Phosphate Testing

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

waaaaait, you're supposed to hold the button down? Oh my I haven't done that once. My readings have probably been totally wrong.

I do notice how much of a difference a few micro bubbles can make, the difference between 0.05 and 0.00.

One of the things I've done to make the readings easier is to use both vials included in the kit, fill both with tank water, then only put the reagent in one. I use the straight water one as the C1 blank. I find that the powder that comes with the phosphate kit dissolves so slowly that by the time it' completely dissolved and the micro bubbles are well and truly gone that the checker has turned itself off by the time I'm ready to go with C2 half the time. Am I making it less accurate that way?

Yup, not holding down after C2 is a common mistake. I just use one vial, but I make sure I am ready with the powder, so I don't waste any time. You have 3 min to do your swirling, and that is enough for me to completely dissolve it. I've been told that using 2 vials is not as accurate, as there might be slight imperfections between the vials. Don't know if that is true, though. I slow down my swirling the last 15 seconds to be sure there are no bubbles.

[asylumdown]

huh, wow! I had no idea that thing had a timer on it.

Well, it looks like I need the low range checker. 0.00