bad test kit

Has any one had problems with there red sea magnesium test kit being way off my old one that was less then a year old was reading a good 1250 to 1300 over the last few months and the new test is only reading 1100 ,
i feel i will have to change brands to feel like i can trust the accuracy.

 

I use the same one, funny I always read 1250-1350.. I hope mine isnt off too..

 

The 1200 to 1300 seemed right its the low 1100 is what i suspect of

 

homegrowncorals

some might consider this excessive but I have 3 different kits for the Big 3
Calc, Alk and Mag
I have the Red Sea kits ( Mag and Calc are great and within acceptable tolerance for me)
I have Salifert kits for all 3
I have the tropic Marin combined Ca and Mg
I have Tetra and Nutrafin kits for DKH ( there not as accurate at Salifert as you can only get 8 or 9 rather than 8.6 or 9.3 etc which you can get with Salifert )
I like to cross reference during any week that the results I got varied to much from what I had expected them to be

I have always liked the idea of being able to check for myself the results I got - if 2 agree that there is an issue, I would react to the issue
but not make any changes based on the result of 1 single test kit

you could take a sample to the LFS and get the results checked
as at present your not sure if its the new kit thats suspect or the old one was?

Steve

 

The first thought was to take a sample to the lfs and have tested tomarrow... but i do suspect the new kit to be wrong because it only gos up slightly when i dose to only be the same 1100 on the next weeks test, i fear it may be way to high after chasing my tail with this for 3 weeks now.

 

whats the MFg date or lot# on the bottles of the new test kit? maybe there old.

 

the good news is that as long as you never exceeded a dosage that would increase the mag by over 100 in any 24 hour period, no harm will be done IME
I run close to 1500 ( thats where I was when I started testing and Ive tried to maintain it between 1440 and 1470 ever since)

When I started using Mag supplements my translation of Tea spoon was suspect to say the least, and I ended up over 1500 more than once whilst targetting a 30ppm increase from 1440 - 1470

so where ever you find yourself, dont worry about it and dont rush to correct it, let it fall naturally to where you want it.



Steve

 

Update talked to the rep. at red sea about the possibility of a bum Mag test kit and they are going to send me a new test kit in the mail so hopefully in a few days i will know which kit was giving me bad results .

 

well thats good customer service.. I know i couldnt get a real person on the phone with api before.

 

uh oh....I use the Red Sea Mg test kit all the time.....but my readings seem accurate b/c sometimes its low like 1100....then I dose for a few days and get it up to 1350. Its been 1300 for a week and a half now.