Thanks to your advice on the salifert test kits and my entering that
into google along with the word Australia I have now found an online
place to buy marine stuff which I've never come across before - Yay!

Does $51 sound a lot for the Ca ($30) and KH($21) test kits? Postage is
zero if more than $50 is spent.

Roy wrote:
I routinely get cal readings of 400 or so and alk of 9 with Instant
Ocean. When I used oceanic salt mix the calcium would be 450 and ALK
11.......both are good salt mixes....

I have no vested interests in the company but for ALK and CAL the best
error proof kits are made by Salifert. A bit more $$ than others but
they leave little room for error and the results are dead on without
any second guessing. For other tests like ammonia, PH and
nitrate/nitrite tests I like the Seatest or Fastest kits......Just the
other day I was doing some CA/ALK/PH tests on various PICO tanks I
have, and decided to use up my Seatest CAL kit.......I bumped the
results of this kit against the Salifert kit and while the results of
the Seatest were within parameters, the Salifert gave a much more
precise reading.....It may be me and not the kit, but to me counting
drops added and swirling etc its not hard to get sidetracked or loose
count and second guess......with Seatest and other kits, but the
Salifert kits all yo have to do is drip it in drop by drop, do what
you want when dripping it, and just look for a color change and then
read the syringe and get the levels..no counting etc......Yea I know
the "drop" is considered an given form of measurement, and there is so
many drops to a ml etc etc, but all things do not form the same
exact drops from what I can tell. Heavier SG fluids make different
sized drops than lighter fluids do, and being able to read a scale on
a hypodermic syringe is 100 times more accurate and takes out any
human error on counting. I wholeheartedly recomend#1 Instant Ocean or
#2 Oceanic salt and Salifert test kits for CAL/ALK testing...followed
by Sea/Fastest for all other testing.

. Just my take on test kits.


On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:52:36 +1000, miskairal mehiding@Oz wrote:

Hi again all,

I was wondering if you can tell me what your salt mix parameters are
BEFORE you add it to your tank? ie. Water tests done on made up water.

I've got to change my salt mix as I've been using Coralife and the Ca is
900, using R/O water although the tank reading is between 560 and 600.
Also the KH is 8 leaving my tank on 5. No good!

I have no petshops near here so I can peruse what they have so will need
to buy online here in Oz. I've so far found this
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/category44_1.htm
but have never heard of either of these mixes and the Age of Aquariums
one sounds a bit dodgy.

Then there is this
http://www.aquaria.com.au/catalog/index.php/cPath/1_61

and at ebay is a German mix called Heka, again I've never heard of it.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MARINE-SALT-2...QQcmdZViewItem

Any help appreciated.