+1 to the above comments. Alk is ridiculously easy and get good consistent results. Phosphorous ULR (where you have to multiply by 1000 and divide by 3.066 to get phosphate) is almost as easy to perform test but not quite (I find I will get variations in readings from one test to another, but if you think about it "ppb" is a VERY small resolution so it stands to reason there will have to be a small tolerance in values). Calcium is an easy test but has a few drawbacks, not the least that you need to distill 0.1ml of tank sample in "lab grade distilled water". Basically you are testing a droplet of water from your tank but diluted almost 50x (0.1ml into 5.0 ml) so accuracy is a bit of an issue especially given how sensitive it will be to possible contamination from your "lab grade distilled water" (I just use my own RO/DI which "ought" to be good enough...)
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-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
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