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Phosphate reading

NEWSALT

NEWSALT

blange3 said:
Of course if Mike does that test too soon, we'll miss out on our chemistry lessons! ;D
Click to expand...

Well, the container I use has the 0.19 PO4 water in it right now. Before I run the next test with RO/DI water alone, I wanted run the 0.19 water through some PO4 media first, then use that water for a water change. I have to get some PO4 media somewhere tonight. I'll try Ocean Gallery or Pet Shanty.
 
blange3

blange3

Mike,

Just curious, are you using the carbon block filters on your RO/DI unit or are you using refillable cartidges with activated carbon??
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Lots of people use Brute containers to mix their water in with no ill effects (though precious few of us are using the PO4 meter you've got there so you're sort of in a class of your own). They may well be perfect for the cause.

The Brute trash cans aren't intended for potable water though. Specifically it is NSF Standard #2, but per the NSF website, that just says it can be used in a kitchen, not that it should be used to store water/food.

It may well be that your current mixing isn't contributing to the PO4, so until you know for sure there's no good reason to change... unless you were looking to change anyway.
 
NEWSALT

NEWSALT

NEWSALT said:
Thanks. I'm filling the bucket with RO/DI now. I'll check the PO4 in the morning and let you know what I get.
Click to expand...

Well the water has been sitting in the bucket for about 8 hours. Did a test just now and I get PO4= 0.04. That's good. I'm not putting any salt in yet. I'm going to take another test at noon.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Sounds like the bucket is fine... It will be interesting to see the read on the freshly mixed salt again to confirm the .19 reading.
 
NEWSALT

NEWSALT

I'm curious as well.
The more I read about the proper use of the meter, I'm picking up some tips to get better readings, i.e. no fingerprints on the vial, completely disolved reagent, no air bubbles in the vial, etc.
 
NEWSALT

NEWSALT

Well, the second test of the RO/DI water in the bucket reads 0.02. The water has been in the bucket for 14 hrs. The results are better than this morning ??? . I can only contribute that to the fact that I'm using the test kit better, as I mentioned in my last post. So, I guess my bucket is ok. Tonight we'll add salt and test again. Stay tuned.
 
NEWSALT

NEWSALT

Just measured fresh saltwater mix using Reef Crystals salt. My readings:

1st test: 0.38
2nd test: 0.21

How can that be! My clean RO/DI in the same bucket was 0.02. Could the Reef Crystals be adding that much PO4? While cleaning the test vial, I did notice a particulate floating around. At first I thought it was because my mixing bucket is not covered, but it was not covered when I tested the clean RO/DI.

I'm lost. I guess I'm going to stop using Reef Crystals, unless anyone has some other advice.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
My next advice would be to test some TM/TMP or other/next brand you're going to try. I can bring you a bit of salt if you're coming to the meeting on Sunday if you'd like to test TMP.
 
M

mladencovic

While the error of your instrument is +/-0.04 (which could explain why you could test positive RO/RI water), the swing between 0.38 and 0.21 is rather huge. Are you sure that your test vial is perfectly clean (inside and outsied) and there are no fingerprints etc. Are you folowing the correct calibration procedure ? Here are few threads that I have found that give nice pointers:

http://zeovit.com/forums/showpost.php?p=73156&postcount=3
http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4737&highlight=hanna
http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3682&highlight=hanna

p.s. I assume that you have aerated the RO/DI water for 24 h before mixing the salst. Right?
 
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