles are gone.. This will give you the most consistency when using the salifert test kits.

This is of course fine to do, but if you do this, be sure not to use the extra tip. If you have the tip attached and you fill the assembly with reagent to 1ml with no air bubbles, you now have about 1.15ml of reagent, and you'll be off when you complete the titration and look to the chart to determine the concentration/level of what you're testing for.

As long as you draw the liquid into the assembly slowly, the total volume of test solution (between what's in the syringe and the tip) will be 1ML (or very, very close to it) when the plunger edge is at 1ml. The air bubble represents the volume in the tip attachment.

foxhuntr · Feb 17, 2011

i had my brother calling me about his alk was sky high asking me what to do......he said his alk was reading 16 dkh with a salifert test......this went on for 2 weeks with high alk.....we battled this high reading...we did everthing to try and get it down.....the funny thing was that we hooked up a new calcium reactor to his system so i thought the reactor needed adjustments....the alk in his efluent was also shy high at about 40 dkh with a salifert test...his test kit was new and the didnt put a date on the box and he just opened it up...they are good for 1 year after it was opened.....and i was out of my trusty Elos test kit....so anyhow i thought it was the reactor raising his alk so i had him turn down his bubble count on his Co2 and it still didnt help...then i thought maybe his salt was already to high in alk for his water changes so we tested that and found out it wasnt high.....the thing was his alk was high but his PH was not dropping and his tank was not showing any kind of stress...so i finally pointed my finger at salifert...so i ordered a kit of my TRUSTY Elos and 2 days later it came in....the first thing i did was head right over and tested his alk with the elos and WHAAALLLAAAA test came out to be 12 dkh......i thought it was kinda strange that his tank looked good and his PH was good and all his other readings were good....this wasnt the first time i seem salifert test kits fail...so IMO i will never trust salifert...they leave to much room for misstakes when you have so much at stake.....so long story short we took that salifert test kit and threw right in the **** can......I will never use anything other than Elos..they are so much easier to use and more accurite (sorry for the spelling)....so if anybody is have trouble with off readings and your using salifert the first place i would start with is the test kit itself...... thanks for letting my rant and rave......no i feel better

SDguy · Feb 17, 2011

jledon4 is 100% correct.

I tried aquabooty's way, and also tried both the regular amounts, and the half amounts (like for the alk and ca tests). All gave me the same results when compared side by side.

justinm · Feb 17, 2011

gilmour01 said:
+1 to others said. The reagent level fluctuating wont affect the results unless you're using the entire volume.

+1 on this. The plunger will be in the same spot whether it is filled with regeant or air.

Murfman · Feb 17, 2011

jledon4 said:
dude!!! its not like if a 8.7 alkalinity will make that much difference to a 8.2! i also have thousands in my tank and trust me there is nothing that i'm more into than my params. if you really want that type of pinpoint accuracy you should look into the Hanna Checkers and pinpoint monitors, those should have the accuracy you are looking for. IMO salifert has a great product compared to many things that are out there.

Direct from tech support at Hanna, the alk meters read 20ppm LOWER than the Salifert test kits. I know this because I sent mine back to be tested since I was reading 300 PPM (max reading on Hanna tester) and my Salifert was reading real low. I didn't know which to believe. My Salifert has an exp date of Mar 2012.

jledon4 · Feb 17, 2011

Murfman said:
Direct from tech support at Hanna, the alk meters read 20ppm LOWER than the Salifert test kits. I know this because I sent mine back to be tested since I was reading 300 PPM (max reading on Hanna tester) and my Salifert was reading real low. I didn't know which to believe. My Salifert has an exp date of Mar 2012.

the question now is, which one is the correct one? hanna's result or adding 20 ppm to the final result? thats another good question for hanna.

Murfman · Feb 17, 2011

jledon4 said:
the question now is, which one is the correct one? hanna's result or adding 20 ppm to the final result? thats another good question for hanna.

Hanna said to add 20 ppm to the final reading.

jledon4 · Feb 17, 2011

Murfman said:
Hanna said to add 20 ppm to the final reading.

nice to know, thanks

Mr. Krabs · Feb 17, 2011

Okay, I understand the airspace in the syringe is due to the air in the tip. I guess another way to rephrase my original question is; How much air is in the tip? I checked the tip and it seems to create an airspace of .15ml which should bring the amount reagent being used in the test to the .85 level (which is actually 1ml total). Anyone agree? As in my OP, I'mm mainly loking for consistency, and want an accurate benchmark.

I appreciate all the comments!