Thank you, I sure with suggestions there will be some additions.
I’ve been waiting for Aquaforest tests for a long time, and I very excited that the new Aquaforest tests are out now.
One of the things I like about these tests is that they are laboratory certified. My confidence level with these tests are higher than most. I wanted to see how the Aquaforest tests compare to Hanna checkers, Red Sea, and ELOS. On a side note, I purchased all of these tests used.
Aquaforest has some classy videos along with Red Sea, Hanna, and ELOS. ELOS wins for music. I have provided links below for the videos from each of the companies tested. The reason for shooting videos, is that I wanted to show a hobbyist doing the tests. I do have some fancy stuff for testing but no lab coat.
AquaForest
ELOS
Hanna
Red Sea
The first test is the calcium test.
The second test is the magnesium test.
In the final test will be the alkalinity test.
My findings are that the Aquaforest, Hanna, and ELOS are very close and consistent in testing.
I messed around with the kits and found that Aquaforest and ELOS are right there with my Hanna checkers on Ca and alkalinity. I have a Red Sea Mg test kit and compared the test with the Aquaforest Mg. I kind of lost faith in the Red Sea kits because the alkalinity test has not been testing alkalinity consistently in the past 6 months even with new reagents. The Red Sea Mg has been a little weird too. The Red Sea Ca has been testing lower Than the Hanna and the Aquaforest test kit.
Here are the number as they were tested.
I also tested the Aquaforest test kit sample water using the other kits with what sample water I had. I did speed these videos up a tad. You will notice that some of the numbers are all over the place. Kind of the reason that I am a two test kit person with the big 3 going forward.
Sample water Ca
Sample water Mg
Sample water Alk
It's pretty cumbersome and exacting, much easier to use a titration kit. Watch some videos and read reviews before you buy it. I have only used mine a couple times because my salifert kit is much easier imo.
My issue was, I wash my cuvettes in the dishwasher and would test high all of the time. Now I started rinse the cuvettes with Ro/DI before I test were they should be.
I was just over on your thread. Kind of sounds like what I was going through when I first started using the test.
Yea most people don't the access to that. I'm fortunate enough to have a water purification unit at work that produces 18megOhm water so I used that. I just find the titration kits so much faster that I kind of gave up on it for the most part. They are more than adequate for our needs really.
The problem with the Hanna Ca checker is that the tank sample size is very small. If you had the older kit, the syringe it used was difficult to get an accurate sample. Hanna finally figured this out and now add a micro pipette for the tank sample which makes it much more accurate. The last 4 ICP tests I've had done show the Hanna checker to be very accurate as opposed to my Red Sea kit which always tested low.
I spoke to Hannah about the deionized at RAP, they said that RODI water, no matter the low TDS, can still sway the results, as CA etc.. can still pass through.
Not so different if you would see me with my test kits!
LOLNot so different if you would see me with my test kits!
