Red Sea Ca Test Kit vs Saliferts w/results.

[invincible569]

Hey guys, I managed to buy Red Sea's Ca Test kit to compare with Saliferts since this German article Heinz sent us says that the Red Sea came the closest to actual Calcium test levels.

http://www.korallenriff.de/mg_ca2004.html

I just finished testing with both here are my results:

Red Sea - 450
Salifert (8 drop) - 475

The Red Sea test kit is priced at $9.99. Just wanted to share my results.

[Diesel3443]

Thanks edward, I might have to switch to Red Sea to try it also

[Aged Salt]

Edward, since the new 8 drop Saliferts is being sold, I certainly feel the Ca level are overinflated--actually by more than 25ppm. How many tests at normal dilution is one able to perform with each test kit? Thnx. Bob

[mshur]

bob,
did u try seachem ot lamotte?

mike

[CCG]

This may be a dumb question but do you know what the actual CA level of the water sample is. I mean both test kit could be off and you wouldn’t know it unless you knew precisely what the actual level was.

Colin

[Aged Salt]

Hi Colin, & welcome to ZEOvit.com I couldn't agree more. A accurate Ca standard liquid would help calibrate one's results...say a solution of Ca water at 400ppm to be used against your test kit Bob

[Aquatic Image]

The Seachem kit comes with a calibration fluid that is 400ppm I believe. I have used the Seachem, Salifert and Red Sea kits. I think the Red Sea is by far the easiest to use but I am not sure how they all compare to eachother. Maybe I will check them all against eachother tomorrow with the calibration liquid provided by Seachem!!

Edit: The problem I see with Red Sea is that it goes by 50ppm increments. But I guess one could double the water sample and then it would be 25ppm.
Just a thought.

[invincible569]

Bob, I have to look to see how many tests can be performed with this kit.

Also, dont get confused everyone.. this is Red Sea, not Seachem.

Colin, I am going by the article above where it states that Red Sea was more precise.

Aquarist20, i agree with you. this kit is very easy to use. Let us know if you calibrate and test to see the accuracy of the test kit brands.

[Aquatic Image]

OK all. I just finished running the tests with Seachem, Red Sea & Salifert kits. The source was the calibration/calcium reference from the Seachem kit. (440 ppm) I ran all tests twice except for Red Sea which I ran 4 times. Two with 4ml source and two with 8ml source.

Results:
Red Sea : 450ppm (both 4ml & 8ml)
Salifert : 460ppm
Seachem : 425ppm

Now who knows for sure if the source is really 440ppm but with the tests I ran it seems the Red Sea is the closest. I guess if one were to up the source to 16ml the Red Sea would go by 12.5ppm increments but at that point it would take 36 drops of reagent 2 to reach 450ppm which would mean you would only get a few tests per kit!

[CCG]

It’s interesting that none of the tests were really that close to the reference and the Salifert kit is the farthest off. I wonder if test kits from LeMotte or Hach would be any closer.

Colin